Kramer Gardens Update

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Over the last 3 years, our students have worked to turn unsightly plots of usable land into beautiful gardens that would attract bees, butterflies, ladybugs, birds, lizards and snakes. These gardens will offer outdoor learning about natural processes, systems, habitats, plants and animals.

Our newest gardens are by the gym, playground, a portable classroom and by our walkway to the building. The plots have been barren for 20+ years. One of our parents volunteered to till the land for us, and students amended the soil and added compost from our compost barrel.

 

Gym garden:

This plot was screaming for help!! Oh, the possibilities!

 

 David Ariza's dad came to our rescue with a tiller!

 

 Students helped to rake out all of the rocks, weeds and buried treasure.

 

 

Students amended the soil with garden soil, manure and compost.

 

After planting perennials and decorating an abstract fence wall sculpture, our eyesore is now a beautiful sight and a habitat for many interesting creatures.

 

 

 

 

Playground garden: 

This plot of land is near our playground. We knew we needed to do something about this area, too. A perfect corner that should be filled with beautiful plants and flowers.

 

So, the land was tilled and the soil was amended.

 

 

First graders threw out wildflower seeds.

 

Mr. Leyva and his wife, one of our teacher assistants, both worked to put our decorative fences together and drill them into the walls. After 3 weeks, our wildflowers started to pop up.

 

Our wildflowers are a beautiful sight!

 

 

 

 Portable classroom garden

We are working to establish gardens around our portable classrooms. This one was made with unused cinderblocks and wood that had been stored for years near our parking lot area. We decided to put it all to good use by building this bed near a portable entrance. Amazingly enough, it was a perfect fit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walkway in our large garden area

 

We decided to fill the space between two walkways with a small narrow garden . We planted perennials that will fill in the space over time. A decorative picket fence painted with school colors was added to the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front Garden update

The garden areas on both sides of our front entrance have continued to fill in.

 

 

You can see our elephant ears perking up in the back on the right side.

 

 

We enjoy our gardens now as we walk around our campus.