We hope our students will share school garden experiences through email, photos, art and poetry.

Have you ever seen the Statue of Liberty?
Yes, most of us have seen the Statue of Liberty. It is very big and green. None of us have been inside of it because after September 11th they closed it.

Do you like living in New York?
We like living in New York most of the time. We love visiting all of the stores, restaurants and love that the city never sleeps. Sometimes we have a hard time living in New York because of all of the pollution and the small number of trees.

Do you like sports?
Most of us love sports. We play basketball, baseball, kickball, soccer, and tennis. There are basketball courts located around our school and in our school. We even have a school basketball team.

Are you fans of the Knicks?
Some of us love the Knicks, but we enjoy other teams as well. Ms. Paquette is a huge Pistons fan because she is from Detroit. We also like the Rockets, Kings, Miami Heat and the Lakers.

Do you have any suggestions for chick names?
We sure do!
Sunshine, Chicklet, Sunny, Rosie, Emma, Tweetie, Adams

Do you enjoy spending time in your garden?
Yes, we love spending time in our garden. We love helping to plant flowers, and vegetables. We also got new flower beds in our garden so we helped fill them with top soil and peat soil. We love to just sit and relax and enjoy the green space.

What are the names of some plants that you have in your garden?
We have many plants in our garden too. We have garlic, rosemary, thyme, mint, basil, carrots, tomatoes, onions, collard greens, peas, rose bushes, holly bushes, honeysuckle, sensitive plant (when you touch it the leaves curl in), and many more.

Do you have a garden at home?
Most of us live in an apartment so we don't have an outdoor garden, but we do grow things in pots on our fire escapes and on our window sills.

How big is the garden at your school?
We measured our garden and it is 100 feet by 25 feet.

Do you have a special garden team at your school that helps in the garden?
No, we don't have a special garden team that works in the garden. Many of us do help out in after school or when Ms. Paquette takes us out there. Hopefully next school year we will have a garden team.

What insects do you see around your garden?
We see many insects around our garden too. We see butterflies, ladybugs, ants, bees, aphids, worms, centipedes, caterpillars, flies, roly-polys.

What does your school look like?
Our school is 3 floors. Our hallways are inside. We think it is really cool that you have outside hallways. We have a gym, a cafeteria, and an auditorium.

What is the weather like where you live?
We experience all 4 seasons in New York. It is almost summer now and it is very hot and humid. In the winter it snows. We have snowball fights, make snowmen, and make snow forts. Sometimes we eat the snow, but we know not to eat the yellow snow.

What are the names of some plants that you have in your garden?
Wheat, tomatoes, peas, strawberries, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, celery, zucchini, strawberries, lemons, oranges, herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley, lavender, lemon verbena and more), and lots of flowers in the ABC garden.

Do you have a garden at home?
Many of us do have gardens at home because the weather is so good year round.
This spring, several children have started their very own vegetable gardens at home.

How big is the garden at your school?
About the same size as yours. We have 26 barrels in our ABC garden and an octagonal pizza garden.

Do you spend a lot of time in your garden?
Every Wednesday, we eat lunch in the garden for our 1st-3rd grade Garden Club. Now that our chicks are getting so big, they are in an outdoor cage during the day so more kids go out to the garden to see the chicks. We also have lots of carrots to harvest so kids are seen in the pizza garden more. Students like to spend SSR time in the garden.

What is your state bird?
California Quail

Where exactly is your school located in California?
Look on a California map. Find Los Angeles and then go up the coast a bit. If you see those little dots in the Pacific Ocean, you will see the same Channel Islands that we can see from our coastline on a clear day.

Did you name the chicks?
Not yet. Do you have any good name ideas? Maybe you can name one of the chicks.

Do you have a special garden team at your school that helps in the garden?
Mrs. Gellert, Kelsey's mom, writes garden chores on the white board every Wednesday. Anyone who picnicked in the garden can help with a chore. Usually about a dozen kids stay and help, while the many other dozens go off to play on the playground. Different classrooms help plant different things. Our big buddy classes helped us plant the peas and wheat. A second grade class planted lots of carrots seeds.

Do you have a Field Day? 
If so, what kind of games or activities do you play?
Our Field Day is the last week of school. Jump rope (that is real big at our school), square dance, hula hoops, soccer, basketball, relay races, Frisbee, and more.

What is the main attraction in your area? 
(Just like we have the Statue of Liberty.)
The Santa Barbara Mission, Santa Barbara Zoo and Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, and of course, the beach and good weather.

What insects do you see around your garden?
Ladybugs, dragon flies, butterflies, ants, earthworms (we have a worm compost box, too) and too many snails.

Do you eat the fruit/vegetables from your garden?
Yes, peas in winter and carrots in spring are probably the most popular.
We planted wheat this year. Another school came to help us thresh the harvested wheat. We ground it into flour using a mill. Now we need to try to make mini pizzas...

What does your school look like?
It is one story. All the hallways are outside. Thanks to our Mural Club, we have lots of colorful art on the walls. The 6th graders are now painting one of our handball courts with their self portraits and sea creatures. We are surrounded by lots of trees. The office is in the front of the school and there is a big red sign that says, "It is cool to be kind at Vieja Valley School."

What is the weather like where you live?
Usually sunny. It can get cloudy and foggy. It did rain a lot this year which our gardens appreciated.

Today I learned about garlic. Garlic can be very helpful for people with colds. It makes your heart stronger. Garlic can be used for soup, or to make a medicine tea.
I also learned the difference between red and green lettuce. I haven't just learned about lettuce, I also learned about poison ivy. Poison ivy, pine cones, bark (the texture of bark) dandelions and lily of the valley. I learned about the rings of a tree and some tree rings tell how old it is, how many times it rained (that year) and when there was drought.
The sun created the Earth. A tree can can grow out of another tree. For example a bird can eat a seed, then a piece of that seed falls our of the bird's mouth and lands on the tree and the piece of seed produces another tree.
One tree can sacrifice itself to summon more trees. When I was in Sophia Garden Mr. Tom showed us how a mother tree sacrificed itself - leaving its roots to summon forth four new offspring.