For Outdoor Classroom this week…

…Our 5th & 6th Graders went off-site. Mr. Gottmer and Pastor Chamie took the students for a picnic lunch at Wildwood and a hike to Paradise Falls.

Throughout the hike, students played a plant identification game. When they discovered their plants, they got their name entered into a drawing for two hiking prizes — a hiking water bottle and a battery-operated camping lantern.

Students learned that the Chumash used the seeds of the Wild Cucumber to make jewelry (the plant itself is toxic) and that the early settlers would rub California Sagebrush on themselves as this “cowboy cologne” improved their smelliness.

Students identified native plants such as Bladderpod, Arroyo Lupine, Valley Oak, and Toyon, among others.

At Ascension we believe that the more you know about plants – and their names – the more likely you are to care for them. We also believe students need to be exploring outdoors.

In addition to the plant science that students are learning, Garden & Outdoor Classroom is also connecting with English Language Arts in these next few weeks as our 4th-6th graders read Seedfolk, a story of people coming together to create a garden in an abandoned lot in a city. TK-4th grade will be reading various garden books with complimentary curriculum organized by Mrs. Hartson.