Gardening
With Great Friends Globally
L. C. Kerr Garden
Photo by: Jodi Hall
Project Overview
Interest in school gardens and the benefits that they bring to young elementary students has been growing rapidly around the world. Many schools across the United States are working to use school gardens to enhance student learning. There are many benefits that come along with school gardens that are not strictly academic. Students that are involved in growing their own produce are more likely to choose better eating habits (The Farm to School Organization, 2015). Schools gardens also help students become directly involved with community members and help to strengthen the local economy. Through the garden, students are experiencing hands on learning that is providing them with life skills, while promoting a healthy lifestyle. As the programs prove to provide positive effects on the lives of students, people like celebrity chef Jamie Oliver are creating petitions to “encourage governments across the world to commit to grow and cook food at school” (Emberland, 2015, para. 3).
Through this project students will participate in plantings and nurturing plants in our school garden. They will learn about different plants around the world and collaborate with other students to find out what plants are native to their given area. They will learn about health, hunger around the world, communication, comparison skills, and improve their writing abilities. They will participate in many engaging cross curriculum activities. They will make meaningful connections with others around the world, while participating in life changing curriculum that will fulfill state standards.
Targeted Grade Level(s)
1st Grade
Project Length
The garden project will take place throughout the school year. There will be 8 week’s worth of collaborative lessons that can take place throughout the school year in a consecutive order or be spread out according to teacher preference.
Project Learning Goals
Students will be able to:
· State the correlation between gardening and living a healthy lifestyle.
· Distinguish between a good eating choice and unhealthy options.
· State the benefits of local produce.
· List what is required for plants to grow.
· List reasons we need to grow plants.
· In writing, discuss the lifecycle of a plant.
· Label the parts of a plant.
· Given different produce, identify the part of the plant that it is.
· List common plants that grow in our area and list plants that are native to other countries.
· Identify soil types and how soils are different around the world.
· Compare and contrast plants that are grown in various locations.
· Write about the elements that soil is made of.
· Record what they find from their investigations.
· Communicate with others through words, pictures, and writings.
Essential Questions
· What is soil?
· What elements vary among different soil types?
· What is the best soil and climate for growing plants?
· How long does it take for plants to grow?
· What do plants need to grow?
· Why do we need to grow plants?
· What parts of a plant do we eat?
· How will soil and climate impact which plants grow?
· What are the benefits of buying local produce?
· Why do different plants grow better in certain climates?
· Why can we not always buy local produce?
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that:
● soil is comprised of a mixture of minerals, water, air, and compostable elements.
● there are different types of soil, including sand, dirt, clay, and potting soil.
● plants have different needs in consideration of climate and soil.
● different plants grow better in different parts of the world.
● produce plants have a lifecycle.
● the essential components of growing plants; soil, sun, water, air.
● plants are an important part of humans and other animals diet.
● some produce that we eat at roots, stems, or flowers.
● when we buy local produce we are supporting farms and growers in our area and helping them support their families and lifestyle.
● they have the ability to choose healthy eating habits.
● countries work together to provide a variety of foods for people to eat.
● not all foods that we like to eat can be grown locally.
National and State Standards
Science
1.E.2- Understand the physical properties of Earth materials that make them useful in different ways.
1.E.2.2- Compare the properties of soil samples from different places relating their capacity to retain water, nourish and support the growth of certain plants.
1.L.1- Understand characteristics of various environments and behaviors of humans that enable plants and animals to survive.
1.L.1.1- 1 Recognize that plants and animals need air, water, light (plants only), space, food and shelter and that these may be found in their environment.
1.L.1.2- Give examples of how the needs of different plants and animals can be met by their environments in North Carolina or different places throughout the world.
Social Studies
1.G.2- Understand how humans and the environment interact within the local community.
1.G.2.3- Explain how the environment impacts where people live (urban, rural, weather, transportation, etc.).
English Language Arts
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3
Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1.A
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1.B
Build on others' talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.1.C
Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.1.6
Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation. (See grade 1 Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.9
Compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in stories.
Math
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.A.1
Order three objects by length; compare the lengths of two objects indirectly by using a third object.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.A.2
Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end; understand that the length measurement of an object is the number of same-size length units that span it with no gaps or overlaps. Limit to contexts where the object being measured is spanned by a whole number of length units with no gaps or overlaps.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.C.4
Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.
ICT Integration
Kid Blogs- Students will take turns posting about what we are learning in our classroom and about what is taking place in our garden. Each student will be able to have their own blog and they will be able to create post on the blog.
Epals- Students will be able to connect with another class through the epals website.
Skype- Students will be able to talk with another class about the weather and what is growing in their community.
Twitter- We'll tweet as a class daily. We will include pictures and captions about what is going on in the classroom.
In our classroom we will use electronic maps. We will display them using our smart board. Students will use our classroom computers to look up information. We will use our classroom smart board to view the interactive websites, look up information, and tweet about how our project is going.
Proposed Calendar of Activities and Exchanges.
