Fairy Tales Come True at Carpinteria Family School
The entire school participated in the Wheel Barrow Garden contest at the 2012 SB County Fair. The theme this year was Fairy Tales come true. Students used their creativity and team work to create beautiful mini fairy gardens. Students worked hard on their gardens starting in February planting flowers from seed. During “installation” days students were divided into committees of their choice, including architects, landscape designers, road builders, sign makers, and decorators, in order to get the job done. Lori Collins 4/5th grade class actually won first place and students were given free tickets to the fair.
There’s nothi…
There’s nothing like 35 happy, little wiggly people. Bouncing through the garden, legs and hands up in the air figuring out what a downward-facing-dog looks like and then flipping their 5 year old energy back up into a tree or mountain pose.
Last week, at Cleveland School Garden, the kindergarten class came into the garden to learn something about plants and their bodies and got to do their first Yoga lesson. What an experience! Hands up in the air, fingers swinging and bodies dancing around on the bamboo-lined patch of grass we use in the far back of our garden for more interactive lessons.
Kindergarten is a blast to teach and an activity like Yoga is very appropriate. We started the lesson with a whole body-pat down. Meaning we started tapping our toes, and moved all the way up our bodies, patting our hips, bellies and shoulders, ending up at the head and ears. We would repeat this until they could remember the names of all their body parts. Because… as I was surprised to find out, very few knew where their shin or hips are located. One little boy was incredibly cute by holding his arm up in the air and repeatedly pointing to his elbow, calling it a knee. But with a few repetitions, these kids learned their own anatomy.
After the body pat-down, we moved on into a series of other poses. Such as curling into a ball, called ‘strawberry’. Reaching for the sky with arms in the air like a ‘tree’. Standing tall like a ‘carrot’, bouncing like a ‘bunny’, and learning to really listen to how our bodies feel.
This was a successful and enjoyable lesson. The kids stayed focused for 25 minutes on moving their bodies, how they felt inside their own skin and learning new positions to stretch their muscles and joints. With the lesson ending by getting to wiggle and twist it all out again across the green grass behind Cleveland School Garden.
La Patera in the News
Hi all,
We had a wonderful lesson at La Patera and the teacher suggessted we write it up and send photos to the local papers…
Within 2 hours we were posted on Noozhawk via twitter and within minutes of sending to SB Newspress I got a response they loved it
and will add it to the “How does your garden grow” section soon. It was that easy and fast, Isuggest you try it as well..
Here it is ..
ana Brody (@PaintJamSB) has shared a Tweet with you:
“PaintJamSB: At La Patera School, Every Day Is Earth Day: Students reap the benefits of their efforts in harvesting their new… http://t.co/GSr82tq3“
–http://twitter.com/PaintJamSB/status/192747874029813760
AG Day at Fillmore Elementary School
Fillmore’s AG Day is a unique occurence in the Lompoc Unified School District. Every spring for many years now representatives from all parts of the agricultural community in and around Lompoc have donated their time to participate in this event of agricultural awareness and education.
In amazing scheduling feat, all 26 classes rotated through eight different presentations and/or activities (approximately 8 for every 2 grades, so there were actually more than 30 going on all over campus!). Presenters included the Lompoc FFA, Cattlewomen, docents from La Purisima Mission, an Agricultural Biologist from the Agricultural Commisioner’s Office who talked about insects, a teacher and her family who brought their personal horses, a petting zoo with chickens, goats and other farm animals, a farmer who brought tractors, an acorn planting table, and many, many more.
As the new GEM at Fillmore I got to participate as a presenter this year. I used my 8 time-slots with second and third graders to talk about the basic needs of living things and how we can make sure our newly refurbished garden plants will receive those things. I felt privileged to be involved in this community event focused on teaching our children about, and paying homage to, this very important part of our lives in the Lompoc Valley.
Fillmore has a great thing going with AG Day!
The Morning Announcements
When I started my job as Garden Educator at La Canada School I was very optimistic and enthused about my position. I recruited eight classes to participate in the the garden. We planted up seven odd garden beds, staked in a scarecrow that wore a special red, white and blue wig the students chose and we were ready to watch our plants grow. Then came the vandalism. It started with the scarecrow on the roof, then the pea teepee was pulled out and then the final blow, our prize crops were being up rooted and tossed around. It was getting really hard to remain optimistic for my students and we were all pretty discouraged. When I sought advice on how to deal with vandalism I was told that I needed to get the faculty and students on my side. This seemed like an unreachable goal because of the population of our school with about seven hundred students. Then the answer came to me one Tuesday morning while I was working in my daughter’s class. We were all tuned into the announcements which can be entertaining at La Canada. I then realized that for these few minutes every person on campus tunes in, students, teachers, cafeteria staff,and maintenance personnel. I found a place to use my voice. I really wasn’t thrilled at first with the thought of using the microphone. It can be a little intimidating unless you love hearing yourself talk. I had to put my fears aside because I had a garden to save! I think my voice did a fluttery thing the first time. It was really a bit awkward, but each month my garden report got a little smoother. In two months I was coaching the students that had announcements after me. I began by acknowledging the students that helped in the garden and I asked students to report anyone that harmed the garden. The greatest reward has been that the vandalism has almost completely stopped. Now that I’m not focused on vandalism I can use my time on the mic to announce work days, encourage kids to try new foods in the cafeteria or invite everyone out to see what’s growing in the school garden.
Custom Re-Useable Bags at Monroe
This was not a School Gardens project but this is one of the main classes I work with and a great example of the kind of environmental education we’re working on. They were on the news for making custom re-useable bags so they can fundraise to buy and protect a portion of the rainforest. Check it out:
http://www.keyt.com/news/local/Students-Make-Reusable-Bags-To-Buy-Part-Of-Rain-Forest-146177845.html
-Zack
photo by Rachel Quittner
Ladybugs all look the same,
But are they?
They love eating aphids,
some more than others.
Green is everywhere,
giving us the freshest air.
Fresh food is everywhere,
causing visitors to stare.
Oranges not yet sweet
if we pick them too early.
No more scurvy to make our minds CURVY.
Succulents so dry and pretty,
never the same.
The tiny oak, not yet mighty,
but it will get there!
