Kokua Garden

Our Kokua Garden is a 55-by-42-foot plot of flowers, plants and vegetables. This is the foundation of our outdoor classroom, where our students take their environmental learning initiative to another level. Each class has its own raised garden bed, which parents and students plant and tend throughout the year. “Kokua” is Hawaiian for pitching in, which is exactly what makes our garden possible.

Yearly donations from the San Clemente Garden Club and parents help our school populate the garden with beautiful flowers, California native plants, as well as fruits and vegetables. Not only do students learn to appreciate where their food comes from when they harvest the vegetables they use in class to make a delicious salad; but students also, are exposed to fruits and vegetables they have never experienced before. Our students learn about composting, plant and animal life cycles, and water conservation throughout the year. Volunteer parents are a big part of our gardening curriculum, giving lessons about the importance of bees and butterflies to our garden and helping with weekly maintenance throughout the year.