Week 1- Learn about the Basics of a GardenDay One- Read Little Sweet Potato by Amy Bloom. Develop together a KWL chart. Develop questions about sweet potatoes. What do we know about sweet potatoes? Do they sink? Do they float? Have you tried one? How long are they? What can we cook with them?
Discuss what we know and what we want to learn.
Day Two- Learn about what they need to grow plants. Watch Brain Pop Jr. “Plant Life Cycle.” Add what we learned about sweet potatoes to our chart.
Day Three- Display a map. Together, look up where sweet potatoes are grown around the world. Use Sweet Potato Ipomae Batatas (2004) webpage to find different locations that sweet potatoes are grown. Have students locate and place a sticker on all of the different locations that sweet potatoes can be grown.
Day Four- Harvest our potatoes. Write in our journals about what part of a plant the sweet potato is.
Day Five- Sweet Potato Fun. Measure, compare, cook, taste. Students will be able to describe what parts of a sweet potato plant we eat.
Week 2- Collaborate and Prepare for Another Crop
This week, students will establish a connection with partners around the world. We will connect with other students using the e-pals website. I will have students begin their interactions with others using our classroom computers. They will be using their communication skills to find out information from our partner class. They will be given ideas of get to you know type questions that they can use to facilitate conversation.
We will be reading “How did that Get in My Lunch Box?” by Chris Butterworth. Students will record why we need plants in their journals. They will understand the importance of growing and nurturing gardens.
Students will discuss what we need to prepare a garden that will grow and be successful. In their journals they will record what they think we must have to produce a successful garden. We will also concurrently be preparing our garden beds for another crop.
Week 3- Collaboration Continued
Now that we have established a connection, we want to learn about what the growing conditions are like where our friends live. We will prepare questions to ask our friends about their climate and soil conditions.
Our class will read “From Seed To Plant” by Gail Gibbson. We will participate in a science experiment to determine the benefits of different types of soil. Students will be provided with four different types of soil: sand, potting soil, dirt, and clay. We will determine how each type of soil holds water. Students will record the soil that would provide the best nutrients and water for their plants in their journals.
Materials for this experiment will be: four disposable pots with holes in the bottom, four different types of soil, water, student journals, four empty pots. (These materials will be for one group. If you would like your students to do this in small group you will need enough materials for each group.)
Students will need to get their soil in the pot with the holes. They will then hold it over the other pot without holes. They will pour water into the soil and make observations about how quickly it runs through and out of the soil. Groups should record their results and then discuss which they think it the best soil and why. Have groups share their results with the class.
Week 4- Where in the World does Our Food Come From?
Students are now aware of what plants need to grow and how to prepare a place for them to grow. We will now look at all of the different locations that produce is grown. Students will bring in two or more stickers from the produce that they have in their homes. We will map these on our classroom map to see all the different places that produces is grown.
Select students will blog about our classroom map and what we discovered as well as questions that we now have. Students will learn that climate has an effect on where certain plants can grow. If we see an area that has a lot of plants, we will then work to find out why they have so many in that area.
Students will watch select videos from project explorer (2015) to find out about different plants around the world. They will watch a video about Costa Rica, Belize, Azerbaijian, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, St. Kitts & Nevis, and Thailand (Project Explorer).
I would like for my students to watch at least one video each day and record a fact that they learned about that country. At the end of the week, students will write and draw about the country that they would most like to visit and the food that they would like to eat while they were there.
Week 5- Healthy Eating
Begin the week by reading “Good Enough to Eat” by Lizzy Rockwell. This book will help students make the connection between plants that we are growing and what they are eating at home.
Have students record in their journals one thing that they would like to try that is growing, that they would not eat prior to this experience.
Have students add a healthy eating option each day to our blog. Students will be able to determine ways to eat the produce that they are growing.
Week 6- Healthy Eating Continued
This week will be the week that students begin working to create their healthy menus.
Read “You Are What you Eat” by Serge Bloch
Introduce students to the food pyramid and have them participate in the lesson “Healthy Food Makes A Healthy Body” (Krak & Schexnaildre, n.d.)
Bring in labels of popular “kid” foods. Place students in pairs to find positives and negatives about the food that they enjoy eating.
Take students to the computer lab and allow them time to find recipes of foods that they would like to include on their menu. Also, provide them with books that have been read aloud that might include recipes.
Bring in sample recipes from different locations. Have students identify healthy aspects of each recipe.
Week 7- Create and Act
This week we will discuss how friends in different parts of the world do not have access to gardens and locally grown produce. We will discuss resources that they do not have access to. We will collect donated bowls and decorate them. Students will use their creativity to decorate their bowl that reflects what they have learned about produce and food around the world.
Use the World Programme website to help students learn about what hunger is (Hunger, 2015).
Use one of the 7 Great Lessons found at Kid World Citizen to teach students about hunger. (2013).
We will read Soup Day and Growing Vegetable Soup(Iwai, 2010) (Ehlert, 2004). We will have a soup night at school where our bowls will be auctioned off for parents to purchase. We will serve soup and donations will be welcome. All proceeds will go to a cause that supports alleviating child hunger. Healthy menus will be displayed for visitors to view.
Project Assessment with Scoring Rubric