T
his year marks the 10th year of programming at the Life Lab Garden Classroom. Our unique educational center has provided innovative programming for thousands of kids and for garden-based learning advocates around the world!
As part of our tenth anniversary we are asking you to help create the Top Ten of Farm or Garden-based education.
If your contribution is selected for our top ten list you will win a copy of our … [Read More →]
For 32 years, Life Lab has been teaching people to care for themselves, each other and the natural world through farm and garden-based programs.
Please join us for a farm fresh brunch celebrating the work we do.
Learn more and Register
… [Read More →]
Farm and Garden Educator Resources that were shared during the "On the farm and in the garden educators" bus tour.2011 Eco-Farm Bus Tour visited Cesar Chavez Middle School in Watsonville, De LaVeaga School in Santa Cruz, The Life Lab Garden Classroom on the UCSC Farm, and Carmel River School in Carmel. Read about the schools
2010 Eco-Farm Bus Tour rolled straight into a stormy day of downpours and tornado … [Read More →]
Santa Cruz NEXT is committed to providing a fun, hip and diverse environment to discuss issues affecting the next generation of our community. They highlight and promote access to and development of economic, social and cultural opportunities, and are a catalyst for connecting Santa Cruz’s next generation of residents to the community at large.
Food, What Director, Doron Comechero was one of four awarded the 2011 NEXTie awards for people … [Read More →]
Life Lab, in collaboration with the California School Garden Network, conducted a 2011 survey of California School Gardens. The information gathered from this survey will help those that are creating and supporting school garden projects across the state and nation.
Thanks to the 587 respondents of this survey and to UC Santa Cruz Senior Intern Gamai Gregory for taking on this project.
View survey summary prepared by UCSC Senior Intern … [Read More →]
In the December 15th cover story "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of the GoodTimes, Food, What youth participant Able John was highlighted along with 5 other inspiring youth. Able states:
“I remember being really small and not liking vegetables very much, but maybe I didn’t like them because I never had them,” Abel says. “It’s really important that low-income families and poor neighborhoods can have easily accessible organic food.” He … [Read More →]
Not only is chard a delicious and amazingly healthy addition to any dish, as evident in all of the following recipes, it is also easy to grow in most regions. A great source for tips in starting your very own chard patch can be found at Organic Gardening. The history of chard and its discovery also offers some surprisingly compelling reading material, as told by one of our iconic … [Read More →]
Save money, save your landfill, and teach conservation by reusing materials in your garden. Next time you're off to buy something at the garden center first look around to see what else you have that might do the trick.
Check out these resources for creative ideas.
This bike fork tool holder is part of Life Lab's Creative Creations photo album which shows off reuse in the garden as well as … [Read More →]
Spring 2011 professional development workshops.
Sowing the Seeds of Wonder: Discovering the Garden in Early Childhood Education – March 5, 2011. $150
Plant It, Grow It, Eat It: Garden-Enhanced Nutrition Education – March 11, 2011. $150
The Growing Classroom: An Introduction to Garden-Based Learning – March 31 – April 1, 2011. $300
Attend a workshop at our spectacular Garden Classroom in Santa Cruz, or have us … [Read More →]
A nice article from The GoodTimes 11.2.2010
The Youth Crew at Food, What?! mixes farming-based curriculum with personal, business, community and networking skills
Since 1979 Santa Cruz’s nonprofit Life Lab organization has built a fine boutique of garden-based curricula. Children around the country learn hands-on science in the fresh air of their school gardens. At the Garden Classroom at UC Santa Cruz, kids learn about nature, weather, and decomposition, while … [Read More →]
Life Lab’s Language Acquisition and Science Education in Rural Schools (LASERS) program showed the positive links between language development and hands-on science using the Life Lab Science curriculum.
This theme was recently revisited by the National Gardening Associations Kidsgardening.com newsletter. View the newsletter to learn how educators use the garden to enhance English Language Learning.
Learn more about LASERS from these past posts:
Life Lab's Annual Benefit was so great this year that the local media came to make a video of it:-)
Greg Archer of the GoodTimes finds out what Life Lab is all about.
