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The Lawrence Elementary Garden

  • Our mission is to provide Lawrence Elementary School children with an outdoor classroom where all kids can engage in the core curriculum through practical activities like planting, growing, and harvesting. 

The G.R.U.B. Principles

  • Lawrence student leaders have developed the following principles to follow with each visit to the Lawrence Elementary Garden: 

    • GROW our outdoor fun by being thoughtful, safe, and mindful.
    • RESPECT our space, it is a place for all living things to be happy.
    • UPCYCLE, our garden will be a place where we bring new life to used things.
    • BE KIND to all things.  Including people, animals, bugs, plants, and our garden tools.


  • Pumpkin Patch Placement, May 2024

Garden Growing Experiences

  • We are pleased to offer many different garden experiences for the Lawrence Elementary Community. These Garden Growing Experiences include, but are not limited to: 

    • The Pumpkin Patch was started as the Pumpkin Graveyard in November 2023 to provide an opportunity for kids to experience donating their Halloween pumpkins.  As the pumpkins decomposed, we observed the natural powers of insects, bugs, and fungi.  In the spring of 2024, we watched seeds sprout into hundreds of new healthy plants that grew into a pumpkin patch full of beautiful orange pumpkins of all sizes. 
    • The Lunch Quad will soon be full of natural plants supporting sustainability and a healthy natural habitat for pollinators we will see help further grow our garden. 
    • The Garden expansion project will kick off this winter, funded by the Whole Foods Whole Kids Foundation Grant.  The grant funds support doubling the number of raised garden beds, providing students the opportunity to develop a garden cart that will contribute funds towards further garden development.

We love Garden Volunteers!

  • In the Lawrence Elementary Garden, we love helpers! Volunteers are welcome for the following:

    • Lunchtime Garden Time: Offered each Wednesday from 12 to 1:15, students have an opportunity to spend their recess time helping in the garden by weeding, planting, harvesting, and watering.  Volunteers are encouraged to come and help guide the kids during their activities.  
    • Garden Thursdays: Lawrence Teachers are encouraged to sign their classes up to visit the garden when they have curriculum-aligned activities. Community volunteers are encouraged to join and assist during student class times. If you would like to assist during your student's garden times, please let your teacher know that you are interested, so you can be included in the scheduled activity. 
    • Weekend Beautification Events: Offered every other Saturday, our weekend beautification events provide working parents and community members with opportunities to volunteer.  Most weekend beautification events will be focused on the garden expansion project or pumpkin patch.  


      Quad Volunteers August 11, 2024

Quad Volunteers Needed 9/21!

  • Our Lawrence Elementary Lunch Quad Garden Project is nearly finished – and our final shipment of tankbark is scheduled! Thank you LVJUSD! Thanks to our previous volunteers, we are really close to having this ready for students, but we need a little more help before we can say it’s complete.
    We need help from volunteers of all ages-- the more the merrier. Volunteers are needed to place cardboard, move tanbark to the quad or the kinder playground, and prep the mounds which will be our grade level gardens with topsoil and compost. Our goal is to get enough volunteers to have all the tanbark moved, mounds prepped and tables moved for kiddos to each lunch in their new quad the following Monday. If we need to, we can extend the work to Sunday 10/6.
    Starting 10/12, students from all grade levels will begin planting their new grade-level gardens. Following this, we would love some assistance with finalizing the drip systems if you or someone you know is a professional landscaper and can help with this, we would really appreciate it!
    Volunteers are encouraged to wear sunscreen and garden gloves and to bring plenty of water. If you have rakes or wheelbarrows, we would love to borrow them for the event! Sign up on our Wejoin here: or
    Please sign up individually -- one person per line, please.