Lower Elementary

EnrichLA is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring edible gardens and orchards into public schools across Los Angeles. With the help of the school community, community members and corporate partners, we build each garden by hand. Our gardens serve students in pre-k through grade 12 and have a variety of unique features. Many of our sites have grape arbors, outdoor classroom spaces, picnic benches, outdoor kitchens, dry creek beds and raised and in-ground fruit and vegetable beds.

Our gardening program began as part of an Outdoor Classroom. We continue to grow and look for methods of involving our students in hands on learning to undergird making healthy food choices.

My school in Connecticut consists of prekindergarten through fifth grade students. The prekindergarten is geared for working with children who have special needs. Our K through five classes include the integration of students with autism, special needs and language differences. My goal, as school librarian, is to bring these different groups together through events promoting environmental literacy. At this time, each grade level is in charge of growing the flowers, vegetables and herbs in their own 4 x 8 foot raised bed.  Their gardens reflect what they are learning in the classrooms.

In support of the USDA Farm to School Planning Grant, Waterford School District has established an Edible Schoolyard in the courtyard of their Crary Campus. Featuring 17 raised beds and a Michigan-native flower bed, the crops are harvested by community students to offer an additional source of local produce to the building's kitchen in support of the Oakland County Free Summer Food Program.