Life Lab is Celebrating 31 Years!
Join us for our Annual Benefit Event: A Taste of the Harvest
Life Lab Science Program invites you to discover the flavors of the season with delicious hors d’oeuvres prepared by Chef Jon Dickinson of Café Cruz.… [Read More →]
Many folks have asked us for our chicken coop design. Here it is as a four page PDF(1.4mb).
This coop is:
Thanks … [Read More →]
Materials:
How to play:
Pass out bingo cards to each child or pair of children.
Place one large scoop of worm bin content on a piece of newspaper and place on a … [Read More →]
"Food,What?!" Strawberry Youth Blast coverage from the Santa Cruz Sentinel — All things strawberry were the focus at the UCSC Farm and Garden Wednesday, as 300 county high and middle school students joined volunteers from Food, What?! for the 2010 Strawberry Blast.
Teenagers descended on the farm to celebrate the seasonal fruit. They harvested and tasted organic strawberries, made their own smoothies and ate fresh strawberry pies. But strawberries were … [Read More →]
If you haven't already it is time to start planting for your school harvest.. Planting for a school time harvest takes a bit more planning so that you time your harvests while school is still in session.
Generally there are a few harvest windows during the school year:
101 Ways to Connect Learning to the GardenGardening Project Map created by Vicki Greenhouse for her 2nd & 3rd grade students in Lincoln, Vermont.
Science Skills
Science Related Activities
Social Studies
Language Arts Expressive Language
Created with lessons from the K-5 Life Lab Science Curriculum and The Growing Classroom our Science Exploration Units are garden themed and aligned to the California State Science Standards.
These units have 6 lessons each and are available as a PDF download or purchased as a set of four from our store
Download the following units:
- 1st Grade – Pondering Plants
- 2nd Grade – Soil Stories
- 3rd Grade – Garden
Our two new publications will help get families and wee-ones exploring the garden!
Sowing the Seeds of Wonder – Discovering the Garden in Early Childhood Education
Through hands-on activities preschool-age children will engage all of their senses as they discover the joys of gardening. Sowing the Seeds of Wonder is an educator guidebook that provides insight and lessons for educators to help students develop a lifelong connection to the outdoors. Lessons guide young students to … [Read More →]
Full Circle Farm is an 11-acre organic, educational farm that puts fresh food in Santa Clara Unified School District cafeterias while helping local youth experience success while they develop job and life skills through the growing, harvesting and marketing of fruit & vegetable crops. Learn more at http://www.fullcirclesunnyvale.org/… [Read More →]
Citysprouts helps a Cambridge, MA school district create learning gardens in 12 schoolyards, and supports teachers’ use of the gardens as a direct extension of their classroom teaching. During the 2008-2009 school year they documented 73% of classroom teachers using the garden at least once. Learn more at www.citysprouts.org
Learn more about regional support networks for school gardens. … [Read More →]
At the Life Lab Garden Classroom
on the UC Santa Cruz Farm
Sowing the Seeds of Wonder: Discovering the Garden in Early Childhood Education
Back Pocket Garden Activities (View all ten activities from this player, click the "next" arrow to advance through the videos)
The following videos demonstrate what we, here at Life Lab, refer to as "back pocket activities." These are all quick, easy, and highly engaging activities that require minimal preparation. We suggest always having one or more of these activities ready to go (or "in your back pocket") in case your … [Read More →]
Eco Company TV created this video on Life Lab’s Spring Afterschool Internship. It aired across the nation on over 100 TV stations. Check out more at Eco Company http://www.eco-company.tv/tvshow/episode-102-organic-growing
More on “Food,What?!”… [Read More →]
In our responses to the editor of The Atlantic we ask that they publish The Garden, A Master Teacher written by a Life Lab Camp parent Kristen Berhan.
Kristen writes:
One of the complex questions I have been living is the question of education. This is a question that has grown within me from my own education in the public school system and now ripens as I have the
The Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden (CSYSG) Video Series is a part of the CSYSG Training Model. This workshop has been given to over a thousand educators in California and it includes the California School Garden Network's book Gardens for Learning, participant handouts, and trainer outlines.
