When our school began serving breakfast in the classroom, Mr. Smith, our plant manager, was hauling lots of food waste from each classroom to the dumpster.   That was a LOT of heavy lifting for him.  To ease his load, students from participating classrooms brought over uneaten or left over fruits to our new compost bin.  We also recruited the assistance of nature's super decomposers... worms (vermi)! After several months, the food waste turned to rich compost! The vermicompost was used for the pollinator garden. Thank you worms (and micro-organisms)!

Many people in our school community have heard of the spectacular gathering of monarch butterflies in Michoacán, Mexico (did you know that this is a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Click here to learn more). We had learned, however, that the monarch butterfly population is in rapid decline and may possibly become listed as an endangered species (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).  We wanted to help these North American migrating butterflies by creating a wildlife habitat on our school yard. Here's what we did.  Read our full story here.

 During rare Southern California rainstorms, socks and shoes got soaked while entering and exiting this classroom. We also witnessed gallons and gallons of rain water going to waste.

After installing a rain barrel, our feet are now semi-dry and precious water is harvested for our pollinator garden. A win-win idea and design.

Want a free rain barrel? Click here for information.

2021 - 2022 School Year

Using our creativity and voices to call the community to action.

The result? A greener and more beautiful community with over 200 newly planted trees.

 March 11, 2022

Arbor Day at Carson St. Elementary STEAM Academy

As the world continues to struggle with the COVID 19 pandemic, we felt the need to spread more kindness, more than ever.  With the support of PTA, for Kindness Week, all students at our school painted kindness rocks, sharing their messages of encouragement, care and love. The R&S members landscape designed the layout of the rock garden where the rocks would be placed for all to enjoy.  Here's the story.

Lessons learned: 1. Not all manuals are helpful... with teamwork, the members figured out how to assemble the bin without directions.

2. Not all acrylic paints are made the same... after the paint had dried, it started to peel....

As the compost begins its process, we will revisit the bin's exterior design next school year.... Till then, happy summer 2022!

2022 - 2023 School Year

Our members featured in Roots & Shoots social media posts.

At our booth where each member was part of a group which spoke to the attendees about our 100 Trees Project.

Inspired by Dr. Jane Goodall, we wanted to add more plants to beautify our school and support wildlife.  We repurposed an old bookcase headed for the landfill to create a "bookcase butterfly garden."  In late April 2023, judges from the Los Angeles County Fair visited our novel garden and interviewed our members. Result: we won a 2nd place ribbon! Please click on the Journal below to learn more.

2023 - 2024 School Year

Members receiving recognition by Principal Leon for serving as Kindness Ambassadors

Members at work - preparing to present the edible garden project to the 2024 LA County Fair and judges.

2024 - 2025 School Year

We want our plants to grow big and strong but we don't always have time to water them, especially during summer when no one's on campus. So we assembled a gravity-fed self watering system using ancient technology: ollas.

We noticed crows hanging out way too close to our edible garden. How can we keep them away without harming them? Let's create scarecrows! Without spending a penny we reused clothing and found things to use differently to make our scarecrows. 

In response to the 2025 LA wildfires, our club members spearheaded a fundraising campaign to help the affected communities. Through coin donations and a pop-up shop, we raised $1,385.26!  100% of the money was donated to the Best Friends Animal Shelter in LA. 

Spring 2025 - The edible garden we planted in fall 2024 produced abundant snap peas, 10 potatoes, several onions and garlic bulbs. We're so proud of the harvest and submitted this garden in the LA County Fair.  We hope you enjoy our poster and garden journal. 

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Do you know that bees help make a lot of the foods we eat?  Without these pollinators, crops wouldn't produce fruits, veggies or seeds and we also wouldn't have honey!  Ms. Jennifer from the Long Beach Beekeepers taught us this and so much more! We waggle danced like the bees and sample tasted a variety of honey. Sweet!

2025 - 2026 School Year