Our Garden Learning Program at a Glance
We teach our monthly lessons in the safe and nurturing gardens that we maintain at each partner school site. Our TK-8 curriculum provides outdoor garden, science, and sustainability lessons during the school day that support a broad range of CA Content Standards; including Language Arts, Science, History-Social Studies, and Visual Arts.
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Our one hour lessons are designed to reinforce what students are learning in the classroom, providing important hands-on experiences in the context of the natural world. Lessons also support the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards by engaging students in research-based thinking routines designed to help scaffold learning through observation, explanation, reasoning, making connections, considering different viewpoints, and wondering.
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Highlights From Our Curriculum And Sample Garden Lesson Plan
Transitional Kindergarten - Our school garden adventures take students on a journey of awe and discovery, from planting radish seeds and digging into seasonal pumpkins, to tasting the colors of the rainbow from vibrant garden foods. They’ll roll up their sleeves to care for the garden, create their own field guides, and even make homemade strawberry jam! Along the way, they’ll notice life cycle patterns in nature by delving into the fascinating world of butterflies and meeting some week old baby chickens. Each lesson is hands-on, engaging, and full of fun sensory experiences that tie together science, nature, and teamwork. By the end, students will have a deeper appreciation for the garden ecosystem and the animals and plants that call it home.
Kindergarten - Our curriculum guides students through an exploration of the natural world, from planting sprouts to hands-on interaction with nature’s cycle of decay, including worms and decomposing pumpkins. They’ll create imaginative "Salad People" from school-grown produce, connecting healthy eating with hands-on creativity. Students will think together about how science helps us explain the wonders of seed germination and use citrus fruits to build math skills. Students will sharpen their senses to learn about animal care and survival when they meet baby chickens. Each lesson is packed with fun, discovery, and real-world learning in the garden!
1st Grade - Ground Ed brings students into the fascinating world of plants, starting with planting pea seeds and understanding what they need to grow. They’ll walk through the food chain to explore how the sun's energy is vital to life on earth and even make art with sunlight! Students will meet red wiggler worms, the heroes of soil health, to learn how they decompose matter for healthy plant growth. Lessons also explore food traditions with cabbage, math practice with citrus, and a biomimicry lesson lets students’ get creative by building bird nests inspired by nature. Finally, students harvest and taste their peas and other plants from the garden while we think together about how different parts of a plant serve unique roles in nature.
2nd Grade - In our farm-to-table journey, students get hands-on with planting and growing their own veggies, learning about the relationship between food and the land while calculating "food miles." They'll explore healthy food choices with a garden snack, discover how food was grown long ago using old tools, and even make their own butter. Pickling the carrots and radishes they’ve grown teaches math fluency and sustainability. Lessons on seed dispersal and nature’s patterns engage their curiosity and bring academics to life, culminating in a fun exploration of tomatoes—using strategies to count large numbers of seeds and enjoying a tasty tomato snack!
3rd Grade - In this vibrant series, students explore the idea of community—starting with the garden ecosystem ,which includes decomposing worms and the vegetable sprouts they plant for vegetable soup they’ll make later. They’ll embrace wellness by discovering how plants like mint and lavender promote health, and dive into the world of entrepreneurship by role-playing at a pop-up plant shop. The work in the garden continues as students make strawberry jam and use citrus to practice math standards and taste a seasonal citrus snack! Students put science into practice as they use bird beaks to gather data about adaptation and engineer zucchini race cars to learn about friction and forces in action.
4th Grade - Students dive into the world of nature and math by planting lettuce in fractional garden beds and exploring renewable energy with a solar-powered snack. They harvest their lettuce for a Salad Party while discussing food insecurity and solutions. Exploring native plants, students learn about Long Beach's indigenous Tongva community and plant California poppy seeds. They’ll investigate citrus fruits, build a compost pile to understand decomposition, and explore the Fibonacci sequence in nature. The journey wraps up with dissecting owl pellets to uncover the mysteries of owls' adaptations and their role in the food web.
5th Grade - Students engage with the food chain by planting red winter wheat and dissecting seeds to learn how each part aids plant survival. They explore local pomegranates, examining their structure while creating art with “nature paint brushes.” In a hands-on lesson about gravity, students use apples to understand its force and engineer earthquake-safe structures. They create watershed models to mitigate pollution and delve into mushrooms' life cycles to learn about decomposition. After harvesting their school-grown carrots, they make pesto while discussing food waste and composting. The journey concludes with students harvesting and grinding their wheat, discovering different grains, and planting popcorn for future classes.
