Hello prospective volunteer! We at Montclair Elementary are lucky enough to have an organic raised bed vegetable garden as well as a beautiful California native garden for our students to use! When paired with some excellent volunteers and our wonderful long growing season, there is much fun and learning to be had. The COMPOST program has been established for many years but we are always looking for some new energy and ideas to make this one of the best garden years ever.
How can you get involved? There are many ways, but the most common is to work in your child’s classroom as their garden teacher. This works especially well in pairs, so you will hopefully find a garden buddy to share the job. The program is incredibly versatile (and fun!). You will need to meet with your partner and your child’s teacher to discuss what lessons in the garden are most appealing to you, as well as what works well with the established curriculum. You can then lead your child’s classroom activities as little as once a month or as often as once a week. The more time and energy you put into it, the more the students will get out of it.
We will have an introductory meeting a week or two after school begins. We also have many different books and web sites that can help you to come up with ideas for your class. We have folders that provide you with information on what some of classes before you have done. Ultimately the curriculum is up to you. The garden can be used to teach lessons in math, science, language arts & art, as well as just how to work as a group and where their food comes from… There are many options available and I firmly believe all are important and educational.
If you are not interested in teaching in a classroom, there are many other ways to help! We have big garden cleanup days twice (or three times) a year, on a Saturday morning. On these days we work to maintain the gardens, as well as beautify the campus with trees, bulbs, mulch, paint, etc. We would also love some secretarial help, as well as help with fundraising and grant writing. Meanwhile, if you see a spot on campus that needs some attention and you’ve got a great idea – run it past us, chances are we’ll think it’s great.
Below is a quote from Alice Waters, who explains the importance and strength of gardening in the schools beautifully. Ms. Waters has pioneered an integration of gardening and cooking into the Berkeley public schools with amazing success. At MLK Jr. High, all school lunches include ingredients grown by the students, on the campus. We would love to have the program gain momentum and influence within our community, but to do this we’ll need all the helping hands we can get.
“The aim of education is to provide children with a sense of purpose and a sense of possibility, and with skills and habits of thinking that will help them live in the world. A key way to learn these skills and habits is to learn how to eat well and how to eat right. A curriculum designed to educate both the senses and the conscience–a curriculum based on sustainable agriculture–will teach children their moral obligation to be caretakers and stewards of the finite resources of our planet. And it will teach them the joy of the table, the pleasures of real work, and the meaning of community.” -Alice Waters
Thanks! We’re looking forward to a great year.
- The Composters 2009: Johnna Arnold, Lara Jealous & Eric Veldhuizen
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