Garden Lessons and Activities

By Dorothy Mullen

Riverside Elementary School

Princeton, NJ

 

Following are lessons and activities we have done over the years at Riverside. The material is organized into sections on safety for plants, safety for people, hands to work chores, lessons and activities, types of gardens and discussion themes. Many of the lessons were contributed by Riverside teachers. For a printable version of this document, scroll down to the bottom of the page.

 

Safety

 

Students will learn safety lessons that protect the plants and safety lessons that protect the people.

 

Safety Lessons For Plants

 

Harvesting and Deadheading

It takes two hands to harvest and deadhead, one to hold the plant, and one to nip it off.

 

Where do Your Feet Belong

Students learn where their feet belong and why (on walkways, to protect the roots from getting squashed).

 

Planting at Soil Level

Instructor will demonstrate how to plant the root ball at soil level and discuss why it’s important in terms of the plant’s needs to have roots beneath and stem above soil line. Each child will have a chance to demonstrate planting at the correct depth in a pot of potting soil.

 

Seeding

Students will practice planting at the correct depth as measured in “knuckles” deep, using 3-inch pots, 6 packs, and potting soil. Older children will handle much smaller seed requiring ¼ soil only or being exposed to sun to germinate.

 

Watering

Students learn to manage hoses in teams to avoid decapitating the plants. Half of them will be the flowers, half the hose managers, then switch. They will practice what they learned with hoses and water beds in the garden, paying attention to the consequences of their actions and watering in teams so the hose is managed.

 

Safety Lessons For People

 

What’s Edible

To protect themselves, students learn about identifying edible plants, using sight and smell before tasting.

 

Handling tools

We drill tool safety, handing off tools and working arm’s length plus tool length away from the next person. Younger students will demonstrate that they understand the safety lessons and go out into the garden, walking, digging, harvesting according to the rules.

 

Hands to Work

Deadheading

Students will practice removing dead flowers without uprooting plants, then compost the deadheads. Discussion will include circles (returning as much as possible right to the garden the material came from) rather than lines (adding to the waste mass) in the garden.

 

Weeding and Mulching

Students will weed and contribute bio mass to compost. They will mulch around plants to prevent new weed growth.

 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Compost

Students will learn the differences among the three Rs and composting. The instructor will have the students sort corrugated, newsprint, clay coated sections and paper with heavy ink and determine which bits are compostable (which keeps the circle on the campus), which are recyclable (which is better than trashing) and which are trash, like the tape and labels pulled off the cardboard. Compostable fibers will be placed on sheet compost piles in the garden.

 

Composting

Composting happens throughout all lessons. Students will identify what in their lunch bags, the gardens, the recyclables, etc. are better placed in compost than recycling or trash.

 

Seeding and Planting, Transplanting

Students will direct sow into the garden and set up seed trays for transplanting into the school beds or taking home.

 

Newsprint Seed Pots

Students will compost newsprint by making their own seed starting pots.

 

Fabric Composting

Students will be invited to contribute compostable fibers to the garden, including old 100% cotton linens, tea shirts, etc. They will sheet compost them in flower beds, forming collars as weed barriers and to hold water in the soil. Discussion will focus on circles of energy versus lines leading to the solid waste mass.

 

Propagation

Students will gather cuttings of plants like rose geranium and use rooting hormone to make more plants.

 

Mulching, Putting to Bed

After removing dead material after frost, students will mulch the garden with deep straw to protect it for winter. Discussion will include growing earth worms for spring and keeping the elements from the soil.

 

Lessons and Activities

 

Soil lesson

Students will compare samples of soil from turf area, garden bed, compost and woods and compare them for color, moisture content, signs of life and creatures.

 

Pre-K Living v Non-Living

Students will tour the garden identifying things that are or were living and things that were never alive. They may clip and collect and sort by category or use the items for a counting lesson.

 

Kindergarten Math

Harvest something there is a lot of (beans, flowers, cherry tomatoes) and count them by fives, tens, etc.

 

Sample Collection for Lessons and Compost

Students will take brown paper collection bags into the garden and search for, for example, edible leaves or items that begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, or items like beans or deadheads for counting. At the end of the lesson, students will contribute the compostable materials, bags and all, to a sheet compost or regular compost pile.

