Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Kindergartner Lucy Dill gets into the spirit of weeding in the garden behind the Daves Avenue School kindergarten classroom.

A garden of children tends to the business of gardening

By John Pancharian

Kindergarten. In the original German it means "garden of children," and at Daves Avenue School, that's just what it is. Teachers Susan Atencio and Ilene Perkins, with plentiful help from parent volunteers, have created a charming garden behind their kindergarten classroom that has both enchanted the students and inspired the staff.

The garden grew out of the old Life Lab project at Daves, and has existed since 1990, when Home and School Club funds and parents such as Bill Flood helped create it in its current form. One now enters by ducking through wooden trellises into a sheltered area nestled between the classroom and the vine-draped schoolyard fence.

A huge, fiery rosebush climbs the building wall next to a gazebo in which a dove has recently decided to nest. Children have placed rocks and "Do not disturb" signs around the gazebo, which now seems almost a shrine to its nesting guest. Other students dig in the sandbox that sits between a scent garden, with its aromatic herbs and scented geraniums, and three large beds bursting with flowers, wheat, vegetables and herbs. A redwood tub contains a serene water garden in which fish, snails and pollywogs wriggle in the stems of fleshy green reeds.

"I think for kids to plant seeds and see the plants come up is a very powerful experience for them," longtime parent volunteer Julie Ogawa said. "This whole place is like an outdoor classroom. Kids learn to observe in ways they usually don't have an opportunity to."

Ogawa stressed that the parents and teachers provide as much help as needed, but that the students are fully involved in the gardening. "Every week we come out here to do the weeding and observe the critters and do planting."

And this is a kindergarten class, so one must not forget the worms. The children learn about composting and soil along with plants, and part of that education is the worm box. "They make the soil better," kindergartner Beau Hoover explained as he stirred the red wrigglers. His classmate Molly Walsh regarded the bed of moist black soil, then proclaimed her favorite part of it: "the worms."

Ogawa said she enjoys seeing the students learn about composting, recycling and respect for all creatures. "A lot of them have gone from 'Eew, a worm!' to 'All right, a worm!' To me, that's a huge difference," she said.

"It's not just a garden," Perkins said. "It influences the whole course of study. Seasons, animals, birds and weather are all part of the curriculum."

"It nurtures our souls as teachers and the souls of the children," Atencio agreed. "Today our lives are so busy. This gives the children time to be who they are and develop a sense of self."

This spirit has spread over much of Daves Avenue School as other teachers have been inspired by what they've seen behind the kindergarten yard. There are now beds popping up in many places all over the school. "See, that's typical school institutional shrubs," Ogawa said, pointing to a row of bushes on one side of a second-grade classroom door. On the other side is the class's flower bed. "Now, here we have something that the kids can interact with."

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