Sherman's Green Schoolyard

Picture: workshops at the Green Schoolyard Alliance Conference at Sherman - fall 2008.

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October 11 - Sherman hosts the SF Green Schoolyard Alliance 3rd Growing Greener Schoolyards Conference

Next month, the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance will host the third Growing Greener School Grounds Conference, a workshop-style event that will bring together over 300 teachers and community members from all over the San Francisco Bay Area to learn more about creating, using, and sustaining ecological schoolyards. Building on their two previous successful conferences, held in October 2002 and 2004, the October 2008 conference will give participants the opportunity to learn ecology-related curricula, construction, and gardening techniques while simultaneously improving the grounds of the schools hosting the workshops. The conference will take place Friday, October 10th (evening) and Saturday, October 11th (all day).

Friday, October 10th @ St. Mary's Cathedral Conference Center (1111 Gough St., SF, CA 94109), 5:30 - 8:30 pm

The events on Friday will introduce conference participants to the multiple benefits of ecological schoolyards through a networking and resource fair as well and an inspirational keynote speaker. The networking and resource fair will provide information, contacts, and materials that conference attendees can use in the classroom, in their communities, and on school grounds. The evening will feature a keynote address by Richard Louv, acclaimed author of Last Child in the Woods. (see below to purchase book)

Saturday, October 11th @ Sherman, Sanchez, & Alvarado Elementary Schools 8:30 am -4:30 pm

On Saturday, three San Francisco public schools will host a wide variety of half-day or whole-day workshops that offer information, resources, and the hands-on experience in horticulture and garden-oriented green building techniques. Participants will learn skills they can apply later at their own schools. Curriculum-oriented workshops will teach participants how to connect their existing lessons to their green schoolyard. Each conference participant will have the opportunity to attend one whole-day or two half-day workshops.

Workshop topics will include:

Building outdoor seating in the schoolyard using natural and recycled materials
Fostering community participation in ecological schoolyard design, construction, and stewardship
Schoolyard water systems and their curriculum connections
A variety of composting methods
Native habitat gardening
Teaching science and math in the schoolyard
Mosaic tile work with reused/recycled materials
School gardening: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Building and using bird and butterfly gardens
Pond ecology and solar-powered pump systems
Cooking with garden produce
Animal husbandry: bees and chickens

May 17 - First Annual Garden Party - We had a successful First Annual Garden Party with fun booths for kids and parents alike!  Guests were treated to a delicious lunch and a funky hip hop performance.  Thank you to all who helped to put on the event and especially to those neighbors and community members who stopped by to say hello! Check out the pictures from the Under the Sea Carnival & Garden Party...

A Beautiful Green Schoolyard for Sherman...

As a part of a school bond, which passed in November 2003, $2 million in funding was included for a new program, “Green Schoolyards,” which provided significant funding to replace asphalt in San Francisco schools with more natural outdoor environments. 

Since then Sherman's Franklin Street Yard has surpassed the original vision of the bond.  We have a living and growing green schoolyard that provides our students with both learning and playing opportunities.  Our fantastic Garden Coordinator teaches our classes once a week about gardening, composting and caring for our yard.

Students have harvested broccoli, lettuce, swiss chard and lots of herbs and cooked them up in some terrific and tasty nutrition projects with our Nutrition Coordinator. 

Special thanks to Phyllis Matsuno, Clare Watsky, Kent David and other past and present Green Schoolyard Committee members (parents, staff, teachers) for all of their leadership, planning and work that you've done and led to make our dream a reality!

Our plans updated by Landscape Architect Jeffrey Miller...

Click here for pdf of updated plan that include planting information.

Click here to see our first conceptual design.

Sherman Green Schoolyard Project - Frequently Asked Questions

Is a “green schoolyard” the same thing as a school garden?
A green schoolyard is a special kind of school garden, one that is designed to be both a fun, inviting place for children to spend time outdoors and an outdoor teaching space.  There are green schoolyards in the cities in the United States, Canada and Europe.

What can children learn in a green schoolyard?
A green schoolyard can offer children hands-on opportunities to learn about plants and animals (biology), the relationship between the seasons and weather, the sun and the earth (geology/environment), about the interrelationships between living things in the garden (ecology), about how to grow food and flowers and care for a garden (gardening/horticulture) and about how to turn things grown in the garden into food (cooking/nutrition).  In addition, the green schoolyard can be an outdoor learning space for the teaching of academic subjects, and where children can work on writing and art projects.

What would I find in a green schoolyard?
Green schoolyards come in many sizes and forms, but certain features are common: a variety of accessible paths giving children access to separate, varied spaces within the schoolyard; a gathering place where an entire class can work together; seating areas for individuals and small groups: flower and vegetable gardens; composting bins; and decorative features such as murals, mosaics and paving stones that are created by children.  You might also find a sundial, a weather vane and weather station, a greenhouse, a labyrinth, birdhouses and bird feeders, and/or a chicken coop or rabbit hutch.

How do green schoolyards help the environment?
Green schoolyards are also “green” in the sense of being created and maintain in a manner that is kind to the environment: harmful chemicals are not used, compostable waste from the schoolyard and the school is converted into safe, natural fertilizer and native plants that require little additional water are featured.  Garden projects often involve reusing discarded materials.  The removal of asphalt allows natural rainfall to soak into the soil and nurture plants and animals instead of becoming stormwater run-off.  And most importantly, the city-dwelling children who spend time in a green schoolyard learn about nature and taking care of the environment.

Who maintains the green schoolyard?
The children, teachers, parent and community volunteers all have roles in maintaining the green schoolyard.  In addition, most schools with green schoolyards employ a part-time garden teacher or coordinator to help the teachers design science projects and to work directly with the children in the garden.

How are green schoolyard projects in the public schools in San Francisco funded?
Existing projects were funded entirely throughout PTA funds and private donations.  A2003 bond issue provided some public funding for green schoolyards at 17 public schools that are slated to receive accessibility upgrades, including Sherman.  The balance of initial construction funds and funds for ongoing support of green schoolyard programs, must be secured through individual donations, foundation grants and other private sources.

Do other public schools in San Francisco have some kind of green schoolyard space?
Yes, an increasing number of schools, from the pre-K/child development center level up to high school, have some kind of green schoolyard.

How would a green schoolyard benefit Sherman and its surrounding neighborhood?
When founded, Sherman was a country school set on rolling pasture land. Today, it still enjoys a lot of open space compared to other city schools, but all of the schoolyard areas are graded and paved.  Turning some of this austere expanse of asphalt into a green schoolyard will make Sherman a more exciting, fun and interesting place for children to learn and will add beauty to the neighborhood for the benefit of the whole community.

For more information and/or to get involved, please contact Green Schoolyard Committee Chair, Regan Mahoney.

Pictures - Decomposed Granite (DG) installation...and DG after in our new amphitheatre!

Additional Links of Interest...

• San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance

• All Hands in the Dirt