 

Palate Education (any grade)

Students will do various tastings, including harvesting peas or broccoli and seeing which part (stem, leaf, fruit/veg, or flower) is the sweetest, tastiest, etc. Students can compare different kinds of mint or basil, mature vs. young carrots, etc.

 

Vines (typically Ks)

Students will look for vines in the garden, harvest gourds and pumpkins. They will take one back to the room and when it is cut up they will save the seeds, either for roasting or to dry and plant next season.

Plant Parts (typically 1^st)

Students will harvest various whole plants that exhibit all plant parts, including root and stem tubers, various kinds of seeds, gripping mechanisms and (careful) thorns. Discussion can include edible plant parts and tasting.

 

Seed Collection and Sorting

In the fall, students will collect seeds and sort them by, for example: flower, herb, weed, tree or vegetable; dispersal mechanisms; food for humans or fodder for animals; etc.

 

Fall Planting for Spring Harvest (any grade)

Students will learn that there are just a few things we plant in the fall for spring harvest. They will plant garlic (which will definitely work) and beets (which may winter over) and discuss the conditions needed for fall planted items to do well.

 

Butterfly Life Cycle (second)

Children will learn the role of butterflies as pollinators and observe the life cycles of black swallowtails and monarchs. The garden will contain hosts for these butterflies and many plants for the nectar. This lesson extends across several weeks in the fall.

 

Bugs (second and fifth)

Children will identify bug parts, collect bugs, and discuss the roles bugs play in the garden. They will visit the bug observatory where decomposers live under the provided shelter and buggy plants grow for the purpose of attracting insects.

 

Decomposition

Students will observe compost and other rotting matter and discuss the importance of death in the life cycle.

 

Colonial Herbs (typically 3rd, but all grades use the herb garden)

Students will plant annual herbs in the herb garden and tend the perennials. They will understand the differences among annuals, biennials, and perennials. They will review the identity of plants, cut and use or cut and dry such herbs as mint, sage, melissa, and rosemary. They will also cut herbs for sachets, tea, and seasoning. This lesson takes place over several weeks.

 

Herb Tasting (all grades)

Students will taste herbs and edible flowers, if they are willing, and harvest some to make a spread with cream cheese or hummus and dipping vegetables.

 

Spring Planting in Lasagna Garden

Students will compare the experience of planting in a lasagna garden vs a conventional bed. Discussion will focus on soil components and the value of composting.

 

Weather and the Timing of Planting (older grades)

Spring and/or fall, students will compare the first/last frost dates for different kinds of seeds and set up a schedule for planting. They will learn about the U.S. planting zones. They will consult a planting guide and learn to follow package or posted directions about timing planting and discuss why it’s important to get it right.

 

Garden Geography/Immigration Lesson (any grades)

Students will consider a map of the world, and discuss where people and plants come from. They will learn where several different crop plants came from originally and then move the crop plants around the world following the course of the pioneers, natives, conquistadors, and settlers that transported them. They will discuss the soil and temperature needs of these crops relative to their origins and where they grow now. There is the option of selecting plants for September planting that enjoy the cold weather and will be harvestable the same fall.

 

Producers, Consumers, Scavengers (5^th)

Students will consider the roles of animals and plants in terms of producers, consumers, scavengers, skeletonizers, etc. and go out into the garden to find examples of each.

 

Ecosystem

An indoor activity, students will study a worksheet depicting numerous food chains. They fill define eco system. Then go out in nice weather and find examples or evidence of food chains in the ecosystems of the school garden.

 

Scavenger Hunt (a lot of fun! can be set up for any grade)

Fifth graders will have a final “test” in the form of a scavenger hunt in which they collect samples as prompted and return to share them with the group.

 

Living Things, Lessons in Consequences (adjustable to any grade)

Consequences of actions can be taught in any number of experiments: depriving leaves of light, providing too much or not enough water, fertilizing or not, pulling a hose across a flower bed, harvesting with just one hand. Students will make predictions about the consequences of specific actions and test their ideas.

Art Project in the Garden

Observe the seasonal changes of your plant of choice and record it in a garden journal.

 

Precise Language

Students will break into groups of 2. Instructor will demonstrate a task, such as herb cutting, tying and drying. One partner will write up the steps in enough details for the second partner to reproduce the process. The second partner will perform the task following the directions. Together they will refine the instructions.

