Classroom Calendar Dates

On August 28, 2008, I met with four of this year's fourth grade teachers at Central Elementary to discuss the curriculum and the how it will be presented in the classrooms this fall. In the meeting were new teachers Angela Gavigan and Kathryn Hicks, as well as returning teachers Scott Reiter, Greg Leland and Diane Van Ormer. We also learned during the meeting that Lacy Szuwalscki will be returning next year, which is great news!

Because the teachers must cover so much material during a limited number of hours, we've had to pick and choose among the lessons in the TWIGS binder. Some of these can be covered in our Family Nights - some seem well-suited for parental involvement.

The lessons that we've decided to use will be covered every other Wednesday, in the time period between approximately 12:15 and 1 PM (when the kids leave, since it is minimum day.) There will be a some occasions where the teachers will need the help of committee members and volunteeers to provide, drop off or prepare supplies for the lessons. For example, in September we will need to provide supplies for the soils lesson, and in October we will need to help with bringing and cutting up the vegetables and fruits for the kids to taste and discuss.

On October 29, 2008 at 1:15 PM, we will have a conference with the teachers to discuss how the partnership is working and make any necessary adjustments. At that time we may also begin planning for the Spring.

Without further ado - here is the schedule for the school/classroom activities we discussed:

September 10, 2008 - Vitamins - Lesson 1 in the Nutrition Section
September 18, 2008 - Family Night at Central Elementary 6-7:30 PM
September 24, 2008 - Soil (will provide supplies at the September 18 Family Night)

October 8, 2008 - Eat Plants (need volunteers to help with cutting up food/fruit and dropping it off, or provide assistance in classroom)
October 11, 2008 - Garden Cleanup 9-12
October 22, 2008 - Fruits (volnteers needed to help with cutting food/fruit or assist in classroom)
October 29, 2008 - @ 1:15 - Teacher conference

November 5, 2008 - Seed Magic
November 13, 2008 - Family Night 6-7:30

December 3, 2008 - Apples
December 6, 2008 - Garden Cleanup 9-12
December 17, 2008 - Sumptuous Seeds

Garden Cleanup August 23, and Upcoming Fall Dates!

On August 23, we did our second cleanup day in the garden, and just like the first it was a big success. We planted some trees (I didn't know I could dig a hole that deep!) and hauled trash, and did some weeding. We had several families come out to help, and lots of volunteers - so many that we finished early again! Seriously, I think you guys need to find more work for us to do! If we need to get plants or seeds in advance of future dates, we should make that happen so we can get more done. I will talk to Agustin and Mindy about that before our next date.


One great side benefit of working in garden, is that there are always trimmings and extras to take home, and this time - since most of the volunteers weren't leaving straight for home - I got to take home lots of basil as well as some chocolate mint that Agustin encouraged me to pick. The next day, I turned the basil into a batch of pesto, and the chocolate mint into ice cream. Yes, I know - this isn't exactly "healthy eating" material, but it was the first time I ever made pesto, and only the second batch of ice cream to come out of my kitchen this summer - so it was a special occasion! ;-)

I'm always amazed at how much basil pesto uses, and I was really thrilled with the fresh herbal flavor the chocolate mint gave the ice cream. I posted the ice cream recipe on my other blog, Alice Q. Foodie (and a link to the pesto recipe.) You can read the post here.

As far as other announcements - tomorrow Mindy Swanson and I are meeting with the fourth grade teachers to discuss the curriculum for the coming year, and the possibility of doing some field trips. I talked with Barry at La Milpa Farm about doing a trip up there, but the distance and number of kids may make that difficult during the school day. We'll explore options for other locations and possibly other times if it seems feasible. It might even be nice to do a voluntary trip on a weekend. I'd also like to invite the families to meet us at the City Heights Farmers Market for an orientation sometime this fall.

Our next committee meeting will be before the General Meeting at PF Chang's on September 9 at 5 PM. Please note the location change for the happy hour - the meeting will be at the Braille Institute.

In October, we will have a Committee Meeting on October 6, and a Garden Cleanup on the 11th. Don't forget that all of our dates are posted on this website here! There is always a link on the sidebar of the front page of this site as well.

Our first family night will take place on Thursday September 18 at 6PM. Volunteers and committee members will be needed between 5 and 8 PM. Carrie Marguet and I are coordinating it, but we will need the participation of the full committee to make it a success, so please plan to attend! The vegetables we will be using are tomatoes, basil and zucchini. I have a recipe in mind to use, we just need to figure out the logistics of having so many people prepare it. I will talk with Prinicpal Cindy Marten tomorrow to find out how many people we should expect. The recipe is a fresh tomato pasta that involves simply combining hot cooked pasta with fresh tomatoes to make a sauce. It's delicious - we had it for dinner twice this week!

I'm still waiting on some recipes to be emailed to me, but we should be able to put a little cookbook together this year, that's something I hope to get off the ground soon! When we do, I'm sure this recipe will be in there:

Fresh Tomato Pasta
slightly adapted a recipe that appeared in Gourmet Magazine in 2006 by Ian Knauer, on a tip from my friend Jora

1 lb of spaghetti or cappellini (angel hair pasta)
4-5 large ripe tomatoes, preferably heirlooms (not romas)
1 clove of raw garlic
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
a few grinds of pepper
2 tablespoons of fresh pesto
finely grated parmesan cheese
olive oil

About an hour before you plan to eat, choose two ripe but still firm tomatoes, and cut them into 1/2 inch cubes ( slicing them and stacking the slices works for me.) Collect the juices and pour the tomatoes and juices into a medium sized non-reactive bowl (glass or any metal but aluminum.)

