Comments for Life Lab

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Aime Sommerfeld

Aime Sommerfeld — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:21:41 +0000

One of my favorites from my Nonna was and still is, "a little dirt never hurt!". I tell it my daughter regularly and she is still learning that a little dirt is relative in regards to fresh carrots…they are better when you at least wipe them off first!

Comment on Cookin’ With Kids by Cidny Whiler

Cidny Whiler — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:54:22 +0000

i love cooking with kids i have been teaching them about healthy choices and also introducing them to sushi lately.

Comment on Rolling into the New Year by MARIANNE

MARIANNE — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:22:12 +0000

I LOOKED AT YOUR ROLLER PARTY PHOTOS FOR GAIL H., BUT DIDN'T SEE HER. GAIL, DO YOU ROLLER SKATE? I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU FOR YEARS..WE MISS YOU.

Comment on 400 Interns and Counting – Working with Interns at The Garden Classroom by Joanne Calkins

Joanne Calkins — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:53:37 +0000

I am an elementary teacher who used Life Lab materials in fourth grade and kindergarten. I loved it and so did the kids. Now I am retired and I am going to help start a Life Lab program at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, NM. I also garden with my grandchild whenever I can get him to come visit me and he loves gardening, even though he lives in LA. Life Lab is so much fun I can't live without it.

Comment on California School Garden Survey by john

john — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 15:26:52 +0000

Great. We look forward to learning about your project.
JOHN

Comment on California School Garden Survey by Elizabeth Dougherty

Elizabeth Dougherty — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:43:02 +0000

We are building a school garden map that also indicated which schools are focused on water management and what their water systems are. It would be great to work together with you on that project. Our School Garden Water Management intern, Sasha Kramer, will contact you.

Comment on Meet Our Chickens by Fiona Alms

Fiona Alms — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:26:54 +0000

Love the web cam. Thanks

Comment on How Do You Say “Rake” In Spanish? – Spanish Language Garden Resources by Angela McGregor Hedstrom

Angela McGregor Hedstrom — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:47:39 +0000

These are great! Thanks for sharing. Cornell Garden-Based Learning recently translated our Seed to Salad curriculum to Spanish. You can access it here: http://blogs.cornell.edu/garden/get-activities/signature-projects/seed-to-salad/

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Abbie

Abbie — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:02:50 +0000

I know I am a bit late but Our Farm Youth Initiative Program this past summer was a great success.The FYI program consists of a two-day nutrition and gardening class for children from Kids Cafe sites in the Washington metropolitan area. FYI education themes change every growing season, with this year's theme centered on every child's favorite thing, snack time!
The first day is a one-hour session on how to read an ingredient list in order to tell if you have a healthy snack. The class uses hands-on demonstrations and activities to keep the kids interested including getting to prepare a snack together in groups. The "edu-tainment" continues the next day with games and activities at Clagett Farm. Students plant, water and harvest fresh vegetables from the pizza and pasta ingredient gardens. Then, they make a healthy pasta salad together with the freshly picked vegetables. They also get to play in the sprinkler and feed crickets to the Clagett chickens.
Every child who goes through the two-day course receives a CSA share, which works out to about 75 pounds of fresh, organic produce for every site who participates in the program. In addition to the CSA shares the students take home with corresponding recipes, participants harvested over 145 pounds of fresh produce.
As one young participant put it, "This is more fun than all you can eat pizza and wing night at my summer camp!" We couldn't agree more.

Comment on Free Garden Science Exploration Units by guillermina campos

guillermina campos — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:42:46 +0000

I'm working to intergrate the life lab in a Montessori system School, I've worked with the Life Lab curriculum in Mexico for 10 years, now i need more ideas to start this project in Canada…Thank you!

Comment on Reuse and Repurpose in the Garden by john

john — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:40:28 +0000

Here are some more great resources on this topic. – John
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2011/08/turn-recyclables-into-garden
Recycled Materials in the Garden from the Green Education Foundation http://bit.ly/ptiOz7

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Shelley Mitchell

Shelley Mitchell — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:24:26 +0000

While teaching TENTH grade biology (in rural Oklahoma, no less), we were near the end of our unit on plants and one of my sophomores got all excited—"I know why we have to cut the grass! I know why we have to put water in flower vases! PLANTS ARE ALIVE!" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Comment on Worm Bin Bingo by positive thinking

positive thinking — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:57:06 +0000

Lots of green goodness on here. Great site!

