Can't join us? Please consider supporting Life Lab. Go to www.lifelab.org/donate.
Please reserve a seat here or by calling 831.459.3833
RSVP soon– garden seating is limited.
We look forward to seeing you!
View photos and highlights from our 2011 Benefit Brunch… [Read More →]
Santa Cruz, California
Rolling interviews starting May 15th, 2012
Position Description: FoodWhat is seeking to add a third member to our team with a primary focus on development and capacity building. Program support and building relationships with our youth will also be a key component to this work. FoodWhat was founded in 2007, serving five youth our first year. This year we had more … [Read More →]
Thursday, May 17 - New Offering Science Inquiry in the Garden
Saturday, May 19 - Sowing the Seeds of Wonder: Discovering the Garden in Early Childhood Education
Saturday – Sunday, August 18-19 - The Growing Classroom: Intro to Garden-Based Learning
If you would like to be notified when we add new workshop dates, please join our email list… [Read More →]
More info. at www.lifelab.org/camp… [Read More →]
Garden Tips and Recipe
Make a Human Sundial
Edible Crop Planning
Recipe – Kale Salad
Program Updates
The Book of Garden Projects for Kids
Update on the California School Garden Training Program
In the Community Spotlight
Youth Food Bill of Rights
What We Have Been Doing Since Our Last Newsletter
Meet Our Garden Educator – Amy Carlson
Upcoming Events
Spring and Summer Garden … [Read More →]
The human sundial in our garden never fails to fascinate children and adults alike. To use it a person stands on the appropriate month marked on the ground and their shadow is cast on a numbered marker that tells the time. A human sundial or analemmatic sundial differs from a common sundial in that the gnomon, which casts the shadow, is not angled. The gnomon (a person) in a human sundial … [Read More →]
The last two days at the Garden Classroom have been buzzing. Today we shook out two hives that came in via mail order. We initiated the observational hive and a normal hive. The day before a hive landed in a rosemary bush.
Shaking in the Observation Hive
Swarm Has Landed
On Sunday April 26th The Slow Coast Green Fondo 56 mile fundraising ride will raise funds for Food What?!.
Hop on your bike and ride for Food What! The bike ride will take you through some of the most beautiful spots in Santa Cruz County. At the end of the ride enjoy a three course Slow Food Dinner with wine!
Not ready to ride? You can choose to support a … [Read More →]
The GoodTimes recognized the work of Life Lab's Education Director Whitney Cohen.
The Community Spotlight:
"Like so many adults, I assumed for many years that kids didn't like vegetables," recalls Whitney Cohen. "As it turns out, this myth is just dead wrong." As the Education Director for local nonprofit, Life Lab, since 2007, Cohen has been using knowledge of the universal love of fresh produce as a teaching tool for
You don't want to miss our Winter 2012 Newsletter.
Garden Tips and Lessons
Lesson – Six Seed Trail Mix
Making Garden Signs – Tips and Photos
Lesson Packet – Feeling Fine With Fresh Foods
Recipe – Winter Squash Teacakes
Program Updates
2011 Program Highlights
Announcing the California School Garden Training Program
Sharing Adventures With Others
"Food, What?!" Photo-of-the-Month – Sign Up
Meet Our Outreach Director – … [Read More →]
Life Lab, along with organizational partners from the UC Davis Childrens' Garden Program and the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego, will train 1,500 educators, volunteers, parents and school garden support professionals throughout the state of California!
From 2012 – Spring 2014 we will:
– Conduct 21 free workshops for school garden teams working to create or enhance school gardens.
- -Lead 12 train the trainers workshops for school … [Read More →]
Annuals plants go from a planted seed to producing a seed within a year. They complete their whole lifecycle in one year or season. Annual plants make up most of our vegetable crops, and many of them can be harvested within 2 to 3 months after sowing. (Bi-annual plants are simliar to annuals but they may live up to two years before producing seeds and coming … [Read More →]
.jpg)
Feeling Fine With Fresh Foods
Lesson packet from our Feeling Fine with Fresh Foods Field Trip.
