WHAT'S COMING UP THIS MONTH?
In November, in Kindergarten we will meet our school chickens and learn about them. In First grade, we will continue exploring plant structure and function. In Second grade, we will learn about soil and our scientists will check on their decomposition experiment. In Third grade, we will continue learning about plant adaptations and take care of our worm bins. In Fourth grade, we will learn about the Ohlone Peoples and we will continue our unit about compost. We will take care of our worm bins. In Fifth grade, we will learn about the Ohlone Peoples and we will start our unit about waste. We will also check on our worm bins.
WHAT WE ARE LEARNING IN THE GARDEN
In October, in Kindergarten we learned about our five senses. In First grade, we learned about plant structure and function. The students made their own garden tea with mint and lemon balm leaves. They also made their own flower bracelets. (Pictured above.) In Second grade, we continued learning about decomposition. We went on a decomposer scavenger hunt in our garden. In Third grade, we made a kale slaw using vegetables from our garden. In Fourth grade, we harvested the potatoes and pan fried them. (Pictured above.) We played an apple tasting game. In Fifth grade, we also played the apple tasting game and the students wrote poems and haikus about it. Here's in one example: "Apples are good and red. I think of apples in my head when we are in our bed. I like it when my apples crunch. I have apples in my lunch." All upper grades (third and up) started their own class worm bins. (Pictured here.) Ask your student to tell you more about what they have learned in the garden!
Interesting plant or animal in the garden
We have so many dragonflies visiting our garden! It is a good sign because it means our garden is healthy and we have lots of insects: dragonflies eat lots of insects! They have an amazing eyesight and they have a 360 degrees vision. Their eyes are made of 24,000 parts called ommatidia.
We won a generous $3,500 grant from the Whole Kids Foundation for our school garden! We received the plaque last month and it is visible in our edible garden.
Come and join us next Sunday November 16 for Green Up Clean Up (aka. our garden work day) at 10:00am. Questions, comments or ideas? Please reach out to me at outdoor.educator(at)fastmail.com, or visit me in the garden on Mondays through Fridays. I’d love to hear from you! Note: All the photographs were taken in our garden. With gratitude. Mr. Raphael - November 2025
Credits:
Raphael Hitzke