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Renee Rose

Renee Rose — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:35:59 +0000

After reading Tops, Bottoms and Middles to my 2nd grade class and discussing the way some vegetables grow above the ground and some below, one of my students chimed up that she knew how to make carrots-a "bottom" vegetable into a top vegetable- just plant the seed upside down she announced triumphantly!

Comment on How Do You Say “Rake” In Spanish? – Spanish Language Garden Resources by John Banks

John Banks — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 15:25:35 +0000

Thanks! great resources. The planting guide will be great to share with our parent volunteers

Comment on Our Vision in Action by Rachel Perkins

Rachel Perkins — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:44:11 +0000

Thanks for sharing about CAN I checked out their site, pretty incredible stuff going on. I also want to be an apprentice at the farm. Well some day, dream a little dream…

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Fiona Alms

Fiona Alms — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:34:41 +0000

While looking at our garden full of vegetables at home, my youngest child said "Mamma we won't ever have to go to Safeway again". If only our garden could look like summer all year round!

Comment on Our Vision in Action by Fiona Alms

Fiona Alms — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:22:15 +0000

That is a beautiful place! My kid went on a field trip and loved it and so did I!

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Stephanie Anfinson

Stephanie Anfinson — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 21:18:48 +0000

I helped my school build a "Kokua Garden" because I want our children to grow up loving nature, enjoying and eating the veggies that they have grown, and learning fun and responsibility by "pitching in" and working along side their classmates and family.

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Rebecca Crane

Rebecca Crane — Sat, 28 May 2011 00:41:02 +0000

Today, a third grader exclaimed, "Let's plant pineapples!" I had her look up pineapple on the Plant Selection Guide. It wasn't listed. The other students chimed in on why pineapples would not grow in our Soquel, California climate.

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Pam LaCourse

Pam LaCourse — Fri, 20 May 2011 16:07:25 +0000

While making paper from newspaper, rice water, and materials collected from our garden, a third grade Hearst Elementary student observed, "I've heard that there is art in science. Now I see that there is science in art." I teach in the garden, with the garden, because it is a place where children influence outcomes, make connections, see the world whole.

Comment on Reuse and Repurpose in the Garden by Craig

Craig — Mon, 09 May 2011 03:57:20 +0000

I believe that the site http://www.ecofreek.com will help you on your quest for free usable items in the garden. I found a toilet that I have repurposed in to a planter.

Comment on Garden Classroom Day Camps by Dukan

Dukan — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 21:03:12 +0000

I think your Camps are an incredible idea. I only wish that they'd been around when my son was younger. It is so important to develop our children to value and respect nature and stop them spending so much time on their computers.

Comment on Free Garden Science Exploration Units by john

john — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:26:01 +0000

Holly, Sorry 1st grade came up blank for you. Try it again. I just tried it and it worked. I am glad you find the lessons useful. Check out many more free resources here: http://www.lifelab.org/for-educators/schoolgardens/#lessons

Comment on Free Garden Science Exploration Units by Linda Bartley

Linda Bartley — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:20:37 +0000

Hi. Love your information, thanks. I could open SEC 2,3,4 but not SEC 1 Pondering Plants download thought it was a corrupt file. Any ideas Thanks for your time, Linda

Comment on Free Garden Science Exploration Units by Holly Conn

Holly Conn — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:17:09 +0000

These are great lessons, and such a relief to find that there are some things available for free. Our effort is new and un-funded, as I'm sure many start ups are, so we can't afford to buy curriculum, but we do need things aligned to standards.
1st grade Pondering Plants is blank.

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Beth Ann Thornhill

Beth Ann Thornhill — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 04:42:02 +0000

We had just started our 1st school garden and it was time to count and pick tomatoes. After my demonstration I motioned for one student to pick a cherry tomato off the plant and pop it in his mouth-to which he replied, "I can eat this?". He has only seen them grouped together in a conical plastic shape at the local grocery store!