Our winter field trip helps students make the important connection between their health and the foods they choose. Classes explore our Garden Classroom and the UCSC Farm, and activities prepare students to make informed decisions about what they eat.
Download the pre/post visit lesson packet (25 pages) for 3rd-5th grades which includes:
In the Life Lab Garden Classroom, we consider a good sign to be one that
you don't have to repair year after year … unless, of course, you want
sign making to be a project for your students year after year.
By labeling the plants in their garden, kids learn about them and make
the connections between the foods they eat and the plants growing
in the garden. Adults also … [Read More →]
In 1996 Life Lab was a 17 year old organization. Now at the ripe old age of 33 it is fun to look back at what we were sharing during our wild teen years.
Really not much has changed. Well, except the hairdos, computers and a few other things, but all in all school gardens were based on the same concepts as today. Sun, soil, water and air mixed with … [Read More →]
It has been another successful season of growth, learning and wonder for Life Lab and the thousands of kids, youth, families, teachers and schools we serve. Hear what our program participants had to say about our work in in our 2011 Highlights flier.
2011 by the numbers:
A great extension to a seed study lesson. Make a trail mix of edible seeds while students practice math skills. While eating your trail mix discuss all the ways we eat seeds and grains. Download seed cards and lesson.… [Read More →]
 |
| Life Lab Holiday Roller Party |
We are looking forward to a new year of bringing learning to life in a garden.
As we get ready to roll we invite you to take a look at our staff holiday party pics. The Santa Cruz Roller Palladium hosted our mini-gala. Not quite like most staff holiday parties, but we sure had fun!… [Read More →]
Our "Food, What?!" Youth Program was selected as one of four programs in the Good Times Community Fund.
We have the goal to raise $12,500 through the Good Times Community Fund. Right now, every dollar donated will be matched. Please Consider a Year-End Donation to Keep FoodWhat Going and Growing in 2012! Every bit counts–from $10 to $10,000–each contribution will keep us strong and supports local youth! 
View the … [Read More →]
Life Lab partnered with Shared Adventures, a local nonprofit which organizes recreation activities for people with special needs, to host an inclusive Farm-to-Fork Field Trip for 14 adults and 2 children from the special needs community. View the photos. Despite mobility limitations, our field trip participants explored the CASFS Farm and harvested a medley of fruits and vegetables to taste as they identified edible plant parts. One culinary … [Read More →]
Life Lab's Online Auction Closed on November 20th. Thanks to those who supported us.
www.lifelab.org/auction
Your auction purchases will help Life Lab change the lives of kids and teens through farm- and garden-based education and empowerment programs.
Auction … [Read More →]
It is not often that we have graduate level interns, who have classroom experience, and are proficient with a video camera and editing. We lucked out! Callia Wolfe shares a bit about her path to finding us and her experience at the Garden Classroom. Callia writes….
I have heard it called many things: destiny, kismet, serendipity. All terms referring to the moment when your path opens, you can feel a … [Read More →]
Recently, my friend who has become the "garden parent" for her son's school lamented to me, "I know how to garden, but what am I going to do with 10 kindergarteners in the garden?" There is a world of difference between gardening in your yard and gardening with a class of kids. Although not essential, gardening skills help, but having lesson plans and ideas about outdoor classroom management can create … [Read More →]
The hardest working staff at the Garden Classroom are our hens. Us humans go home at the end of the day and these girls, and one boy, watch over the garden 24/7, 365 days a year. During the day you can check in on them at their water dish web cam. You might be lucky enough to see just how cute a drinking chicken can be.
Here is the … [Read More →]
We like our red worms that compost for us at the Garden Classroom. Here are some resources for you to learn and teach about red worms.
The Worm Guide: Vermicomposting Guide for Teachers From California Waste Management Board
Even More from CalRecycle
Our Worms Signs are a nice addition to your compost area
Learn to compost with worms. Our How to Compost with … [Read More →]
Tips for running an internship program
Long ago, before the time of higher education, SAT’s and grueling college applications, we would instead dedicate ourselves to a mentor. Apprenticeships took the place of school, giving us a career path guided by another person skilled in the trade that we chose to follow. Todays apprenticeship type experiences often take the form of what we refer to as internships.
