This is the second summer the QAE P-Patch has been planting, growing & harvesting and sharing, exploring, learning and enjoying it all with students and families! All are welcome to join us this Summer as it's the best time of the year to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and treats of fresh veggies and berries right off the vines. At each session students will help water and harvest our P-Patch, do an earth based craft, get to know our local urban wildlife and explore basic garden science concepts. 

Sign-up your kiddos now by e-mailing garden1@qaeptsa.org. Subject line "Summer P-Patch" 

Class dates and times: 

• Wednesday, July 17th, 10am-12pm. A special guest will be talking to us about Entomology - the study of insects and their importance in PNW Gardens
• Wednesday, July 31st, 10am-12pm
• Wednesday, August 7th, 10am-12pm
• Wednesday, August 21st, 10am-12pm

Where: 301 Lynn St, Seattle WA 98119, just off of Boston St. in Queen Anne 

Cost: Suggested donation of $10 per child with the option of giving more to offset costs for others. All the money goes back to supporting our school P-Patch and garden program. 

Who: Any and all kids in our QAE and beyond entering grades K-5 in Fall 2019. Invite friends, family, neighbors, visitors etc. Kids under Kindergarten age will need to have an adult in tow. 

Team taught by QAE Garden Coordinator, Andrea Hildebrandt and QAE Substitute Teacher, Tamara Convertino.

Summer P-Patch Help and Other Ways to Get Involved:
We need people to help water and harvest our p-patch. Sign-up here! 

Our QAE Garden program is always looking for helping hands! If you and or your family members enjoy being outside, want to know more about growing plants, working with soil or have something to share we would LOVE to hear from you! E-mail garden1@qaeptsa with your interest. Visit our school Garden Blog "Gather in the Garden" 
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The QAE IslandWood Fundraising Team of adults and students is hosting a screening of REVOLUTION on Tuesday, April 23 at John Marshall. We invite you to celebrate Earth Day, April 22, by watching this acclaimed documentary by Rob Stewart which highlights his true-life adventure through 15 countries over four years, and where he discovered that it's not only sharks that are in grave danger - it's humans too. Revolution premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won numerous awards, including the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Atlantic Film Festival, Most popular Environmental Film Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Victoria Film Festival and the Social Justice Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. It's a beautiful documentary informing, inspiring and motivating positive action for the future of the planet. The this award-winning movie helps to inspire and find out what you can do to help save our environment.

"Change starts with education. If people are aware of their impact on the Earth, they'll make smarter choices". - Filmmaker Rob Stewart 

When: Tuesday, April 23rd, 2019, 6-8pm
Where: QAE Lunch Hall at John Marshall, 520 Ravenna Blvd
Cost: This is a free community showing with a suggested donation of $5 per adult who attends. Kids are welcome and free! Half of the donations will go towards the Rob Stewart Fund and half will go towards IslandWood Fundraising.
RSVP:
Please RSVP here to reserve your spots...

All are welcome to attend, including families from other schools. We want this screening to be inclusive and accessible to all — if the cost is a burden, please come anyway!

The 4th Graders will be selling popcorn, water and other snacks during the film!

About the Movie
At the age of 13 young Rob Stewart started to practice underwater photography. He grew to be an award-winning biologist, photographer, conservationist, author and filmmaker. In 2012 he released Revolution. It's international release in 2013. Through out his movie he concentrates on the efforts of young people, as they have the most to lose making their motivation high. This movie captures the definition of ocean acidification and how humanities greatest challenge, Revolutuion, ..."won't be stopped until a sustainable human population is reached, human consumption is in balance with the natural world, and the world's ecosystems are restored to full capacity - meaning lakes and rivers and oceans are unpolluted and teeming with fish, and thriving diverse forested ecosystems cover most of the land". The Rob Stewart foundation is loaded with discussion guides and resources for further discussion and ways to take action no matter how big or small. Find out more here...

While QAE is at John Marshall this year, our PTSA Garden Coordinator Andrea Hildebrandt is helping keep us connected with our natural environment!

On the morning of Saturday, Sept. 15th, come celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Seattle P-Patch program with neighbors at the Queen Anne P-Patch at 217 Lynn St. See the flyer below for more information.

Are you interested in helping with the garden at John Marshall? If so, please contact Andrea at garden1@qaeptsa.org
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End of Year Garden Gratitude
Saturday, June 23 at the QA P-Patch from 9:30-11:30 a.m.
All are invited to have coffee, pastries, kid-friendly and garden variety snacks while getting to know other members of our greater QA Neighborhood. Check out the QAE Garden Patch, find out how you and your family can get involved, crafting and nature hunts for kids, ask questions and enjoy the morning. 

A Summer Garden Class is being offered by the QAE Garden Coordinator, on various Wednesday mornings 9:30-11:30 at the QAE P-Patch. It's a suggested $10 and 100% will go towards Lowell Elementary 2018-19 5th graders to help fund their Fall IslandWood experience. The Summer garden class schedule will be out shortly.

