Ms. Schwartz's class makes potpourri from cleveland sage

As part of our unit on native plants used by the Chumash, Ms. Schwartz's students made potpourri from cleveland sage on April 4. They learned that potpourri is made from dried leaves and flowers. Several of their parents use potpourri already in the house. They liked the smell of the sage and were happy to take home to their parents. We also shared the potpourri with Ms. Schwartz, Ms. Williams, Mrs. Miller and the ladies in the office!

The children then told me about their great field trip to Tumbleweed where they learned some more about the Chumash. They learned about the burning of white sage (which we had covered in the garden), about grinding acorns and more.

The children enjoyed their snack of either sugar snap peas, lettuce, purple broccoli or mint, all from the garden!

Cleveland sage potpourri

Some Plants used by the Chumash Indian

Today Ms. Farrell's class learned about some plants used by the Chumash and Tongva Indians who lived in our part of California. They smelled and touched black sage, white sage and cleveland sage which I had brought to school. Black sage was made into a tea and then rubbed on an area, e.g. a foot, to fight pain. White sage was dried, then wrapped in a small bundle, lit and then extinguished. It was used as a type of incense during a ceremony. Cleveland sage was dried and used as potpourri.  (We also learned the meaning of incense and potpourri today). I explained that these plants are not edible. They are native plants to our part of California and are drought-tolerant, meaning that they don't need as much water as the vegetables that we are growing.

Some children planted seeds while others studied the worms in the worm bin.

The kids enjoyed their snack of broccoli and ranch dressing.