Celebrating Fall with Gardening, Environmental and Outdoor Education

AALC staff, students and families have been very busy these past several weeks! Students have enjoyed GEO-Ed-related field trips, gardening enrichments, fundraisers, work days and more.

G.E.O. Education for Everyone
Early Primary students recently enjoyed a field trip to an apple orchard, where they learned about growing and harvesting apples as well as the importance of pollinators such as bees and wasps. They picked fresh apples and made apple pie and applesauce in the classroom.

Primary students visited a farmer’s market to learn about the process of agricultural production. They brought some lovely produce back to school to make tasty and healthy snacks!

Intermediate students put together an herb sale fundraiser at Fall Fest featuring fresh and dried herbs and teas from the Intermediate Herb Garden.

Middle School students and volunteers worked tirelessly to transform their garden into a Perennial Permaculture Food Forest, reshaping the beds during a Middle School Work Day.  Some of the beds are being planted now, while others will be planted in the spring with perennial food crops.

Fall Enrichment Activities
Ann Arbor Learning Community's enrichment program offers students a unique opportunity to learn skills and subjects that are not typically taught in the classroom.

We recently received a generous donation of 50 perennial plants from Nature’s Garden Center, which students helped plant as part of a gardening enrichment course.

Another enrichment course taught students about vermicomposting, a method for making compost using worms. The students built and installed 2 worm towers, one in the Sensory Garden and one in the garden outside the lunchroom.

Students also enjoyed a visit with a live bearded dragon during art class, where they proceeded to create their own artistic interpretations of the animal.

Mrs. Kreiner is currently looking for donations for her dried flower enrichment. Please let her know if you could donate any of the following: potted mums or other late season flowers, pint or quart-sized plastic jars with lids, contact paper, hair spray, newspaper, or play sand.

Enrichment courses are led by AALC staff, parents and other volunteers.  If you have an idea for an enrichment activity or would like to help lead one of the courses, please email aalcgeo@gmail.com.

Special thanks to the many individuals who have contributed to this season’s GEO-Ed efforts! The gardens are looking wonderful and the children have learned so much!

Harvest Time in the Primary Garden

Primary students enjoyed a bountiful harvest from their vegetable garden and pumpkin patch this past week. Working together, the students harvested kale, green beans, pumpkins, gourds, and other autumn vegetables.

Kale, Green Beans, Carrots and Pumpkins!

AALC's gardens provide countless opportunities for learning.  Gardening cultivates children's patience as they weed and water and wait for their produce to grow.  It encourages problem solving when challenges arise, such as the recent groundhog situation in the pumpkin patch.

Ms. Wilt's class in the Primary Garden

Picking vegetables fresh from the garden enables children to gain valuable firsthand knowledge of how food is grown and where it comes from.  Growing and harvesting produce also encourages them to try new foods and discover new healthy favorites!

Students helping with the harvest.

A lovely collection of produce from the garden!

2014 PTSO Fall Bulb Sale

Now is the perfect time to plant fall bulbs! Please consider purchasing your bulbs through our AALC PTSO Fall Bulb Fundraiser. For every purchase, Flower Power Fundraising will give 50% back to Ann Arbor Learning Community!

The fundraiser ends October 15th, so be sure to order soon! You can also share this blog post with friends and family who may wish to help support the school.

Orders can be placed online here. Your items will ship directly to your home. Feel free to email us if you have any questions about placing an order.  

Thank you for supporting Ann Arbor Learning Community!

Click here to see all products! 

Groundhogs in the Pumpkin Patch

Primary students enjoyed an exciting visit with a representative from Critter Control this past week. He came to remove a groundhog from the garden and set another trap for the remaining groundhogs. He gave a brief presentation to the kids who wanted to see the groundhog that has been eating their pumpkins!

Groundhog, also known as woodchuck, whistle-pig or land-beaver.

There is still hope for the 2 pumpkins that have not yet been eaten by critters. We are working on making the garden animal proof, so that the groundhogs can live freely on the other side of the fence (not eating our produce!).

Two Primary families (Duke/Kozora and Tamblyn) recently installed a wonderful gate for the pumpkin patch made from re-purposed materials. A new fence surrounds the pumpkin patch, but the groundhogs continue to dig under the fence.

Ryan Tamblyn (father of 3rd grader Karter) and his friend Johnny
installing the new garden gate.

The fence needs to be dug down and then secured by something heavy, such as railroad ties or pavers. For now we will continue to work on little sections at a time, but we are in search of adult volunteers to help work on the fence after school one day while the kids play on the playground.

If you are interested in helping us animal-proof the pumpking patch, please send us an email at aalcgeo@gmail.com. You are also welcome to adopt the pumpkin patch to maintain throughout the school year, as a family or small group! Learn more about our new Adopt-a-Garden program here.

