Issuu

M U LT I - S E N S O R Y

asparagus

tomato

spinach

corn

radishes

peas

strawberry

cauliflower

raspberry

lettuce

onion

cherries

The Garden Project

Learning about sustainability and seeding healthy eating habits

Early Years

green beans

beet

basil

pumpkin

broccoli

carrot

grapes

watermelon

leeks

potatoes

A M

The Garden Project

Learning about sustainability and seeding healthy eating habits Within a S.T.E.A.M. framework!

> Contents

Introduction

........... 4

The Garden Project Philosophy Teaching Strategies, Learning Tools and Student Learning Goals Scope & Sequence

........... 8 ........... 11

Setting The Stage

........... 17

Space Clothing Time Seeding Journals Science & Nature Technology Engineering Art Math Timeframe Planning Project Expectations

........... 22 ........... 24 ........... 24 ........... 25 ........... 25 ........... 26 ........... 28 ........... 29 ........... 30 ........... 31 ........... 32 ........... 34 ........... 36

........... 6

Unit 1

Preparing Lesson 1: Season’s Palette Lesson 2: Introduction to Plants and Plant Parts Lesson 3: A, B, Seeds Lesson 4: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Making Your Own Gardening Tools & Equipment

........... 38 ........... 39 ........... 47 ........... 54 ........... 58

Planting

........... 62

Lesson 1: Let’s Get Dirty Lesson 2: Companion Planting Lesson 3: Planting the Garden-In-A-Box Lesson 4: Friends of the Garden

........... 63 ........... 67 ........... 73 ........... 85

........... 114

Lesson 1: Family of Vegetables Lesson 2: How did your vegetables grow? Lesson 3: Eating by Season Lesson 4: Eating the Rainbow

........... 115 ........... 123 ........... 128 ........... 134

Decomposing and Regenerating

........... 140

Lesson 1: Compositing and Observation of Earthworms Lesson 2: Regrown Plants Lesson 3: Super Seed Dispersing and Saving Lesson 4: Seed Bombs

........... 141 ........... 146 ........... 149 ........... 155

Appendix

Unit 3

Lesson 1: Caring for Plants: Watering and Water’s Properties Lesson 2: Observing and Documenting A Life-Cycle Lesson 3: Discovering Fruit & Vegetable Shapes Lesson 4: Watch the Plants Grow

Harvesting

Unit 5

Unit 2

Growing

Unit 4

........... 90 ........... 91 ........... 97 ........... 102 ........... 108

Specialized Science & Nature Skills Assessments (For 3-4yr olds) Specialized Science & Nature Skills Assessments (For 4-6yr olds) Vocabulary The Vegetable Plot Lyrics

........... 158 ........... 159 ........... 160 ........... 162

> Introduction The Garden Project is a standard-based curriculum that employs a Project Based Learning approach for teaching children ages three to six years old within a S.T.E.A.M. framework. The Garden Project values empowering children to build on their knowledge through enquiry of the natural world. Children gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate, explore and discover how fruits and vegetables are grown, using Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math as well as sustainable growing practices. In the context of early childhood education, pedagogy is defined as the practice, art, science, or the craft of teaching. Pedagogy provides a shared frame of reference (a mutual learning encounter) between the educator, the young child and his/her family, as well as the cultural context of the educator and the artist. It is a dynamic, interactive and collaborative process, underpinned by care, trust, love, reflection, mutual respect, and understanding. The pedagogy guiding The Garden Project draws from several philosophies to create a dynamic approach to teaching and learning. These philosophies include: Project Based Learning teaching method. Project-based learning is a dynamic classroom approach in which children gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging question. This allows for an exchange of ideas with a view to reaching understanding, solving problems or sharing information Your role as an educator isnâ€™t to start the enquiry through a succession of questions from adult to child but rather a discussion, being prepared to speak, listen, respond, put forward more than one point of view, with the intention of developing your kidsâ€™ knowledge. Creating a discussion requires you, the educator, to take on various roles of expert, facilitator, participant, and creator of meaningful contexts for discussion and enquiry. Cognitively challenging and open-ended questions are most conducive to creative thinking and more elaborate investigations.

Below are the Essential Project Design elements that make up The Garden Project: • Key Knowledge, Understanding, and Success Skills - The Garden Project focuses on developing students’ technical and metacognitive skills, which include critical thinking, collaboration, and self-management. In addition, The Garden Project promotes the development of intrinsic values such as empathy, respect, and patience. • Challenging Problems and Questions – The Garden Project frames its projects around the meaningful question of “Where do our fruits and vegetable come from?” for younger children, and more complex questions of “How do we maintain a healthy diet” and “How can we live more sustainably?” for older children. These can be found under The Scientific Method section of every activity. • Sustained Inquiry – Children’s innate love towards nurturing plants gives The Garden Project a framework for sustained inquiry as every stage of growing things gives children a sense of purpose and satisfaction. The duration of the projects varies depending on the age group of the children. • Authenticity – The Garden Project uses natural materials and features living plants in a real-world context.

In addition, findings are publicly displayed through Hoopla Global Classroom, an international platform of collaboration, for classrooms from around the world to share and exchange inquiries centered around The Garden Project with children from different cultures. S.T.E.A.M. Framework. The Garden Project applies a S.T.E.A.M. framework for preschoolers and kindergarteners by developing child-led enquiry, as children are guided into discovering where their food comes from and how to grow veggies sustainably. Age-appropriate skills – from categorization, observation to problem-solving - are identified and woven together using Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, as children’s learning is highlighted through meaningful writing and journaling. Every activity highlights the adopted S.T.E.A.M. disciplines and how it interconnects with another discipline. The Reggio Emilia Approach. The Garden Project is infused with the Reggio Emilia Approach as we too believe that the environment is a child’s ‘third educator’ and recognize the many ways in which children interpret the world and represent their ideas and theories. We trust our children to ask the right questions and our role as educators is to intervene as little as possible, and observe, listen, interpret and facilitate the children’s research by providing interesting and stimulating experiences and resources.

• Student Voice & Choice – Our child-centered approach gives children a voice and choice on the project, including how they work on and what they create. Learning occurs naturally and authentically, as concepts are connected via the enquiry that is led by them. • Reflection – Students and teachers reflect on learning, the effectiveness of their enquiry and project activities. In addition, children rediscover handiness and the joy of coordinating the mind, body and soul into action as they plant, grow and care for their Garden-in-the-Box. • Public Product – Children’s learning is made visible through The Garden Project Journal, a journal that children complete as they are experiencing The Garden Project in their classroom.

