Activity: Dirt Made My Lunch

Recently when speaking with a first grade teacher who had started a classroom gardening project, she told that one of her inquisitive students asked, "Why can't we just plant pizza?"

While an amusing question, the teacher used this as a teaching moment using the following activity.

Materials:

• Pictures of food items.  (You will need pictures of each ingredient and the corresponding steps it takes as you trace it to the soil)
• Cheeseburger
• Bun: flour, wheat, soil
• Burger: beef, cow, grass, soil
• Cheese: milk, cow, grass, soil
• Pickle: vinegar, cucumber, cucumber plant, dill plant, soil
• Ketchup: tomato plant, soil
• Pizza
• Dough: flour, wheat, soil
• Cheese: milk, cow, grass, soil
• Tomato Sauce: tomato plant, soil
• Tape or magnets

Activity:

• Draw columns on the board and place each ingredient at the top (i.e. one column for bun, burger, cheese, pickle, and ketchup).
• Hand out the remaining pictures to the students.
• Taking one ingredient at a time, trace it back to the soil.  Have the student with the corresponding item place it in the correct column.
• For example: Cheese comes from milk, which comes from a cow, which eats grass, which comes from the soil
• Trace other foods to the soil!

The teacher I spoke with said that her students LOVED this activity! They wanted to trace all sorts of foods to the soil and their garden!

Song: "Do You Know the Parts of Plants?"

On this gloomy and potentially snowy day in May, here is a little ditty for you to sing with your students to help them learn the parts of plants.

Do You Know the Parts of Plants?
Courtesy of Got Dirt? Wisconsin
[Sung to: "Do you know the Muffin Man"]

Do you know the parts of plants, parts of plants, parts of plants?
Do you know the parts of plants that grow in your garden?

The seeds get planted in the ground, planted in the ground, planted in the ground.
The seeds get planted in the ground, to grow food in my garden.

The roots hold the plant in place, the plant in place, the plant in place.
The roots hold the plant in place and give it food and water.

The stems bring water to the leaves, water to the leaves, water to the leaves.
The stems bring water to the leaves and reach toward the sun.

The leaves make food for the plant, food for the plant, food for the plant.
The leaves make food for the plant and help it grow in the garden.

The fruit on the plant is yummy to eat, yummy to eat, yummy to eat.
The fruit on the plant is yummy to eat and help me grow like my garden.

Now I know the parts of the plants, parts of the plants, parts of the plants.
Now I know the parts of the plants that grow in my garden!

Great School Garden Resource

While searching the web for school garden resources, I stumbled upon Florida Bureau of Curriculum and Instruction's website.  Not only does Florida's Board of Education support school gardens but they have a fabulous list of resources for educators.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I encourage you to check out their website for inspiration.

In particular, I loved the page about lesson plans.  One of my favorite ideas--the "Mix-A-Salad" Game--was in the "Team Nutrition Fruits and Vegetables Lesson Plans for Preschool Children."

1. Children stand in a circle to form a pretend bowl.
2. Each child is given a picture of a fruit or vegetable.
3. The leader says "I'm going to make a salad...and in my salad I am going to have _________ (name of a fruit or vegetable) that is _________ (say an action). 
• Suggested actions include:
• Twirling
• Jumping
• Running
• Hopping
• Waving
• Flying
• Dancing
• Clapping
• Kicking
• Rolling their arms
• Walking on tip-toes
• Splashing
4. After 3-4 fruits and vegetables are called, the leader says "Let's stir up the salad!" Then all those in the center scramble around, and all those forming the bowl make stirring motions until the leader says, "Stop! Let's eat."
5. All the children fall down, rub their tummies, and say "Yum, that was a good salad!" 
6. Play again calling different fruits or vegetables to the salad bowl.

What a fun and wonderful activity!

Thanks Florida Board of Education for the great resources and for your support of school gardens!

Dear Gardening Friends: Letters from Students

Who says that gardens don't have an impact on students?  Check out these adorable letters I received from a class that just planted a Microfarm.  Not only are the letters cute, but they show just one way for students to practice spelling and writing.

