Middle School

Palos Verdes School Gardens is a non-profit organization that seeks to make our schools models of sustainability on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

We want our kids to learn about conservation, smart energy use, how to grow food organically and responsibly and to care for their environment on the school campus. We want our kids to grow up knowing that their actions and decisions have an impact on the world around them.

 We are just beginning our school garden here at Interamerican Academy in Guayaquil! So far, we have Pre-K, 2nd grade, and 7th grade involved in the planting of seeds. Our school cafeteria saves their fruit and veggie scraps and we have three compost bins going to create soil.

Life Lab is a national leader in farm- and garden-based education. At the Life Lab Garden Classroom in Santa Cruz, California, we promote experiential learning for all ages through children’s camps, field trips, youth and internship programs, and teacher workshops. Drawing on over thirty years of work with students we have also created curricula and workshops for educators interested in bringing learning to life in gardens nationwide. www.lifelab.org

Every elementary student attends gardening class once per week, which are led by our on-staff Gardening Teacher, Scott Dubois. Our gardening classes focus on cultivating ecoliteracy, good nutrition, mindfulness, and persistence. These classes maintain our garden classroom and receive hands-on lessons with sustainability, nutrition, botany, weather, and ecology. The majority of the garden space is allocated to annual vegetables and cut flowers, which are either eaten during class or sold by students at a makeshift farm-stand to raise money for the garden.