> The Garden Project Philosophy As our planetâ€™s future ambassadors, The Garden Project sets itself the crucial goal of reconnecting children to Nature within a 21st century framework of learning. Every activity draws its inspiration from nature to remind children and teachers that everything begins and ends with nature. Nothing is more inspiring than nature! Educators are guided into using nature as an ever-changing set of resources that can easily be adapted for the local environment to employ instructional design combining all 5 S.T.E.A.M. disciplines in engaging lessons and mini projects in addition to developing critical thinking and problem solving through Project Based Learning. Whilst gardening is a central theme of the project, it only comprises 2030% of this science-based (biology and botany) project. Children are taught how to develop the scientific method, the ability to hypothesis and set up their experiment, as well as link each step of the growing process through documentation of their findings in their age-appropriate guided journals. Math and technology are used to deepen the learning experience as children learn to count leaves, make simple seed graphs as well as further their enquiries with the use of technology. The exploration and communication of findings is done through a highly aesthetic exploration of Nature using, whenever possible, natural materials. Finally, the social emotional component of The Garden Project is key. In an era where social emotional skills are at risk, itâ€™s important to develop life skills that encourage collaboration and harmonious living within our environment. In addition, children and teachers, will have to trust in the process as not always things will go as planned but failures always carry important learning opportunities that are just as important as our successes.

> Flowchart of the project

> Teaching Strategies, Learning Tools and Student Learning Goals Specific to our curriculum are the teaching strategies and learning tools we selected to help educators facilitate meaningful learning experiences for children. Our teaching goal for The Garden Project is to instill in children a love of learning, to prepare them to view the world with eyes of wonder, and to grasp opportunities to learn at any moment of the day! We aim to achieve this, in part, by helping children discover and cultivate their understanding of their ability to think, also referred to metacognitive strategies and critical thinking skills. Metacognitive strategies facilitate children’s ability to: (a) reflection on their learning behaviors, (b) identify their learning needs, (c) listen and communicate more effectively, and (d) adjust their learning habits accordingly. We facilitate this by providing an integrated curriculum that addresses the learning needs of today’s multiskilled, multi-tasking new generation. Teaching Strategies and Learning Tools Scaffolding. Scaffolding, a term coined by Wood, Bruner and Ross and influenced by Vygotsky’s theory of “zone of proximal development” (ZPD). Scaffolding refers to the process by which adults or capable peers support and guide children’s learning to a higher level of competence than they could normally achieve on their own. Scaffolding techniques are found throughout The Garden Project in the form of extended project ideas in the teacher’s guide and learning progressions in the student journal. Your role as an educator is to stimulate interest in the task by simplifying it, yet also providing the time and the intellectual support needed to keep the child’s interest in achieving the goal. Language Development Strategies. In addition to providing a platform for learning, The Garden Project also gives educators strategies to extend vocabulary and introduce English as a second or foreign language in a natural context. Simple linguistic phrases are given to teachers to introduce new vocabulary following the natural approach, i.e. focus on “acquisition” as opposed to language “processing”, the way children would learn their native language.

Music. Music and Early Childhood Education go hand in hand, which is why The Garden Project has integrated The Vegetable Plot songs and music to spice up your learning journey. Children will be choreographing their own groovy dance moves to the music, in addition to learning new songs and rhymes that focus on planting, healthy eating and expressing yourself creatively. In addition to developing vocabulary, children are developing phonological awareness with the songs from The Vegetable Plot by focusing on the sound structure of spoken words while singing and rhyming their favorite tunes. The Vegetable Plot Characters. In addition to taking children on a musical journey, we have adopted Aspara “ Gus or “Gus”, the lead character of The Vegetable Plot, as The Garden Project mascot as he introduces key concepts and ties the learning together by giving suggestions and tips on healthy eating. Gus, an animated asparagus, is a fearless leader whose goal is to convey the message that vegetables love to be eaten so they can nourish our bodies. We hope that the emotional bond that the children develop with the character will also positively influence their healthy food choices. Bookworm Corner. Almost every activity is accompanied by a book storytelling or story suggestion to further the investigation and/or to add a literacy component which encourages healthy reading habits in small children. Books and stories are suggested at the end of each lesson. Social Emotional. The social emotional component is probably the most important aspect of The Garden Project, as it develops patience, caring for living organisms, collaboration and empathy which are key lifeskills we want to develop in children. In addition to learning key skills, children deepen their understanding of the natural world as well as the environmental impact of their actions. Activities that have a strong social emotional component to it are marked with a heart icon.

Student Learning Goals Students experience integrated learning as they participate in lessons that are based on nature and also address development across key domains. Below are examples of the skills that are covered throughout the project:

Science & Nature • Adopting the scientific method by developing observation of nature and asking simple questions to gain a better understanding of their world. For example: “what does a plant need to grow?” or “how do vegetables grow differently?” • Being able to form a hypothesis that drives from an investigation and experimentation are key to enquiry-led learning. Children are encouraged to carry out tests on the world to see if it will behave the way they think. “Does a plant need water to grow?” or “Which vegetable grows faster – a radish or a carrot?” • Documentation of findings and collection of results is an essential skill for budding scientists. Documenting changes based on color, shape, size, height and texture are some of the processes covered in The Garden Project. • Throughout The Garden Project, there will be multiple opportunities for children to be measuring results, including: time, temperature, height, for example. • Narrative skills are a central part of the program as children learn to describe the life cycle of plants, fruit and vegetables in The Garden Project. Vocabulary is also enriched through the elaboration of names of plants, fruit and vegetables • Fine motor skills are developed through gardening (sowing, planting, watering) and/or use of tools such as magnifying glasses.

Technology • Children learn how to use technology wisely as part of engaging shared learning experiences. • The use of technology is encouraged as a means to document findings through photography. • Observation and documentation is deepened through its timelapse technology and voice recording thanks to technology employed through award winning app My Food. • Children exchange findings with other children in different parts of the world with the use of technology.

Engineering • Fostering children’s natural curiosity of why and how things work in nature, especially when related to growing veggies and fruits. • Improve, design and devise solutions to measure and facilitate growth of veggie plants, using sustainable materials. • Learning to answer simple questions that arise in the process of growing veggies. For example: “what happens if a veggie plant doesn’t grow straight and ‘balanced’ ”? “Who is this problem affecting?”, “Why is this problem important to solve?” • Following a simple process to find solutions which involves: defining the problem through words or images, doing the research to develop a possible solution, designing a solution, building a prototype, testing it and evaluating the solutions.

Arts • Using the arts as means of expressing an idea, feeling and/or concept. • Developing aesthetic value through composition of colors, shapes, patterns and sounds is a key goal throughout the project. • Children learn how to use a variety of natural materials (seeds, stones, sand, earth, water) and mediums (hands, feet, cotton buds, ink), to express themselves, such as with mud painting inspired by the Land Art Movement. • Trusting the creative process and expressing it through exploration, experimentation and intuition using specialized techniques (veggie print-making, shadow stenciling, peel tattoos).