"Dear Gardening Friends,

Thank you for donating stuf

for the garden.  We are

planting, radish, lettuce,

pepper, tomatoes.  Our group

planted tomatoes.  Have a

very happy spring.

Your friend Addy"

"Dear Gardening friends,

Thank you for helping with our

microfarm.  We planted some

veggies.  My group planted red

lettuce and green lettuce.

Yours

truely Ike"

"Dear Gardening friends,

We planted a microfarm.

Thank you for the money

to get us started.  We

planted Pepper, lettuce,

radish, tomato, and spinich

seeds.

From,

Jackson" 

"Dear Gardening friends,

Thank you! Do you have a

garden?  I do.  The pumpkins

usually take over :)  What do

you plant in your garden?

Your friend,

Nel"

"Dear Gardening friends,

Thank you.  We planted raddish,

lettuce, pepper, tomato, spinach.

There are 3 radish sprouts

in the plastic tray.

Have a nice summer.
Love,

Taylor"

"Dear Gardening friends,

Thank you for stuf for our

garden.  We plated some red

lettuce and some lettuce in

our room.  It is a lot of

fun.  You would love it.  I

can't wait to harvest the plants.

From Jake"

April School Garden Ideas

At the beginning of each month, the Got Dirt? WI blog features a variety of month-specific ways to incorporate your school garden into your classroom.

April is full of gardening related holidays.   Use some of these ideas below to celebrate your garden.  And don't be afraid to share your own ideas!

• April: National Gardening Month: Celebrate a whole month's worth of gardening related activities.  Visit the National Gardening Association's website for some ideas. 

• April: National Mathematics Education Month: Math and gardening go hand-in-hand.  Measure the heights of plants.  Plant some seeds and estimate how many will grow.  Figure out the percentage of plants that grew.  Use fruits and veggies to demonstrate fractions.  Identify the shapes of the fruits and vegetables.  Estimate the area of a leaf.  Map out your garden and calculate its area.  The possibilities are endless!

• April: Children and Nature Awareness Month:  The goals for this year's events are first to "encourage parents to form their own Nature Clubs for Families.  And second, to invite grandparents and older outdoor enthusiasts to do their part to reconnect children and nature."  For a complete list of events in your area and for some great online resources for teachers, visit the Children and Nature Network's website. 

• April: National Humor Month: Tell gardening and fruit/vegetable jokes and riddles.  For example, What types of vegetables do you find written on a piece of music?  Give up?  Two Beets!

• April 3: Find a Rainbow Day: You may not be able to find a rainbow in the sky on "Find a Rainbow Day" but you can find one in your garden.  Have students identify fruits/veggies that match the colors of the rainbow.

• April 4-10: Garden Week: Have a whole week dedicated to gardening.  Celebrate your garden and start some plants indoors.  Invite a Master Gardener Volunteer to visit your classroom to talk about gardening.

• April 14: Look Up at the Sky Day: Go out to your garden and stare at the clouds.  Have students use their imagination to identify shapes in the clouds.  Drwa a picture of your garden and glue cotton balls to the paper for the clouds.  Don't forget to use this as an opportunity to teach what plants need to grow. 

• April 22: Earth Day:  Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day by finding ways to help your environment.  Have students sign a pledge to be good stewards of the Earth.

• April 23: National Zucchini Bread Day: Although it's a bit early in Wisconsin to use zucchini from the garden, this is still a great opportunity to cook with fresh produce.  As a class, make zucchini bread and discuss fractions, measurement, and the importance of following a recipe in the right order.  Perhaps this will inspire you to grow zucchini in your garden!

• April 23-25: Global Youth Service Days: Participate in community service.  Donate time to your school or community garden.  Have students create a service project that starts your school garden.  It is a great way to get students involved and ensure that the project gets off the ground.  Check out your Got Dirt? Toolkit for more information about using school gardens as service learning opportunities.

• April 26-30: School Building Week: "Celebrating our nation's school and reinforcing the connection between school facilitates and student learning...School Building Week provides an opportunity to draw national attention to the importance of well planned, healthy, high performance, safe and sustainable schools that enhance student achieve and community vitality."  Click here for more information.  Use this week to evaluation the sustainability of your school and identify areas that need improvement.

