Sanislo Elementary

“ When I eat food from the garden, it tastes sweeter than when I buy it from the store. ”

Located in the West Seattle neighborhood, Sanislo Elementary is a diverse school with many special programs that promote students’ health, physical activity, literacy, science and art. The after-school garden club has been in place since 2002, and is run completely by parent and community volunteers. In each 10-week session, a dozen or more K-5th graders work as a community to plant, tend and harvest from the 400 square foot raised garden beds located on the school’s north side. One hour each week, students begin in a classroom for a story or education lesson about gardening and nutrition. Weather permitting, the students then go outside to the garden and plant seeds or starts and/or harvest depending on the lesson and the time of year. After gardening, there is time to help prepare and eat a healthy snack. The snack is sometimes the students’ favorite part of garden club!

Food that is harvested from the garden goes to the students, is offered to other families at the school or occasionally, to a local food bank. One highlight of the Sanislo Garden Club is salad making. In the spring session, students start with planting seeds for lettuce, carrots, radishes and onions and at school year’s end in June, they harvest and work together to wash, chop and toss their salad before sitting together on the grass, in the sun, to enjoy their bounty.

“ I like to eat food from the garden because it is good. ”

Perennial crops include an apple tree (4 varieties grafted on 1 tree), strawberries, blueberries, a fig tree, artichokes and a kiwi vine. Seasonally, we grow lettuce, kale, broccoli, chard, parsley, onions, radishes, garlic, pumpkins, tomatoes, carrots and bok choy.

The garden at Sanislo offers a ripe environment for aligning hands-on learning to student achievement in the classroom. In the garden, students learn about the origin of their food, and observe the inter-relationships between plants, soil and insects. The garden lessons lead to an understanding and respect for all living systems as well as provide a venue to cultivate community with other students as they work together to plant, grow and harvest their vegetables.

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