Check Out the Chickens: Unique programs supported by the school library

Students take “life skills” classes each week learning gardening, cooking, budgeting, carpentry, art, music & other projects. The garden has student volunteers working before & after school. Some students also help during vacation time. Students grow food plants, build bird houses & safe bee habitats. Last year students began cooking healthy breakfasts & our science teacher brought eggs from his hens. Everyday there would be a line out the door for egg sandwiches!! So we wrote a grant for chickens!!

Students learn about raising urban chickens & being responsible for them including feeding, cleaning their home & making sure their coop is in a safe place.  Students are already cooking with eggs each week and now they will learn much more about eggs & chickens. For most this will be a first experience. 

KE Hones works as the school librarian at Civic Center Secondary, San Francisco. During 2013-2014 school year, she created brand new libraries at Hilltop & Civic Center. She is a National Board Credentialed librarian. My overarching goal is to promote the enjoyment of reading. “Each month I spotlight multicultural/YA displays & free books for home libraries. I match library programs to student interest with guest speakers, authors & field trips thatspotlight the rich resources available in our collection & community. In addition I write grants to expand programs with authors, community resources, specialevents, field trips.”

Check Out the Chickens: Unique programs supported by the school library

Students at Civic Center Secondary come from all over the city. The school is a block form city hall. Our garden consists of several raised beds next to a parking lot.  Over the last few years, students have made bird feeders & scarecrows from recycled materials & some bee catchers as part of a university study. This project gives them another experience with live creatures. Chickens are a great service-learning project for students and help them better understand living creatures!!

Our school library supports learning for all students incorporating physical exercise, healthy eating & mental health activities.  In the library I have provided books, media, guest speakers & garden related programs.  I have written several grants for garden programs, often with student input. The garden has become a special & integral part of our library program. In the garden, teens find a space that provides quiet work time, occasionally building projects AND the wonder of seeing things grow that most have not ever experienced.

Our teens work in the garden before and after school.  Also students want to grow plants that attract birds, butterflies and bees.  Last year they create birdhouses from recycled materials & bee safe areas.  The library had speakers come talk to the classes about endangered bees. Teens are eager to plant "butterfly" bushes to encourage butterflies to come to the garden, too. The garden is 6 raised beds located between to staff parking lots and in front of the bungalow where teens go to get work permits.

In the garden a local naturalist & artist, John Muir Laws worked with the students to create nature journals. He emphasized how important it is to observe nature and taught students some basic drawing techniques.  Our teens were very interested. In fact they wanted to stay in the garden past the program time & continue working in their nature journals.

Students are able to work in the garden everyday.  Some days they have been busy clearing & composting plant matter.  Other times they build a variety of structures like a bench, some irrigation systems and birdhouses.  Students collect a variety of recycled materials for starter planters and birdhouses. Some students come early or stay after school to work in the garden.

The garden is part of our STEAM curriculum for all students.  Students work hard to recycle materials, especially for when they want to start seeds before replanting in the garden. Teens have built birdhouses from a variety of recycled materials, too.  

Several students have created a “native plants” section in one raised bed to attract birds, bees & butterflies.  They have studied some of the native plants of this area & selected some of them for the native plant section.  Students are growing food plants and some native plants for birds, butterflies & bees.  Students are researching & selecting plants that do well in our specific climate.  They also discuss & decide on which plants will be able to grow in the space we have.  We are researching & discussing trying an indigenous method of growing several plants together in one space. We also added a green house.

Students have planted seeds in starter containers & shared with the neighborhood elementary school.  They also created birdhouses for the school.

Some students have been researching recipes in the library collection from many cultures & they hope to cook these recipes after they grow some of the ingredients. They will create recipe videos to share step-by-step instructions. They are also writing a short illustrated cookbook using oral history strategies. We have monthly school community breakfast programs & students share their garden adventures.

Our science teacher has coordinated the garden program for several years.  He works with the students in coming up with new & innovated ideas for gardening like a living plant walls!!

Our school building also houses the district Pupil Services Department and the IT Department. We invite them to our monthly community breakfast events and during school holidays & from mid-June to mid-August several of these employees volunteer to water & care for the garden.