Welcome to the scarecrows!

The 1st grade class, with the guidance of parents Adam and Scott, created scarecrows on Nov 8th by stuffing straw into old clothes and burlap supported on wooden frames. The kids had lots of fun but the teachers were almost in tears from all the straw spilled out in the classrooms! (A bit too chilly to go outside, but Adam and Scott cleaned it up well!) Parents Dustin and David today mounted the scarecrows and filled the pots with winter cabbage and branches. Now they are welcoming everyone to the school! (Thanks to Angela for the clothes donation.)

Nov 4 work and Nov. 9th bulb planting

The Nov. 4th work session had a small crew (Adam, Susan, Angela, Scott, plus a potential parent whose name we are trying to clarify), but thanks to Scott bringing a gas blower, we got the leaves on Southampton sidewalk and steps picked up. We also transplanted numerous ajugas from a parent's yard to an erosion-prone area in the forest. Our own battery-powered blower was on order and we look forward to using it.

On Nov. 9, Scott and Adam worked with the 5th grade class to plant daffodil bulbs in selected spots for beautiful spring blooms. Scott talked about how bulbs grow, the fertilizer he added, and general plant info. The students were very engaged and enjoyed it. Adam will be giving Mr. Fitzsimmons, 5th grade science teacher, milkweed seeds for cold storage in preparation for a spring planting by the 5th grade students. The milkweed will attract monarch butterflies, among other beneficial insects.

October 21 Work Session

This past Sunday October 21st had an awesome turnout and many new faces! The abundance of help enabled us to rake leaves off the sidewalk and from around the plants. It was easier to see bare spots that could use plants. More ajugas were planted, thanks to Kim for bringing them. The remainder of the mulch was spread around. An old table was found overturned in the former Jenks garden on Ardleigh and brought over to the enclosure to serve as a crafts table for classes. Many thanks to Angela, David/Jeremias, Kim/Skip and family, Scott, James/James, Melissa and family, Susan and her mother and child, Haviva, and potential parent Michael.

The shed is up!

Our work session on October 14 had a great turnout and we managed to get a donated shed set up! (see pictures) The shed came from a resident on Rex St and she was very happy to give us the shed through Freecycle. Now we can store our tools and lock them up! We also spent the same day planting roses, hostas, ajugas, lilies, and carving more of the new path. Thanks to Kim for bringing the ajugas and Dustin/Dave for bringing the other plants and Angela for bringing donuts and juice. From left to right in the group shot: (standing) Dustin, Angela, Scott, Adam; (sitting) Dave, Jeremias. Kim took the photo. Click on each picture to see a larger version in a slide show.

New roses.

Greetings everyone! This is a long-overdue update, but we have nonetheless been keeping up with the garden work bit by bit. Since the last post (where did summer go?), we added new plants such as astilbe, two rain barrels (yay!), and cleaned and replanted/mulched the corners with beautiful flowers for the summer. We have been very proud of the corner work and passers-by have noticed. A large amount of mulch was purchased over the summer and spread over the corners and around many individual plants - and there's still more mulch to use. We started cutting down vegetation near Ardleigh to create a path on the highest ridge to be able to reach plants up there and reduce some of the maintenance needed.

Angela Stewart and Adam Eyring have officially been designated as the co-chairs of the Beautification Committee. We prepared a long-range plan that outlines the work needed to do (many are ideas for now)and when. Please ask if you'd like to see it. The plan also includes ways for students to be involved this fall, including planting daffodil bulbs, starting milkweed seeds, and making fall decorations for the front. We also agreed on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, 10 am-1 pm, to be our work sessions. The next one is October 7th, so please come out! Thank you for your support!

Yesterday, we did a lot of garden work and look forward to the flowers settling in! The plants we put in last year (ajugas, black grass, liriope, ferns) are doing great, though some have suffered from trampling and an unexpected mowing (we caught that in time, thankfully). Back to yesterday, we completed a line of hostas and mulch from the front walkway to the arches near Ardleigh. In what may qualify as going bonkers or making it more fun to garden, we made the letter J with hostas! Putting in a pattern should make gardening a more fun and rewarding experience, since keeping the J looking good is a reasonable goal. There's even room to add the rest of "Jenks," but that'll depend on how many more plants we get. We also cleaned up the weeds and mulched in front of the sign in preparation for adding sun-loving annuals and perennials in time for the Chestnut Hill Garden Festival May 6th. Thanks to Adam Eyring for donating the hostas, Angela Stewart for donating mulch and helping, and Bridget Davis and daughter for helping out. Thanks also to Haviva Goldman and family for helping in a clean-up two weeks ago.

It's been quite a while since the last post, but we accomplished quite a bit on the indoor side of Jenks. We couldn't improve everything in the time we had, but we made some progress! We did a lot of glass cleaning, particularly on doors of the first floor. Some had so much tape residue and dirt that it took trying different kinds of cleaners to see what worked. We also polished the main doors of the auditorium and repaired one door so it had a more attractive appearance. There's still more to do. We also removed the decades-old bars on the doors of the first grade classrooms and cleaned up the doors, as the pictures show. We identified areas of the auditorium that could use improvements so students are practicing in better lighting and the walls don't look as damaged. We are continuing to work on those and hope to make more progress before the play in May. Thanks to the parents and potential parents who helped: Adam Eyring, Kim Raznov Coon, Neveen Michael, and Jim McMillan.

Thanks for the great work on MLK Day!

Jenks chose the day after MLK Day as its service day and we had a number of volunteers helping with indoor beautification. Most of the volunteer hours were dedicated to organizing the storage closets on the first floor by the main stairs. A couple of the volunteers also went around removing old staples, tape, and other debris from classroom doors. We plan to improve the signage and touch up the finish on the doors. We are appreciative of the work by Jim McMillan (parent of first grader), Neven Michael, and Katey McGrath (both potential parents, Katey also brought a crew of seven from Elfant-Wissahickon Realtors). Katey's crew also helped with classroom activities.