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. 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.
Here are some highlights for each grade level:
Here are some highlights for each grade level:
Transitional Kindergarten
• Our youngest learners experience a broad range seasonal eating activities that promote fine motor skills (through cooking and serving themselves), food exploration, and an understanding of where food comes from.
• Students explore nature’s cycles by hatching monarch butterflies in the classroom and searching for signs of butterflies among the native milkweeds.
• Students perform “meaningful garden work” using our basket of tools to observe insects and sprouts, collect fallen nature treasures, water plants, sweep garden spaces, and clean garden infrastructure. These fun activities promote responsibility while practicing the skills of noticing, observing, wondering, collaborating and problem-solving.
• Our youngest learners experience a broad range seasonal eating activities that promote fine motor skills (through cooking and serving themselves), food exploration, and an understanding of where food comes from.
• Students explore nature’s cycles by hatching monarch butterflies in the classroom and searching for signs of butterflies among the native milkweeds.
• Students perform “meaningful garden work” using our basket of tools to observe insects and sprouts, collect fallen nature treasures, water plants, sweep garden spaces, and clean garden infrastructure. These fun activities promote responsibility while practicing the skills of noticing, observing, wondering, collaborating and problem-solving.
Kindergarten
• Students explore the natural world through edible gardening.
• A sequence of garden lessons takes children through the acts of planting, tending, harvesting, preparing and tasting the food they grow in two recipes: Salad People and Green Garden Dip.
• By acting as young gardener-scientists and recording relevant ideas in their garden journals, students integrate visual arts, literacy, interactive and independent writing tasks, as well as math and scientific understanding.
• Students witness first-hand the miracle of life as they hatch chickens in their classrooms (teacher support and budget permitting). The newborn chicks stay in the classroom for a week during which time students hold the chicks and teachers use this high-interest subject matter as a topic for learning across the academic standards.
• Students explore the natural world through edible gardening.
• A sequence of garden lessons takes children through the acts of planting, tending, harvesting, preparing and tasting the food they grow in two recipes: Salad People and Green Garden Dip.
• By acting as young gardener-scientists and recording relevant ideas in their garden journals, students integrate visual arts, literacy, interactive and independent writing tasks, as well as math and scientific understanding.
• Students witness first-hand the miracle of life as they hatch chickens in their classrooms (teacher support and budget permitting). The newborn chicks stay in the classroom for a week during which time students hold the chicks and teachers use this high-interest subject matter as a topic for learning across the academic standards.
1st Grade
• Students delve into the unique power plants have to support all life on earth by creating and walking through a life sized food chain and making sun powered artwork.
• Children witness first-hand how the shape and structures of natural objects are directly related to their functions as they plant and grow peas and also dissect and discover which plant parts we eat.
• Once they dry and harvest their peas, students make bar graphs to represent the number of seeds within pods and make their own packets of pea seeds to take home and share with their families thereby strengthening the home-school connection.
• Students learn to value nature as a wellspring of good ideas in an approach called biomimicry. Using cue cards such as “grab on,” “create color,” and “move,” students hunt and gather around the schoolyard for ideas about the work nature does.
• Students delve into the unique power plants have to support all life on earth by creating and walking through a life sized food chain and making sun powered artwork.
• Children witness first-hand how the shape and structures of natural objects are directly related to their functions as they plant and grow peas and also dissect and discover which plant parts we eat.
• Once they dry and harvest their peas, students make bar graphs to represent the number of seeds within pods and make their own packets of pea seeds to take home and share with their families thereby strengthening the home-school connection.
• Students learn to value nature as a wellspring of good ideas in an approach called biomimicry. Using cue cards such as “grab on,” “create color,” and “move,” students hunt and gather around the schoolyard for ideas about the work nature does.
2nd Grade
• Students discover how food makes its way from the soil to our kitchen tables by planting a vegetable “farm”, eventually harvesting, cleaning, pickling, packaging, and labeling their produce according to California requirements. These pickled vegetable jars are taken home to share with their families.
• Students learn about how early California settlers had to create everything for themselves, and get to try out some farming tools of that era. Children compare and contrast agricultural implements used then and now, exploring how technology has changed the way farmers do their work. As part of this lesson, students also make their own butter.
• On the health and wellness front, second graders learn how their bodies use healthy food and how to choose and prepare a healthy snack. They explore the government’s MyPlate tool and classify healthful foods that will meet their nutritional needs through a fun food relay game. The lesson culminates with a student-prepared healthy trail mix and a thorough washing of all dishes, instilling the idea that they have the power to contribute and make good choices.
• In a lesson that pulls from the NGSS instructional segment Biodiversity in Landscapes, students venture into the schoolyard to investigate strategies that seeds have developed to move around. Students then dissect real seeds and model different plant adaptations that allow them to travel.