Cut the remaining tomatoes in half, and using the large holes of a box grater, "grate" the tomatoes down to the skin. You may have to do this into a large bowl to catch all of the juices, or those flexible cutting mats work well. Place the tomato pulp and juices in the bowl with the chopped tomatoes.

Mash the garlic to a paste with the salt, using either the flat side of a large knife, a garlic press or or mortar and pestle. Add to the tomatoes, along with the sugar and pepper and a glug of olive oil (about 1 Tablespoon), and stir. Allow this mixture to sit for at least 30 minutes, and up to an hour before serving.

When you're ready to eat, boil your pasta in salted water until soft but still firm to the bite (al dente.) Drain off all of the water, and combine the cooked pasta with the tomatoes in pot and toss to combine.

Using tongs or pasta serving forks, place individual portions of the pasta in bowls - using a spoon to scoop some of the tomatoes and juices out of the bottom of the pot. Top each serving with a generous teaspoon of pesto and a shower of finely grated parmesan to swirl into the pasta as you eat it.

The pesto recipe I used is here. I didn't add the cheese, since I planned to freeze it, but I did add about a Tablespoon of lemon juice to brighten up the flavor. (If you plan to use it in this recipe, it really doesn't need cheese, since you sprinkle some on the finished dish.)

Kicking Things Off With Our First Committee Meeting at the Linkery and June Garden Cleanup!

Our first committee meeting (the first event of 08-09 - woot!) was held at the Linkery on June 19. Four of our members - Alice, Denisse, Carrie and Morgan kicked the year off with some delicious food, and met and made friends with our server Ben - who came and helped us out at our garden cleanup the following week!

At the meeting we discussed the schedule for the upcoming year, and our planned schedule of events and activities - which will be the subject of a future post here.

The garden cleanup was a great success. Committee members Denisse, Morgan, Alice and Anna were joined by a few of the families from last year, Mindy Swanson from the UC Davis Cooperative Extension, Ben from the Linkery and Alice's friend Alex - we had a great time doing a long list of tasks provided by Augustine. We pulled out some onions (which we sent to the Linkery, no word on whether Jay was able to use them) and planted tomatoes and basil and zucchini seedlings for harvest in September. We also did some weeding and cleanup around the garden, transplanted some potted plants and planted some sunflowers and marigolds on the campus. We are looking forward to our next garden event on August 23, 2008 and are hoping to get even more Junior Leaguers involved. Given the mad skillz we seem to have, we are even considering helping out with some other local school gardens!

Here are a few photos from our garden cleanup in June - the rest can be viewed here.

Other photos of the school and garden taken last year can be viewed here

Welcome to the Growing Healthy Students Blog!

Welcome to our cooperative blog! This will be a place for everyone involved with the Growing Healthy Students 08-09 project to post news and announcements, questions, calendar items, experiences, journal entries, photos, updates and information about the project and it's progress!
The primary reason for setting this up is to provide a place for the various entities involved in this project - the teachers, the schools' administration, the garden administration, JLSD committee members and the UC Davis Cooperative Extension - to interact and communicate about the project and it's development. Please don't be shy, let me know if you have questions and feel free to post about your experiences. This effort cannot be successful without everyone's involvement and communication, and it will no doubt grow and develop as we progress through the year! I'm looking forward to it!

Important Dates for JLSD and Growing Healthy Students

August
Monday August 4, Committee Meeting at Starlite Lounge – 6 PM
Tuesday, August 12: Summer Socials/Neighborhood Get Togethers
Saturday, August 23: Garden Cleanup at Central Elementary - 9-12

September
Tuesday, September 9: Pre-General Meeting Happy Hour at PF Chang's before meeting at Braille Institute - at 5 PM
Thursday, September 18, 2008: 1st Family Night at Central Elementary – 5-8 PM (actual event will go from 6-7:30)

October
Saturday, October 4: Informational Tour of the City Heights Farmers Market - 10 AM
Monday, October 6: Committee Meeting– 6 PM - Starlite Restaurant
Saturday October 11: Garden Cleanup at Central Elementary – 9-12
Tuesday, October 14: Pre-Meeting Happy Hour/Committee Meeting and General Meeting – 5 PM at PF Chang's

November
Monday, November 3: Committee Meeting - 6 PM
Tuesday: November 11: General/Neighborhood Meetings - TBA
Thursday November 13: 2nd Family Night at Central Elementary– 5-8 PM (actual event will go from 6-7:30)

December
(No Committee Meeting)
Saturday, December 6: Garden Cleanup at Central Elementary 9-12
Tuesday, December 9: JLSD Holiday Party – 6 PM (approx.)


2009

January
Monday, January 5: Committee Meeting - 6 PM
Tuesday January 13: General Meeting and Pre-General Meeting Happy Hour – 6 PM

February
Monday February 2: Committee Meeting - 6 PM
February 7: Garden Cleanup at Central Elementary – 9-12
February 10: Neighborhood Meetings at Non-Profits
February 19: 3rd Family Night at Central Elementary– 5-8 PM

March
Monday, March 2: Committee Meeting - 6 PM
Saturday, March 7: JLSD 80th Anniversary Gala (tentative)
Tuesday, March 10: JLSD General Meeting – 6 PM
Saturday, March 29: Kids in the Kitchen (tentative)

April
Monday, April 6 - Committee Meeting - 6 PM
Thursday, April 16 - 4th Family Night at Central Elementary– 5-8 PM (actual event will go from 6-7:30)
Saturday, April 18 - JLSD Island Divine Fundraiser

May
Thursday, May 7 - End of the Year “Celebration Dinner in the Garden” – 5 PM
May 12 - JLSD Annual Dinner – 6 PM