A Garden Party

Mike Sciacca

There they stood, some 40 third-grade students, sleeves rolled to the

forearms and at the ready to give back to the earth. Some were wearing

gloves; others were holding their weapon of choice. All, however, eyed

the project that stood about 40 feet in front of them on what was a

perfectly bright and sunny day at Golden View Elementary School.

They passed through the gate in the chain-link fence in a calm,

single-file manner. But when they were given the green light to forge

ahead, they went at a near sprint to a couple of plots of land that were

theirs for the taking.

No, make that, o7 diggingf7 .

The students, from the classrooms of Christine Frasco and Melissa

tenBerge, went to work on two of the garden beds at the school’s Student

Environmental Learning Facility, better known as, “the farm.” As part of

the Golden View campus, the farm established in the 1970s, is situated

on 2.5 acres of land and has been under the careful eye of Instruction

Aide Marti Lambright for the past 10 years.

These third-graders went to work on removing plants that had matured,

and then prepped the beds for new plantings of different varieties of

vegetables.

Parents should be so lucky to have their children eagerly anticipate

doing chores in the garden.

“The kids really enjoy this time outside. They not only get a break

from the indoor classroom but they also get to take part in a variety of

projects here on the farm,” said Lambright.

The outdoor classroom coincides with the students’ indoor curriculum

on the importance of plant life. Frasco and tenBerge share books with

their students on various aspects of gardening, such as, “What is a

Plant?”

The class also had lessons on what functions roots and stems serve and

the different environments in which plants can live.

After sharing the information, the kids went to work, digging, raking

and removing the old plants while making preparations for the new.

Michael Tomasek, 8, was busy getting to the root of things as he

helped yank out a couple of matured radishes, each topped by nearly two

feet of greenery. He looked like a seasoned gardener as he used a hand

shovel and three-pronged hand rake.

“I like to see how big the vegetables can get and I really like to

pull them out when they need to be picked,” he said.

Michael and the rest of his classmates looked anything but bored in

the garden, although one youngster stood off to the side because he

“wasn’t too sure about the insects.”

There are 24 beds in the garden, and each classroom at the school is

responsible for the planting and upkeep of their respective bed. A

variety of vegetables, lettuces, a few herbs and some flowers --

including sweet peas climbing up a wire trellis, can be found in the

garden. Each bed contains its own watering system. The beds are protected

by a chain-link fence, which surrounds the garden area and serves as a

barrier to keep at bay a menagerie of animals that freely mingle about

the grounds. There are three goats, two sheep, ducks, geese, chickens and

roosters and several rabbits.

In addition to helping tend the garden, students at Golden View also

feed and groom the animals.

* MIKE SCIACCA is the education and sports reporter. He can be reached

at (714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.