Math • One to one correspondence in counting natural materials (beans, leaves, seeds) and developing early numeracy skills or division (splitting a vegetable in 2), addition (adding seeds together) and subtraction. • Children elaborate shape recognition through careful observation of shapes of fruits and vegetables. • Pattern Recognition in nature, for example noticing that ladybugs have mirrored dots on either sides of their shell. Finding spiral patterns in nature (explained by the Fibonacci series). • As plants and vegetables grow, children learn to sort and classify/ categorize vegetables in multiple ways as well as how to present findings with the use of simple graphs.

Scope & Sequence The Garden Project is a standard based program, aligned with key early learning frameworks Below is an overview of the 5 units. LESSON

TITLE

ACTIVITIES

FOCUS BY AGE GROUP

Unit 1 Preparing

• 3-4: Tactile exploration of natural elements from

Lesson 1

Season’s Palette

• Identifying the seasons • Identifying the colors by seasons

different seasons leaves (color? texture? type?), surfaces

• 4-5: Observation of colors outside, learning from nature’s cues to identify seasons

• 5-6: Description of weather and basic seasonal patterns

Lesson 2

Introductionto plants and plant parts

• What is a plant? • What makes up a plant

• 3-4: tactile exploration of natural elements and parts of a plant, combined with creative movement

• 4-5: Observation of roots and the root system • 5-6: Observation of plants with a magnifier

Lesson 3

A, B, Seeds

• Explore textures of beans and seeds

• 3-4: Lentil finger drawings, tactile exploration

• Role seeds play

• 4-5: Tactile bean memory game

• Categorization of seeds

• 5-6: Tactile bean memory game, bean categorization

• 3-4: Making watering tools from old plastic bottles Lesson 4

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Making your own Gardening Equipment

• Up-cycling • Recycling

and cups

• 4-5: Developing the concept of recycling • 5-6: Categorizing objects into recycling groups

LESSON

TITLE

ACTIVITIES

FOCUS BY AGE GROUP

Unit 2 Planting

Lesson 1

Let’s Get Dirty!

• Tactile exploration of sandy, clay,

• 3-4: 6 pots with different types of dirt (2 of the same),

• Land Art

• 4-5: Abstract expressionism with mud (land art)

stony, dirt. Exploring the differences

matching textures

• 5-6: Abstract expressionism with mud (land art) • Exploring and understanding Lesson 2

Companion Planting

the concept of cooperation and collaboration through plants

• Plant combinations

• 3-4: Plant combinations, working well together • 4-5: Plant combinations with fine motor skills • 5-6: Application of cooperation in real life situations • 3-4: playing with dirt, planting

Lesson 3

Planting the Garden-in-the-Box

• Planting, transplanting, composition

• 4-5: planting and planning where to position plants • 5-6: planning the planting process

• Pollinators Lesson 4

Friends of the Garden

• Friends vs. pests • Worms • Ladybugs

• 3-4: Identifying patters in a ladybug, friends vs. pests • 4-5: Aboriginal Drawings • 5-6: Aboriginal Drawings, ladybugs counting game

LESSON

TITLE

ACTIVITIES

FOCUS BY AGE GROUP

Unit 3 Growing

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

Water potted plants

Observing & documenting a life cycle

Discovering fruit & vegetable shapes

Watch the plants grow

• Watering • Transplanting

• 3-4: Sound exploration of water, watering • 4-5: Documenting watering of plants • 5-6: Documenting and performing fine motor skills

• Seed revision

• 3-4: Planting a bean

• Documentation

• 4-5: Planting a bean + observation

• Observation

• 5-6: Planting a bean + observation + documentation

• Shapes

• 3-4: Counting, circles and triangles, veggie printing

• Likes and dislikes

• 4-5: Transforming shapes into fruits and vegetables

• Vegetable printing

• 5-6: X-ray onions

• Observation Skills

• 3-4: Creative movement and “growing up”

• Measuring

• 4-5: Basic measuring

• Documentation

• 5-6: Measuring and recording plant growth

landscape

LESSON

TITLE

ACTIVITIES

FOCUS BY AGE GROUP

Unit 4 Harvesting

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Family of Vegetables

How did your vegetables grow?

• Classifying veggies

• 3-4: Grouping veggies

• Early numeracy

• 4-5: Categorization and vegetable instruments

• Vocal play: high and low sounds

• 5-6: Categorization, family trees & veggie instruments

• Mathematical language to describe

• 3-4: Identifying a vegetable that grows above/ below

• Identifying when veggies are ready to

• 4-5: Describing how 3-4 veggies grow

concepts such as position, and size be picked

the ground, when ready to be picked

• 5-6: Vegetable shapes such as mandalas • 3-4: Seasonality

Lesson 3

Eating by Season

• Seasonality of fruit and veggies

• 4-5: Color wheel by season

• Making a harvest chart

• 5-6: Harvest chart + identifying fruit and veggies growing from different parts of the world

Lesson 4

Eating the Rainbow

• Revision of colors

• 3-4: Colors + vegetables

• Healthy eating by color

• 4-5: Identifying veggies by color groups

• Vegetables by color groups

• 5-6: Categorizing veggies by color groups and healthy choices

LESSON

TITLE

ACTIVITIES

FOCUS BY AGE GROUP

Unit 5 – Decomposing & Regenerating

Lesson 1

Composting

• Decomposition of natural materials • Nature as a recycling machine

• 3-4: Earthworms and their role • 4-5: Decomposition • 5-6: Decomposition and layers of soil • 3-4: Re-growing roots

Lesson 2

Regrown Plants

• Bringing root vegetables back to life

• 4-5: Revision of roots and their role • 5-6: Roots, re-growing and exploration of other materials

• 3-4: Seeds and their role, extracting seeds Lesson 3

Super Seed Saving

• Seeds and the promise for new life • Extracting seeds

• 4-5: Reusing, continuing the life cycle, extracting seeds, art

• 5-6: Reusing, continuing the life cycle, extracting seeds, more complex art

Lesson 4

Seed Bombs

• Making seed bombs

• 3-4: Tactile exploration, making seed bombs

• Alternative planting methods

• 4-5: Tactile exploration, seed bombs, categorizing • 5-6: Exploring different types of seed bombs

> GETTING STARTED In this section you will find a list of practical resources that will help you plan and make the most of The Garden Project at your center. We will guide you through a number of aspects you will have to consider as you start organizing your garden space, timing and program. • Space, Clothing, Time, Seeding • Equipment • Timeframe • Planning • Expectations Seasonality The Garden Project will vary greatly according to the month or season you are running the project in. Select a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 10 different veggie plants you will use. Keep it simple by choosing one veggie plant per color group and/or vegetable type.

