text: Claire Gavin – EnrichLA
  Posts by Claire Gavin
  By Claire Gavin | June 11, 2018
  Celery time at Micheltorena! Plus hanging with the animals
  By Claire Gavin | May 8, 2018
  Friday April 20th was our last day at the Micheltorena garden for the Spring semester. Although it was sad for everyone to say bye to the animals and plants, we still had a lot of fun! We spent the day doing maintenance, watering and weeding, and hanging out with the bunnies and chickens a lot.…
  Snails and Watering at Frank Del Olmo
  By Claire Gavin | May 7, 2018
  It was another dry week in Los Angeles, so some of my students at Frank Del Olmo hung out with me at recess and did some manually watering. Although we have a wonderful irrigation system at the garden, they get a lot of satisfaction out of watering themselves. Plus, now that it's becoming even more…
  Post-Rain Bugs
  By Claire Gavin | April 16, 2018
  At Frank Del Olmo today, we had a blast discovering all the bugs in the garden. Because of all the rain and moderate temperatures around Los Angeles, the insects are happy and healthy and ready to say hello! We had not explored the garden in a few weeks due to Spring Break and the rain,…
  By Claire Gavin | April 5, 2018
  Before Spring Break, I decided to have a festive St. Patrick's Day-themed lesson at Micheltorena, because we have a few clover patches that were ripe for weeding. I love our clover patches. They are pleasing to the eye, and so green and soft, even though they're considered a weed. They're also a wonderful cover for…
  Weeding is Fun!
  By Claire Gavin | March 5, 2018
  The students at Frank Del Olmo love to weed our garden! Last week, we discussed the importance of maintaining a garden. Not only is it good to do to make the garden pretty, but we also want to make sure that all the plants are healthy and happy and growing the way they should be.…
  Herbs and Spices Guessing Game
  We had a lot of fun Friday at Micheltorena, even though it was quite cold and windy outside. Instead of having an outdoor lesson, I went from room to room for a warm and cozy indoor lesson. It was so fun to see the students in their own environment. I had a great lesson planned…
  A Chrysalis at Micheltorena!
  By Claire Gavin | February 5, 2018
  We had a wonderful day in the garden last week over at Micheltorena Elementary. Two weeks ago, I noticed a caterpillar on one of our fennel plants. It was beautiful, and at the end of every class I pointed it out to my students so they could also bask in its prettiness. If that was…
  Always wear your gardening shoes!
  By Claire Gavin | December 14, 2017
  At Frank Del Olmo Elementary, I always have a wonderful array of helpers who come visit me during recess. How cool is it to have students choose to maintain a garden with me instead of play with their friends on the blacktop? They always come running up to me at 10:50am with huge smiles on…
  By Claire Gavin | November 16, 2017
  To break the ice on the first day of each new session, I always have my students choose a nickname by playing a name game that other EnrichLA rangers use as well. I have each student think of a garden-related word that starts with the same letter as their first name, and put the two…
  Our Micheltorena Pumpkin
  By Claire Gavin | October 30, 2017
  With October almost over (!!!) I wanted to do something festive with the Micheltorena classes for Halloween/fall. Luckily, our garden had one perfectly orange, round pumpkin in the patch that was ready to harvest. I decided to make my lesson of the week language arts-related. It was the first time I had my students write…
  Bee Sanctuary, Kumquat and more at Micheltorena
  By Claire Gavin | October 6, 2017
  I have the special opportunity to work at Micheltorena Elementary School this year! The school's garden has a really cool origin story. The garden space used to be an additional school parking lot until some Micheltorena neighborhood community members decided to rip out all that concrete and make it a community garden! That was over…
  Pollinator Fun at Frank Del Olmo!
  By Claire Gavin | October 4, 2017
  We had a blast today at Frank Del Olmo Elementary in Koreatown. Since last Thursday was a school holiday, the kids and I haven't hung out in 2 full weeks! I decided that it would be a good day for our Pollinator lesson. Some of my 4th grade students are learning about honey bees in…