Makin’ Compost at Luther Burbank

Our first round of compost is coming through and the kids helped filter it with our compost tumbler to remove sticks and large clumps. We were able to fill a large wheelbarrow and have more to do next time.
The compost is made of food scraps from nearby restaurant Room Forty http://www.roomforty.com , mixed with clippings from the school garden.
The kids have learned about the proportions of Browns (high carbon materials) and greens (high nitrogen materials) and have turned and seen the compost break down all along the way. This compost will be used to amend the soil. It’s great for the veggies!!
Our first round of compost is coming through and the kids helped filter it with our compost tumbler to remove sticks and large clumps. We were able to fill a large wheelbarrow and have more to do next time.
The compost is made of food scraps from nearby restaurant Room Forty http://www.roomforty.com , mixed with clippings from the school garden.
The kids have learned about the proportions of Browns (high carbon materials) and greens (high nitrogen materials) and have turned and seen the compost break down all along the way. This compost will be used to amend the soil. It’s great for the veggies!!
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.