• April 27: Tell a Story Day: Read garden and fruit and veggie stories and have children write their own stories.

• April 29: Greenery Day: A day in remembrance of the birthday of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.  The day is a time to commune with nature and be thankful.  Go outside and explore where you will put your garden.  Start to prepare your garden for planting.  Have students imagine what it will look like in the summer when everything is growing.  As a class, research some of the cultural differences between the United States and Japan (for example: what grows in a typical Japanese garden?).

There is plenty going on during the month of April.  What do you plan to do to celebrate these fun holidays?  Share your ideas below!

Activity: Seed & Spoon Race

We can all remember doing an egg and spoon race as a child where we frantically ran back and forth trying  not to let our delicate egg topple to the floor. 

In a garden twist to this classic game, the egg is replaced with seeds. 

Materials

• Spoons
• Bowls
• Seeds [Note: Choose larger seeds, such as sunflower, pumpkin, or bean seeds, so that they are easier to clean up]

Activity

• Divide the class into teams.
• Give each team a spoon and one bowl filled with seeds.
• Have the teams line up on one side of the room.
• Place an empty bowl across the room from each team.
• Instruct one player from each team to scoop a spoonful of seeds and carefully run/walk across the room to dump them into his/her team's empty bowl.  If the student drops any seeds, he/she has to start over.
• After the team member puts the seeds in the bowl, he/she returns to the team and hands the spoon to the next player.
• The first team to complete the relay race with the most seeds in their bowl wins.

Alternative

• Instead of seeing who can dump the most seeds into his/her team's bowl, have students take a spoonful of seeds and, in a more traditional egg/spoon race fashion, transfer the seeds between teammates.  Each player must run/walk to one side of the room and back and then transfer the seeds to the next player.  The team that completes the relay race the fastest with the most seeds wins.

March School Garden Ideas

At the beginning of each month, the Got Dirt? WI blog will feature a variety of month-specific ways to incorporate your school garden into your classroom.

It's the beginning of March, which means spring is on its way! Below are some suggestions for incorporating a garden into your classroom for the month of March.

• March 1-May 3: The Great American Cleanup--A time to beautify parks and recreation areas, plant trees and flowers, and pick up litter.  Take this time to clean up your local park or start to prepare your outdoor garden for planting.

• March 11: Johnny Appleseed Day--Read a story about Johnny Appleseed and have an apple-themed day.  Taste different types of apples, discuss how apples grow, and make apple art!

• March 17: St. Patrick's Day--You may have heard of a fairy garden, but why not create a leprechaun garden!  Think miniature! Have children imagine the leprechauns in the garden and write a story about their mischievous ways!

• March 20: National Agriculture Day--Discuss Agriculture in Wisconsin.  Invite a farmer or gardener to visit your class.  Have students eat food made in Wisconsin.  Discuss all of the ways that agriculture impacts us daily.

• March 26: Make Up Your Own Holiday Day--Have students brainstorm ideas for a new holiday and what they would do to celebrate it.  Get creative and use it as a day to celebrate your garden!

• March 30: Take a Walk in the Park Day--Go for a walk and identify different types of plants.  Identify trees and their plant parts.  Walk through your garden and have students plan what they want to plant.

Do you have ideas on how to incorporate a garden into the classroom? We'd love to hear your ideas! Share below!

Garden Songs

This great website features gardening related songs and finger plays for young children.  The lyrics are adorable and would perfect for teaching young children about gardening and what plants need to grow. 

Here's just one example:

I'll plant a little seed in the dark, dark ground.
Out comes the yellow sun, big and round.
Down comes the cool rain, soft and slow.
Up comes the little seed, grow, grow, grow!

Check out the website and enjoy!

Activity: "Planting" an Indoor Garden

Even if you don't have the space available to start a school garden, you can still teach your students about fruits, vegetables, plants and gardening.

This easy activity allows you to "plant" a garden in your classroom and teach kids about various fruits and veggies.