• Students discover how food makes its way from the soil to our kitchen tables by planting a vegetable “farm”, eventually harvesting, cleaning, pickling, packaging, and labeling their produce according to California requirements. These pickled vegetable jars are taken home to share with their families.
• Students learn about how early California settlers had to create everything for themselves, and get to try out some farming tools of that era. Children compare and contrast agricultural implements used then and now, exploring how technology has changed the way farmers do their work. As part of this lesson, students also make their own butter.
• On the health and wellness front, second graders learn how their bodies use healthy food and how to choose and prepare a healthy snack. They explore the government’s MyPlate tool and classify healthful foods that will meet their nutritional needs through a fun food relay game. The lesson culminates with a student-prepared healthy trail mix and a thorough washing of all dishes, instilling the idea that they have the power to contribute and make good choices.
• In a lesson that pulls from the NGSS instructional segment Biodiversity in Landscapes, students venture into the schoolyard to investigate strategies that seeds have developed to move around. Students then dissect real seeds and model different plant adaptations that allow them to travel.
3rd Grade
• Children learn that healthy soil is a valuable natural resource that contains a complex community of bacteria, microbes, fungi, worms, grubs, bugs, and slugs. Students collaborate in soil-based experiments to test for critical macronutrients and make informed decisions about amending and improving soil chemistry.
• To understand economics and community, students start a run a small “giving” vegetable farming business. Children participate in a mock smoothie shop to learn about the jobs involved in running a business (such as cashier, expediter, prep cook, blender, waiter/waitress, manager, harvester, and custodian), and explore the concept of businesses as good citizens in local communities. Over the course of these lessons, children plant their “farm,” tend their crops, learn about what it takes to run a small business, and harvest and share their bounty with a local charity.
• Students also incubate and hatch quail, the state birds of California, in the classroom. Children learn how quail are born, raised, and adapted to live in our coastal chaparral biome.
• Students perform flower dissections to study plant parts and their functions as well as how flowering plants reproduce - nature’s ultimate goal.
• Children explore seasonal eating and simple machines by making zucchini race cars using only a few materials, showing flexible thought and perseverance as they design and redesign their cars until they finally build and test an effective solution. Children also discuss and experience the force of friction as their race cars slow, stop and turn in circles.
• Children learn that healthy soil is a valuable natural resource that contains a complex community of bacteria, microbes, fungi, worms, grubs, bugs, and slugs. Students collaborate in soil-based experiments to test for critical macronutrients and make informed decisions about amending and improving soil chemistry.
• To understand economics and community, students start a run a small “giving” vegetable farming business. Children participate in a mock smoothie shop to learn about the jobs involved in running a business (such as cashier, expediter, prep cook, blender, waiter/waitress, manager, harvester, and custodian), and explore the concept of businesses as good citizens in local communities. Over the course of these lessons, children plant their “farm,” tend their crops, learn about what it takes to run a small business, and harvest and share their bounty with a local charity.
• Students also incubate and hatch quail, the state birds of California, in the classroom. Children learn how quail are born, raised, and adapted to live in our coastal chaparral biome.
• Students perform flower dissections to study plant parts and their functions as well as how flowering plants reproduce - nature’s ultimate goal.
• Children explore seasonal eating and simple machines by making zucchini race cars using only a few materials, showing flexible thought and perseverance as they design and redesign their cars until they finally build and test an effective solution. Children also discuss and experience the force of friction as their race cars slow, stop and turn in circles.
4th Grade
• Children explore successful Native American gardening methods, learning how indigenous people were humbled by the natural world and had customs and stories surrounding their food. Children read and act out the Iroquois legend of the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash) and explore the science behind the biodiversity and beneficial relationships created when planting these three crops closely together. As part of this activity, students learn the science behind why corn “pops” when heated, watch and listen as corn is popped directly off the cob, and taste test. Finally, children discover and observe plants in a nearby native garden, since Native Americans’ survival depended upon their deep respect and knowledge of these plants.
• Students build small solar ovens and attempt to cook nachos, demonstrating how to successfully convert light energy into heat energy. This lesson offers opportunity for engineering design and problem-solving in a fun and engaging format.
• Inspired by the nonfiction text “Food from the Hood,” which chronicles the tale of Crenshaw High School students who began their school garden after the Los Angeles Riots as a means of rebuilding their community, our students plant and tend a salad greens and herb garden. Students learn about entrepreneurs, and how their unique “sparks” (ideas, skills, or passions) can be turned into a profitable and/or productive enterprise. At harvest time, students pick, wash, and spin their greens, and make herbed dressings together before sitting down to enjoy a meaningful salad party together.
