Kinder students attend for a single day in early fall. They explore the life cycle from seed to compost - with our seasonal pumpkins! Students take an interactive farm tour, discover what a seed needs to grow, observe all phases of pumpkin growth, plant pumpkin seeds, and are introduced to waste diversion through vermicomposting.  Busy, busy!

To extend on the NGSS instructional segment 1 (Plant Shapes), students look at the various ways plants are useful to humans, and develop an understanding of their role in sustaining all life!  Students explore several different plants with properties that improve physical or emotional health (i.e. aloe, lavender, ginger, chamomile, etc.) and then make a sachet of dried herbs and flowers. Additionally, students discover why it matters that our farm is organic, and they plant marigolds or calendulas to help us naturally keep insects away. Students are also introduced to all organic pest control practices on site during a comprehensive farm tour - and learn that pesky pests are trying to eat their school lunch! 

Finally, first graders discover that we need their help with a large pest problem at Farm Lab - that needs to be solved in a humane and organic way! After talking about what scares rabbits away naturally from their salad bar lettuce and carrots, students design and code a path for a robot to deter pests from eating their school lunch produce.

Second graders attend the DREAMS Campus for a one-day learning experience each spring. Through the 5E model, students develop a deep understanding of pollination and its connection to the sustainability of our food sources. They observe flowers, tour the farm, and learn about different pollinators. Students also discover the number of pollinators is declining, the contributing factors, and the potential impacts. No chocolate without pollinators? No strawberries? Yikes! Students take action by coding a robot as a specific pollinator to help us pollinate more flowers - and they leave Farm Lab inspired to save the bees. Pollination matters! 🐝

Got natives? Third graders explore Farm Lab's expansive native gardens when they attend their one-day learning experience at Farm Lab’s DREAMS Campus (Design, Research, Engineering, Art, Math, & Science). Students learn to identify our native plants and discover the numerous insects, pollinators, and animals that need them to survive. Students also learn that Farm Lab was a barren, dirt lot only eleven years ago, and have the opportunity to see, first hand, the value and impact of ecosystem restoration. To take action, third graders collaboratively design scaled, native gardens that can build habitat and restore biodiversity. These designs could be planted at school, at home, or in the community. Bonus? They make seed balls to ‘spread’ their knowledge. 🙂

All fourth graders are participating in Farm Lab’s two-day, renewable energy experience. Students build their understanding of renewable energy options, resource sustainability, and how our energy choices impact the planet. 

The day one experiences include wind energy exploration (including sail design and racing sail cars), building closed circuits, learning about the types of renewable energy utilized in CA, discovering the climate and environmental impacts of fossil fuels, and calculating when fossil fuels will run out at the current rate of use.

On day 2, after researching and a virtual Q&A session with a PHD turbine engineer, students collaboratively go through the design thinking process and engineer wind turbine prototypes - complete with a motor and LED that lights up if wind energy is effectively harnessed. The second and third turbine design iterations really get students’ ‘blades’ turning! 

Grade 5 experiences our three day Water Wise learning engagement. Learning opportunities on days one and two allow students to develop a deeper understanding of clean water scarcity and the importance of water conservation and reclamation to ensure enough water for all. They explore contaminants and filtration, as well as water pumping systems that move usable water. Students tour the farm - noting all of the water conservation strategies we have implemented to minimize water usage on site. They also design, build and test water filters, build a pump, explore the water table via aquifer models, and view contaminants in reclaimed water under high power microscopes. 

On day three, students review drought patterns and recognize if our conservation and reclamation practices aren't enough, we will need an alternate fresh water source. What solution is nearby? The ocean! Using design thinking, students design and engineer desalination prototypes and compete to see who can collect the most fresh water. 5th graders leave Farm Lab knowing the value of clean water and how their actions impact natural resources.

Entrepreneurial DREAMS is a 5-day unit that culminates with Salad Wars.  The learning experience revolves around the collaborative creation of organic salad dressing companies. Each business team (class) is divided into five jobs: chefs, copywriters, design team, flavor specialists, event organizers,  and the promotion team.  Creativity and culinary delights abound!

This learning experience is transdisciplinary and supports all six of EUSD's Learner Profile Competencies: Empowered Learner, Skilled Communicator, Global Citizen, Innovative Thinker, Wellness Advocate, and Confident Collaborator. Students complete market studies, research flavor profiles, design a logo, create dressings, harvest farm fresh lettuce, practice presentation skills, and write a mission statement, scripts, and a song for their companies. Day five culminates with a marketing presentation to a panel of judges - complete with a salad dressing taste test!

Salad Wars has become a highly anticipated part of being an EUSD student - and judging seats are hard to get! ;)