Materials:

• Clip art of fruits and vegetables on white paper for students to color
• Coloring materials (markers, paint, crayons, etc.)
• Scissors
• Craft sticks
• Glue
• Container and potting soil or styrofoam to create "garden plot"

Preparation:

• Find clip art of fruits and vegetables for students to color
• Print pictures on white paper

Activity:

1. Give each child one or several images of fruits or vegetables.
2. Have the children identify the type of fruit/veggie and color it the appropriate color.
3. Have children cut out the pictures and glue them to the craft sticks.
4. Place the potting soil or styrofoam into the container.
5. Have students "plant" their garden by placing their craft sticks into your "garden plot"
6. Continue to have children identify the fruits/veggies in their garden.

Extension:

• Have children use the fruits and vegetables from their garden as puppets. 
• Have children create skits or plays with the puppets.
• Read a garden story and have children hold up their fruit/veggie when it is mentioned in the story.
• Use the pictures of the fruits and vegetables to help plan your school garden.  Have students decide where each one should go and place it into the "garden plot" accordingly.

Activity: Seed Necklaces

This fun activity allows students to create seed necklaces.  Students can observe the growth of their seeds as they begin to sprout. 

Materials:

• Small re-sealable plastic bag (ex: small jewelry bag, found in craft stores)
• Yarn
• Cotton Balls
• Water in spray bottle.
• Spray bottle
• Seeds or Beans
• Scissors
• Single hole punch
• Permanent marker

Activity:

1. Punch a hole in the top of each plastic bag.
2. Using the permanent marker, write the student's name on the plastic bag.
3. Wet the cotton ball using the spray bottle.
4. Place the cotton ball in the plastic bag.
5. Place the seed/bean in the bag so that it is resting against the cotton ball.
6. String the yarn through the hole in the plastic bag to create a necklace.
7. Moisten the cotton ball as needed.  The seeds should begin to sprout within a week, depending on the type of seed used.

Book: A Garden for Groundhog

Happy Groundhog Day!

The groundhog may have seen his shadow today and predicted six more weeks of winter, but reading the book A Garden for a Groundhog will get you and your students longing for spring.

The School Library Journal says it is "A delightful book especially right for reading around Groundhogs Day. During the winter, the O'Learys feast on the bounty from their summer garden, and Groundhog hibernates in his burrow home beneath the apple tree. The O'Learys know that the groundhog does not come forth on February 2 to forecast the weather but rather to check if the O'Leary garden is planted. Mr. O'Leary's plan to keep the groundhog out of their vegetables has one flaw, though, which is humorously revealed on the final page. Full-color illustrations in soft hues add to the aura of warmth and gentleness which permeate the story. A delight to read and share."

And a fun fact for Got Dirt? gardeners: the author, Lorna Balian, was born in Milwaukee and still resides in Wisconsin.

Happy reading!

Activity: Garden Patterns

The following website has some awesome resources and links for school gardens across the country.  In particular, it has a link for a fun and easy activity to do with your students.

The Garden Patterns Activity has students work with patterns.  The worksheet features a series of vegetables.  Students have to finish the pattern by drawing, naming or pasting the rest of the vegetables in the sequence.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, check out this awesome resource and easy activity to do with your students!

Activity: Sorting Seeds

In this activity, students will learn to sort and describe seeds according to various characteristics, including size, shape, color and texture.


Materials

• Four or five different types of seeds. Try to find seeds and beans that vary in size, color, texture, and shape. The more variety, the better! [Examples: Bird seed or dried beans]
  

Activity

1. Give each child an assortment of seeds. Remind students to not eat the seeds.
2. Allow the children to have a couple of minutes to play with the seeds. Tell students to examine them, make patterns, or make shapes and pictures with their seeds.
3. Have students organizeseeds or create different categories for the seeds. To start, tell them to create piles of seeds that are the same color.
4. While students are sorting, on a board or chart paper, create four columns with the headings: color, size, shape, texture.
5. Ask students to describe the piles of seeds they created. Remind students that there is not one correct answer to these questions and that students may have decided to sort their seeds differently.
   How are the groups similar and how are the groups different?
   What do each of the piles look like?
6. Write the responses under the “color” column. Examples: red, brown, dark, light
7. Repeat, asking students to sort and describe seeds according to their size, shape or texture.
   