Comment on Reuse and Repurpose in the Garden by CM

CM — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:04:45 +0000

Our School Garden is inspired by almost all re-use. It is much easier to ask people to donate what they were going to throw out ! Lots of fun and inspiration. We can't wait to read the book. GardenGreenAngels.com

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Jessica Ridgeway

Jessica Ridgeway — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 21:44:28 +0000

Quote by Santa Cruz Montessori Middle School students about their studies at Live Earth Farm. "Field Studies is all about being unafraid to become grimy and healthily coated in dirt, and performing the tasks necessary to sustain the crops and animals of the farm. Field studies generally works the hardest, whether it be double-digging crops or building a cob oven, it seems that field studies never gets a chance to catch its breath. The students participating in field studies have an allotted chore, (tending to the chickens, goats, greenhouse, sheep, etc.) which is always their first task of the day. Overall, there is no way one could learn about how a farm works without working in with field studies."

Comment on California School Garden Survey by Frederique Lavoipierre

Frederique Lavoipierre — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 01:42:08 +0000

Fifteen years ago, I established a garden at my son';s elementary school, which I ran for 4 years. School gardens used to be for k-5 students back then. As he entered middle school, I worked to include those students. Back then, few middle schools had gardens. Then he entered high school. You know it, most high schools did not have gardens. It is heartening to see how many of them are now incorporating gardens. But those high school students are graduating and going to college now. When will we expand our vision to include university gardens as school gardens? I coordinate a garden at Sonoma State University, and found your survey frustrating to complete (and have probably provide a number of outliers to your poor statistician! – I could not even enter the number of students we have (over 8000) but had to settle with entering 800.) We have a pre-school on campus that participates in the garden, and a high school on campus and another next door that I would like to involve. Do you want to talk about the next step? I'd be happy to chat!

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Sarah O'Leary

Sarah O'Leary — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:59:06 +0000

I was doing the Seed Sort lesson with my kindergartners. Lots of kids sorted by color, some by size or shape. When I came to Adour, she had very unusual groupings. She explained them all to me in detail, "These are the seeds that my grandma uses when she makes rice and peas; these are the things that goes into the soup she makes; these ones come from fruit I like, and these ones are just seeds!"
Garden-based education is the best because it has the power to surprise and amaze–and allow us to see prior knowledge our students have that we might never have uncovered.

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Beth Hatch

Beth Hatch — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:14:42 +0000

I was told by a second grader "even though soil is dirty, it grows my favorite vegetable : CARROTS!"

Comment on Top Ten Contest by Gina Stine

Gina Stine — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:39:33 +0000

My daughter told me "Mom, I don't eat anything that comes from the dirt!"

Comment on Managing an Effective Outdoor Classroom by Hong Parkman

Hong Parkman — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:51:43 +0000

This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!!!

Comment on Chard, Eat It! by Gina Stine

Gina Stine — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:18:52 +0000

Here is a short simple video I found on harvesting chard http://schoolgardenweekly.com/video/harvesting-swiss-chard

Comment on California School Garden Survey by Tracy De Wit

Tracy De Wit — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:01:08 +0000

Thank you.

Comment on 1982 ~ The Growing Classroom: Garden-Based Science and Nutrition Curriculum by food nutrition

food nutrition — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 04:19:12 +0000

This is a neat calorie counter to track what you eat. http://www.fastfood.com/nutrition/

Comment on California School Garden Survey by Trish Stone-Damen

Trish Stone-Damen — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:03:15 +0000

One thing I noticed was that the first identifying question did not provide the option of garden educator or non school staff garden educator, etc. We forwarded the survey to our 12 Garden Educator Managers (GEMs) to complete one for each of their 2 schools. I assume they will select other. I just thought if you wanted more detailed info Garden Educator or non school staff garden educator would be helpful. Maybe not necessary but if you think it would, maybe revise for next time.
Best,
Trish

Comment on The Garden, A Master Teacher – An Essay by haglöfs ryggsäck

haglöfs ryggsäck — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 04:53:31 +0000

Very interesting and useful information, thanks!

Comment on Reuse and Repurpose in the Garden by john

john — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:52:47 +0000

Betsy, thanks for sharing, yes, feel free to link to us.
John – Life Lab