ELA was established on January 23, 2009 when we built our pond. 

 

If you haven't taken a walk to the school in the evening to see ELA, you should. The gardens are looking amazing. The colors can be seen from the gates. The vegetables and herbs are looking and smelling great. Students have been out weeding and reveling in the aromas for the last month. Baby bunnies were recently nesting in the yellow flowers by the pond. Some of the classes are watching for toad's eggs and then tadpoles who have been seen in the pond at this time of year for the last two pre-summer seasons. Classes have been seen eating lunch and being rewarded with a walk through ELA. ELA is a great place to read, but mostly to bask in the sun and watch living things scurry and fly from one set of flowers to the next. There is a lot of hands-on learning going on out there. Being one of the teachers who has a class with a window to ELA, I get to see the excitement as students walk in the gate. The teachers usually sit the students down in the stump and rock outdoor classroom to discuss the goals and objectives of the learning. Then the students are off to explore, investigate and tend to ELA's needs. Kids and nature together can not be beat. I recently stood in a fellow teachers room and watched a hummingbird flit from red flowers to pink to yellow to purple. ELA is beautiful and its beauty is not unnoticed by the 600 students who pass it from time to time.