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New roots for school garden
Slater tradition moving to Castro School

by Adena DeMonte

Wide-eyed kindergarteners looked on as a woman dressed as Little Red Hen sprinkled dirt over the newly planted wheat seeds.

The children had just planted their new garden at Castro School. With Slater School closing its doors this spring and some of its faculty and students integrating with Castro, Slater's Parent and Teacher (PACT) program is moving to the other campus. That means pulling up roots and — literally, in this case — putting them down in the new Escuela Avenue location.

Now the planting of the garden, an annual event, is helping ease the move.

The annual Little Red Hen program took place at Castro School this year, bringing the PACT kindergarten students to Castro School to collaborate with four Castro kindergarten classes in the building of the new garden.

Led by former PACT parent Heidi Westmoreland, the Little Red Hen program consisted of an assembly and planting day on May 30, followed by a planting visit on June 5.

Westmoreland has reprised her role as Little Red Hen several times. The relocation to Castro has not affected her goal for the program — or the enthusiasm she shared with the kindergarteners gathered around empty beds of dirt in a courtyard near Latham Street.

"We're going to sprinkle dirt on the wheat so we can say, 'Goodnight wheat,'" said Westmoreland to the group of attentive kindergarteners. Each student planted five wheat seeds in one of the ten boxes.

A week earlier, Westmoreland visited Castro and Slater classrooms dressed as Little Red Hen, performing a story and explaining to the students that she needs help to plant her wheat.

"We needed to help because the cat and the mouse and the dog wasn't helping Little Red Hen," Castro School student Manual Maldenado said.

Westmoreland said the students learn more than just how to plant a garden. By eventually harvesting the grain and making pancakes — part of a follow-up event scheduled for early fall — students learn about nutrition, the origins of food, and more.

"They learn that the food they eat every day starts in the ground, but they also learn about taking turns, respecting others' planting space," said Westmoreland. "When they do it, they learn it."

"I've never planted before," Castro student Danae Brister said. "I'm excited that the flowers are going to grow, and I want to know what the bread tastes like."

"I like planting because I like the results I get to see in the end," Castro student Sean Mignosa said.

Other end results, such as the impact of Slater's closing and the merging of the schools, are on the minds of faculty and parents.

"Everybody thinks it will be challenging and there will be a lot of changes, but it's a good group so they're up for the changes," said Castro kindergarten teacher Anne Taylor.

In addition to being known for the PACT program, 30 percent of Slater's students are English language learners, and more than 15 languages are spoken at the school.

Castro school is also home to the Mountain View-Whisman district's Parent Choice Dual Immersion magnet program, where students learn to read, write and speak fluently in both English and Spanish. The PACT program will officially move to Castro at the start of the 2006-07 school year.