• Students learn about the food that sustained the California Mission system by creating realistic garden dioramas, small-scale models representing edible crops that were the backbone of mission survival including barley, maize, wheat, oranges, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, figs, and olives. Students also discuss the significance of livestock, aqueducts, and the production of candles, soap, grease, and ointments from tallow and natural resources.
• Children explore successful Native American gardening methods, learning how indigenous people were humbled by the natural world and had customs and stories surrounding their food. Children read and act out the Iroquois legend of the Three Sisters (corn, beans, and squash) and explore the science behind the biodiversity and beneficial relationships created when planting these three crops closely together. As part of this activity, students learn the science behind why corn “pops” when heated, watch and listen as corn is popped directly off the cob, and taste test. Finally, children discover and observe plants in a nearby native garden, since Native Americans’ survival depended upon their deep respect and knowledge of these plants.
• Students build small solar ovens and attempt to cook nachos, demonstrating how to successfully convert light energy into heat energy. This lesson offers opportunity for engineering design and problem-solving in a fun and engaging format.
• Inspired by the nonfiction text “Food from the Hood,” which chronicles the tale of Crenshaw High School students who began their school garden after the Los Angeles Riots as a means of rebuilding their community, our students plant and tend a salad greens and herb garden. Students learn about entrepreneurs, and how their unique “sparks” (ideas, skills, or passions) can be turned into a profitable and/or productive enterprise. At harvest time, students pick, wash, and spin their greens, and make herbed dressings together before sitting down to enjoy a meaningful salad party together.
• Students learn about the food that sustained the California Mission system by creating realistic garden dioramas, small-scale models representing edible crops that were the backbone of mission survival including barley, maize, wheat, oranges, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, figs, and olives. Students also discuss the significance of livestock, aqueducts, and the production of candles, soap, grease, and ointments from tallow and natural resources.
5th Grade
• Students learn about the water cycle, our local watershed, and the effects of pollution, storms, and sea level rise. They explore how wetlands can help clean our watersheds, serve as storm buffers, prevent erosion, and hold large quantities of water for use by wildlife in times of drought by building a model and simulating different natural events to observe the necessity of healthy wetland ecosystems.
• Students plant, maintain, and harvest from their very own Colonial Dooryard Garden in order to experience what daily life was like in 1700s America. Students learn textile production and they dye their own fabric swatches, learn the medicinal uses of herbs and “step back in time” to pretend to be colonial healers, and create elaborate journals that allow them to practice scientific drawings and record keeping. These colonial lessons allow students to contrast humans’ relationship with plants in the past with our significant environmental issues of today.
• Students also explore nature's cycles and the important role of decomposers by learning about vermicomposting and observing the work of red wiggler worms.
• Students learn about the water cycle, our local watershed, and the effects of pollution, storms, and sea level rise. They explore how wetlands can help clean our watersheds, serve as storm buffers, prevent erosion, and hold large quantities of water for use by wildlife in times of drought by building a model and simulating different natural events to observe the necessity of healthy wetland ecosystems.
• Students plant, maintain, and harvest from their very own Colonial Dooryard Garden in order to experience what daily life was like in 1700s America. Students learn textile production and they dye their own fabric swatches, learn the medicinal uses of herbs and “step back in time” to pretend to be colonial healers, and create elaborate journals that allow them to practice scientific drawings and record keeping. These colonial lessons allow students to contrast humans’ relationship with plants in the past with our significant environmental issues of today.
• Students also explore nature's cycles and the important role of decomposers by learning about vermicomposting and observing the work of red wiggler worms.
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.
• Students in our Eco-Leadership series work to become champions of planet-saving practices by following the National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools USA framework to analyze existing practices at school along one of several eco-pathways - biodiversity, waste, schoolyard habitats, sustainable foods, etc. Following Design Thinking principles, student teams recommend eco-projects and get the whole school onboard.
• In our Garden Stewardship series, students work to create and maintain edible and native gardens at their school. These youth plan, plant, nurture, assess, maintain, harvest and cook together - developing important social and life skills as well as a life-long appreciation of nature’s bounty.
• 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.
• Students in our Eco-Leadership series work to become champions of planet-saving practices by following the National Wildlife Federation’s Eco-Schools USA framework to analyze existing practices at school along one of several eco-pathways - biodiversity, waste, schoolyard habitats, sustainable foods, etc. Following Design Thinking principles, student teams recommend eco-projects and get the whole school onboard.
• In our Garden Stewardship series, students work to create and maintain edible and native gardens at their school. These youth plan, plant, nurture, assess, maintain, harvest and cook together - developing important social and life skills as well as a life-long appreciation of nature’s bounty.
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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