We have completed our USDA Grant-funded curriculum update! Our Program Director, Charlotte Sandkuhler, has created a new seasonal Lesson Menu. We welcome your input!
Key Points:
- Grades PK-5 have up to 3 lessons per season to choose from – and we’d love for you to do them all!
- Lessons are specifically designed for BVSD academic schedules and priorities, but all are aligned with Next Gen Science and Colorado State Standards
- Current FOSS Unit Aligned
- Current garden phenomenon – aligns with FOSS Units from other seasons
- Non-Science Content Standards Aligned
- Some lessons include KEY TASKS that help your garden grow and provide resources for other grades.
- Teachers – you are the experts! Please use these resources as best suits your teaching style and the needs of your students.
- We value teacher feedback! Email program@gardentotable.org to share comments on lessons.
The key to making this work across our program is COMMUNICATION. Providing meaningful garden-based learning activities for an entire school takes some challenging calendar wrangling. It’s a critical part of what makes our program a success! In order to make the most of Garden to Table programming, please make use of your partnership between classroom educators, volunteer Garden Leads, and GTT staff.
Garden Lesson Videos and Activities
Created for home learning during the pandemic, these videos are presented by seasoned educators, based on our 2018-2021 curriculum. Each lesson comes with suggestions for activities to be done at home, in a garden, or in a yard or neighborhood.
Lessons for spring gardens
- 1st Grade – Planting Lettuce – Parents and Offspring
lessons for late summer gardens
- PreK – Exploring Pumpkins and Sunflowers
- Kindergarten – Garden Scientists Using Our 5 Senses
- 1st Grade – Seed Exploration
- 2nd Grade – Insects And Their Habitats
- 3rd Grade – Fall Harvest Producers and Consumers
- 4th Grade – Nutrition in the Garden
- 5th Grade – Plant vs. Human Structures and Systems
Lessons for any time of year
- Kindergarten – Garden Scientists Using Our 5 Senses
There are many other school garden support organizations around the country that have share resources! we’re sharing some of our favorites here:
- We love these activities about food and sustainability from the Center for Ecoliteracy.
- The Junior Master Gardener program is hosting a series of live activities for elementary students. Join them every Tuesday and Thursday at noon MST through May 19, 2020.
- Back Pocket Learning provides easy, engaging, off-screen activities for kids with minimal materials. Options include outdoor explorations, crafts and recipes.
- Big Green at Home shares new and engaging lessons, videos, events, and activities perfect for the at-home learner.
- This unit on food waste and composting as a solution to climate change is designed for 5th grade.
- Farmer’s Footprint created this list of Regenerative Activities for Kids for exploring soil, seeds, compost, and biodiversity.
- Kids Gardening has a long list of resources and activities to get families gardening and exploring nature.
- National Agriculture in the Classroom has a bunch of eLearning activities for grades PK-12.
- Partners for Education, Agriculture, and Sustainability have video lessons on the topics of cooking, nutrition, gardening and nature exploration.
- Green Our Schools has a set of video STEM Garden Lessons.