These resources can used for those training others on starting school gardens or by those wanting to learn basic garden skills.
View the … [Read More →]
Life Lab's Executive Director Gail Harlamoff was recently interviewed for the following cover story of the GoodTimes.
Top of the Class: Five UC Santa Cruz innovators break the creative mold with projects destined to make a positive difference
…Harlamoff dedicates herself to teaching people how to garden. A former fifth-grade science teacher, Harlamoff became disillusioned with the test- and textbook-driven method of teaching science. That all changed after her … [Read More →]
Our 30th year of brining learning to life in a garden was celebrated with many special events. Thanks to all who celebrated with us.
Our School Garden Video Contest had 18 entries, see the winner here.
Birthday Essay Series: The Garden: A Master Teacher was written by a Life Lab camp parent – a great accounts of the power of Garden-Based Learning.
Garden-Based Learning Research Briefs are a great … [Read More →]
Learn to compost with worms. Video goes over selecting a container, starting a worm bin, caring and troubleshooting.
Worm Composting Basics http://www.compostsantacruzcounty.org/Home_Composting/Worm_Composting/index.htm
The Worm Guide: Vermicomposting Guide for Teachers http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/schools/Curriculum/Worms/default.htm
Additional Worm Composting Links http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/schools/Links/Garden.htm
http://www.compostsantacruzcounty.org/School_Composting/links.htm… [Read More →]
The Santa Cruz Sentinel covered our largest youth Harvest Fest to date.
The article “A field trip to chew on: teens run organic food festival“quotes this student participant:
Lorraine Medina talks fast and waves her arms when you ask her about vegetables.
“Chard and kale. I absolutely love them!” said the wide-eyed 17-year-old, pointing at the leafy cousins of beet and cabbage growing in a vegetable patch the … [Read More →]
Our Friends from Keisen University in Toyko have visited Life Lab on a couple of occasions. This women’s university has a keen interest in garden-based education. Their faculty attended a workshop in the Garden Classroom and they brought back almost every Life Lab publication to share with their colleagues and students.
Shortly after their last visit this article was published in a popular culture magazine!
Eco Company TV created this video on our “Food, What?!” Spring Afterschool Internship. It aired across the nation on over 100 TV stations.
http://www.eco-company.tv/tvshow/episode-102-organic-growing… [Read More →]
Congressman Sam Farr recognized Life Lab’s 30 year of service to our community and the nation through a Congressional Record on September 10, 2009.
He writes:
… Programs such as the Life Lab Garden Classroom, Waste Free Schools and the Monterey Bay Science Program serve to educate the youth of today about the importance of environmental sustainability and waste management. The Life Lab Science Program is a rare gem, teaching … [Read More →]
Life Lab’s Education Director Whitney Cohen speaks with Lee Welles of Radio Gaia. Whitney discusses how she got involved with school gardens and power of garden based learning.
Listen to the Back to School with Gaia episode here (Life Lab is featured about 5 minutes into the show).… [Read More →]
Life Lab was again recognized as an Honorable Mention for the United Way of Santa Cruz County’s Family Friendly Employer Awards. This award recognizes employers who support employees in their roles as parents.
A Family Friendly Employer:
1.Benefits, policies and programs that promote employees quality of life and work/life balance
2.Workplace cultures and climates that reflect family or employee centered beliefs
3.Workplace relationships with supervisors and co-workers that are respectful … [Read More →]
Win $25 in Free Seeds
Early in the days of Life Lab their was a UCSC intern at Green Acres School who continued his gardening ways to create quite a successful business. Guess the name of this person and his business and win $25 in mixed garden seed.
Use the form below to submit your answer.
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Currently Life Lab … [Read More →]
Are you past Life Lab Student, Teacher, Intern, or Staff?
Do you have any great memories or stories to tell?
Tell us about your experience with Life Lab and when/where you were involved.
We like good stories so feel free to share:-)
Share your story here (it is easy no login/registration or anything, just click and share your thoughts)
Return to Life Lab’s Birthday Page
… [Read More →]
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