Complete the chart below with the veggies you plan to plant by month, cagetorized within the 6 color groups: January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Space Before you start planting it is a good idea to spend time planning how and where you hope to grow in whatever space is available to you. The beauty of The Garden Project is that it can be done both inside or outside thanks to its practical portable boxes that can be moved around as needed. However, keep in mind that vegetable plants will need time outdoors to be pollinated and to bear fruit. In addition, whether indoors or outside, you will have to place the boxes in a sunny place where plants can receive a minimum of 4 hours of direct sunlight. See an example of a Garden-in-the-Box below:

Now itâ€™s your turn! Complete the chart with the fruit and vegetable plants you will plant:

If youâ€™ve decided to create an outdoor garden, consider marking the sections off with a special boundary, gate or decorative entrance. This gives your space a reverence and marks a transition from elsewhere into your special garden.

Complete the chart below with the fruit and vegetable plants you intend to grow in each plot of land.

The advantage of using a plot of land is that you have more space to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. See example below:

Clothing This is a messy project! When you’re working with earth or dirt you are bound to get your hands and clothes dirty, therefore provide each child with an apron, raincoat, boots and/or sun hat if working outdoors. Keep clothing readily accessible so you can quickly and easily have all the children outfitted as you start your activities. Obviously, some activities will be messier than others.

Time Decide how much time you want to dedicate to every activity. The goal for The Garden Project is for children to get a more integrated approach to learning, therefore the more connections you can make with your core curriculum to The Garden Project, the better.

3-4

4-5

5-6

For activities that require artwork and/or gardening, plan on smaller adult to child ratios, in addition to accounting for age differences. Use the “Planning your Garden” spreadsheet to plan the focus of the project.

Seeding Although children like to see quick results, it’s important for you to grow something from seeds. This lets children observe the life cycle of a plant and gives them incredible satisfaction. Harvesting your own seeds from vegetable scraps or the vegetables in your Garden-in-the-box, teaches children about sustainability and the cyclicality of life, a very important lesson for them to learn!

Journals Every activity is accompanied by a Garden Project Journal, available for 3 age groups: 3-4yrs, 4-5yrs and 5-6yrs old. The journals document each child’s learning journey as well as being aligned with standard based educational frameworks. The journals were specially printed on thick paper to allow for many of the creative projects to aesthetically showcase children’s work.

3-4yrs

4-5yrs

5-6yrs

Science & Nature

Stones

Compost/dirt

Box

Hoe

Watering jug

Hand cultivator

Trowel

Containers and flowerpots – made in recycled gum tree sawdust, these colorful containers make the perfect tool to highlight learning. Top-up the experience with wooden crates to create a Garden-in-the-Box, see module 2 for more information. A watering can or watering devise (plastic bottle/ rain cup) – to water your plants in the Garden-in-the-Box. Garden Gloves – to handle plant bulbs, strawberries or other fruit and vegetables that might irritate your skin. Canes and Cane Toppers – are needed for plants that grow in height, like peas. Always use cane toppers to avoid people from poking or hurting themselves accidentally. Compost – Use a multipurpose compost for your plants. Don’t use garden soil as it may not be the right type to help your plants grow well. Plant Labels – when you’re planting seeds, don’t forget to label them so you can remember what you’ve planted in each container. This is true for seedlings and plants. Use pictures together with the words so children can also recognize which plant the word is referring to. Trowel – you might find a small trowel helpful for scooping up compost when you’re planting or filling planters. Measuring tape, ruler or string – to measure the growth of your plants The Garden Project Journal – for children to record their findings and document the changes to the plants in their Gardren-in-the-Box Giant magnifiers – are fabulous tools for children to observe the different parts of a plant from close-up.

Technology Smart Phone or tablet â€“ for children to take pictures and document the growth and changes in the plants My Food App â€“ use of time-lapse technology and voice recording to document the growth of plants using an award-winning app, in addition to many engaging activities that deepen the learning experience. Hooplaglobalclassroom.com â€“ explore new ideas and share findings with classrooms from around the world

Engineering Balancing Cactus (provided) – explore concept of balancing and balanced growth in nature Fountain Bowl set (provided) – choosing the right textures of dirt by discovering the properties of sand, dirt and water through sifting. Tubes and pumps – for children to find ways to extract, transport and water plants at different levels

Art Construction Paper – for classwork and for larger projects, use construction paper that is thick enough for paint or messy work such as with the mud drawings. Non-toxic glue – many of the activities require sticking beans or natural materials onto paper. Use a non-toxic glue such as Elmer’s glue. Natural dyes – use fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, beets, or spinach as natural dyes. Red cabbage makes a fantastic dye that changes color depending on whether it is mixed with alkali or acidic substances (bicarbonate of soda, vinegar, etc). Mud – the art activities proposed in The Garden Project are heavily influenced by the Land Art movement of the 1960s, particularly by Richard Long’s work with mud. Explore mud both for its tactile qualities but also as a means to do art. Beans – lots of different types of beans to shake, rattle and roll in sound exploration! Containers – containers of all sorts, to experiment the different sounds your natural materials make whilst manipulating them in the various containers.

Math Seeds, plants, veggies, fruits – for counting and sorting Braille numbers and plant stems (provided) – children learn to “experience” numbers using their sense of touch both with braille numbers, indented numbers and plants with leaves. Peg colored sorting (provided) – to develop sorting skills Berry sorting game (provided) – to develop sorting skills, fine motor skills and cooperation and agility.

Time frame Project Based Learning assumes that it is the children who decide how long their enquiries should last. However, if dragged out, children can start to lose their enthusiasm and interest in the project. We suggest you choose from the following 3 ways to run The Garden Project at your center: 1. As a yearly project with a total duration of up to 20 weeks, where unit 1 can be run independently of other units for 4 weeks focusing on the weather and botany (parts of a plant), Unit 2-4 for 10 weeks, see (example below) and unit 5 for 2-3 weeks.

2. Term Project: here the emphasis is on growing, caring and healthy eating for 10 weeks, preferably between two seasons: spring/ summer and autumn/winter. 3. As a one-time Parent & Child workshop: invite parents to your classroom and focus on “Planting The Garden-in-the-Box” lesson plan. Children and parents will delight in doing this activity together.

Example - Round 1 Wk

Concepts

Categories

Creative Output

Enquiry

Plants

Parts of a plant

Land Art

Planting

Fruits & vegetables

Garden-in-the-Box

Co-dependency

Creatures

Aboriginal Art

Do plants need other creatures to help them thrive and if so which ones?