A … [Read More →]
Sharon Danks, author of Asphalt to Ecosystems – Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformations, shares a vision of creating outdoor learning spaces as places of beauty and inspiration for natural interactions. From her travels around the world documenting stellar examples of schoolyard greening and her experience as an Environmental Planner, Sharon provide ideas and resources for anyone interested in creating change on a school campus or outdoor community space. Her book highlights ecological teaching … [Read More →]
Many teachers break large groups of students into smaller groups in order to facilitate meaningful learning opportunities in the garden. By designing some activities that a small, supervised group of students can accomplish independently, teachers are able to divide their classes and engage small groups, one at a time, in in-depth scientific investigations while other students experience a more self-directed approach to learning. Toward this end, over the years we … [Read More →]
 |
| Day Camps 2011 Click to View Album |
Our summer day camps are coming to a close. Foggy mornings and sunny afternoons have framed great days of exploration, harvest, cooking, crafts, farm chores, and fresh-fruit-pop-sucking-story-time.
Two chicks were born during camp, one is a unique Frizzle chick! Only about 1/4 of Frizzle offspring actually get the curly frizzled feathers and this chick is fantasically frizzled.
Expanded sessions of Garden Sprouts were … [Read More →]
Over the years we have been asked, "Do you have any garden-based education resources in Spanish?"
Here's a nice collection of resources for teaching and working in school and community gardens with Spanish speakers:
The Life Lab Science K-5 Curriculum is a garden-based science curriculum which is in written in English with Spanish language handouts, parent letters, and lab pages. It is the most thorough resource that we have seen … [Read More →]
Our summer youth program, "Food, What?!" hosted 100+ visitors for our annual youth day. The July Photo-of-the-Month features shots from the event.
Check out more "Food, What?!" Photo-of-the-Months… [Read More →]
When we started planning the Garden Classroom, a bit over ten years ago, we envisioned days like this one. We have many days like this throughout the year, but on May 20th I kept my camera on hand as I worked with a group of community leaders from Mexico and Central America. The shots below are what I caught going on around us as we shared lessons, harvested, and … [Read More →]
Few spaces still open. Come join us at Life Lab for an exciting season of all-new Garden Day Camps at the Life Lab Garden Classroom
New this year at camp
Visit our camp page to learn more… [Read More →]
The Life Lab Garden Classroom and UCSC Farm played host to hundreds of Santa Cruz Teens during the "Food, What?!" Strawberry Blast. The local press was there to cover the event:
Santa Cruz Weekly Strawberry Blast An Eye-Opener for Students had this to say:
Hosted by Life Lab’s youth empowerment group, Food, What?!, the fourth annual Strawberry Blast took 300 middle and high school students from Santa Cruz County on
Create edible art or a garden cracker with humus "soil" and veggie piece "plants". We have used this lesson as an edible art activity, to teach about plant parts, and to eat the rainbow of colors in the garden. Download the lesson and have fun. View a video of a parent volunteer teaching this lesson in a third grade class. … [Read More →]
The Santa Cruz Education Foundation's Eddy Wellness Award was presented to Food, What on May 3, 2011. The Eddy Awards recognize excellence in education. Congrats to our five year old program that has gone from serving 5 kids in 2007 to 54 students this year!
“We believe in the power of youth – that young people have a voice and that food is the perfect vehicle to begin that journey.
Santa Cruz City Council Member David Terrazas surprised us all at our May Day Benefit Brunch by declaring the day Garden Classroom Day in the City of Santa Cruz. The resolution was officially proclaimed at the May 10 city council meeting. View the Mayor's Proclamation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The City of Santa Cruz Officially Proclaims May 1 to be Garden Classroom Day in Honor of Life Lab Science Program’s Onsite … [Read More →]
Research on nutrition education and cooking activities with kids consistently point to positive and lasting affects on their perception of food. After being involved with the creation of healthy recipes, kids routinely show an inclination for choosing and enjoying fruits and vegetables. There is even more evidence of this when cooking is paired with garden based education. The full circle really hits home when a child is involved with a … [Read More →]
.jpg)
Like Us
Hear Us Tweet
Channel