Garden Lesson Plans

16 years ago

Hello Everyone,

I have been away all winter waiting for the snow to melt. Now that the snow is (mostly) gone, and I have been pulling weeds from my garden beds here and there, the itch to garden is on me.

I spent all of last summer gardening in order to maintain my sanity while I looked for a new job. I was able to find a part time teaching job, and I am working with a great group of kids.

One of my students loves plants. She has has all sorts of seeds and tons of potted flowers. She asked me if we could grow some plants in the classroom. I suggested we start growing herbs after spring break, and then the students could take home the herbs the Friday before Mother's Day as a gift. Other students liked the idea just because they got to grow something, and some students are on board because I said we could do a mini garden unit instead of spelling for a week. I figure I'll take gardeners in the making anyway I can.

Now that I have agreed to do a garden unit, I have to put something together. After talking with my students, I realized none of them (except my one student) has any experience gardening. With that in mind, I really want to make this garden unit a lot of fun for them in hopes that at least some of them will garden when they are older.

Here are some things I want to teach my students about:

1) How to read the back of a seed packet

-plant spacing

-watering

-sun needs

2) How to water a seed/seedling and how often to water

3) Garden zones

4) Patience! Plants take a while to germinate

Then I'd like to put something together specific to each student's plant. Something that tells them special needs of a pea plant vs a watermelon plant.

For all of you gardeners out there, what might you consider important to teach new gardeners? Is there something really important I should hit on?

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

digdirt2
16 years ago
You don't mention (I think) the ages of the kids so not sure how relevant this may be, but one of the items I like to focus on with my grandkids is the role of bugs in the garden. Good guys and bad guys. ;) Not only eliminates the fears of bugs they may develop but encourages them to adopt a more "bug-tolerant" approach to gardening.

On the Zones issue I know you don't want to get TOO deeply into it but you might just mention the concept of micro-climates - ie. how the shade in the corner of the garden or the direction of the wind or a nearby body of water can actually change one's "zone".

And when it comes to water, please teach them that water is NOT a magic elixir in the garden. Most time too little is better than too much.

Sounds like a great project and I wish you luck and enjoyment with it.

Dave

PS: and that flowers and vegetables can be all mixed up together.
organicdan
16 years ago
What age group are you recruiting future gardeners from? It sure makes a difference to the 'how presented' and to some extent the depth of topic.

Generally speaking a few topics with merit are soil, the soil food web and soil management. The focus should be on the natural systems function and recycling. There may be room for introduction to composting/vermiculture.

Who knows if you may in fact be inspiring a few scientists amongst your gardeners.
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lantanascape
16 years ago
Don't forget to cover feeding the soil. I remember our class being show compost heaps when we were in second grade or so, and I thought it was really interesting. Along with the bugs, teach them about worms, and how important they are in the soil.

They might enjoy growing bean plants, too because they grow quite quickly, from a big seed that's easy for kids to handle (you can even sprout pinto beans from the store, so you don't have to buy seed packets).
veggiefaery
Original Author
16 years ago
My students are in 6th grade. This is their first year of middle school. They are a lot more mature than when I first met them. I would assume many of them have already done science lesson on germination and parts of the flower.

All of you gave me some great ideas. I am really going to try to add an environmental aspect to it. I want them to think about from how far way some of the produce they eat is shipped in from. Also, why it may be better to grow your own veggies - how much healthier home grown is, or even farmers market produce. I really like Michael Pollan's idea of being able to shake the hand of the people who grow and raise your food. I hope I convey this idea on a small scale to my students.
bb
16 years ago
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ScienceSSMars4PlanetsSoilNutrients56.htm

http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edsci.htm#plants
interesting from this site
http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=1710

http://www.proteacher.org/c/64_Plants.html
http://www.bsu.edu/web/fseec/pie/Lessonplans.htm

google
plant lessons 6th grade
there is plenty more to get you going...
jimster
16 years ago
If the students have Internet access in the classroom I suggest having them do searches to get the information they need on various aspects of growing plants. In doing so, they will develop some essential skills for the information age. No reason for the teacher to be doing that for them. Just help to identify the topics to research and set them off in the right direction.

Jim
anney
16 years ago
VF

I agree with Jim with one caveat. Send them off to the internet to find information about various aspects of gardening, but warn them that not everything they read will be true. Review their research for accuracy, but let them know that often there aren't any hard and fast rules for many things.

I'd ask them to make a report and even demonstrate what they learn, maybe operating in small teams of 2-3 kids each depending on the number of topics you might want to discuss.

I think you could order the lessons the way you'd go about starting a garden in the spring. Choose your plants first, then research how many you want, then a lesson on soil preparation and fertilization, seed-sowing, germination, days to maturity, weeding, harvesting, etc.

Lots of possibilities!