Students Learn Weeding, Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic in School Gardens

At two school gardens only a block from each other, students at The Gooden School and St. Rita Catholic School are learning more than the "three Rs": The students are getting their hands dirty while learning  amid the tomato, pepper and other plants.

Mainly, the lesson is about the "hard work that comes before the reward," said Gina Cloer, one of St. Rita's school garden coordinators. It's a critically important concept for children growing up in our "gotta have now" society, she said.

Use of the space for the St. Rita Garden was donated last spring by a nearby property owner at the corner of Laurel and Baldwin Avenues."After moving into the house, they weren't sure what to do with the yard. That's when they approached Robin Nardoni with the student garden idea." said Cloer. Despite the efforts of Cloer and Nardoni to publicize their generous gift, Cloer said that the property owner insisted they remain anonymous.

In a gift that keeps on giving, the owners not only donated the space to use, but also helped with the initial investment of garden boxes and soil. School parents pitched in on the startup labor, also donating gift cards, cash and plants to get the garden underway.

Julie Cambonga, a St. Rita third-grade teacher, said children are absorbing life lessons right through the plants and soil. "The list is long, and they're concepts not easily taught in the traditional classroom setting, especially to third graders: cooperation, ownership, pride in your work, global awareness and care for the land," she said.

The first week of this 2010 school year, kindergartners planted carrot seeds as part of their garden orientation. Time in the garden is now fully integrated into the school curriculum for grades K through eight. Students regularly weed, water, plant and harvest, depending on the task rotation for that day.

St. Rita summer school students made fresh lemonade with mint from their summer herb crop, and pico de gallo under the supervision of their teacher, Ryan Hagen. Eighth graders made a cilantro salad dressing last spring and "delivered many tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers to our church where parishioners could help themselves to the harvest after Mass. We also leave a portion on the back steps of the owners porch to show them our gratitude but they have generously said that the harvest is ours to share with our students and school community" according to  Robin Nardoni, who co-chairs the garden project with Gina Cloer.

Over at Gooden, the school garden project began as administrator Marianne Ryan's doctoral thesis project through her educational leadership studies at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA.

"Perhaps most importantly they learned about stewardship, what it means to be actively engaged in helping those who are not as fortunate--being stewards of all of creation," Ryan said.

Along the way, students have learned some very practical as well as fun things about growing food. For instance, Ryan said, "The formula that John Johnson brought to the school of alfalfa, hay, compost plus blood and bone meal yielded vegetables quickly and in abundance compared to the soil and compost we started with. They've experienced that the 'three sisters' of squash, beans and corn grow together well, and that gardening is fun and a great activity to do with friends."

John Johnson is the proprietor of Our Town Printing and well-known Sierra Madre volunteer, participating in nearly every city event for the past 25 years.

This school year, Ryan's fourth-grade class will be in charge of the garden, with students reviewing gardening books to decide what to plant and where. "Everything's organic," says Ryan, "We use no pesticides and we're fortunate we did not have any bug or pest problems. "

All the food grown at Gooden goes to Friends in Deed food pantry, with a weekly delivery of  a large basket of vegetables, so clients there can enjoy fresh produce.

Gooden students and parents are probably happier than anyone when it comes to the benefits of the project.  

According to Ryan, Gooden students and parents cited food donations to Friends in Deed, laughing and having fun planting, helping other people, and knowing that "We are helping to stop world hunger… right here in the San Gabriel Valley,” as their most important component of working the school gardens.