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Telling Your Garden Story
Every garden is ripe with stories. Maybe it is one about the day the first shovel-full of soil was turned over and the garden was underway. Or about that time a brave rabbit dared to sample lettuce amidst a class of kindergartners partaking in a garden lesson. Each story has the potential to connect others with your garden and garden program. This brief offers tips for collecting and sharing the garden stories that make your garden program so special. Download Brief »
Teaching to the Standards
Collective School Garden Network has resources from across the Web to help you incorporate garden-based education and plant projects while adhering to educational standards. View Resource »
Teaching In Nature’s Classroom
In Teaching in Nature’s Classroom: Core Principles of Garden-Based Education, Nathan Larson shares a philosophy of teaching in the garden. Rooted in years of experience and supported by research, Larson presents fifteen guiding principles of garden-based education. These principles and best practices are illustrated through engaging stories from the field. The book also features a collection of vivid paintings by mural artist Becky Redelings and connections to the research literature provided by Alex Wells and Sam Dennis of the University of Wisconsin Environmental Design Lab.
We are excited to be able to offer copies of Teaching in Nature’s Classroom in both English and Spanish, free of charge! Visit the book website to receive a free copy.
Roots in the Ground
Roots in the Ground is a comprehensive Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) curriculum created by Rooted staff, partners, and consultants to guide in-person garden-based education and cooking trainings for ECE professionals. The curriculum is designed to help early childhood educators feel inspired and confident in gardening and cooking activities with young children. View Resource »
Persuasive Writing in the Garden
This activity incorporates Common Core learning standards for English in your garden planning! In this lesson, students will use a variety of strategies to convince their peers to choose a given theme for the school garden. Written for grades 4-6. View Resource »
Nature Journaling
Sit down and look around. Make a list or draw a picture of what you see. Write down what you are feeling and your thoughts. Write a poem. Collect fallen leaves to press in your notebook. There is no right way to make a nature journal, so it’s a great activity for people of any age. Musings can be shared in the classroom or at home! View Resource »
Growing Poems
From KidsGardening.org, this lesson encourages students to develop more diverse ways of describing everyday objects, processes, and events. The activity comes with a garden-based lesson for grades 2-8 but can easily be adapted for other ages. View Resource »
Growing a Knowing Nose
Students explore a variety of plant-derived aromatic substances, reflect on the memories and feelings they evoke, and describe them. Next, as they try to taste without using their sense of smell, they begin to grasp the importance of this remarkable adaptation. They also learn that scents provide plants with a way to communicate, aid in reproduction and seed dispersal, and protect themselves. For grades 3-5, adaptable for other ages. View Resource »
Garden Lesson Ideas from Wisconsin Educators
During the 2015 Growing Minds course, participants were asked to briefly describe one lesson they have used in the garden that connects with core curriculum. There were so many ideas, we had to make an entire document! View Resource »
Garden Journaling
One key to successful gardening is keeping records of your gardening endeavors. A journal can be a collection of observations about the garden or can chronicle the development and execution of a garden plan. Students can work together to create a classroom account or on their own. View Resource »
Farm to School Teaching Resources
This website, based out of North Carolina, has some excellent lessons and recipes for the school garden! Lessons are sorted by grade level, from PreK through high school. View Resource »
Dig In: Standards-Based Nutrition Education from the Ground Up
Explore a world of possibilities in the garden and on your plate using ten inquiry-based lessons that engage 5th and 6th graders in growing, harvesting, tasting, and learning about fruits and vegetables. Each lesson meets education standards in one or more of the following subjects: Science (National Academy of Sciences), English/language arts (Common Core State Standards Initiative), math (Common Core State Standards Initiative), health (American Cancer Society) View Resource »
Common Core & Next Generation Science in the Garden
Life Lab has cross-mapped every lesson in The Growing Classroom with the Common Core Math and Language Arts standards and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Check out this page for lots of great resources and lessons. View Resource »
Children’s Literature
This expansive list of children’s literature (600 entries!) can be sorted by title, subject, or reading level so you can find exactly what you and your students are looking for. The books cover topics on gardening, food, farms, and cooking. View Resource »