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Linking School Gardens to Academic Content

Curriculum  
CA School Garden Network

The curriculum section provides over one hundred garden-based lessons to create, expand, and sustain garden-based learning experiences. It offers practical ideas and resources for every level of garden-based learning from sprouting seeds to understanding the food system.

This curriculum section was compiled by the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Garden-Based Learning Workgroup. The content for this section was borrowed, with permission, from various resources. It was our goal to use existing resources as not to “recreate the wheel” and to give a broad example of the garden-based learning resources that are currently in print.

The section is divided into 12 theme areas with applications for primary and upper grade level students:

Resources specifically for middle school grades:
JMG Level Two
Operation Thistle: Seeds of Despair: Plant Growth & Development

Garden Mosaics

Investigations in Horticulture a middle school curriculum by the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers designed to help students understand the nutritional, aesthetic, environmental, and therapeutic values of horticulture. Download pdf.

 

Curriculum

  • Linking School Gardens to Academics
  • Curricular Resources
  • Curriculum Work Group
  • Composting
  • Cooking and Eating
  • Digging In
  • Farm to Table
  • Garden Basics
  • Gifts From the Earth
  • The Growing Plant
  • Garden Habitat
  • Harvest
  • Seeds and Planting
  • Garden Stewardship
  • Food Around the World

     

     

    Classroom Projects Library from KidsGardening.com web-site

    Growing Poems
    Cultivating Creativity and Communication Skills
    through Garden-Inspired Poetry

    Building Soil Nature's Way
    Exploring Decomposition and Soil Health

    Finding Gathering Saving Seeds
    Continuing the Cycle of Life

    Growing UP (and around, and down...)
    Exploring Plant Growth with Garden Structures

    Creating a Pond Habitat
    Learning with the Liquid of Life

    Creating Herb Gardens
    Inspiring Aromatic Adventures

    Hooked on Hummingbirds
    Invite the dynamos of the bird world into your schoolyard and curriculum

    Inviting Butterflies to the Schoolyard
    Learning Takes Wing

    Bursting Blooms
    Create an Early Spring

    Making Field Journals
    A Binding Experience

    Food and Culture
    Exploring the Flavors of Your Community

    Coaxing Flower Bulbs
    Learning Blooms Indoors

    Making Weather-Tracking Tools
    Measuring Changes, Sleuthing Seasons, Testing Lore

    An Eye on the Garden
    Using Cameras to Focus Learning

    Dyeing to Find Out
    Extracting Nature's Colors

    Preserving Buds and Blooms
    Drying Summer's Hues

    Growing Garden Companions
    Promoting Plant Partnerships

    Gardening in Containers
    Growing in Small and Soilless Spaces

    Collecting Plants: A Pressing Project
    Making Herbaria, Field Guides, Gifts

    Creating a Pollinator Garden
    Preserving a Precious Partnership

    Feeding the Birds
    Enticing and Observing Feathered Guests

    Making Paper
    Experience the Fiber of Learning

    Pondering Plant Coverups
    Strrrrretching the Growing Season

    Preserving the Harvest
    Dry it Out!

    Creating a Three Sisters Garden
    Discovering a Native Trio

    Native Beauty
    Creating a Wildflower Planting

    Linking School Gardens to Academic Content - from the Life Lab web-site

    Life Lab Science Curriculum
    K-5 Science Curriculum, CA State Science Standards Matrix, sequential units and lessons, lab books, blackline masters in spanish and english, units on food and nutrition. Life Lab Science Program also provides workshops using this publication.

    The Growing Classroom: Garden-Based Science Activity Guide
    Jaffe, Roberta and Gary Appel. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1990. CA State Science Standards Matrix, sequential chapters, suggested grade levels, food and nutrition units, blackline masters/lab sheets, extensive appendices. (490 pages) Life Lab Science Program also provides workshops using this publication.

    CSGN's Gardens for Learing: Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden Chapter 3 - Linking Gardens to School Curriculum

    A Child's Garden of Standards: Linking School Gardens to California Education Standards. A guide to garden-based education using existing curricula in grades 2nd through 6th. It links activities selected from several published educational materials to specific academic content standards at each grade level in science, history/social sciences, mathematics, and English language arts. These varied publications, many already widely used and field-tested by teachers statewide, feature effective garden-based learning strategies. Download a PDF order form to purchase a hard copy or download a PDF version for free.

    California Foundation for Ag in the Classroom’s K-12 Online Lesson Plans Over 50 lessons on plant based learning and ag literacy.

    KidsGardening.com is one of the best online resources for gardening with kids. An extensive gardening with kids store and searchable database of lessons and articles are a few of this site's offerings. View their newsletter for current list of funding opportunities.

    Food, Land, and People
    K-12th grade science- and social sciences-based curriculum consisting of 55 hands-on The subjects range from environmental science and stewardship to human populations and land use issues. Training is available.

    Grow Lab: A Complete Guide to Gardening in the Classroom
    Pranis, Eve and Jack Hale.. South Burlington, VT: National Gardening Association, 1988.

    Math in the Garden
    This engaging curriculum uses a mathematical lens to take children on an education-filled exploration of the garden. Dozens of hands-on activities hone math skills and promote inquiry, language arts, and nutrition. All were developed to support mathematics and science standards and were extensively trial-tested by educators and youth leaders nationwide. Grades K-8, 160 pages.

    Jr. Master Gardener Program and Publications
    An international youth gardening program of the University Cooperative Extension network whose mission is to grow good kids by igniting a passion for learning, success and service through a unique gardening education.

    • Junior Master Gardener Teacher/Leader guide (grades 3-5)
    • Junior Master Gardener Handbook (grades 3-5)
    • Health and Nutrition from the Garden Teacher/Leader guide
    • Wildlife Gardener Teacher/Leader guide
    • Operation Thistle: Seeds of Despair Plant Growth & Development (grades 6-8)

    Garden-Based Learning Children Literature
    Junior Master Gardeners and the American Horticulture Society sponsor the Growing Good Kids Book Awards Browse the classics list or view this years winners of plant, garden and ecology-themed children's literature.

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