As summer approaches and the 2014-2015 school year comes to an end, it is gratifying to look back at all the GEO-Ed Committee was able to accomplish this year. Our sincere, heartfelt thanks to the many people who contributed their time, money and effort to providing such a significant educational opportunity for our students!
The
AALC GEO-Ed blog was created and is up and running thanks to a collaborative effort between AALC parents, teachers and staff who worked together to create content, share photos, and include new blog posts in the weekly newsletter.
The
Adopt a Garden Program was formed to facilitate maintenance, labor, creativity, and sometimes complete redesigns of some of AALC’s many amazing outdoor spaces. Families are pledging their time and effort to a specific garden in conjunction with the teacher or grade level team responsible for the area.
Michigan Green School Evergreen Status was worked towards, applied for, and received.
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| Michigan Green School Evergreen Status |
AALC at SEMIS (South Eastern Michigan Stewardship Coalition)
AALC teachers Tracey Marchyok and Drake Meadow along with some Intermediate and Middle School students presented SEMIS workshops at EMU. Tracey and her students gave a presentation on their 5 day nature immersion program, Annie’s Big Nature Lesson. Mr. Meadow and his students presented on Permaculture and student leadership.
Middle School Students Return to AALC
Even after graduating from Ann Arbor Learning Community former middle school students come back to work with GEO-Ed projects!
Zane and Sophia returned to AALC during the school year to work on the Outdoor Classroom construction. Zane also worked on the wind turbine project. Noah returned to help the permaculture program with a grant called the butterfly effect.
Collaboration with PTSO
The GEO-Ed Committee and the PTSO embraced a cross-functional approach this year, cultivating a sense of community and cooperation by collaborating on a number of projects and events. The PTSO assisted with the fall bulb fundraiser and the spring plant sale to raise funds for GEO-Ed projects. Together we have purchased plants, tools, equipment, and even professional development opportunities for teachers to further the GEO-Ed mission of our charter.
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| GEO-Ed Plant Sale |
Garden Resource Fair
The GEO-Ed Committee hosted its first-ever
Garden Resource Fair this year. Families, teachers and staff were invited to get expert advice from Master Gardeners, speak with Project Grow representatives about their community garden program and gardening classes, learn more about other local resources and programs, and discover how they can help out with AALC's gardens.
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| Garden Resource Fair |
Garden Work at AALC
Many of the
garden areas have received lots of attention this year thanks to the efforts of families, teachers, staff and students. Work included fall tending, “putting the garden to bed for the winter”, spring clean-up (cleaning out winter debris, weeding, replanting, new plantings), and new signage. Some of the gardens that received attention this year were the
Pollinator Garden,
The Sensory Garden, The Welcome Garden, and various other
classroom gardens.
Middle School Permaculture Accomplishments
The
Middle School Garden experienced a renovation this year, while more trees were planted in the
Orchard during Earth Day.
A wonderful new Outdoor Classroom was built with the help of parents during enrichments.
We also modified the wind turbine during an enrichment with the help of parents.
Middle School students worked on the Iota (pronounced Yoda) Module, an LED Grow light and shelving unit designated to grow little green things.
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| Outdoor Classroom Under Construction |
Intermediate Accomplishments
Intermediate students enjoyed Annie’s Big Nature Lesson, a weeklong excursion to the Leslie Science and Nature Center where they became immersed in outdoor environmental learning.
They also took their reading buddies, the Early Primary students, on the Reading Buddies Field Trip to the nature center to help teach them about the amazing natural world.
The
Intermediate Herb Garden experienced a redesign, including tilling and grading (thank you to Jenn and Kate for doing the work and providing the equipment!). Students helped harvest seeds from the old herb garden, selling seed packets at Spring Fling and donating some to new and interested AALC families. They also sold herbs, spices and tea at Fall Fest this year.
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| Intermediate Herb Garden Sale |
Primary Accomplishments
Primary students enjoyed a
bountiful harvest this year from their
Vegetable Garden and Pumpkin Patch. Students cleaned up the vegetable beds and pumpkin patch, fixing and refilling the tall back beds.
They planted the vegetable beds and worked to critter-proof the beds. The benches were also re-positioned back into the garden class arrangement.
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| New Pumpkin Patch Gate |
Early Primary Accomplishments
The tire beds in the
Early Primary Butterfly Garden were tended and new plantings were added where needed. All of the beds were weeded and cleaned up in the spring, while the garden path was cleared and re-mulched.
The small vegetable patch inside the Butterfly Garden was maintained with the help of the Chase family. Bird netting was added to the low tunnel area to protect the vegetables from critters, and vegetable seeds and plants were added including radishes, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers.
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| Radishes in the Early Primary Veggie Patch |
GEO-Ed Enrichments
Several GEO-Ed enrichments were offered throughout the school year, including:
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Fall Bulbs and Winter Seeds – planting bulbs and seeds.
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Blowin’ In The Wind- working on the AALC wind turbine.
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Outdoor building 1,2, and 3 - with Mr. Meadow and Gary Turner.
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Fairy Garden 1 – (to be continued with Fairy Garden 2).
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Spring Garden Projects – cleaning up garden beds and planting in butterfly garden tire beds and welcome garden bed.
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Ollas -Ollas are terracotta water jugs that are buried in the ground with their neck exposed above ground. It is a Native American gardening technique that conserves water for garden plants.
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Fun Fall Gardening- perennial transplants.
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Wormy Towers & Bins -building worm towers and using worm casting from our worm bins to fertilize AALC gardens.
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Bird Homes for Winter -build our feathered friends birdhouses for the winter.
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Drawing in Nature -a listening, learning and doing class - but the focus is on quiet observation and drawing.
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Rain Garden Construction- build a beautiful rain garden to help keep fresh rain water going into the groundwater rather than into the sewers.
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Spring Gardening- planting so many different, awesome things all around our school.
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Herbs and Pallets- pallet gardens planted outside two classroom doors.
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| Fall Fun Gardening Enrichment |
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| Wormy Towers and Bins Enrichment |
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| Wormy Towers and Bins Enrichment |
More to Come!
Though the school year is nearly over, there is more to accomplish! Join us on
Tuesday, June 9th for Mulch Day. Come help your student mulch their classroom garden bed. Contact Mrs. King when you arrive for directions!
Also check out our
Events page for other important summer events.
The middle schoolers were thankful for the extended warm weather as it allowed them to complete AALC’s first ever hugelkultur. A hugelkultur has been described as nature’s raised bed because it mimics the decomposition and rebirth of the forest floor. Middle schoolers piled wood logs, branches and brush from school grounds, and the overflow from the school’s compost bins into a long bed bordering the hoop house. This was then covered with several layers of dirt and straw. As the wood decomposes, it creates a rich organic growing medium that retains water and is warmer than surrounding soil. They’ll be planting it in the spring with some annual cover crops and perennial food plants. Hugulkulturs are super fun to build and plant, especially with young gardeners. Read more about how to build one in your homespace at http://inhabitat.com/diy-hugelkultur-how-build-raised-permaculture-garden-beds/.
