Special needs garden at Marshall High School thanks to the help of Bain & Company volunteers!
We want to see every child grow! We want to see them express themselves and learn new concepts to help make the world a better place. Enrich LA is all about growing. From growing tasty foods for eating, to expanding our curriculum and outreach to Los Angeles’ diverse communities. We are proud of the work we have accomplished for LAUSD schools, and we are looking forward to taking on new roles within our organization. Enrich LA is currently wishing to expand our gardening curriculum to better integrate special needs pedagogy. Statistically, more than a million children in California live with an ongoing health problem, whether it be – emotional, physical, or developmental. These impediments make it challenging for children with special needs to have the same experiences with education that their peers, without these disadvantages, possess. These experiences can consist of physical activities, time to interact with their peers beyond a traditional classroom environment, and learning LAUSD curriculum that requires one to make independent choices. Enrich LA would like to incorporate all students, regardless of special needs, into our school gardens and use a curriculum that best helps them understand the joys of gardening and inspires their love of nature and respect for our Earth.
We want to give special thanks to all the volunteers from Bain & Company who helped us build our special needs garden at Marshall High School. Despite the sweltering summer heat, these volunteers were enthusiastic and hard working! We look forward to building more special needs gardens and expanding our Garden Ranger Program!
We want to see every child grow! We want to see them express themselves and learn new concepts to help make the world a better place. Enrich LA is all about growing. From growing tasty foods for eating, to expanding our curriculum and outreach to Los Angeles’ diverse communities. We are proud of the work we have accomplished for LAUSD schools, and we are looking forward to taking on new roles within our organization. Enrich LA is currently wishing to expand our gardening curriculum to better integrate special needs pedagogy. Statistically, more than a million children in California live with an ongoing health problem, whether it be – emotional, physical, or developmental. These impediments make it challenging for children with special needs to have the same experiences with education that their peers, without these disadvantages, possess. These experiences can consist of physical activities, time to interact with their peers beyond a traditional classroom environment, and learning LAUSD curriculum that requires one to make independent choices. Enrich LA would like to incorporate all students, regardless of special needs, into our school gardens and use a curriculum that best helps them understand the joys of gardening and inspires their love of nature and respect for our Earth.
We want to give special thanks to all the volunteers from Bain & Company who helped us build our special needs garden at Marshall High School. Despite the sweltering summer heat, these volunteers were enthusiastic and hard working! We look forward to building more special needs gardens and expanding our Garden Ranger Program!
Bruschetta at Kingsley
Bruschetta is an antipasto (starter dish) from Italy consisting of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil and salt. The wonderful kids and I at Kingsley Elementary made this classic dish today. Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil Recipe Prep time: 15 minutesCook time: 20 minutesYield: Makes 24 small slices, serves 6-10 as an…
A plant is what?!
When teaching about gardening, it is impossible to engage students if they don’t know what part of a plant I am talking about! For this lesson, I covered the parts of a plant. I discussed the roots, stem, leaves, fruit and flowers. I brought in a dug up mallow plant (to show roots, stem, leaves),…
Beets are rad(ish)!
Beets are rad(ish)! This year, Valentine’s Day was full of nostalgic excitement, as I remembered my days of elementary school, full of sugary candy and a “holiday”. This was my first year teaching on Valentines Day, and I wanted to share something special with the students of 2nd Street Elementary. I decided to do a…
That makes a plant?!
For this lesson, I planned to cover plant reproduction via parts of a flower. This was the first lesson that required thinking on my toes and adapting my plan (something that I am quickly learning). I drew out a picture and went over the descriptions. The pre-K and 2nd graders were lost and distracted. They…
Love Nature
Valentines Day at Gardener School Love Nature. We showed our love for nature at Gardener School. The students were allowed to pick the most interesting leaf in the garden from any place in the garden and they had to write something to it like a poem or a love letter. Ms. Thaviphone class created leaf…
Gardener School – Composting
2nd-grade class: We visited the three compost bins in the garden. Finding Mr. Brown carbon examples and Mr. Green Nitrogen examples to put in the bins. They gathered brown leaves from the ground and picked three things to identify which it was carbon or nitrogen. We also looked at a compost thermometer, talking about the…
Pollination at Gardener Street Elementary School
Talk to the class about pollination today. The kids identified the stamen and pollen on the flowers in the garden. They also took herbs from the garden lemon balm, mint, lavender, sage. They also identified the pollen on some herb plants.
Van Ness Deep in the Dirt
We cleaned up the beds and Ms. Chelsea and Udie pulled weeds together. The students in the VI part of Vaness got their hands deep in the dirt. Pulling out weeds from the beds especially in areas where we have overgrown vegetation. We have eaten a lot of Romain lettuce with Hummus because the kids…
Compost Learning at Van Ness School
New group of kids learning about compost. We took a poll as to what [a cup of worm castings] worm poop was just by looking, touching and smelling the worm castings. The students really were interested in what they could put in the Darth Vader like compost bin
Van Ness School making seed bombs with the VI kids
This was a great exercise for the kids especially Udie. Chelsea the OT specialist at Vanes and I partner to play with our students at Vaness. Udie also helped to crush roasted eggshells for the compost.