January School Garden Ideas

At the beginning of each month, the Got Dirt? Wisconsin blog will feature a variety of month-specific ways to incorporate your school garden into your classroom.

And now...the first edition of the monthly gardening activities. Feel free to suggest activities, games, etc. Enjoy!

• Start to plan your outdoor garden, talk about the types of fruits and veggies that you class wants to plant and/or decide on a theme for your garden
  
  
• Plant a microfarm! January is the perfect opportunity to use this innovative indoor gardening technique. Click here for blueprints and more information
  
  
• Jan. 6 is Bean Day. Read "Jack in the Beanstalk," sample various types of beans, dissect a bean and see what's inside.
  
  
• Jan. 19 is National Popcorn Day. Instead of using the traditional popcorn, plant popcorn microgreens in your microfarm and have students taste it. They can even compare and contrast it to traditional popcorn.
  
  
• Jan. 21 is Squirrel Appreciation Day. Use this as an opportunity to talk about all of the creatures that will visit your garden. You can also try to track squirrel footprints in the snow!~

Activity: Veg-Tea-Ble Party!

Instead of having a traditional tea party, invite your students to a Veg-tea-ble Party. Have students taste various fruits and vegetables or sample microgreens from your microfarm instead of snacking on cookies and crumpets.

You can set up the tables as you would a regular tea party. Invite students to get dressed up and bring a “guest” stuffed animal or toy. Make the Veg-tea-ble Party something special and out of the ordinary so that kids get excited about trying something new.

Encourage kids to try each fruit and vegetable. Remind them that they don’t have to like everything but they should at least taste it. Also remind students to be polite and not say “yuck” or other negative comments about the food. Tell them that the “chef” has worked hard to make these fruits and vegetables. Limiting the number of “yucks” also prevents students from discouraging each other from trying foods.

If you host your own Veg-tea-ble Party, we would love for you to share stories and your experiences!

Cheers!

Activity: Veggie Stamp Holiday Cards

Instead of using store bought holiday cards, consider having students make their own unique cards using fruits and vegetables.

Materials:

• Paper
• Tempera paints
• Paper plates
• Paint brushes
• Knife
• Various fruits and vegetables, such as potatoes, cucumbers, star fruit, apples, mushrooms, carrots, or broccoli.

Activity:

1. Cut fruits and vegetables into manageable sizes for kids to use as stamps. If you're feeling creative, try carving shapes, such as stars, hearts or letters, out of the potatoes or other fruits and vegetables.


2. Put tempera paint onto paper plates for each student.


3. Instruct students to use the paint brushes to apply paint to the fruits and vegetables and then stamp them onto paper. Students can create collages or try to create a holiday scene for a holiday card.


4. Don't forget to remind students to not snack on their stamps. ;)


5. Let their artwork dry and then proudly display their work around the classroom or give as gifts!

(photo from http://whipup.net/2006/09/18/veggie-prints/)

Article: "A Kids-Eye View of White House Gardening"

I came across this article online. http://www.dcfoodforall.com/content/kids-eye-view-white-house-gardening

It features an interview with two 5th graders from Bancroft Elementary who are helping with the White House garden.

The interview illustrates the profound impact that gardening has on the students. The students also discuss school lunches and their desire for healthier foods.

Excellent article and great motivation to start a school garden!

Activity: How does your garden grow?

This sequencing activity allows children to imagine being a farmer or gardener. Children will practice following directions, putting items into a sequence or particular order, and using basic addition and subtraction.


Materials:
Worksheet containing images of four tomatoes, four ears of corn, four heads of lettuce and four carrots
Brown construction paper
Coloring supplies
Scissors

Activity:

1. Give each student the vegetable worksheet, one piece of brown construction paper, coloring supplies and scissors.
   
   
2. Have students color and cut out the pictures of the vegetables. Make sure that students color in the vegetables the appropriate colors.
   
   
3. Explain to students that we will now plant our garden but we have to follow very specific instructions to make sure that everything grows.
   
