Each link below is .pdf of the curriculum for each grade.

LESSON DESCRIPTIONS

KINDERGARTEN

Hello Garden: Kindergartners embark upon an exploratory adventure in the school garden. This lesson provides students with the opportunity develop their observational skills while orienting them to the school garden.
A Hole is to Dig: Students investigate the contents of soil and share their discoveries.
Soil Sift: Students use sifters, funnels, measuring cups, and other containers to determine the properties of various soils.
Compare the Area of Leaves: Children are introduced to the idea of surface area and practice this abstract concept by measuring the area of a leaf with nonstandard units, such as beans, buttons, or bottle caps.
Anatomy of a Snack: Students identify plant parts as they snack on them.

FIRST GRADE

Food Machines: Students are introduced to the concept of photosynthesis and the vital part that plants play in the food chain. During this lesson, students plant seedlings and snack on edible plant parts.
Nest Builders: Students survey a variety of different nests and work in pairs to build bird nests from natural materials found around the school grounds.
Home Hunt: Students examine the structure and function of various animal homes and conduct an outdoor search for animal homes around the garden and school grounds.

SECOND GRADE

Life Cycle of a Tomato: Students study the life cycle of a plant as they save tomato seeds from heirloom tomatoes harvested in the school garden and plant them in the late winter/early spring to grow new seedlings.
Get a Grip, Amazing Plants, Rooting for Water, & From Flowers to Fruit: Students become more familiar with the Scientific Method as they conduct a series of experiments on radish, bean, and pea plants.
From Seed to Pretzel: Students experience the life cycle of the wheat plant by planting wheat seeds in October, harvesting and threshing the wheat in late May, grinding the wheat berries to make flour, and baking pretzels.
Leaf Attributes: Students collect and compare the attributes of various leaves as they work with a small group to create an “Attribute Train” organizing their leaves based on shared characteristics.
Locating Garden Treasures: Children review coordinate graphing as they work in pairs to locate “treasures” in the garden using a life-sized coordinate grid.
Soil Discoveries, Mudshakes, & Does it Hold Water?: Students investigate the physical properties of soil as they explore the contents of garden soil, discover that the components of soil have different densities, and conduct an experiment to determine which types of soil hold the most water.

THIRD GRADE

Garden Pollinators: Third graders learn about various pollinators and realize their impact on the garden.
Color World: Students review the Scientific Method as they experiment to see which wavelengths of light contribute the most to plant growth.
Adapt a Seed: Students investigate the different methods of seed dispersal and work in small groups to design and test their own seed dispersal mechanisms.
Graph & Graph Again: This activity introduces basic statistical skills—recording, organizing, and evaluating data. Children observe a beautiful array of flowers and graph the flowers according to various attributes. The groups compare graphs to see how the same data set can yield very different information, depending on how it is organized.
Three Sisters Garden: In the spring, students apply what they have learned about intercropping as they design and plant a Native American garden as a gift to next year’s third graders. During the fall, incoming third grade students harvest and make measurements of the crops and participate in a garden scavenger hunt.
The Great & Powerful Worm: Students become familiar with the anatomy of an earthworm and observe the role of the worm as a soil tiller by creating and monitoring a worm bin. The worms are eventually set free in the school garden to help produce fertile soil.
What Good is Compost?: Students are introduced to the science behind compost and conduct a scientific experiment to measure the impact of compost on plant growth.