A Living Library = A. L. L.

Students at Commodore Stockton Child Development Center and Gordon J. Lau Elementary School in San Francisco's Chinatown Living Library & Think Park are exploring the rainbow of colors exploding throughout their Living Library Gardens, as well as creating some new colors of their own. 

The Kindergarteners and 1^st Graders conducted several investigations of the rainbow in the last month. After hypothesizing about where rainbows come from, students caught their own rainbows by directing sunlight through a glass jar filled with water, and onto a white sheet of paper. Next, students painted individual color charts, adding the primary colors first and then mixing the primary colors together to make secondary colors. The students brought their color charts to the Garden and compared nature’s colors with their handmade colors, to discover if our Living Library Gardens contain all the colors of the rainbow – They found out -  they do ! 

Second and Third Graders added new colors to our A.L.L. Gardens. These classes painted large rocks and placed them throughout the Gardens, creating pathways and walking hotspots, so they can plant and harvest more easily in hard to reach areas. Above are some Second Graders demonstrating how the new rocks will be used. 

Finally, A Living Library has produced an abundance of delicious, colorful roots, leaves and seeds for us to harvest and eat ! Through close observation, students now can successfully identify carrot, radish, parsnip and beet leaves, and know when to harvest these root vegetables by their appearance, and size of their root tops. Many of the students have also harvested kale and collard leaves, baking them into crispy and healthy chips. Everyone is looking forward to tasting the ripening strawberries and lemons in May!