2013 Fall Garden Harvest

Check out the video of our Fall Garden Harvest.

The following teachers brought their classes to the garden to harvest what they planted in the fall:

1. Mrs. Blanton
2. Mrs. Stephens
3. Ms. Adams
4. Mrs. Beauchemin
5. Mrs. LeVan
6. Mrs. Jamison
7. Mrs. Wagner
8. Mrs. Velotta
9. Mrs. Wong
10. Mrs. Finnerty
11. Mrs. Hogrebe
12. Ms. Cheri
13. Mrs. Krausse

Items that the students harvested (and ate!) included included:

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Several types of lettuce
• Carrots
• Beets
• Bok Choy
• Kale
• Celery
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard

Fall Harvest 2013

Mrs. Beauchemin/Mrs. Stephens/Mrs. Wager's Classes picking and eating cauliflower, broccoli, and lettuce for their fall harvest feast!

Week Three: Apple Tasting

In the Garden:

Mrs. Finnerty's Garden

Last Friday, we had 13 classes plant in the garden boxes. What a wonderful way to expose children to the joys of growing your own food and to give the teachers a way to complement their science lessons with a hands-on experience. So, now the after school Garden Club is going to maintain the classroom gardens. This week, the Garden Club planted some remaining seedlings in the classroom boxes and watered now newly planted seeds.



Garden Lesson: 
This week, the students learned about different types of apples. As adults, most of us have learned that we like one type of apple more than others, so that's what we buy and that's what our kids eat, but there are numerous varieties of apples. During Garden Club, the kids tasted five different types of apples: McIntosh, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious. They rated each apple from 1 to 5 on color, texture, taste, and smell. Granny Smith received the highest rating during our taste test.

Thank you to Ms. Eva for volunteering in the garden!!

Week Two: Harvesting

This week we had homemade pumpkin bars and jicama for snack.

In the Garden: The kids harvested our fall produce, including tomatoes, basil, bell peppers, and carrots. We added new soil and organic fertilizer to get ready to plant our winter crops.

If you would like to volunteer in the garden, please let me know. Kids always love having their parents join us. Thanks to Kathleen and Eva for lending a hand!!

Garden Club: Session One

Welcome to Session One at El Morro's Garden Club!

The El Morro Garden Club meets most Mondays from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Students choose how they spend their time in the garden. Options include: working in the garden (planting, weeding, harvesting), completing a garden-themed, hands-on activity that enhances their understanding of math, science, reading, writing, or creative arts, or engaging in supervised "free play" utilizing a bin of supplies such as books, journals, magnifying glasses, and art supplies.

Week One

Lesson: Plant Parts Picnic

This week the kids learned and ate parts of the plant: seed (sunflower seeds), root (carrot), stem (celery), leaf (spinach), flower, fruit (apple). They drew and labeled the parts of the plant.

In the Garden: The kids picked the wild mint from the garden and helped prune trees. We have some big pumpkins growing! We also found a lizard.

Week Two: Making Flowers

Activity: In honor of Custodian Appreciation Day, we made each of the custodians a bouquet of tissue paper flowers. The kids really had fun with this and the custodians do so much to help out in the garden! We also played a hula hoop game to learn about teamwork and communication.

In the Garden:  We decided to tidy up the garden. The boys took the trash and recycling to the dumpsters. 

Snacks: Thank you to Ms. Julie and Ms. Alison for bringing snacks!

Week One: Spring Has Sprung

Welcome to Session Three of El Morro's Garden Club! It's so nice to see some students returning to the garden, as well as some new faces.

Week One: Welcome Spring

Activity: For this week's activity, we did tree rubbings. The students took color crayons and white paper and found several tree to rub. They had fun seeing the various designs.

In the Garden: Now that we finally have rabbit-proof fences installed we planted a variety of spring seedlings...cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, etc. We can't wait to watch them grow.

Eating a Rainbow

Week Five:  Nutrition

Lesson: This week in the garden we had a guest speaker, Megan Hartshorne, a nutrition consultant for LBUSD. Megan taught the kids about the variety of produce that is available in the winter, including citrus, root vegetables, and squash. The kids got to try different colored carrots, roasted butternut squash, blood oranges, grapefruit and navel oranges. Next time you're shopping, why not pick up some purple carrots, a pomelo instead of a grapefruit, or make "spaghetti" from squash? It's fun for kids to try different varieties of common foods.

To learn more, check out Agriculture in the Classroom.


Thanks to Alison for bringing organic oatmeal cookies for snack!

Garden: We fed out worms again today. They got rotten cauliflower, carrots, brussels sprouts, and mushrooms. Thanks to Chanel for bring an avocado peel to throw in as well.

Volunteer: We are looking for parents, grandparents, residents to help us build rabbit-proof fencing for the garden. It is critical to stop them from eating everything we plant! Please let me know if you can lend a hand. The workday will take place on a Saturday morning this spring. Date TBD.

Appearance vs. Taste

Week Four: Fruits and Vegetables



Lesson: This week we learned that the way something looks doesn't usually affect the way it tastes. We  compared and contrasted three different varieties of apples according to look, feel, size, shape, color, and sheen. The kids voted on which on they thought would taste best according to its appearance. Most liked the look of the Pink Lady. Then we did a taste test. Most liked the taste of the Granny Smith. I encouraged kids to try different varieties of foods that they normally eat. You never know if you like something until you try it!

Garden: We fed our worms some moldy zucchini, spinach, and bell peppers. We also added some new plants to our Fairy Garden (the girls love this!). They even built a house for the fairies. If anyone wants to donate some fairy furniture, they would be thrilled! We discovered a cute little frog hiding in the garden.

