“Soda is the monster we need to mash!”

Posted on November 10, 2015 by kidsingardens

As part of our Food Day program, Sun Dog Art Studios led an anti-soda art project at the junior high. Each student made a “monster” out of a soda can in thirty minutes using construction paper, puffy paint, scissors, straws and pipe cleaners. Teal and Tomy, the founders and art teachers of Sun Dog, were a delight to work with, and I highly recommend them to any school or organization in San Diego County.

Sun Dog made these samples with information on soda consumption which they left with us to incorporate into our displays.

Librarian Colleen allowed us to hang half of the collection behind the checkout counter at the Julian Library the next day. The collection will stay up through the end of November.

I hung the other half at the Wolf Den, the junior high multipurpose room.

Stay tuned for more wonderful reports from Food Day 2015…..

The Great Julian Apple Crunch

Video

Today Julian Elementary and Junior High celebrated National Food Day with 15 workshops on nutrition, cooking, backyard gardening and agriculture. It was amazing—look for upcoming posts with photos and stories.

For now, let me share a video with you. Every year people across the country celebrate good, fresh food with an Apple Crunch event. We did one this year, thanks to Ken and Linda Limon who visited a neighboring orchard whose owners allowed them to harvest for free, picked 400 apples, hand sorted them, packed them in flats of 50 and delivered them to cold storage in the school kitchen. We washed and bagged them by class size. Students wore their red No Excuses shirts to school, Garden Ambassadors held up big leaves, and our principal got on the roof to film the event. The weather was sketchy today but it held just long enough…..five minutes later, downpour! Simply amazing.

Thank you Linda and Ken—you made this happen!

When a garden photo says a lot

Posted on October 29, 2015 by kidsingardens

Last week I posted the picture below on our afterschool program’s Facebook page with the caption “Students explore the garden, using microscopes.”

Our principal “liked” it, writing “This photo says a lot.” When I asked him to “Say more!” he responded with this comment which I thought deserved its own post. Thanks Mr. Copeland for being a principal who “gets it” on so many levels!

…..I see a school and a beautiful garden in a mountain community. And very young ladies (even a princess) being given tools that they will use later in life. Tool use that begins at a young age accelerates the development of familiarity and confidence. These tools are now theirs, not something they might see being used by special (often male) scientists in movies. They’re learning manual dexterity of the rotary adjustments – differential focal adjustment. They’re discovering eye dominance and monocular use of the eye, and thus, the brain. I see outdoor education too, and the interaction with weather and the environment. And that’s just what comes to mind readily…

Why is Mrs. Tree crying?

Posted on October 22, 2015 by kidsingardens

During garden lessons, I try to stay open to unscripted moments. If an unusual insect shows up, if pods have just erupted in seeds, if a child sees something beautiful that has escaped my notice, I want to be ready to stop everything for the teachable moment. It happens a lot in the garden.

At the beginning of the year, I hung a tree face on one of the junipers and led the students by it on the way out of the garden, waiting for squeals and pointed fingers. After seeing Mr. Tree, they speculated that Mrs. Tree might be the next one to show up. Show up she did.

When we discovered her a couple weeks later, one of the girls told me she needed a “neckwus.” I agreed and sure enough, during our next class, we noticed that Mrs. Tree was all blinged out.

We got closer. And as we looked at her, I noticed there was a single, silvery drip of tree sap right under her eye. Look!

Suddenly we had the most perfect creative writing/thinking prompt as I asked students, “Why do you think Mrs. Tree is crying?”

And I couldn’t have made up the next three comments:

Student #1: She’s crying because she’s so happy to live in the school garden.

(gulp)

Student #2: She’s crying because Mr. Tree gave her a necklace!

(so sweet!)

And then Student #3:

She’s crying because her necklace is too tight!

(hahahahaha!)

September/October garden tour (aka photo dump)

Posted on October 14, 2015 by kidsingardens

Every month or so I like to walk around the garden and catch y’all up on new things, beginning this month with our “farm to school” banners which Mr. Wells just hung outside the after school club. This set features produce grown in San Diego County in the fall. They add a lively, colorful element to this outside eating/studying area.

My Garden Ambassadors are a hardworking group. These two take charge of lunchtime composting.

They love leaving me notes—a habit I encourage by leaving them notes back.

Mr. Copeland stops by as the K/1st graders were showing off our new set of gloves in after school garden class.

Lots of cool season planting due to having lots of space due to our spectacularly lousy summer crop:

In after school class, sometimes we just play games in the garden. With everyone occupied with fun stuff at the table, I can pull one or two students out for small jobs or teachable moments.

We have been making cinnamon maple applesauce in our longer format classes during the school day.

I’ve been printing the recipe in Thursday’s bulletin. If students make it at home, they send me a photo, and I invite them to enjoy lunch in the school garden with friends.

At school:

At home:

Finally, I’ve slowly been collecting “seasonal touches” to decorate the garden. I saw this years ago at a school garden in San Fransisco when our garden was just getting started, and it was too much to consider at the time. But now, I’m ready. Garage sales are a great place to find decor out of season. This came from the Methodist Church’s rummage sale, and I think it adds a lovely autumn touch. (Also, I bought the over-the-door wreath hanger which keeps the arrangement in place.)