Enquiry

What purpose do the parts of a plant serve? What needs do plants have?

Seasonal Excursion Wk

Concepts

Categories

Creative Output

Recyclability

Tools

Installation

Documentation

Measurement

Sculpture

Cultural Exploration

Cultural differences

Opposite seasonality

How does an environment vary from one place to another?

Enquiry

How can we live more sustainably? How do we document the changes in our plants?

Seasonal Excursion

Concepts

Categories

Creative Output

Harvest

Patterns & Shapes

Mandala

How do we know a vegetable is ready to be picked?

Decay

Oxidation

Organic tattoos

What happens to plants and vegetables if you leave it?

Renewability

Seed bombs

Opposite seasonality

Public Display

Life Cycle

Little green heads show

How does a plant continue its life? How can I show what I’ve learnt?

Round 2 Wk

Concepts

Categories

Output

Enquiry

Plants

Leaves

Leaf tattoos

Planting

Light

Bean labyrinth

Can we manipulate the way a plant grows? How so?

Co-dependency

Companion Planting

Friendship pots

Do plants grow differently according to different combinations?

Enquiry

What happens if you donâ€™t give light a plant light?

Seasonal Excursion Wk

Concepts

Categories

Output

Recyclability

Water

Rain gauge

Documentation

Comparison

Sculpture

Cultural Exploration

Cultural differences

Tropical/ desert

How does an environment vary from one place to another?

Enquiry

How can we collect and reuse water? How can differences in plant growth be documented?

Seasonal Excursion Wk

Concepts

Categories

Output

Harvest

Patterns & Shapes

Composition

Decay

Compost

Earthworm farm

Renewability

Roots

Boot roots

Public Display

Experimenting

Classroom Book

In what variety of shapes do vegetables grow in? How can we facilitate the decay of vegetable matter? Is it possible to grow a plant life without seeds, if so how? How can I show what Iâ€™ve learnt?

Planning Complete the following table to help you identify your goals.

Project Expectations Before starting The Garden Project complete the leaf below with your expectations of the project. What are your project goals? What do you want to accomplish by running The Garden Project in your classroom? What do you think you’ll learn? How do you think you’ll apply these concepts in your classroom?

My expectations for the project • ............................................................. • ............................................................. • ............................................................. • .............................................................

Unit 1

Preparing

The Garden Project follows the natural life cycle of fruit and vegetable plants from learning about the seasons and plant parts (this unit) to discovering healthy eating habits. This is the foundational unit where children learn about the elements, seasons and parts of plant, before getting their hands dirty and planting their own fruit and vegetable plants in the next unit

In this Unit: • Lesson 1: Season’s Palette • Lesson 2: Introduction to Plants and Plant Parts • Lesson 3: A, B, Seeds • Lesson 4: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Making Your Own Gardening Tools & Equipment

Unit Goals • Understanding Seasonality • Identifying a season and its cues • Plants and parts of a plant • Seeds and their role • Gardening tools • Recycling and finding new uses for wasted material

> Lesson 1

Season’s Palette Learn about seasons and how to identify nature’s clues in your environment to determine what season you’re in! Seasons is a concept that can be expanded upon for many weeks, although in this activity we are introducing seasonality to awaken children’s awareness to nature’s clues and patterns contributing to their understanding of their environment. Seasons can easily be linked to a child’s own experiences, helping them make sense of their world and immediate environment, and creating a foundation with concepts such as change, time and later the cyclicality of nature.

This lesson explores the colors of seasons as well as the feelings associated with nature and the outdoors. Children will use colors and nature’s terminology to express their feelings.

Science & Nature

Arts

• Observation skills

• Colors

• Classification

• Color palette • Feelings associated with the outdoors

Science & Nature

Arts

Vocabulary Sunny, rainy, windy, snowy, dry, colors, I love…, colors, bright, light, smooth, soft, rough, furry, pointy, rough Materials • The Garden Project Journal • Color palette template, one for each child • Color wheel template, one for each child for children 4-6yrs old • Containers (zip-log, for example) • Crayons • Empty egg carton boxes subdivided by color groups (yellows, browns, oranges, greens, blues) • Images of more than one season (optional) • Picture taking devise, ex. phone (for children ages 5yrs +) • I Love To Go Outside, The Vegetable Plot CD (track 3)

The Scientific Method • Do the trees have leaves? • What colors do you see on the leaves? • What colors do you see on the ground? • How do the colors change according to where you’re looking (ground/ eyelevel/ sky)? • Why do you think we need seasons?

Program Narrative - What is the weather like today? - Is it ____________ [windy/ sunny/ sunny/ snowy/ dry/ foggy]? - What colors do you see outside? [yellow /green/ brown/ orange/ blue/ red] - What do you love about the outdoors? - What texture does _______ have? - Is it _________ [smooth/ soft/ rough/ furry/ pointy/ rough]?

Science & Nature • Prepare to go on a nature walk. It is not necessary to go far, you can go to the school garden or a local park. • If this is not possible, ask children to collect items (as detailed below) on their way to/from school or take pictures of some nature elements they find on a nature walk. • Ask children to collect 4 items from the ground and put them in a container (zip-log). Items have to be natural material they find on the ground (smooth with no rough edges that could hurt them in anyway) and respectful of nature as much as possible. • Now ask children to observe colors at their eyelevel. Ask them what colors they see. • Shade the colors the children mention on your color palette (first row). For 5-6yr olds: bring a color palette per child and different color crayons. It may be easiest for you to have crayons in a tub on a big blanket on the ground. • Repeat the activity but this time ask children to look up and tell you what colors they see. Shade colors on your color palette (second row) • You now have a classroom color palate. • Go back to the classroom and hand a color palette to each child. Ask them to place the items they found on their palette. Match with the corresponding color crayon.

• Children ages 4-6yrs: Once have the own color palette, tell the children that they are going to draw a picture using the colors from their color palate. • Next ask the children to look outside their window. • Have the children draw a tree they can see in their natural environment, see children’s journal (activity 1). • Next have them color their “window” with the colors they found in nature on their seasonal palette.

Technology • For 5 to 6 year olds: Ask children to take pictures of 4 items they find on their nature walk, that can be found at different levels (ground, eyelevel, trees and sky). Ask them what colors they see. • Shade the colors on their color palette using a second row. • Ask the children to shade the colors they see on their color palette. • Do the colors change according to where they are? How so? Are they darker or lighter?

• What colors make up the season you’re in?

• Ask the children what they love about going outside! Arts

• Explore feelings linked with nature and weather: I feel sunny and bright, I feel grey, I feel grounded, I feel blue, I feel green, etc.

• Play I Love to Go Outside (track 3) to further explore feelings about how children feel when they go outdoors and talk about seasonality

• Document their answers on a board or in your classroom book.