 

Types of Gardens

 

Strawberry Patch

 

Bug Observation

The new bug observation area is located next to the compost at the far end of the soccer field. Decomposing wood and plant species noted for the insects they attract are located there.

 

Rainbow of Color (grade 1)

Children will plant a flower bed in rainbow colors.

 

Butterfly (grade 2)

 

Beneficial Boarder (grade 4)

Students will learn about the services plants provide to each other, the bugs and the vegetables we want to eat. They will replant the beneficial border, as needed. Broader discussion can include other benefits exchanged by plants and humans.

 

Lasagna Garden (grade 4)

Students will gather weeds, dead heads, grass clippings, old straw, leaves, etc. and set up a lasagna garden bed. Can be done as a math lesson on gardening in 3 dimensions.

 

3 Sisters

Students will continue the lessons about services plants provide to each other by planning a 3 sisters bed of beans, corn and squash (which support each others needs and provide complete nutrition for humans).

 

Community Service Garden

A garden set up specifically for the purpose of growing food for the crisis ministry. This project would require additional support as harvesting and transportation are required.

 

Creating a Coordinate Grid Garden (Any grade can do a version)

Students will use a raised bed to plan and plant a “square foot garden” with a key to the contents. This is in two dimensions.

 

Basil Botany Garden

The garden will feature up to 30 varieties of basil, exhibiting an array of colors and forms. This garden will open up many opportunities for guest lecturing, tastings, testing recipes, etc.

 

Other possibilities

Could be, for example, native wild flowers, cutting flowers, heirloom vegetables.

 

Discussion Themes

 

Health and Nutrition

Students will discuss the behaviors that are both good for the people’s health and good for the planet, drawing on the activities we have done with RRR and C and growing our own vegetables. They will consider which activities are good for people but not the environment and which are good for the environment but not the people.

 

Let’s Eat Well Discussion

Put out an array of groceries from highly processed foods to our own organic produce and have students talk about why it’s important to eat more of certain foods and eat less of others. Ask them for ideas about how to get kids to eat more of the healthy stuff. How do their parents do help them make healthy choices? Results may be shared with parents.

 

Screens Discussion How do parents limit use of screens? Why is that important? In your family, what are the alternatives to screen time. Results may be shared with parents.

 

Food Literacy Discussion

Discussion will include reading labels, questioning advertising, knowing the difference between real nutrition information and that which is really advertising, making good decisions, taste testing.

 

Life Observations

At several points during the year, students will tour the garden. Each will select a plant or branch which they will revisit, noticing the changes through the seasons. They can draw and write in garden journals. Results may be shared with parents.

 

Life Observations

Students will go out into the garden with the intention of making observations about insects, changes in insect behaviors across the season, developmental stages of bugs, the schedule of bug appearances, signs of damage and signs of services provided to the garden.

 

Life Observations

Students will spread out and each choose a spot outdoors and take 10 minutes to just notice what is growing in the 10 feet surrounding them. Afterwards, they can journal on the life forms, bug activity, whatever they may notice about the soil, effects of wind, evidence of damage or the presence of animals.

 

Indoor Activity and Rainy Day Lessons

 

Indoor Mapping Activity (Ks)

Students name and list the 15 outdoor classrooms and using their visual memory, map out the garden using blocks and symbols to recall the layout of the garden, placing the symbols for each bed in relationship to the other beds.

 

Mail Ordering and Planting Calculations (4^th)

We’ll be ordering seed from Johnny’s and from Seed Savers Exchange, all of which are heirloom seeds. A February lesson in math could be made of calculating the orders, computing shipping, and calculating planting dates in New Jersey using a chart of last frost dates.

 

Rainy Day Cooking (Any grade)

Instructor will bring ingredients inside for making lentil or chicken soup with rice, hummus, salsa or herb spreads. We can do lessons on specific plants or ethnic cooking, such as legumes or Mexican cuisine and include a history lesson.

 

Rainy Day Herb Lesson (K – 3^rd)

Instructor will bring herbs indoors for lesson on identifying, smelling, tasting and drying for later use.

 

Rainy Day Drawing from Nature

Instructors will harvest and students draw in their journals, name, and state a use of the plant.

 

Herbarium

Students will collect samples in nice weather, then dry and press samples of plants, label them with their names and uses in an herbarium or plant journal.