The Edible Schoolyard at Larchmont Charter Schools
Los Angeles, California
Founded in 2009 as an Edible Schoolyard Affiliate
The mission of Larchmont Charter Schools, which consists of two schools, Larchmont Charter School—West Hollywood (LCW) and Larchmont Charter School (LCS), is to provide a socio-economically, culturally and racially diverse community of students with an exceptional public education. We foster creativity and academic excellence; our students learn with and from each other in an experience-centered, inquiry-based learning environment. With participation from our entire community, we strive to instill in each student a dedication to improving the world we inhabit. Our K-5th grade and K-8th grade schools educate nearly 900 students collectively across four campuses. The Larchmont Schools’ combined API score of 931 makes it the highest performing small charter network in Los Angeles, and one of the top schools in California.
As a Founding Edible Schoolyard, our students experience garden and kitchen lessons which integrate ecological concepts with real-life applications. Driven by the California State Standards, our garden and kitchen projects also connect learning in the areas of Language Arts, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, and Physical Education. Visitors to our schools see garden and food related vocabulary, art, and history projects prominently displayed in classrooms and in hallways, which visually demonstrate our focus and commitment on teaching cross-curricular concepts.
During lunch time, students are encouraged to enjoy seasonal, farm-fresh, organic food. Fruits and vegetables become familiar and students become courageous eaters willing to try new and interesting foods. Students’ awareness of the benefits of eating locally grown, organic food furthers their awareness of food choices and their impact on the planet as a whole. Our success is achieved through the hard work of student gardeners and cooks with strong support from our committed parent volunteers.
At Larchmont Charter Schools, the Edible Schoolyard is an invaluable tool in helping us to achieve our mission of providing an exceptional public education to a diverse community through a project-based, constructivist approach to teaching and learning.