Kindergarten - Our curriculum guides students through an exploration of the natural world, from planting sprouts to hands-on interaction with nature’s cycle of decay, including worms and decomposing pumpkins. They’ll create imaginative "Salad People" from school-grown produce, connecting healthy eating with hands-on creativity. Students will think together about how science helps us explain the wonders of seed germination and use citrus fruits to build math skills. Students will sharpen their senses to learn about animal care and survival when they meet baby chickens. Each lesson is packed with fun, discovery, and real-world learning in the garden!
1st Grade - Ground Ed brings students into the fascinating world of plants, starting with planting pea seeds and understanding what they need to grow. They’ll walk through the food chain to explore how the sun's energy is vital to life on earth and even make art with sunlight! Students will meet red wiggler worms, the heroes of soil health, to learn how they decompose matter for healthy plant growth. Lessons also explore food traditions with cabbage, math practice with citrus, and a biomimicry lesson lets students’ get creative by building bird nests inspired by nature. Finally, students harvest and taste their peas and other plants from the garden while we think together about how different parts of a plant serve unique roles in nature.
2nd Grade - In our farm-to-table journey, students get hands-on with planting and growing their own veggies, learning about the relationship between food and the land while calculating "food miles." They'll explore healthy food choices with a garden snack, discover how food was grown long ago using old tools, and even make their own butter. Pickling the carrots and radishes they’ve grown teaches math fluency and sustainability. Lessons on seed dispersal and nature’s patterns engage their curiosity and bring academics to life, culminating in a fun exploration of tomatoes—using strategies to count large numbers of seeds and enjoying a tasty tomato snack!
3rd Grade - In this vibrant series, students explore the idea of community—starting with the garden ecosystem ,which includes decomposing worms and the vegetable sprouts they plant for vegetable soup they’ll make later. They’ll embrace wellness by discovering how plants like mint and lavender promote health, and dive into the world of entrepreneurship by role-playing at a pop-up plant shop. The work in the garden continues as students make strawberry jam and use citrus to practice math standards and taste a seasonal citrus snack! Students put science into practice as they use bird beaks to gather data about adaptation and engineer zucchini race cars to learn about friction and forces in action.
4th Grade - Students dive into the world of nature and math by planting lettuce in fractional garden beds and exploring renewable energy with a solar-powered snack. They harvest their lettuce for a Salad Party while discussing food insecurity and solutions. Exploring native plants, students learn about Long Beach's indigenous Tongva community and plant California poppy seeds. They’ll investigate citrus fruits, build a compost pile to understand decomposition, and explore the Fibonacci sequence in nature. The journey wraps up with dissecting owl pellets to uncover the mysteries of owls' adaptations and their role in the food web.
5th Grade - Students engage with the food chain by planting red winter wheat and dissecting seeds to learn how each part aids plant survival. They explore local pomegranates, examining their structure while creating art with “nature paint brushes.” In a hands-on lesson about gravity, students use apples to understand its force and engineer earthquake-safe structures. They create watershed models to mitigate pollution and delve into mushrooms' life cycles to learn about decomposition. After harvesting their school-grown carrots, they make pesto while discussing food waste and composting. The journey concludes with students harvesting and grinding their wheat, discovering different grains, and planting popcorn for future classes.
Middle School
Our Food for Thought series helps students explore and debate the concept that eating is an ecological act. Over several lessons, children examine the connections between the food we eat, the health of our bodies, and ultimately the health of our communities and the land that sustains us. Lessons cover nutrition, food cost, food waste, and food access/deserts through hands-on activities like deconstructing a fast food meal, making carrot-top pesto, and calculating cost-per-calorie for a variety of common foods. The end goal is to develop tools for making balanced choices when deciding what to eat.
Our Food for Thought series helps students explore and debate the concept that eating is an ecological act. Over several lessons, children examine the connections between the food we eat, the health of our bodies, and ultimately the health of our communities and the land that sustains us. Lessons cover nutrition, food cost, food waste, and food access/deserts through hands-on activities like deconstructing a fast food meal, making carrot-top pesto, and calculating cost-per-calorie for a variety of common foods. The end goal is to develop tools for making balanced choices when deciding what to eat.
Sample Garden Lesson
This lesson is from our 1st grade curriculum. Like all of our lessons, it is designed to be a meaningful outdoor experience that reinforces grade-level classroom learning.
This lesson is from our 1st grade curriculum. Like all of our lessons, it is designed to be a meaningful outdoor experience that reinforces grade-level classroom learning.
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