A Garden For Giving

Last week we had our first Giving Garden Day of the school year at Herrera Elementary.  Third graders study the concepts of community and economics as part of their Social Studies curriculum.  Our Giving Garden lessons help integrate these concepts by exploring how businesses small and large can be good citizens and support their local communities.  We start a small farming business at school, exploring the resources and operating costs involved in growing seasonal produce.  Then on harvest day, we prepare our crops for donating to local organizations that serve meals to those in need.  This time, we partnered with Christian Outreach in Action, a Long Beach non-profit that serves two hot meals a day and distributes groceries to those who face food scarcity.  We donated lettuces, swiss chard, carrots, and kale and made colorful placemats to remind those who eat our food that it was grown with love and care.  These lessons continually generate great thinking and questions among the students and remain some of our favorite Ground Education experiences.