School and community garden enthusiasts are invited to Oakland Unified School District’s first School Garden Fair from 4 to 6 p.m. this Tuesday, Oct. 26, at Cleveland Elementary School.

The School Garden Fair will bring education workers interested in school and community gardens together to tour the garden and show how they can start or improve their school gardens by utilizing OUSD’s and the community's resources.

Anne Valva, OUSD’s teacher on special assignment for garden-based learning and nutrition education, coordinates the district’s school gardens efforts. She pairs gardening organizations with schools, provides integration of math and science curriculum into gardening education; and promotes nutrition from the gardens into the schools’ cafeterias. She also alerts schools, Parent Teacher’s Associations and sponsor organizations to available gardening grants.

Valva said Cleveland Elementary School’s program can be duplicated by other schools thanks to efforts from OUSD’s green  partners: AmeriCorps, Berkeley’s Center for Ecoliteracy, Mo’ Better Food, Oakland Based Urban Gardens, UC Botanical Gardens and the students and volunteers.

She said about 60 public schools in Oakland have gardens and OUSD's goal is to almost double that number and combine the school gardens with community gardens.

Valva said Cleveland Elementary was chosen for the fair's site because of its solid gardening curriculum which has made a thriving garden. Interns from AmeriCorps and Berkeley’s Center for Ecoliteracy have prepared a comprehensive program that makes the most of a small amount of land, includes science and math and always circles back to how work done in the garden relates to good health, sustainable living and a healthy planet. Although the gardens at Cleveland are mostly maintained during after school programs, teachers hold class in the gardens about two to four times a month.

The students are treated to a raw tasting of the fruit or vegetable of the month. In class, they prepare snacks from the garden as part of their lesson and also take home fresh produce they had a hand in producing.

Similar OUSD programs educate school custodians, cafeteria workers and students to think how they can do their jobs in a greener ways. They learn food scrap recycling in the cafeteria, which Valva said takes a lot of effort from the school food workers and custodians, since the younger students need to be supervised.

“The kids are used to it and proud of it,” said Valva. “There’s no stigma in elementary school if you’re the one watching the trash that day.”

Cleveland Elementary School is located at 745 Cleveland St. Light refreshments will be served and free materials available.

Please RSVP here. For questions, contact Anne Valva, TSA for Garden-based Learning and Nutrition Education at (510) 336-7583 or anne.tracy-valva@ousd.k12.ca.us.

For more on Oakland Unified School District’s garden education click here.