Concordia Charter School

This month, we celebrate Gardener James Lang! 🌱Students have been learning, from James, all about how to plant and grow buckwheat in their school gardens. Starting with getting their hands in the dirt to prep the soil, then planting the seeds, finally giving it a good dense water, and in 1-2 weeks they could begin to see a small green sprout. Buckwheat can grow rapidly and after about 90 days, it will be ready to harvest!

James is the Farm to School Coordinator at Concordia Charter School, and is also one of this year’s site reps! He graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in Environmental Studies, with a focus in Urban Agriculture.

At Concordia, he runs the school garden, teaches garden lessons, organizes workshops and much more. James prides himself on growing edible crops that can be used by students to cook, learn and embrace the rich culture of the Desert Southwest. By embracing the seasonality of central Arizona, James has been able to transform Concordia’s garden program into a flourishing edible garden with an adjacent pollinator garden that is home to the school’s beehive. 🐝

Concordia’s Farm to School program has been recognized for its success in teaching students to grow their own food, cook with the food they grew, and then start the cycle all over again by seed saving and composting. 🍅🥕🥬

Thank you James for sharing your knowledge with our Chef in the Garden learners! 😁

Can you believe there’s only one more week until summer? Here’s some highlights from the past week!

Slide 1-2: Field day 2026 was a huge success! Shoutout to Ms. B for always putting our students first!

Slide 3-11: 6th grade’s annual heritage project! We are so proud of our students for showcasing their heritage through food and so grateful for the support of their parents for helping them and attending the presentations. Our 5th graders got to attend as well and taste the food, they are already thinking of what their project will be next year. Great job 6th grade and Ms. Ngyuen!

Slide 12-14: 1st grader tasting their Blackberry Jam!

Slide 16-19: Kindergarten harvesting Sonoran Wheat by hand that was grown in the school garden.

Slide 20: A second grader with a perfect strawberry from the garden, likely the last of the season as the heat creeps in on us.

We are very excited to share that our final workshop of the school year will be taking place on Friday, May 29th from 10AM-11AM. This workshop is completely FREE and open to all community member and families.

The workshop will be focused on healthy eating and family well-being. It will cover topics such as how to cook with and procure fresh, healthy ingredients, healthy snack options, and a brief cooking demo. All workshop attendees will receive a recipe kit, a box of fresh produce, and bread and eggs as well as all of the information provided!

To register, please head to the link on our bio and fill out the short Google Form. If you have any questions, reach out to our Farm to School Coordinator for more information. We hope to see you there!

Some highlights from our 2026 Spring Concert! What a blast celebrating our teachers and their students hard work practicing these Patriotic songs and dances. It was a packed house so a huge thank you to everyone who came out!

Our enrollment is OPEN for K-8! Concordia Charter School is a community that welcomes students of all abilities and from every walk of life.

Our nationally recognized Food and Nutrition Program serves fresh, healthy food that is cooked from scratch every day. All of our students eat Breakfast and Lunch for FREE as part of the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program.

Every student takes part in our thriving Farm to School Program that teaches children how to grow their own food from seed to harvest, how to cook the food they’ve grown, and so much more from reducing food waste to science topics like the water cycle, pollination, and photosynthesis. Students in 5th grade and older can join our Bee Club where they learn to be a beekeeper and get to join hive inspections with qualified, experienced staff members.

We offer small class sizes, capped at 18 students and we truly cherish engaging our community through monthly family nights and educational workshops throughout the year. Oh, and did we mention, enrollment at Concordia is completely FREE!

If you or someone you know is interested in enrolling at Concordia Charter School, you can submit an enrollment request at the link in our bio or give us a call at 480-461-0555!

We are offerring a referral program that allows families and community members to refer a student to Concordia. If the student(s) that you refer stay enrolled passed our 40th day, you will be entered have a chance of winning a $300 amazon gift card. Just ensure that on this students enrollment request, they mentioned that they were referred by you!

If you have any questions, you can reach out via DM, send us an email at [email protected] or give us a call at 480-461-0555

So much fun from our Farm to School Program!

Slide 1: Kindergarten with our hen, Chick Fil A. Fun fact about Chick Fil A, she was hatched at our school!

Slide 2: Fresh produce for our families

Slide 3: Kindergarten releasing their butterflies that they watched move through their life cycle in their classroom.

Slide 4-6: Bee Club!!

Slide 7-9: 5th graders with some fresh eggs from our flock!

Slide 10: A friendly grasshopper in the garden

Slide 11-12: Our Farm to School coordinator, Mr. James, with a portion of our blackberry harvest from this year. It weighed in at just over 15lbs and thats just one harvest!

Slide 13-16: Our 5th graders made some delicious passion fruit juice using passion fruits from our secret garden. It was delicious!

Slide 17-20: 1st grade making blackberry jam with blackberries from our school garden. Finally, Mr. James with 3 jars of blackberry jam for our students to try.

Some highlights from 6th grade science camp! Our 6th graders had a blast up in Prescott learning about fire safety, archery, rock climbing, ziplining, team building and nature. What a great experience for our students.

We are very excited to announce our second workshop of the year as part of the “Meals for Growing Families” workshop series: Cooking with Confidence. This workshop is centered around incorporating more fresh, healthy, locally grown food into your diet. Ms. Iris Tirado will be giving a cooking demonstration focused on transitioning from processed foods to healthy canned/fresh ingredients. Mr. James Lang will be giving a presentation on healthy snacking and how to reduce salt and sugar intake. We are so grateful to First Things First and Early Childhood Nutrition for funding these workshops and supporting our community.

If you or someone you know may have an interest in attending, please share this flyer or head to the link our bio to register. This is a first come, first serve opportunity and it is completely FREE. All attendees will receive a recipe kit, plant starts, bread and eggs!

What a wonderful time at our Chef in the Garden lesson earlier this week! It’s always a great day when and the team come out for a cooking demo and lesson. The students made a delicious watermelon salad that was enjoyed by all. Thank you so much for engaging our students and enriching their palets!

Last week, our fearless Kindergarten class made fresh ketchup with tomatoes from our school garden! This week they made made fresh potato wedges and all got to sample the ketchup they made. Students learn so much from growing and cooking their own food from knowledge about the food system to culinary skills and even knowledge about saving seeds and the seasonality of produce. Awesome stuff Kinder!