Volunteer: We always encourage parents to join us in the garden. If you have time to lend a hand, please let me know. No green thumb required.

Garden Color Wheel

Week Three: Landscape Design

Lesson: This week we talked about landscape design and how color is used to plan a garden. We looked at the color wheel and the students tried to find various colors growing in the garden. They were amazed at how many colors actually grow in nature...not just green and brown!

Gardening: We planted rainbow radishes and carrots. In a couple of weeks, we should see what colors we get. Forget the traditional orange carrots and red radishes.

Vermicomposting

Week Two: Vermicomposting

Lesson: Worm Hotel
This week we talked about composting with worms. We do have a worm bin in the garden at El Morro. I showed the kids the worms (red wigglers) and taught them what they do and do not eat. We fed them vegetable scraps and gave them a fresh bed of moistened newspaper. EXTRA CREDIT: If your child brings worm food to garden club, he/she will earn a Star Buck!!!

Gardening: We planted an herb garden that included rosemary, dill, parsley, and cilantro.

Reminder: Here are the rules of the garden. Please be sure that you and your child are aware of what is expected of them in the garden.

Plant Growth

We had a great start to session two of the after school El Morro Garden Club. This week we focused on  the rules of the garden and made name tags to get to know each other better.

Week One: Plant Growth

Lesson: Know and Show Sombrero
We made garden hats from recycled newspaper. The kids had fun learning about recycling and designing hats to keep the sun off their face.

Gardening: We did lots of winter planting. We added the following to our garden boxes: Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and cabbage. We also picked some beets from last session.

Reminder: Please send your kids to school on Monday in clothes that can get dirty. Also, if you DO NOT want your child's photo published on the blog, please let me know (sharael@aol.com). Names will not be posted.

Vegetables and Herbs

This was our last day of the first session of garden club. I encourage you to sign your kids up for the next session so that they can see what they planted, grow into full size plants!

Week Seven: Vegetable and Herbs

Lesson: Make Your Pick

We talked about the importance of eating locally grown food and planned what we'd like to plant in our vegetable garden in the fall and spring. 

Gardening: We picked and ate apples from our tree in the garden. We planted cabbage and watered our herb garden.

Thank you miss Julie for bringing pumpkin muffins!!

Potato Block Prints

Week Six: Fruits and Nuts

Lesson: Botanical Wood Prints

Today we made block print made from potatoes. The kids then made their prints into paper cones that could be used as party hats or gift bags.

 

Gardening: We pant lettuce in the garden.

Making Maps in the Garden

Week Five: Landscape and Horticulture

Lesson: Site Map

Today the students got to be Landscape Architects. They drew a site map of the garden to include everything they saw in the garden: garden boxes, trees, fence, water spigot, seating, scarecrow, garden signs, etc. They loved making the maps! They were then able to make changes to their map to add elements that the garden does not currently have...like a butterfly house and a fairy garden. 

Thank you Miss Gena for bringing tea that we picked from the rose hips in the garden. And Miss Julie for bringing Witches Hats cookies!

Gardening: Trim rose bush. Collect rosehips to make tea. Pull weeds. Our beets are doing well.

 

Just for fun: We painted rocks to add some art to our garden.

All About Insects

Week Four: Insects and Diseases

Lesson: Insect Symmetry

We talked about how things are either symmetrical or asymmetrical and used duct tape to divide our bodies in half lengthwise (symmetrical) and then top and bottom (asymmetrical). 

Then we did an art project where the kids drew half of a butterfly on a folded piece of paper and cut it out. They painted one side and folded it together and made a symmetrical design.

Gardening: We planted cauliflower and broccoli and added more herbs to our garden: Thai basil, dill and rosemary.

Mr. Gena brought in a HUGE tomato hornworm for the kids to see! It was quite something.

Week Three: Ecology, Environmental Horticulture

We started the class with a healthy garden snack...fresh bell peppers and carrot sticks.

Lesson: Nature Class Web

This week we learned about how everything is connected and we made a large Web out of yarn.

Gardening: In the garden, we planted carrots, radishes, and turnips.

Making Mud Pies

We are off to a good start of the First Session of the 2012-13 Garden Club!

Week Two: Soils and Water

Garden Lesson: 

Today the students learned about soil. We discussed the three types of soil: 

• Sand
• Silt
• Clay

Then we gathered soil samples from in and around the garden and mixed each type of soil with a bit of water to make mud pies! This allowed the children to get a hands-on experience of how the various types of soil retain water or not. We talked about why it is important for plants to have the right type of soil in order to flourish. Too much sand doesn't hold water. Too much clay holds too much water. Most of all, they loved getting muddy! (Just a reminder, please send your child to school on Monday with clothes that they can get dirty.)

Garden Activity:

Since we renovated the garden over the summer, our boxes are empty. Today we replanted an herb garden with thyme, basil, cilantro, purple basil, and tarragon. It looks and smells wonderful.

Hooray for Wood Chips!

Thanks to a very generous donation from Tierra Verde Industries, we received nearly eight truckloads of wood chips for the El Morro garden. And thanks to the Strike Team Dads, the LARGE pile of wood chips was recently moved from the field into the garden! The chips were spread throughout the garden in-between the boxes. Now the garden looks better than ever and the wood chips will help to control the crab grass.

New Garden Boxes

On Saturday, Aug. 25, the community came together to make upgrades to the El Morro Elementary School garden. Volunteers, including Mayor Jane Egly, assembled six new redwood garden boxes, thanks to a generous grant from the Laguna Beach Garden Club. We attached weed barrier to the bottom of the boxes to hopefully keep out the wild mint. Four truckloads of new soil was donated by Tierra Verde Industries in Irvine. We are off to a fresh start in the garden for the new school year!