Category: Beyond The Brochure
Waverly School’s Organic Farm Plants 27 Apple Trees!
The Waverly School, a progressive school in Pasadena, spanning young kindergarten through 12th grade, is utilizing a unique method originated in France, a “fruit wall” to plant 27 apple trees at its farm. While a yearlong working farm, this is the largest single planting effort for The Waverly Organic Farm in its 15 years of existence.
“The farm exemplifies our interdisciplinary and experiential approach to learning. Our students engage in scientific observation and experimentation, create works of art, write poems, and plant the foods of other cultures at the farm,” said Waverly Head of School, Heidi Johnson. “In addition, they have opportunities to taste freshly picked produce and play in nature.”
This project will be integrated into the curriculum for students and the planting effort is being overseen by the Waverly parent and Organic Farm coordinator Barbara Ayers. At a recent fundraiser sponsored by Whole Foods Market’s Arroyo location, monies were raised for a cider press which will be used for apple harvesting. The apples are coming from a grower in Riverside County, Kevin Hauser of Kuffel Creek Nursery.
The Waverly Organic Farm apple hedge is going to be made up of about half Fujis, and then a mix of more unusual varieties: “Sierra Beauty,” “Stump,” and “Molly’s Delicious” in addition to a selection of crab apples (“Etter Crab,” “Wickson Crab,” and more) to add tang to the school’s apple cider.
The Waverly Farm is an outdoor classroom for teachers to take their classes for writing, observations of wildlife and to conduct science experiments. The Farm allows for curriculum related projects, such as:
- Math: calculate crop yields, make planting charts and graphs;
- Science: garden ecology and plant biology; the effect of climate on crop cultivation and human survival;
- Language Arts: write comparative essays on colonial life and students’ own lives in regard to food production and consumption; creative writing related to observations in nature;
- Nutrition and Health: compare a colonial diet with today’s diet;
- Creative Arts: create artwork based on natural observations, design and build farm implements, create harvest songs and recreate harvest festivals; and
- Physical Education: engage in activities like capture the flag, run around the track and swinging from the tire swing.
In the existing brown space children and their adult companions can run, climb, dig, poke, closely observe and actively explore a variety of existing environments. They can dream up different imaginative games in this space. The essence of the space is that it is complex, protected, unformed and natural which is valuable in and of itself, and raises multiple possibilities, each worthy of pursuit. – Source: The Waverly School News Release
For more information, visit, The Waverly School
Guest Blogger Jenny Heitz Got Married! See Her Wedding Pic!
A huge congratulations to our wonderful, talented guest blogger, Jenny Heitz and her husband, John. They got married! And, Jenny discovered a very cool wedding gift too.
Read all about it on Jenny’s blog, Find A Toad
Jenny Heitz has worked as a staff writer for Coast Weekly in Carmel, freelanced in the South Bay, and then switched to advertising copywriting. Jenny is a graduate of Crossroads. Her daughter started 4th grade at Mirman School last year. She previously attended 3rd St. Elementary School. Jenny has been published recently in the Daily News and on Mamapedia, The Well Mom, Sane Moms, Hybrid Mom, The Culture Mom and A Child Grows In Brooklyn. She now writes about gift ideas and products on her blog, Find A Toad.
Guest Blogger Samantha: My Son Wasn’t Held Back…He Was Given A Chance To Move To The Front!
I’m from Texas, and there, redshirting is a term used in football. I had no idea what it meant concerning kindergarten, but I was soon to find out…
My son has a summer birthday. I didn’t plan it that way, of course, that was up to the Gods. In fact, he was born 9.5 weeks early, so he would have been almost an Autumn baby if things had worked out as they were supposed to, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Anyway, when it came time for kindergarten, my kiddo still seemed young. Not chronologically, necessarily, but he was still carrying around his transitional object, read: lovey. Need I say more?
It’s not that my boy couldn’t go to kindergarten — he’d met all the cut off dates, and he was ready intellectually. It’s that he would probably be learning phonics from underneath a table or while somersaulting, because emotionally it was clear that he wasn’t ready.
Initially my husband wasn’t happy with the idea that he was being “held back”. But, as I told him, and now share with you, I think that’s the wrong way to think about it.
See, my son wasn’t held back, he was given room to move to the front.
We gave my son a gift, which allowed him to have a little more time to mature and, as a consequence, gain self-confidence. As one of the oldest boys in his class, he became a leader at his preschool; a child the other kids looked up to. He was the cool, older guy. Ya know, the one who’d moved past Star Wars and graduated to Harry Potter. That’s serious stuff at a preschool. It was truly wonderful to watch!
When kindergarten time came, my son was six and he was ready. My boy felt good about himself and I knew I didn’t have to worry. Juxtaposed to how unsure I was of his ability the year before, it was such a relief!
And, it goes without saying, my husband thinks it’s one of the greatest ideas he ever came up with (whose idea was it?), and both of us think it was one of the best decisions we ever made.
In the end I gave my son a better head on his shoulders as he starts his journey through school and into adulthood, and who can argue that isn’t a good thing?
Here’s a previous post on Redshirting from Perfectly Disheved. It includes the 60 Minutes story on the topic.
Samantha Goodman is the mom of a First Grader at Wildwood School and a preschooler at 10th St. Preschool in Santa Monica. Samantha’s son also attended 10th St. Preschool. Before her current parenting hiatus she was a screenwriter in Hollywood.
Samantha’s previous guest blog pieces: Previous posts: Waiting, Obsessing Over Admissions Letters, “Wait-Listed At Wildwood” and “What Its Really Like At Wildwood School”