News
SFUSD Gardens Quarterly Meeting
Please join us for the SFUSD Gardens Quarterly Meeting at Marshall Elementary on Wednesday, November 30th, from 3:30-5:30pm. The address is 1575 15th Street between Mission and South Van Ness. Come to tour the garden at Marshall, check in with your colleagues district-wide on the year thus far, and share resources. We will provide refreshments and maybe even a surprise or two. Date: Wednesday, November 30th Time: 3:30-5:30pm Location: Marshall Elementary, 1575 15th Street, San Francisco
The Ecology of the School Garden
The San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance and the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society invite you to this two-part workshop, taught by Annette Huddle, the Botanical Garden's Youth Education Coordinator. The training is designed to deepen your understanding of the ecological and scientific principles at work in the outdoor classroom. Learn how to effectively bring the content standards to life with new lesson plans based in the garden. Topics will include botany and plant science, flower dissection, pollination, and the relationships between plants and animals. Dates: Tuesday, November 1st & Thursday, November 3rd Time: 4-6:30pm Location: Clarendon Elementary, 500 Clarendon Avenue, San Francisco Two-day Workshop Fee: $25 To register for this workshop, please email Joyce Lin-Conrad at joyce AT sfgreenschools DOT org.
Life Lab Growing Classroom Workshop
We are pleased to bring professional trainers from the Life Lab Science Program in Santa Cruz direct to SFUSD to present a workshop on their curriculum The Growing Classroom. This two-day workshop, hosted by Monroe Elementary, is ideal for those interested in supplementing their existing science program with garden-based learning. Using The Growing Classroom activity guide for grades 2-6, you’ll experience hands-on activities, learn basic science concepts and gardening techniques, and develop management strategies for a school gardening program. Find out how to teach the standards while you guide students through the natural cycles of the garden. Dates: Wednesday, October 12th & Thursday, October 13th Time: 4-7pm (Check-in begins at 3:45pm.) Location: Monroe Elementary, 260 Madrid Street, San Francisco Two-day Workshop Fee: $25 (The workshop costs $300 in Santa Cruz!) 1 graduate education credit is available from the University of the Pacific for an additional fee of $60. Each participant will receive a booklet of handouts. Life Lab's 480-page book, The Growing Classroom, will be available for purchase at $39.95 plus tax each. For more information about Life Lab, please visit www.lifelab.org. To register for this workshop, please email Joyce Lin-Conrad at joyce AT sfgreenschools DOT org.
School Garden Happy Hour
Please join the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance and 18 Reasons for the inaugural School Garden Happy Hour! Meet other garden coordinators, parents, and teachers engaged in the same work throughout our community; share your successes and struggles; and celebrate the growing green schoolyard movement here in San Francisco. We will have time for casual conversation as well as more structured discussion. Free snacks and cash-bar available. Please bring paper, a writing implement, and stories. Thursday, October 6th, 5-7pm 18 Reasons 3674 18th Street (between Dolores and Guerrero) San Francisco Click here to RSVP: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/195962
Landscape Architects Help Direct Efforts to Make Edible, Sustainable (and Fun) Schoolyards in San Francisco, Landscape Architecture Magazine, July 2011
Read this fantastic new article in Landscape Architecture Magazine about the incredible bond work that is being done in San Francisco Unified School District. Click here for the pdf.
Schoolyards to Market Program Now Running
Youth Become Farmers and Entrepreneurs through the Schoolyard to Market Program
School-Grown Veggies and Garden Plants for Sale at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 28, 2011)—Beginning on Saturday, farmers market shoppers can get their summer gardens started with nursery plants grown by San Francisco high school students. The youth will be selling their wares at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market through the Schoolyard to Market program, a pilot project launched this year by the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) and the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance (SFGSA).
Schoolyard to Market is a youth development and entrepreneurship program in which students from two San Francisco Unified School District high schools, John O’Connell High School and Life Learning Academy (LLA), are growing produce, flowers, and seedlings in school gardens and selling them at the farmers market. Through the program, students work in the garden, take field trips to the farmers market and local farms, and learn about running a successful business with advice from local farmers and other experts.
"The program helps the students build confidence," says Karuna Schweig, biology and garden ecology instructor at LLA. "Having an end product—a goal—has given the students a sense of pride. It’s motivated them to learn about gardening and to retain that knowledge so they can share it with customers at the stand in the farmers market," she adds.
The LLA students will have their first experience working at the farmers market on Saturday at the opening day of the Schoolyard to Market booth. LLA is a Treasure Island charter school serving high-school aged youth who have been involved in the juvenile justice system or who face serious life challenges. The school’s philosophy is based on the idea that each student can make up for mistakes by giving back to the community and on the principle of 'each one teach one,' which values everyone sharing responsibility for each other's learning. These students have been working since January to grow the plant starts and to develop their farmers market business.
Schoolyard to Market Booth Details
Opening day: Saturday, April 30, 2011 from 8 am to 2 pm
Location: Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, in front of the Ferry Building, south side of the clock tower (near Blue Bottle Coffee stand)
Participating school: Life Learning Academy (from Treasure Island)
Available for purchase: Garden plant starts, specializing in varieties selected for the San Francisco climate, such as lemon cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and Chandler strawberries
Future Schoolyard to Market sales dates: Thursday, May 12 (John O’Connell High School will sell vegetables); Saturday, May 21 (Life Learning Academy will sell plant starts)
Schoolyard to Market is a joint project of the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) and the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance (SFGSA). CUESA works to cultivate a sustainable food system through educational programs and the operation of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. SFGSA serves children and families of San Francisco by promoting and supporting green schoolyards, and provides resources, training, and advocacy to school communities. The program is made possible through funding from the GGS Foundation, Tacolicious, the Clif Bar Family Foundation, the Jessica Goldman Philanthropic Fund, and Rabobank.
For interviews or photos, contact Julie Cummins at 415.291.3276 ext. 106 or julie@cuesa.org
For more information:
www.cuesa.org
www.sfgreenschools.org
www.lifelearningacademysf.org
E.R. Taylor Elementary School's garden in the SF Chronicle, February 2011
"The Portola neighborhood school, which runs nutrition and cooking classes, has a garden and dedicates time to physical activity every day, was held up Tuesday as a national example of Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign to fight childhood obesity." Read more: Chronicle article Examiner article USDA article