I love to go outside (Sue Kini’s song) Sue Kini? I love the morning sun I love the bright blue sky I love to get up early and have fun I love to go outside I love the smell of the sea [Oh Sue] It’s a feast for my ears and my eyes [Where are you?] I love to jump in and swim swim swim I love to go outside I love to pick up leaves that have fallen from the trees I love to look for birds and butterflies I love to look around and listen to the sounds I love to go outside When it’s raining I put on my yellow gumboots and I splash In every muddy puddle I can find Then it’s back home I go And drink my cocoa I love to go outside

• Children ages 4-5 explore their feelings further about rain on the Muddy Puddles page of their journal.

Project Ideas • 4-6yr olds: keep track of the weather outside. Create a classroom weather chart. • Explore seasonal festivals within your local traditions. For example in many European countries, harvest season is linked to a local festival. An all-time favorite is the “vendemmia” in Italy, where children can step on ripe grapes to make grape juice! • Explore colors and then have your “wine-making” party by stepping on grapes and drinking grape juice (from a bottle)!

> Color Wheel

> Natureâ€™s Palette

> Lesson 2

Introduction to Plants and Plant Parts Learn about the different plant parts, each with its own special function(s). This lesson takes children on an exploration of plants, identifying them as living things, examining the parts of plants and giving them an understanding of what plants need to live and grow. They will nurture and appreciate the importance of plants and other living things. Science & Nature Engineering

Arts

Vocabulary Seed(s), stem, leaves, roots, sun, small, grow, big, small Review: plant, water, quietly Science & Nature • Flora identification and classification • Observational skills • Fine motor skills with use of magnifying glass

Engineering

Arts

• Demonstrating the way plants get food up to their stems

• Drawing different parts of plant (flower/ roots/ leaves) • Doing art without using hands (straw and breath)

Materials • One or more potted plants with developed root systems • Seeds • Magnifying tools • Sample of each part of the following parts of a plant: leaf, root, stem, flower, fruit, seeds, bulb • Little Green Heads, The Vegetable Plot CD (track 13) • Engineering • Cardboard tubes • Ball that can easily roll up and down the tube, 1 per child • Magnifying tools • 1 Celery stick per group of 4 • 1 clear container (or cup) of water per group • Blue food coloring per group or shared

The Scientific Method

flower

• What parts of a plant do you see on a plant? • Can you find similar structures on each of your plants? • How are they different? • Try to guess what each part of your plant does and explain your reasoning?

Program Narrative

leaves stem

roots

- Plants are living things. - A plant comes from a seed. - A seed is a little plant that hasn’t started to grow yet. - For a seed to grow into a plant it needs soil, water, air and food (nutrients). - When a plant grows it has many leaves. It uses the leaves to make its food. - Plants use stems to carry their food and water. The stem holds the plant up. - A plant has roots. Plants use roots to drink their water.

• Now get up and move to this song: Science & Nature • In advance, loosen the plant from the sides of the pot so that you can remove it easily. • Show the children the plant you’ve brought in • Stand-up and act out growing big, repeat several times varying the speed of growth (slowly and quickly). • Identify the different parts of the plant associating them with body parts. For example roots can be associated with feet, stem with the torso and the hands are the children’s leaves, fingers are flowers.

Parts of the plants (Sung to: “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”) Do you know the parts of plants, parts of plants? Do you know the parts of plants, parts of plants? All kinds of plants that grow and grow and grow. Do you know the parts of plants, parts of plants? The roots hold the plant in place, plant in place. (crouch down and touch your feet as you sing “roots”) The roots hold the plant in place, plant in place. (crouch down and touch your feet as you sing “roots”) The roots store food and water too. (crouch down and touch your feet as you sing “roots”) The roots hold the plant in place, plant in place. (crouch down and touch your feet as you sing “roots”) The stem moves water up the plant, up the plant. (glide your hands from your feed, up your legs up to your chest) The stem moves water up the plant, up the plant. (glide your hands from your feed, up your legs up to your chest) The stem brings water to the leaves. (move your hands from your chest out) The stem moves water up the plant, up the plant. (move your hands from your chest out) The leaves soak up the sun, soak up the sun. (hold your hands out and wiggle your fingers) The leaves soak up the sun, soak up the sun. (hold your hands out and wiggle your fingers) The sun helps the plant to grow and grow and grow. (lift your hands from above your head) The leaves soak up the sun, soak up the sun. (lift your hands from above your head) The flower grows into a fruit, into a fruit. (hold your fists in front of you and gradually open) The flower grows into a fruit, into a fruit. (hold your fists in front of you and gradually open) Inside the fruit are little, tiny seeds. (wiggle your fingers) The flower grows into a fruit, into a fruit. (hold your fists in front of you and gradually open)

• Sit down again and bring the children’s attention to the plant. • Start by examining the leaves of the plant. Explain that the leaves use light to make food for the plant. • Point out the veins and explain that the plant’s food gets transported through the veins of the leaf. • Hand out the magnifying tools and have the children examine them closely with them. Some veins are easy to see because they are bigger, like in a cabbage leaf, whereas some veins are more difficult to notice. • Then turn the children’s attention to the stem. Introduce the term stem and explain that the stem helps hold the plant up and carries water and food (nutrients) from the roots to the other parts of the plant. • Gently pull the plant from the pot and brush the dirt away from the roots. Introduce the term roots and explain that roots absorb water and minerals (food) from the soil. • Encourage the children to examine the roots with magnifying lenses. Focus their attention on the tiny root hairs at the ends of the roots.

• 4 to 5 year can complete the veins they observe on the leaves on their journals on the Leaves, Leaves, Everywhere page in addition to finishing the Roots Drawing. • 5 to 6 year olds will focus their attention on the elaborate root system, attempting to fill the page with as many roots as possible on their Root Drawing page.

Engineering • For children ages 4 and up, take extra time to focus on how a plant moves its food or water to the leaves or branches through its stem. Plants need water to get to the tippy top of its branches and leaves, but plants get water from the ground. How do you think plants get their food up to their leaves? • Hand a ball and a cardboard tube (i.e. a paper towel tube) and ask the children if they can make the ball go up the tube without moving the tube upside-down. Difficult isn’t it?! Draw the analogy with trees and plants and how they can bring food all the way up through their stems.

â€˘ Can you find a find a way to show how plants are able to do this without turning themselves upside-down? Have the celery sticks handy and distribute one for every group of 4 children together with one cup and the blue food coloring.

â€˘ Have the children observe their celery stick with a magnifying lens, taking turns between them, asking them to notice the tubes in the stalk (the white part, at the base of the stick). Do they see the similarity with the cardboard tubes? Ask children questions about what they think the role of these tubes are.