Adopt a Garden at AALC!

We are excited to introduce the new Adopt-a-Garden Program at Ann Arbor Learning Community! Now you can sign up to adopt a specific garden plot on the school property to maintain throughout the school year.  You can also sign up to work with a group or class on a garden plot.

Responsibilities vary depending on the plot and may include weeding, watering, mulching, dividing perennials and more.

Email us at aalcgeo@gmail.com for more information and to sign up!

Garden Plot Descriptions

1 - Early Primary Garden (Morgan)

2 - Early Primary Garden (Bergin)

3 - Early Primary Garden, Fairy Garden Theme

4 - Early Primary Garden, Butterfly Theme (King)

5 - Primary Garden, Forest Floor Theme (Wilt)

6 - Primary Garden

7 - Primary Garden, River Bed Theme (Ackerman)

8 - Primary Garden (Grim)

9 - Kids Club Garden 

10 - Special Education Room Garden

11 - Music Room Garden

12 - Intermediate Garden, Bird Feeder Theme (Kriener)

13 - Sensory Garden

14 - Business Office Garden

15 - Intermediate Garden (Marchyok)

16 - Intermediate Garden (Nagle)

17 - Middle School Garden (Andrews/Meadow)

18 - Middle School Garden (Maltby/Meadow)

19 - Middle School Garden (Kuhn/Meadow)

20 - Middle School Garden (Meadow)

20.5 - Middle School Garden (Meadow)

21 - Art Room Garden, Inspiration Theme

22 - Butterfly Gardens, Back Bed (Early Primary)

23 - Butterfly Gardens, White Tires (Early Primary)

24 - Butterfly Gardens, 4 Raised Beds (Early Primary)

25 - Early Primary Veggie Bed

26 - Pollinator Garden (Early Primary)

27 - Hoop House (Kriener)

28 - Welcome Garden

29 - Fruit Orchard (Middle School)

30 - Permaculture Garden (Middle School)

31 - Pumpkin Patch (Primary)

32 - Vegetables and Perennials (Primary)

33 - Herb Garden (Intermediate)

34 - Retention Pond

35 - Hosta Shade Garden

36 - AALC Garden

37 - Rose of Sharon Garden

Hoop House Preparations

AALC teachers and families have been busy preparing the hoop houses for the upcoming school year. Intermediate teachers and students oversee the maintenance and use of a large hoop house near the main vegetable garden, while the Early Primary classes maintain a smaller hoop house within the butterfly garden.

Hoop houses enable students to work in the gardens year-round as they learn to grow plants even in winter!

Setting up the Intermediate hoop house.

The hoop house is complete!

An Early Primary family installing the hoop house frame.

Bird netting was installed over the frame to keep out a nearby
woodchuck until it's cold enough to add the tarp.

Radishes growing inside the Early Primary hoop house.

Peas sprouting inside the Early Primary hoop house.

Hoedown in Review

We worked hard in the gardens during the hoedown event yesterday! We released butterflies into our butterfly garden, put up some kiosks, and weeded and spruced up the pollinator garden and orchard. We harvested some herbs and saw that the apples in the orchard and the strawberries in the sensory garden are almost ready.

Thanks to all who helped!

There is more to do. Join us next Thursday, August 14th from 3 to 6pm as we pull more weeds, put down mulch, and continue to beautify the gardens.

Sprucing up the pollinator garden.

A new and improved pollinator garden.

Working hard in the vegetable garden.

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Improvements in the sensory garden.

Apples beginning to ripen in the orchard.

Releasing butterflies into the butterfly garden.

Lovely monarchs raised by an AALC family this summer.

Wildlife in the Garden

The gardens at Ann Arbor Learning Community have provided abundant opportunities for learning about wildlife.  Here are some of the critters students discovered in the garden areas:

This skunk was spotted wandering
the AALC property.

AALC garden helpers relocated the
skunk from under the tool shed.

A nest with baby animals was found
outside Ms. Wilt's classroom.

Can you spot the butterfly
resting on a purple coneflower?

A falcon in winter.

Do you see the falcon at the top of the light pole?

Here's a closer look at the lovely falcon.

Bumblebee resting on a stunning sunflower.

This Japanese beetle is actually a garden pest!

Introducing AALC's New Garden Blog

The AALC Vegetable Garden

The GEO-Ed Committee is pleased to introduce our new garden blog!  The blog will enable us to share photos, videos and updates regarding AALC's gardens, while keeping you informed of upcoming gardening events.

There are a number of ways to stay up-to-date on the latest AALC gardening news.  You can visit the blog or join the AALC Facebook Group.  We will also share news in the school's printed newsletter that is sent home with students each week.

We are always looking for volunteers to help in the garden.  Here are some ways to get involved!