Rio Vista Elementary School

Hello Garden Friends, The last couple of weeks have been pretty centered around how soil helps us grow food. This week I thought I would show them how soil can give us more! Like shelter for example! The lesson started with a question. Why do people build houses out of sticks instead of bricks? Especially…

Hello Garden friends, Today was the second week of garden class at Rio Vista. That means we got to progress beyond the introduction and rules and move into more fun learning activities! First we started by clearing out some of the dry corn so that we could save some seeds. In doing so we exposed…

Hello Garden Friends, Can anyone think of a better way to spend a Wednesday than to dig up some soil, plant some asparagus root stock, and then watch a chicken eat some bolting lettuce. I certainly couldn’t think of a better springtime activity. Planting asparagus in the ground has been something I have been wanting…

Hello Garden Friends, Last Wednesday we celebrated Dr. Suess’ birthday by reading in the garden. With several guest readers, including  LAUSD Superintendant Michelle King, our garden time had an unusual start. To the left is a picture of several of our guests with the children. After the readers left, normal garden time resumed and I introduced the…

Hello Garden Friends, Today was a unique day in the history of Rio Vista’s Hidden Garden. Today we introduced the students to a chicken! We centered the class by reminding them about respect and empathy. “Do any of you get stage fright when you are in front of lots of people and asked to perform?…

Hello Garden Friends, In tandem with the mud brick post, teaching the children how to make their own seedlings has been a process a few weeks in the making. I can’t tell you how many lessons I have gotten out of our new seedling station.. oh wait, I can – in this blog post! Our first…

Hello Garden Friends, Long time to see! Well, schools back and the garden is returning in style – with a new seedling station! Last Wednesday we talked about the seasons.. and different seeds have a preferred time to sleep in the soil. The end of summer is tricky. Will it be hot? Will it start…

A very special thank to IPG Mediabrands and their internal summer intern program. Before Before After After Thank you IPG Mediabrands!! The garden looks amazing with your help!!

Hello Garden Friends, It’s beginning to look a lot like summer! With giant squashes and zucchinis bursting forth from the beds, fresh potatoes coming out of the soil, and the scent of tomato leaves wafting in the air. Oh.. the simple things. Last week I shared these simple joys with the students while wishing them…

Hello Garden Friends, This week at Rio Vista we made our special garden fossil tortillas. Concluding the year with a nice talk about what fossils tell us about ourselves and how we are all related. While the kids had their tortillas cooking on the cast iron I had them smash some popcorn kernels so the kids…

Hello Garden Friends, Last Wednesday at Rio Vista we made corn tortillas! With the younger students I focused specifically on how we turn corn kernels into flour. We sat in a circle and passed the mortar and pestle around while I told stories of how communities used to grind wheat, rice, and corn grains into flour…

Hello Garden Friends, Today at Rio Vista we made edible fossils out of corn flour. This gluten free geology lesson started out with a chat about how we are all brothers and sisters – all coming from a common ancestor. Some have green eyes, some have black hair, some are born with six toes! The…

Hello Garden Friends, This week at Rio Vista we played with bugs. I had a bunch of younger students and I really wanted them to conquer their fears of dirt and creepy crawly things. So, we had total immersion. There was no escaping the sweet smell of compost or the tingle of a pillbug on…

Hello Garden Friends, Last week at Rio Vista we fed two birds with one scone, weeded the garden and fed our compost. With Spring comes the growth of all kinds of unwanted plants. So, I thought the kids could help me do some of the work 🙂 Above you can see the students watering the…

Hello Garden Friends, This week we had the opportunity to see all different kinds of plant parts. carrots gave us roots, kholrabi gave us stems, lettuce gave us leaves, brocolli gave us flowers, lemon tree gave us fruits, and our wheat gave us seeds! Spring gives us such an amazing opportunity to showcase life at its…

Hello Garden Friends, Last Wednesday, Before weeding, composting, and planting our three sisters garden I told the kids a story. See if you can figure out what the days lesson was about! Once upon a time there was a king who was in charge of a magical kingdom that grew food for the entire world.…

Hello Garden Friends, This week at Rio Vista we continued to watch and observe the lady bugs transformations from egg, through the larval and pupal stages, to adulthood. Normally, I have a strict rule about touching insects in the garden. Can you imagine how the bugs feel – having 50+ strangers pick you up each…

Hello garden friends, Last Wednesday at Rio Vista we took a moment to stop and smell the flowers, watch the ladybugs, eat some citrus and play a game. What game you ask? Ladybug, aphid, plant freeze tag of course! Before the game I make sure that the students see all the different life cycle stages…

Hello Garden Friends! This Wednesday was the wonderful Read-Across-America event. The garden was alive with the sounds of birds, bees, and grown ups passing on a love of literacy through storytelling. After story time was over, I sang the students a song about farmers markets, saving seeds, and the joys of sharing good food with a…

Hello Garden Friends, Doing my best to channel Morpheus from ‘The Matrix’, I presented the 4th graders with 2 choices last Wednesday. The blue pill was a sugary donut hole – a choice that represented the primitive pleasure seeking mind. Students who chose the donut were blissfully ignorant of the health effects and environmental impacts…

Hello Garden Friends, Last Wednesday at Rio Vista we talked about warm and cold season veggies and the importance of eating locally in an age where food is getting expensive and the air is getting polluted. Cold season veggies usually grow under ground or are some sort of leafy green. Warm season veggies are usually…

Hello Garden Friends, The moral of Wednesday’s lesson: plants provide. In fact, we can get everything we need from the earth by taking care of the soil and cultivating the right plants! Yesterday’s lesson started by encouraging the students to think of all the things that plants give us. Food and air came out first.…

Hello Garden Friends, This Wednesday at Rio Vista, the students and I spiced up our greens tasting activity from last week. I brought some purple cabbage and carrots to shred and use as a filler in our ‘Green Burritos’. After rolling the filler up in our freshly harvested salad greens we dipped them in an…

Rio Vista Elementary School will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of their new Hidden Garden. The school has been working with the nonprofit EnrichLA, along with parents and volunteers, to revitalize the campus space. Sponsors and community members have been invited to the celebration. Who:              …

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Do Good Bus, UCLA CSC, UCLA Chi Omega, Rio Vista Elementary parents and students and EnrichLA volunteers for helping us with building our fourth new garden of 2015! Our volunteers beautifully made a three bin compost system, garden beds and benches. They did an amazing…