Last garden tour of 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by kidsingardens

Before we head into the new year, here’s a glimpse of the fun we had and the work we did in the school garden in November and December—aka my periodic “Garden Tour.”

Leaf rubbings in garden class made sweet placemats for “Take your parent to lunch” in the garden.

Following up on the “How is it grown?” video the students watched on Food Day, we made a simple cranberry relish with orange juice and local honey.

While the cranberries cooked, we worked on updating our garden journals—-decorating the covers with images from garden catalogues and inserting recipes and other lesson materials from the last couple months.

Miss Sally Snipes gave us a bushel of daffodils to add to the garden. To make this a fun activity, I called the class “Bulbs and Bubbles.” After planting a few bulbs, students got to blow bubbles…then back to the bulbs….and then bubbles…

I took the portable speaker out to the garden to play Christmas music as students went wild decorating the garden. Where could they hang ornaments? Anywhere they could reach.

For out last garden class in December, the younger grades made tangerine pomanders—a highly sensory, fine motor activity.

Older students do an activity that is now a bit of tradition around the holidays: wreath making with freshly cut cedar and rosemary sprigs.

Freezing weather sent us inside for a few garden classes. Here students measured out their own healthy trail mix and munched on it while we played garden bingo.

Anticipating a lot of cold, wet weather to come, I am now thinking through new inside garden projects and activities for the rest of the winter.

More to come in the new year: our visit from Americorps and garden fashion! Thanks for following along in 2015! And thanks for sharing my love and enthusiasm for “all the good things that happen in school gardens.” Happy New Year!

Stuffed and Happy: Food Day 2015

Posted on November 23, 2015 by kidsingardens

Before the really big Food Day is upon us, I’d like to share some glimpses of Food Day 2015 at Julian Elementary and Julian Junior High. It was a minimum day, and we had 15 workshops between the two campuses. Students went to 5-6 of them for thirty minutes each.

In the weeks before the event, I began making this “eat a rainbow” collage with after school students, using photos from seed catalogues:

It turned out really cool:

It was too wet and windy to hang it in front of the school as planned (along with two huge banners that read “Eat a Rainbow Every Day!”) so it became a nice backdrop for a storybook and craft session on the importance of eating foods of all different colors for a healthy diet.

The UC Farm Smart joined us for the third year running, and as usual, they delivered a visual, hands-on, super engaging lesson. This year’s topic: carrots.

Students used orange dots to conduct a poll after a taste test: fresh carrots, canned carrots or no carrots at all.

Another wildly popular instructor, Chef Greg from Healthy Adventures Foundation taught kids how to make vegetarian sushi.

A superteam of teachers, present and former (Lark, Nancy, Kathy, Shirley) presented lessons on “eating a rainbow.” A mini-lesson on the health benefits of each color was followed by fruit and veggie bingo and fruit kabobs—kids that ate all the colors left with a little rainbow sticker on their shirts.

Food Day would not be Food Day without Teak and Harvey representing for the Julian Apple Growers with apple pressing for juice and apple slice taste tests.

The amazing folks from Camp Stevens led a composting workshop, demonstrating their teaching flexibility by switching from the garden to the cafeteria when it started to pour, hauling in mounds of unsifted compost and wheelbarrows.

Mrs. Croman, our music teacher, leading “food songs.”

Not pictured: Ann from the Resource Conservation District teaching a lesson about monarch butterflies and the importance of protecting pollinators.

Meanwhile down at the junior high:

From the mind of our ag specialist, Mr. Martineau: Students walk through eight stations, tracing all of the parts of a pizza to their origins and making little pizzas as they go. Each station had information, questions and a short video about the bread, sausage, tomato sauce, etc.

Presenting the Duffy Cooking Show! How cool is it that kids were making homemade granola bars with their principal and superintendent?

Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Tellez pulled off an amazing workshop on cheese: a history of cheese, cheesemaking, cheese tasting/rating and looking at yogurt under the microscope.

Every student did an art project with Sun Dog Studios. See last post.

Students had a chance to talk to Joel and Chef Jeremy, who plan and cook their school lunch. Joel and Jeremy talked to the kids about the mechanics and nutrition involved in planning a NSLP-approved lunch, and students provided them with feedback about the menu.

Not pictured: Students watched 5 short videos from the very cool video series How does it grow?

All that, and we fit in an apple crunch on both campuses! Later that day, afterschool students toured Mom’s Pies and each made an apple dumpling….

Thanks to all who contributed to this truly awesome day of learning! See you next year.

Now for a nap.

“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…..

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….”

……But I love ratatouille!

Posted on September 2, 2015 by kidsingardens

Today we started our series of one-hour garden/cooking lessons with our upper grades, adapted from the curriculum from the Sage Garden Project.

Huge. Success.

It went like this:

10 minutes in the classroom to discuss the theme of “seasonality” and how vegetables can be classified as warm season or cool season. We also ran through glove protocol, hand washing reminders and stern words about consequences for misusing a tool. (I like to set a firm precedent.)

Then to the garden for two 20 minute stations. I took one group to the outdoor kitchen to cook a warm season dish (ratatouille), and the classroom teacher and parent volunteers led their half of the class in preparing raised beds for our late September planting of cool season vegetables.

Then we tasted the ratatouille on baguette slices from a local bakery, the Candied Apple. I also sent home a letter to each family with the recipe and gardening tips for winter gardens. Enough words—look at what fun we had!