   
4. Tell students that the piece of brown construction paper is their garden. The side of the paper closest to them is the front of the garden and the edge of the paper that is furthest away from them is the back of the garden. (It may be useful to demonstrate this to students to avoid confusion)
   
   
5. As you read each example to the class, have students arrange their vegetables in their garden. Tell students that they may need to rearrange or change their vegetables as each clue is given. Read each example two or three times so that students can check their work. You may need to do the first example together so students get an idea of what they are supposed to do.
   
   EXAMPLE ONE:
   The tomatoes get planted in the front row of the garden.
   The lettuce gets planted in a row behind the tomatoes.
   The corn gets planted in a row in front of the lettuce.
   The carrots get planted in the back row of the garden.
   
   
   
   EXAMPLE TWO:
   The corn gets planted in the front row of the garden.
   The tomatoes get planted in the back row of the garden.
   The lettuce gets planted in a row right behind the corn.
   The carrots get planted where you think they should go.
   
   
   
   EXAMPLE THREE:
   The yellow vegetable gets planted the back row of the garden.
   The red vegetable gets planted in a row right in front of the yellow vegetable.
   The green vegetable gets planted in the front row.
   The orange vegetable gets planted where you think it should go.
   
   
   
   EXAMPLE FOUR:
   The yellow vegetable gets planted in a row in the middle of the garden.
   The red vegetable gets planted in a row in front of the yellow vegetable.
   The green vegetable gets planted in the back row of the garden.
   The orange vegetable gets planted in the front row of the garden.
   





6. After reading each example, review it together and show the correct arrangement of vegetables.


7. After completing each example or after doing all of the examples, students will now "harvest" their vegetables. Read each "recipe" below and have students remove the appropriate number of vegetables from the garden and place them in an imaginary basket. You can follow up by asking students how many vegetables are left in the garden or row, how many vegetables did they pick from the garden, etc.
   
   RECIPE 1:
   Two heads of lettuce
   Three ears of corn
   One tomato
   One carrot
   
   RECIPE 2:
   Three ears of corn
   Four carrots
   Two heads of lettuce
   
   RECIPE 3:
   Two tomatoes
   Three carrots
   All of the lettuce
   One ear of corn
   
   RECIPE 4:
   One head of lettuce
   One tomato
   Two carrots
   Two ears of corn
   

Activity adapted from AIMS Education Foundation's "The McGregors' Garden" Activity

Grant Opportunity: Welch's Harvest Grant

Welch's and Scholastic will award two schools in every state with a customized indoor or outdoor garden package to teach children about nutrition and sustainable agriculture.

The awards are open to K-8 classrooms with a minimum of 15 students. The top five winners will receive a package valued at $1,000, the top 25 winners will receive a package valued at $500, and 70 winners will receive a package valued at $250. According to Welch's website, the award package includes garden tools, seeds and educational materials.

Remember that the White House's garden cost less than $200 to create. So no matter what, if you receive an award, you'll have enough to start a garden!

Applications must be submitted by February 6, 2010. Visit Welch's website for an application and additional information.

Students Write about their Microfarm

Students from Woodland Elementary School in Barron, WI have also been busy planting and harvesting a microfarm. Check out these adorable letters from the students describing their experiences.

Dear Mr. Wright,
Our class Micro Farm went great. We all loved watching
it grow. When they were finished growing, we got to eat them. My
favorite ones were the purple kohlrabis and the carrots. The one I did not like was the sunflowers. I got to plant the purple kohlrabis. I loved planting the purple kohlrabis. Thank you for inventing the Micro Farm.
Love,
Mackenzie

Dear Mr. Wright,
My class Micro Farm is going very well. We are harvesting around Oct. 21. We have purple kohlrabi, tenber green mustard, carrots, and sunflowers. One of the carrots was a foot taller then the other. The carrots were the last ones starting to grow. I can not wait until we harvest them. Thank you for giving us the farm.
Your friend,
Grace

Dear Mr. Wright,
Thank you for the micro-farm. It was fun watching the plant’s grow. My favorite was the purple kohlrabi. The sunflowers tasted funny. The tendergreen mustard and carrots tasted funny. It was fun to harvest the greens. I planted the sunflower. I planted the sunflowers with Walter and Kambria. We had it with ranch dressing.
Your friend,
Kiara