Crocker-Riverside Native Landscaping and Art

The Crocker-Riverside Native Landscaping and Art project will involve three components: 

1. Students in 6th grade (100 students total) will design and install a native plant garden at the front of the school. The architecture of the garden will have multiple gateways and pathways to celebrate and allow the beauty and joy inherent in childhood movement. At the center of the garden, will be a large granite plateau or similar native rock feature for the children to scramble over and connect to the geology and of California, providing a natural historical and cultural anchor to the space. In preparing the native plant garden design, students will have opportunities to learn about native plants and how to create an aesthetically appealing and environmentally sustainable landscape design. Students may also have the opportunity to do to create botanical drawings of the plants they are planting.

2. All students in the school (700+ students total) will contribute to a "schoolwide art display" which will hang on the fence near the new native garden. The theme of the display will be "Yearbook of Art." Students will be invited to draw their favorite memory of the 2022-2023 school year on 3x5 cards mounted on colored cardstock, and cards will be strung together on the fence, creating a student-generated "yearbook" of memorable moments.

3. Students in 3rd and 5th grade (200 students total) will create clay animals that might live in the garden. Working with a local ceramicist and former Crocker parent, students will participate in workshops in which they mold and paint their clay animals, learning about the process of hand building, glazing, and firing clay.

Native Landscaping Project:  A work day will be scheduled for 6th graders, their families and members of the Green Schoolyard Committee to install irrigation, landscaping and associated rock/hardscape. This work day is tentatively scheduled for  April 29.

Schoolwide Art Display and 3rd/5th Grade Clay: Materials will be purchased and projects will be completed on or before the final day of school: June 15, 2023.

The purpose of the Native Landscaping Project is to educate Crocker's 6th grade students about the importance of native plants and their use in landscaping in our region. As noted on the Audubon Society's webpage, "native plants are the ecological basis upon which life depends, including birds and people. Without them and the insects that co-evolved with them, local birds cannot survive. ...Unfortunately, most of the landscaping plants available in nurseries are alien species from other countries. These exotic plants not only sever the food web, but many have become invasive pests, outcompeting native species and degrading habitat in remaining natural areas. Landscaping choices have meaningful effects on the populations of birds and the insects they need to survive. The bottom line is this—homeowners, landscapers, and local policy makers can benefit birds and other wildlife by simply selecting native plants when making their landscaping decisions." 

Music and arts education are essential components of children’s development and are fundamental to a well-rounded elementary curriculum. Participating in the arts helps kids build self-confidence, healthy social relationships, creativity and thinking skills, and so much more. Making music and art is also just plain fun!