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School Profile: John Muir Elementary, Berkeley, California
Founded in 1917, John Muir School is a K-5 school enrolling 246 students from a demographically diverse community. In the past seven years, the school has built an amazing educational garden and has been rethinking school lunch, through the efforts of Berkeley Unified School District, Center for Ecoliteracy, Chez Panisse Foundation, and Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Michael Bush – the school’s aptly named garden coordinator – has been working at John Muir for six years. According to Michael, the first years saw the completion of a multi-terraced garden built solely by the hands of a student body ranging from kindergarten to the fifth grade. Every student repeatedly took part in pick-axing and shoveling through copious amounts of natural clay and stone that lay native to the Berkeley Hills in California. This effort eventually led to their laying the stones that allowed the fruit and vegetable beds to take shape. As each year progressed, the garden continued to expand and encroach upon the campus allowing for an exciting type of outdoor and hands-on learning to grow in the minds and hearts of the children. Last year marked the graduation of the initial kindergarten class that began creating the garden in 2000! “It was so gratifying to me, as their garden teacher, to hear in the farewell speeches of so many fifth graders that their happiest memories of school were in the garden!” says Michael. The John Muir Parent Teacher Association website features a quote by renowned educator, John Dewey: “Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and when the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking, learning naturally results.” In this spirit, each classroom has time each week with either Michael Bush or Chef Carrie Orth, for hands-on learning about food. Every child at the school helps prepare the soil, sow seeds, tend the plants and harvest the crops with the support of Michael. Chef Carrie takes the seasonally harvested crops and talks about the food families, diagrams their anatomy, and prepares yummy seasonal dishes with the children. The goals are to inspire children to eat a healthy and well-balanced diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes. Study topics include composting and soil science, plant anatomy and health, flower anatomy, fruit and seed production, structure and germination, transplanting, soil cultivation and tilling, food groups and nutrition, harvesting – and ultimately, eating – good food! Aside from much of the physical work that is done by the student gardeners, various language arts, science, and art activities are incorporated into the program, as well as an array of other seasonal topics. As you walk down the halls, there are pictures of smiling kids holding big bowls of fresh greens, freshly dug potatoes, dirty shovels, wheelbarrows, hoes and hoses. In 2004, John Muir became part of the School Lunch Initiative. Changes were made to promote healthier, fresher food as part of the school lunch, and to reduce the garbage and waste associated with the food service program. We currently host “eat in the garden” lunchtime on a regular weekly rotating basis for each grade level. During this time children have recess and then meander into the garden where they enjoy their eating experience amidst the vibrant setting that they helped to create. A comprehensive recycling system is in place that allows them to separate waste into three groupings: food waste, plastic/metal, and landfill. The bell schedule has been changed so the children go to recess before lunch. Since they play first and eat second, without rushing to have enough time to play, there is less food waste. The lunches prepared by the cafeteria staff can include handmade local tamales, hormone and fat free milk, and a beautiful salad bar. By the end of lunch nothing remains of the salad bar. The teachers now even eat lunch with their class. The classes eat outside in two locations on a rotating schedule, so only one class eats in the cafeteria at a time, making the experience a lot less loud and chaotic. A grant from the California Nutrition Network, through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, supports the garden instructor position. Small grants from the Center for EcoLiteracy have supported the School Lunch Initiative, the development of the garden curriculum, and the construction of the garden. Michael has also raised other outside funds to pay for plants, garden materials, and tools. Students are also involved with an annual donations campaign, writing letters to local businesses to raise money for garden essentials and to raise awareness of the school’s goals for a healthy body, mind, and earth. Because of all the hands-on learning about food – through the efforts of the entire teaching staff, school district, parent volunteers, and local organizations – John Muir students have changed what they think about food. Rachael Suczek, past Co-President of the John Muir PTA, says “Questions like, ‘Do I have a well balanced lunch, Mom? Does this cereal have high fructose corn syrup?’ are part of our normal dialog at home. The first time my seven-year-old daughter requested that we buy Dinosaur Kale at the supermarket I was shocked. She said ‘I love it. We cooked it at school with black beans and polenta.’ When my child requests that I buy a dark green leafy vegetable, I am more than happy to oblige!” Whether this information will influence the food choices children will make over the longer term is one of the questions the University of California’s Center for Weight and Health is examining. The fourth and fifth graders at John Muir School, along with three other schools in the Berkeley Unified School District, took a survey about food opinions and choices. The kids kept a food diary for three days, writing down everything they ate and the amounts. The children in the study will participate for two more years and the information collected will be used to evaluate the impacts of the School Lunch Initiative. As parent Rachael Suczek remarks, “I am happy that my child knows that she has choices when it comes to what she puts in her mouth. In her mind fresh is best.” The next phase of the school’s environmental education effort will aim to address energy by examining the electricity needed to support the garden. To maintain the garden and cook the produce, various devices that need electricity to run are used, such as: electric burners for cooking food from the garden, juicers for “fruits & roots” lessons and tastings, blenders for making smoothies, power tools for building garden beds, and a radio for setting a serene environment for learning. Michael Bush wants to get a mobile solar unit to teach about solar power in their outdoor classroom and to provide electricity to run these tools. Not only will this new addition provide a safe source of energy, but children can directly witness and learn how the sun’s rays are turned into energy. Bush says “The solar unit will be a valuable addition to our garden, our study of photosynthesis, and our learning about alternative forms of energy in the 21st Century.” While Bush is moving on to a new position this year, the garden grows on, as do the kids. Thanks to the amazing efforts of teachers, parents, district staff and local organizations all working together, John Muir School is growing a garden of passionate learners and healthy eaters! For more information and resources: August 2007 content |
