STEAM GARDEN

The STEAM Garden lies at the center of the San Miguel campus, between buildings. Over the past three years, staff and parents have transformed three large lawns into beautiful, interactive spaces for our school community.

All three lawns were sheet-mulched with cardboard (to kill the grass) and topped with shredded redwood bark. Between the fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms, a set of six massive redwood logs provides seating for class meetings.

Next to the office, the outdoor area now contains a border of California native perennials, which students study, draw, and keep weed-free. In the center of this area, school staff and volunteers have created several interactive structures to teach students about teamwork, patterns, sound waves, magnetism, and more.

Together, students and teachers play with these structures to test and expand their understanding of academic concepts. The third outdoor area, between the first- and second-grade classrooms, will be developed into a dry creekbed, native grasses, class seating, and raised garden beds.

The STEAM Garden has transformed our open-air spaces from little-used lawns into eye-catching, vibrant outdoor classrooms that engage children’s senses and imaginations.