OVERVIEW

Mission

To provide students with enriching and stimulating hands-on instruction directly supporting efforts of the classroom teacher and correlating with the existing curriculum as well as State Standards.

Desired Outcomes

• To realize higher academic achievement by obtaining a deeper understanding of relevant concepts through improved observational skills and problem solving abilities and by applying concepts to real-life.
• To gain an appreciation for the natural world by encouraging environmental stewardship.
• To make informed choices about nutrition through exposure to healthy foods.
• To enable students to develop socially through small group interactions.

Program Description

WINNER:  Acterra  2011 Business Environmental Awards , Small Project Category

Living Classroom Current Events

 

 

*6th Annual Bay Area Schools*
* Environmental Conference*

Saturday, February 4th, 2012!

This year's theme, /Sustainability: The Game Changer, /will highlight how your school can go green by recycling, composting, earth friendly gardening, and water and energy conservation, as well as, how to incorporate environmental education in the classroom and beyond. Back again this year for children of conference attendees is the EcoKids
Workshop! Read more ...

Registration is $20 and includes free parking, breakfast, and gourmet lunch.

The EcoKids Workshop is $10 and also includes breakfast and lunch.

 

Click here to learn about the most comprehensive review of the benefits of exposing children to nature

 

 

Living Classroom Garden Manager Suzanne Kasso Enters Pumpkins in Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Contest

 

Living Classroom Receives $15,000 Grant from The Applied Materials Foundation

A huge thank you to the Applied Materials Foundation for its generous$15,000 grant to the Living Classroom Program!  This grant has come at acrucial time when our Program is expanding and is incurring increasedoperating costs.   The Foundation would like to see the Living Classroommodel promoted at other school districts, particularly those inunderserved communities.

 

Whole Foods Market Los Altos raises funds for Living Classroom Program through Bag Refund Program

Starting on October 25th and running through January 16, customers whobring their own bags to the Whole Foods Market on El Camino Real in LosAltos, can designate their 5 cent bag refund to the Living ClassroomProgram.  Although it doesn't sound like much, the nickels do add up tohundreds of dollars! If the cashier doesn't ask you about designating arecipient for the bag refund money, please make sure to ask for it!Thank you Whole Foods Market!

 

Living Classroom Training Sessions Underway…Interested Volunteers can Join Anytime

The Living Classroom fall training sessions started on Monday, September 12th and will continue for 9 consecutive Mondays through November 7th, from 9 – 11:30 a.m. at the Los Altos School District Meeting Room, next to the Board Room, 201 Covington Road, Los Altos.  Prospective docent volunteers are welcome to join at any time and additional training is also available through assisting or observing during a lesson.  The schedule for lessons covered during the fall training is as follows:

 

SPRINGTIME Lesson training  to be scheduled late February / early March 2012:

Order	Grade Level	Lesson Name
tbd	2	From Seed to Pretzel # 2 and  #3
tbd	2	Life Cycle of as Tomato #3
tbd	3	Three Sisters - Spring Planting
tbd	5	Colonial Uses of Plants
tbd	5	Star Food
tbd	5	Planting in Circles
tbd	6	Nitrogen Cycle
tbd	6	Ancient Civilizations Spring
tbd	6	Garden Animal Biodiversity
tbd	7	Plant Adaptations
tbd	7 & 8	New science/history lessons

Visit an LASD elementary school campus and you may witness students constructing a worm farm, harvesting and threshing winter wheat, experiencing the challenges of nest building, exploring the surface area of leaves, locating garden treasures on a life-sized coordinate grid, or planting a Native American "Three Sisters" garden. This is just a taste of the variety of fun and academically rigorous lessons offered to LASD teachers and students through the new Living Classroom Program.

The Living Classroom is a privately funded program which began offering lessons in grades K-3 in 5 schools in 2008. Since that time we have grown from offering 171 lessons to over 500 lessons per year, serving now all 9 schools in the Los Altos School District in grades K – 7 in science, math and social studies. 

The Living Classroom utilizes school gardens and outdoor areas as it provides children with hands-on learning experiences by teaching them engaging, garden-based lessons. These lessons complement the existing curriculum and provide the opportunity for students to experience concepts taught in the classroom through exploration of the natural world. While challenging, Living Classroom lessons are designed to hold student interest and have proven to be a fun departure from the normal routine for both students and teachers.

LASD elementary school campuses are alive with outdoor learning environments. Springer students are thrilled with their new multi-purpose garden featuring edible plants, native plant mounds, an outdoor seating area, compost center, greenhouse and an outdoor kitchen while children at Oak School, where the Living Classroom concept took root, continue to enjoy their expansive native plant and edible gardens. Loyola's gardens include a Native Habitat Garden, many planter box gardens and a delightful “secret garden” used extensively during lunch recess. A dozen theme gardens including a Redwood Forest Habitat, California Native Habitat, Ancient Civilizations and Beneficial Insect/Pollinator garden are found near the classrooms at Santa Rita School. Children at Almond School welcomed their new Native Habitat Garden in 2009 and Gardner Bullis School enjoys a Kindergarden/1st grade Edible/Sensory Garden , a second/third grade Native American and Tomato/Wheat theme garden and a large new garden featuring an extensive area of California Native plants and 6 new planter boxes for grades 4-6. . Covington School welcomed five new redwood planter boxes outside their kindergarten classrooms in 2010 and 10 new planter boxes in 2011. Blach and Egan Junior High Schools have “Plant Adaptations” gardens featuring native plants demonstrating a wide range of environmental adaptaions and both schools also have planter boxes for edible gardens including a special “history” corner garden at Egan which will feature plants important in U.S. and world history. Please click the “Locations” button at the top of this page for specific info about each school.

Program Status

• For the 2010-11 school year, the Living Classroom offered 460 lessons in grades K-7 at eight schools. For the 2011-12 school year, we are on track to provide well over 500 lessons at nine schools.
  
• We currently offer almost 50 different lessons including brand new lessons on California Indian Uses of Plants, Colonial America uses of Plants, and Plant Adaptations.
  
• Over two-dozen trained volunteer docents are leading and assisting with lessons across the District.
  
• Eagle Scouts and PTAs partnered with us to install three new educational gardens at Covington Gardner Bullis and Egan Schools and several garden improvement projects at Oak and Loyola.
  
• Area businesses including Suncrest Nurseries, Valley Crest Tree Company, Coyote Valley Nursery, Summerwinds Nursery, Sacred Ground Enterprises and local individuals donated materials for new gardens in 2011.
  
• Several schools offer informal lunch recess programs in the Living Classroom gardens. Springer, Oak, Loyola and Santa Rita schools have fun, hands-on activities for students including harvesting, planting, composting, preparing fresh food from the garden, preparing seedlings for the greenhouse, and lots more.
  
• Oak, Springer, Santa Rita, and Almond Schools haveWestern Bluebird trails on their campuses which include special bird boxes for the Western Bluebird and a few other bird species. Students check these boxes weekly in the spring and report their results to the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. The Western Bluebird is a species of special concern due to their dwindling populations in California.
  
• We won the 2011 Acterra Business Environmental Award in the Small Project category