View the
garden videos to see Mill Valley Children's Garden events.
Located in Mill Valley, California, at Edna Maguire Public Elementary School, the Mill Valley Children's Garden is a 1/3 acre outdoor classroom laboratory. The garden is a hands-on treasure for both curriculum-based teaching and exploratory creative experimentation - it is a "textbook come to life." Through the Children's Garden, children learn botany, ecology, math, science, language arts, creative arts, stewardship of the land, community service, and much more.
The Children's Garden is a grass roots, volunteer effort by the parents, faculty and community of Mill Valley. The garden operates through private funds and donations and is supported by the Edna Maguire PTA - a 501 3 ( c ).
Are you a parent of an Edna Maguire student interested in volunteering to help with the Mill Valley Children's Garden? Click here for more information, or contact Saor Stetler. Green thumbs are not required - all that is needed is a desire to have fun with the children in the garden while observing the cycles of nature.
In the near future we will have a garden blog on the school website and an email newsletter to keep everyone up-to-date on garden happenings. If you would like to receive the garden e-newsletter, please email Saor Stetler at sstetler@earthlink.net.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Garden Work Days for 2008 (Contingent on Weather)
After July, the work days are on the first Saturday of the month from 9-12pm: July 12 | August 2 | September 6 | October 4
View the Letter from Dan McKenna of Tree Report to Ms. Rees's First Grade Class.
After viewing a video about our garden, Al Gore wrote us a wonderful letter about the "green" work we have been doing at Edna Maguire.
Click here to support the Mill Valley Children's Garden by purchasing seeds from the Botanical Interests website. They are generously donating a percentage of all seed sales that originate from these links to our garden. This fundraiser is ongoing. It's never too late to plant your garden.
Read a letter from the National Gardening Association.
Are you an Edna Maguire parent Interested in volunteering in the garden? Here are ways that you can become involved:
Friends of the Garden (FOG): Volunteers attend a monthly meeting to brainstorm and discuss ideas to continue the garden's improvement.
Garden parents: Take the children to the garden once a week as part of their classroom curriculum. To be coordinated with the Edna Maguire teachers in the fall. We hope to have at least two garden parents per class. There will be weekly instructions provided about tasks and activities for the garden visits. Look for "garden volunteer" positions on the sign-up sheets for classroom volunteers.
Hands-on Gardening: Gardening volunteers get down and dirty in the garden. Adopt an area (citrus trees, back fence, succulents, greenhouse, orchard, compost area, literature garden, butterfly garden, arbor, etc.) and pull the weeds, mulch the area and add new plants.
Compost Volunteer: Give the compost an occasional pitchfork turning and check to make sure the worm bin is staying balanced.
Curriculum Designer: A parent to work with teachers on lesson plans that integrate the garden into the California standards for each grade level.
Numerous jobs that can be performed remotely: Supply purchaser; special events coordinator; fundraising coordinator; grant coordinator; community sponsor coordinator; and public relations coordinator.
For more information, contact the garden volunteer coordinator, Saor Stetler:
Saor E. Stetler
sstetler@earthlink.net
415-388-8106 home
415-699-3025 cell