• Next have children put 4 drops of blue ink in the water and put the celery stalk in the water. Ask the children to observe what they see. Have older children document what they see with a picture taking devise.

• Leave the stalks to soak in the blue water for at least 4 hours or overnight. Now ask the children to observe their celery stick. How has it changed? How far up has the blue stain moved up the stalk (or stem) of the celery stick? Did some celery sticks get more blue than others? Why do you think that is? Document their answers.

Arts

• Explore the different parts of a plant visually. For 3-4 year olds start with flowers by using squiggly lines in primary colors. (red/ blue/ yellow). Complete Flower Garden page in your journal. Move onto leaves with Patterns of Leaves, Forest of Leaves, Leaves and Seasons. • For children ages 5 to 6 explore leaves and imagination with Leaf Insect.

Teacher’s Tips Explore the sounds of nature by collecting dry leaves or dry onion peels for example, which make a lovely “rain” sound when ruffled and crinkled. Experiment with other natural materials you collect on a nature walk. Use these sounds to enhance the Little Green Heads song as you sing it in class.

Bookworm Corner • How a Seed Grows by H. Jordan

> Lesson 3

A, B, Seeds Developing early math skills through classification of seeds. Children will examine seeds from close-by, find out that there are a variety of types of seeds, in this case beans, and sort them. In addition, they will have a tactile exploration of bumpy and smooth, small and big seeds (beans). Arts

Math

Vocabulary Seeds, bean, grow, plant, water, shake, small, big, round, smooth, bumpy Arts

Math

• Developing a steady beat

• Sorting, graphing, counting, reading a graph

• Attentive listening skills

Materials • Variety of beans (seeds) of different shapes and colors - such as lentils, red kidney beans, black beans, etc • Ice-making plastic containers • Plastic bottles with lines around them • The Vegetable Plot CD

The Scientific Method • Does the size of the seed tell you anything about the size of the plant? • Does the color of seeds match the type fruit or vegetable it is from? • If you set a seed on top of soil, will it grow?

Program Narrative - Do you remember what this is? - That’s right! It’s a seed. - Seeds come in all shapes and colors. - Is this seed smooth/ bumpy/ round/ big/ small? - Which seed is the largest/ smallest? - What color is this seed?

Arts • In advance, gather a variety of bean seeds, such as lentils, red kidney beans, black beans, etc. The more they vary in size, the better.

• For children ages 4 and up, have them sort the beans by size by asking them to put the big beans in one bottle and the small beans in the other. • Screw the caps on the bottles firmly.

• Distribute a handful of beans to every child, making sure you are distributing a variety of beans.

• Ask the children to shake the bottles – down low and up high – and explore the different sounds they make.

• Begin by reviewing what the children have already learnt about plants.

• One way of exploring sound in plastic bottles is to use the bottle as a Guiro using a stick and scraping it against the plastic ridges on the bottle.

• Start a discussion about beans and seeds and their size. Give smaller children – ages 3-4 – a tray per child and pour lentils in it. Have them practice making finger drawings in the lentils. • With children ages 4 and up, distribute different type and sized beans. Pair the children up, and have them explore the textures and sizes of the beans by playing a tactile memory game. One child has to choose 4 beans of different sizes and the other child has to feel the beans with his/her eyes closed. The child who had his/her eyes closed has to select the beans from the pile guessing which types she/he felt. How many did you get right? Now swop round taking turns to guess the beans. • This is also an excellent opportunity to explore different sounds beans make. Have the children play with the beans in different tubs. Have one tub with material on the bottom, another with aluminum, another with a sponge and the fourth with plastic. • Ask children to pour the beans into the different tubs. How do the sounds vary from tub to tub? Ask them to describe the sounds! • Next distribute 2 small plastic bottles to each child and ask the children to fill the plastic bottles with the different types of beans. • Screw the caps on the bottles firmly.

• Ask the children to shake the bottles – down low and up high – and explore the different sounds.

• Introduce the song Little Green Heads song first by singing it together and then by shaking your instruments to the beat.

Little Green Heads So stretch out your hand Take a little seed and put it in the ground (Take the seed and pretend to plant it) Pour a little water on top and pat it down (Sprinkle your fingers for the rain and pretend to cover it with soil) Then wait.......for a little while Then watch out.... watch out For our.. Little green heads poking up out of the dirt Little green heads poking up out of the dirt (Close your fist and lift it from the ground as gradually open your fist to make the little green heads) Little green heads poking up to say hello (wave hello!) • Repeat the poem several times. Once the children have learnt the words to the poem, play the song to the children.

Bookworm corner Math • Ask the children to sit down again. • Distribute ice making containers and ask the children to pour the beans out of the bottles onto the table so that they can sort the beans into the containers by bean type (shape, color or size) • Have the children practice their vocabulary by talking about the size and texture of the beans. Remind the children that if the seeds are buried in the ground and provided with water, and the temperature is right, they will grow to be plants (see Teacher Dialogue above).

• Read: Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace • Jack and the Beanstalk: Ladybird Touch & Feel Fairy Tales (Ladybird Tales) • One Bean by Anne Rockwell

• For children ages 4-6yrs old, ask them to complete the beansorting graph by placing each bean next its category of bean and name the various beans from the graph. Then have fun with the Bean Art page for 5-6 year olds journal. • Kids ages 3-4 can enjoy a tactile bean activity completing the Sunflower and Bean Art pages.

> Lesson 4

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: making your own Gardening Tools & Equipment Use your creativity to reduce, re-use and recycle in your classroom and your garden! In this lesson, children will discover the equipment needed to facilitate gardening and manipulation of natural materials. The most obvious is a watering jug/ container to water plants, but also shovels, trowels, rakes.

This lesson focuses on reusing and repurposing materials so that they can be reused in a different context. Children will recycle plastic bottles and paper cups to reuse them as watering equipment and use tin cans as planters.

Engineering • Manipulating the properties of water with various materials • Finding different uses to everyday materials • Promote sustainable practices

Engineering

Vocabulary Water, cup, bottle, seeds, dirt, fill, pour. Materials • Old plastic bottles with a hole in the caps or caps with a nozzle (one per child) • Old paper cups: one with holes in the bottom and the other without (one of each type per child) • Water bassinette – 1 per 3-4 children • Sample watering jug, shovel, trowel, rake to show kids • Hammer & nail to make hole in tin (for teacher use only) • A pair of scissors to make the hole in the plastic cap (for teacher use only) • Water • Dirt • Sunflower seed

The Scientific Method • Can you find different uses for the objects you see in your environment? • Why do you think it’s important to reuse the things we see around us? • How else could you use a cup/ plastic bottle/ wellington boot? • How could you modify some of these objects to serve a different purpose?

