McKinley Spring Garden Season has Arrived!
Hi McKinley families,
Hope you are thawed out! It's hard to believe but we are just two weeks away - weather permitting - from the scheduled first recess garden day for 2019 - March 28th to be exact. Sign-ups, which also note which kindergarten class is scheduled to visit, for the first four weeks are below.
In the meantime, peas need to be planted before the garden opens in two weeks. If you are looking for something to do with your child following the half day on Thursday, March 21st, reach out to me and we can arrange to plant the peas once school lets out that day.
There are only 11 school-day Thursdays between now and the end of the year, meaning (again, weather permitting), a max of 11 times for students to visit, play and learn from this gem of a school resource. I encourage you to take a look at your calendar and see when you can join. NO GARDENING EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY!
As you can imagine, keeping the garden up, running and useful to students takes a ton of work. We are so lucky to have Jennifer Sherwood and Susan Marsh to manage (as volunteers) the greening, growing and maintenance of the garden on a regular basis. They can always use help, so if you or anyone you know enjoys getting some dirt under their nails please send them our way. Volunteers do NOT need to be parents - in fact, we have grandparent & community member volunteers who have committed lots of time their over the last few years to keep McKinley's garden running. Volunteers just need their school district volunteer badge. If you know someone who would like to help but getting their badge is the only thing preventing them from coming, please connect them with me and I will help with that process.
The garden also requires a ton of "administrative" work by current parents that is too much for one person to manage. McKinley's garden was designed to be run by a committee of at least 4 people who rotated & shared tasks. Assistance is needed on Thursdays for the duration of recess time (generally 11 am - 1:15 pm) to manage day-of volunteers. I also need assistance with back-end tasks as simple as creating the weekly sign-up sites to items like researching & arranging mulch/wood chip providers to liasing with the high schoolers for volunteer work days. If you can help with any of this, even something small, please reach out to me.
There's an immediate need for anyone with a pickup truck to help move some dirt into the garden for the planting beds. Please contact me if you know someone who could help out!
The kids LOVE the garden; I can't stress it enough. You really need to come to see them get creative, messy, playful, find a quiet spot, etc. It's a unique spot to take a break from their school day and as families we are lucky to have the resource at their school.
I look forward to seeing you this spring!
Meghan Zamborsky
mzamborsky@gmail.com
(202) 361 - 6302