Fall Session
Earth Focus
Our 15-week session begins September 11th and ends on the Winter Solstice, December 21st.
The class is from 2:45-5pm. Pickup no later than 5:30pm.
No class on September 25 (Yom Kippur), October 9 (Indigenous Peoples’ Day) or November 7th (Election Day)
Half Days offered include October 20 and December 1.
Each month has a craft list of possible projects related to the curriculum below.
September - Dirt
Week One: 9/11- 13, Meet your Garden--3rd St Side, Get Journal, Observe, Soil Search.
Week Two: 9/18-20, Meet your Plants, Pollinators, Label, Start drying plant leaves and flowers for Herbarium.
Week Three: 9/26-27, Meet the Compost Bin, Identify Greens and Browns, Spin, Look for Worms, Compost tea.
Crafts: Fingerknitting, Fairy houses, Earth paints, Herbarium, Start Nature Journals, Mud shake.
Possible Guest Speaker: Urban Park Rangers
October - Trees
Week Four: 10/2-10/4, Meet the Trees--Each child adopts a tree.
Week Five: 10/10-10/11, Meet the 4th St Garden--Each child adopts a planter.
Week Six: 10/16-10/18, Make a sign for your tree to keep litter/dogs out.
Week Seven: 10/23-10/25, Decorate tree wells
Week Eight: 10/30-11/1, Focus on leaves. Identifying different trees by leaves, Leaves as camouflage, collect and sort leaves, drying leaves.
Crafts: Make a scarecrow, tree rubbings, leaf placemats, twig frame, twig rafts, little forest elfs, leaf prints, leaf tiles, nature weavings, animal masks, forest art, paint pumpkins, autumn tree weaving.
Possible Guest Speaker on Pumpkins
November - Animals & Bugs
Week Nine: 11/6-8, Pollination Partners (bats, butterflies, bees), Earthworms and Pests (rats!)
Week Ten: 11/13-15, Preparing garden for colder weather. Protect from animals and frost. Animal homes in cold weather.
Week Eleven: 11/20-22, Companion Planting, Three Sisters, Animal Yoga Poses, Animal Intuition, Bring in Pet Turtle
Week Twelve: 11/27-29, Animal Tracks, Poop, Seeds
Crafts: Learn to wind a ball of yarn, learn to cast on, animal ears headbands, origami animals, snake mobile, wheat wreath, fruit and vegetable prints, garden necklace, walnut critters, clay cornucopia, faux taxidermy, felted acorn necklace, animal homes, animal charades.
December - Ecosystems
Week Thirteen: 12/4-12/6, What makes an ecosystem, Our garden ecosystem, Our tree ecosystems. Mushrooms and fungi.
Week Fourteen: 12/11-12/13, Who eats what, Food web, Nutrition, bake bread
Week Fifteen: 12/18-12/20, As our weather changes, how does the garden ecosystem change.
Crafts: terrariums, desert scene felt cutouts, potato print wrapping paper/gift bags, felted wool mat, popcorn garlands, dried herb sachets.