See the QAE Garden site for more details...

These buzzing furry friends are important for pollinating fruit trees. They're great for kids to observe because they don't sting. These special native bees require a special clay to protect their eggs. With the help of parents, students, teachers and staff our QAE community can help bees do the important jobs of pollination and growing future generations of bees. It's exciting to learn about the natural world around us! Please talk to your kiddos about the Mason Bee Hive. The Bees will be our guests until June.

Visit the QAE Garden Blog for information and fun links.

Check out the complete list of activities below. See the QAE Garden site for more info!

We need your recyclables! Before we adventure off on Spring Break please bring in your clean and dry recyclables. There will be collection boxes near the entrance to the Tree House and Brick Buildings this week, April 1st-5th.

These materials will be used at the Recycled Instruments Creation Station set up after school on Monday, April 16th. All students young and old are invited to create as we kick-off Earth Week, 2018. Visit the garden blog to get the scoop!

Here's a quick list of what we need:

• Paper towel tubes
• Cardboard boxes
• Yogurt containers
• La croix cans (or similar)
• Egg cartons
• Rubber bands (usually cut and used as guitar strings)
• String/ribbon
• Bottle caps (to use as parts of a guitar)
• Coffee tins
• Milk cartons
• Costco produce containers
• Tape (duct/masking/scotch) ​

Building momentum towards Earth Week: a creative community event!

Gather to help construct the largest globe we can! It will hang in the lunch hall at school when it is complete. Expect a casual, fun and creative family time with our QAE Community! 

When: Saturday, March 24,  11am-4pm
Where: The Powerhouse Art Studio in Fremont, 3940 Fremont Ave North

More information will be available on the QAE Garden page.

UPDATE: Due to weather concerns, this event has been changed to Saturday, November 18th from 10am to noon! We'll see you there!

Join us for a QAE Fall Garden Party on Sunday, November 19th! Our November Big Dig is all about finding new homes for the perennial garden plants. Come June, our garden space is going to be sadly bulldozed. The good is that it makes new classrooms for our growing population of students. 

Our Big Dig will be from 10am-12pm at the QAE Garden! Dig up now as these plants go dormant for beautiful blooms in the spring/summer. Learn how to build a cloche for winter gardening.

We hope your family participates in this growing adventure with us! Find out more on the QAE Garden page...

Who: QAE Community, families, students, staff, faculty and friends

What: A little work, a lot of play! Help spread wood chips and hay at school. It's a labor of love and gratitude. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Post work, You and your families are invited to come hang, eat, drink and be merry. BYOB and dish to share. We'll provide the BBQ Grill, S'mores, Coolers, Music and open our home for a gathering space (although small, it will be cozy).

Where: QAE Garden and The Hildebrandt Home located at 510 W Galer St, Seattle 98119.

When: Saturday, June 24 10am- 12pm at the QAE Garden ... Potluck to follow immediately with no planned end point.

​Why: As our Seattle summer turns into drought-like weather, typically, July into September, the wood chips and hay will keep the soil moist and prevent it from turning into plots of dust. It will be a good way to indicate appropriate walking paths and put nutrients back into the soil as it decomposes over the coming seasons. We need your help spreading them!  Out of gratitude for the garden, our school community, the work our students have done and everyone that has helped in the garden, we want to gather in recognition of it all. Evan if you haven't had a change to help in the garden but are happy for it's existence and our community please come and celebrate! 

Help us plan by RSVPing to garden1@qaeptsa.org. And see our Garden page for more details.
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The Queen Anne Elementary Garden has received a $2,000 grant from the Whole Kids Foundation! Check out the write-up in the Queen Anne View about the grant!

Our wonderful Garden Coordinator Andrea Hildebrandt has big plans build on integrating the garden into our Five Pillars of learning. And as the weather is getting better, be sure to join us after school on Wednesdays for Gather in the Garden. Take a little time after school to help our garden grow and learn about earth and plant science!

​Come for the donuts, cider and pie. Stay for the weeds! 
Our garden needs to get ready for the winter! That means we need as many adult helping hands as possible!! Get ready to cut old growth back, turn soil, plant bulbs and spread mulch. A huge thank you to Five Corners Hardware who is donating and delivering mulch for us! Bring your bulbs!! (School colors, purple and orange would be great but all colors of course are welcome!!)  We'll also be collecting non-perishables for NW Harvest at the party. Kiddos are encouraged to come.

See the Gather at the Garden page for more details...

It's Fall in the Garden. A great time for some pumpkin fun!

Please join us on Sunday, Oct. 16 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. for a Pumpkin Carving Party at the Garden. Dress for the weather and bring a pumpkin, carving tools and a picnic lunch. Some snacks and drinks will be provided.

To RSVP for the event and for any garden questions connect with Andrea at garden1@qaeptsa.org.

See the QAE Garden page to learn more about how you can help the garden grow!

** We're planning to be there, but we will reschedule if the weather is really bad. We'll update this post and the QAE PTSA Facebook site if there's too much rain and wind on Sunday! **