Garden Ambassadors wanted to put up Halloween decorations so they hung webs and spiders—appropriate for the garden!

Up next: Why is Mrs. Tree crying? (Possibly my favorite post ever, next time.)

Thank you Sage Garden Project!

Posted on October 8, 2015 by kidsingardens

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that this year we are working in partnership with the Sage Garden Project who has generously gifted us with funds for a garden educator position, access to their curriculum and a scholarship to the Edible Schoolyard Academy this past summer. (Scroll down to read five posts about that magical experience.) We were thrilled to welcome them to campus two weeks ago for the first time. Garden Ambassadors made this poster for them.

Garden Ambassadors greeted Program Director Dawn Mayeda and Garden Instructor Karen Saake at the front of the school with an apple pie—our local dessert! Then we spent the morning giving them a tour, introducing them around school and receiving items included in the Sage Garden award….

A huge treat that comes with the grant package is a fully equipped cart which can be wheeled around campus for cooking demos. Unpacking all of the items that go in it was like Christmas morning. Here I’ve displayed it all in one place. Notice the mirror flips around to be a white board. Feel free to drool.

Also included in our box of garden treats were beautiful posters and banners which we promptly hung in the garden room and the garden.

Julian Elementary is very proud to be an recipient of a Sage Garden Project grant. Thank you to everyone involved for helping to grow our garden program!

A little idea: “garden treasure hunts”

Posted on October 1, 2015 by kidsingardens

Last week I made this poster on 11×14 paper, with color clipart, and laminated it.

Then looking at a jigsaw puzzle template online, I scored it into pieces with a ballpoint pen.

I cut the puzzle into pieces, re-laminated each piece so all of the edges were sealed, and hid them in the garden. When I took the K students out for afternoon garden class, they hunted for the pieces, returning to the table to fit it together. I had little rolls of masking tape on the table to help the pieces stay together.

After we assembled the message, I passed out magnifying glasses and we went looking for signs of fall.

In the process, we discovered a stick bug. We made a circle and gently passed it around.

And then we posed for this picture! I love how this activity turned out and plan to make a set for each season. Fun way to end: I gave each student a piece and they re-hid them for my next class—almost as much fun as finding them!

A little idea: “freshly picked”

Posted on September 23, 2015 by kidsingardens

I started a new tradition this year. When I visit my K-2 classrooms, I bring something “freshly picked.” This week it was rosemary.

Now that my garden ambassadors are chosen, they make the bouquets for me at recess and return the vases to the garden room for me to pick up on the way to class.

The idea is that the vase stays in the class until the arrangement withers, and then the ambassadors collect them after a week. It’s a small touch that “brings the outside in,” fills the room with a nice fragrance and gives students a chance to make observations and learn plant names. Beauty is a language of care!

Garden Ambassadors = Girl Power

Posted on September 16, 2015 by kidsingardens

Every year I have a different number and mix of 5th grade Garden Ambassadors. This year, I’m thrilled to have 10 amazing girls.

A new feature in the program this year is the “Headquarters” board in the garden room. The girls love checking the board….

A few snippets from one of the outstanding Garden Ambassador applications: (You know who you are!)

I would like to serve as a Garden Ambassador because when I was little I looked up to the garden ambassadors. I would like that to happen to me.

I think a garden ambassador should have the ability to be a school representative. A garden ambassador should be a good public speaker. They should also be willing to give up their extra time for the garden. I think they should be focused, determined, mature, hardworking, trustworthy. They should be respectful, responsible and compassionate.

I would also like to be a garden ambassador because it will give me an opportunity to interact with people. I can also help the garden. Being a garden ambassador is something to be proud of.

I know being a garden ambassador will help me be a better public speaker. I will also gain more self-confidence. I will gain more knowledge of the scientific world and the garden. It could make a remarkable impact upon my life.

To learn more about our Garden Ambassador program, look here or here or here.

It works, it works, it works!

Posted on September 11, 2015 by kidsingardens

Nutrition/cooking education. Make no mistake: it works.

It’s said all the time but I’m here with hard evidence to prove it: When you grow and cook food with kids at school, in a fun, interactive way, they are more likely to try new foods and want to cook at home.

As mentioned in the last post, we made ratatouille in our garden/kitchen class. I also sent home a letter with the recipe to each family and encouraged the kids to teach their parents the recipe. I said, “If you do make ratatouille at home, please send me a picture.” The very next day I started receiving these:

Once I received the picture, I visited the student’s class with congratulations, a few questions about his/her cooking experience at home, and an invitation to have lunch in the garden that day with a friend. I’m thrilled that at our school “lunch in the garden” is a motivating reward, as it is sometimes hard to think of incentives that aren’t sweets/snacks or little throwaway objects.

None of this is lost on you, dear readers, but allow me to list the levels of goodness here:

-Students have a positive experience with a certain food at school and bring that excitement home.

-Students show off newly acquired skills to parents, and we all know that re-teaching is good learning.

-Families learn new recipes—in this case, one that is vegetarian, seasonal, adaptable and affordable.

-Students are congratulated and rewarded in front of their peers for extending their learning after school.

Many thanks to Wynola Flats for sourcing these delicious vegetables and ordering what I needed. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to stop in yesterday for more ingredients and have Stacy say, “People have been coming in, buying ingredients for ratatouille….”