Program Narrative - What’s this? - It’s a _________ [watering jug, trowel, shovel] - What do you use it for? - Sometimes we have to find new ways to use old materials to give them a new life (purpose). - How can we use old materials – like plastic bottles – to serve another purpose? - Can we use it to water our plants with? - What else can we use?

Engineering • Ask children if any of them have ever planted before. Which tools have you used? What was their purpose? • Have sample equipment ready – a watering jug, a trowel, a shovel. Have children identify the tools by asking questions about the purpose they serve. • Sometimes it’s not always possible to find the equipment we need handy. This is when it’s important to be creative and think of using existing material in a different way (up-cycling). Today you are going to find ways to make gardening equipment from left over plastic bottles. • Group children into 3-4 and have them work around a water bassinette or container.

• Next show them an old, empty water bottle. Ask them what the water bottle was used for. Let the children give you their suggestions. • Once children have identified that they were used to carry liquid, explain that today you are going to play with water and hand out a recycled plastic bottle per child, having first removed the plastic cap with the hole in the middle of it. • Let the children play with the water. Encourage children to fill the bottle up and empty it out in the bassinette. • Next ask children to find different ways to use the water. Are you able to drip the water from the bottle a little bit at a time? If so, how? • Once they have had ample time to experiment, hand plastic caps with holes in them and ask children to screw on the top. Help younger children. • Ask them to squirt out water and experiment squeezing a little and a lot of water. • Now ask the children if there are other items in the room they can use to transport water in. Have paper cups available. Repeat steps above, except this time substitute with paper cups. • First hand out paper cups without holes and have the children play with water, practice filling and pouring the cup of water. • Ask the older children how they could regulate the water from the cup so that they can sprinkle it instead of pouring. Give them time to give suggestions. • What if the bottom of the cup had holes in it? How would that change the way water flowed through it? • Hand out the paper cups with holes in them. Let the children play with both cups by pouring the one without holes into the one with holes in the bottom. • For children 5-6yrs old, have them poke holes at the bottom with a ballpoint pen.

Project Ideas • Explore the concept of reusing (up-cycling) old materials for planters. Repurposed planters can include: tin cans (be careful for sharp edges), old Wellington boots, old egg cartons and even egg shells! • Take the time to introduce recycling to the children, recognizing that we all need to reduce the amount of trash/ rubbish that is created each day. • Trash/ rubbish that has no further use gets thrown away in the bin/ trash can and goes from your school/ home to a place called a landfill. We can save some items from going to the landfill by putting it in a recycling bin so that it can be used again. Recycling means taking something you were going to throw in the trash/ bin, such as a piece of paper and turning it into something new and useful like a new book. The things we typically recycle are: paper (white), glass (green), metal (yellow) and plastic (blue). • Prepare 4 containers: yellow for paper, green for glass, white for metal and blue for plastic (or use the recycling colors from your country). Have some items available for children sort through and put into the different categories. • Next have some images of items that fall into those 4 categories (at least 4 items per group). Have the children sort into the 4 groups. • As a follow-up, put little stickers on items around the room so that the children can identify how to sort them out.

Unit 2

Planting

The Garden Project provides your children with the opportunity to experience life processes firsthand. In this unit children will learn that getting your hands dirty is fun and is the first step to having a budding green thumb. Children will have a better understanding of the world we live in by observing plants from close-by as well as a deeper appreciation for plants as living organisms.

In this Unit: • Lesson 1: Let’s Get Dirty! • Lesson 2: Companion Planting • Lesson 3: Planting the Garden-in-the-Box • Lesson 4: Friends of the Garden

Unit Goals • Learning to get hands dirty • Defining a living organism • Defining a plant and its parts • Plants’ basic needs • Plant differences • Plants are “producers” and make food for us • Planting the Garden-in-the-Box • Identifying creatures that are pests • Understanding the balance in nature

> Lesson 1

Let’s Get Dirty! Creative expression through mud paintings. In this activity, children explore soil, earth and sand (natural materials) and their texture as well as be introduced to the Land Art movement and Abstract Expressionism.

Research shows that children who spend time playing and getting dirty outdoors lead healthier and happier lives. In fact, experts state that playing in the dirt even helps children build stronger immune systems (Dr. M. Ruebush)!

Science & Nature

Arts

Vocabulary Soil, water, mix, mud, puddle, walk, look, circle, thick, dry, moist, thick, smooth, soft, wet Materials • 6 Containers per group (2 for sand, 2 for dirt, 2 for mud) • 300 gram white paper • Water • Soil/ Earth

Science & Nature

Arts

• The role and uses of soil in nature

• Eye-hand coordination • Mixing & painting • Developing creativity through messy play • Moving to a steady beat

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The Scientific Method • When do you see soil outside? • How do you think soil is formed? • Why do you think dirt/ mud is important for plants? • How does sand feel different to soil? • How does soil feel different to mud?

Program Narrative - Today we are going to talk about soil. - Where do you find soil? - What does water sound like? - (Make shhh sounds to replicate the sound of rain) - Mix, mix, mix and stir, stir, stir - When you step in a puddle you get wet - (Encourage children to use the term wet, puddles, mud) - Can you splash in the puddles?

• Choose a large space, ideally the outdoors. Science & Nature • Prepare 6 containers per group with 2 matching textures: 2 with sand, 2 with dirt (earth) and 2 with mud (dirt mixed with water). • Remind the children of the dirt and where it was seen in previous lessons. Focus on the texture of dirt. Ask the children questions about whether dirt is dry, wet, light, soft, clumpy, etc.

• Allow children to play with the soil also having containers available for them to play with. Not all children will feel comfortable manipulating the dirt, so allow each child to approach the dirt within their comfort zone. • Give children water so they can mix soil and water with their fingers to create mud. Have the children practice making different consistencies of mud, observing the different shades of brown. Assist them as needed.

• Next group children into groups of 3. Cover 3 of the containers with matching pair (i.e. 1 sand, 1 dirt and 1 mud container). Position the other 3 containers in front of the kids. • Blindfold or ask the children close their eyes as they feel the contents of the containers that are covered. Ask the children to describe what each one feels like. For children learning to write, this can be a fun activity to practice writing skills and extend vocabulary. • Now ask the children to find the matching tray. What were the differences between the two trays?

Arts • Prepare a 50cm x 50cm crate or box of soil • Show the children the soil and ask them questions about it. Where can it be found? What texture do they think the soil has? • • Talk about the rain and the sound the rain makes. Have the children practice making “shh” sounds, to replicate the sound of the rain.

• Once there is a nice thick consistency, children dip their hands in the mud. • Have children ages 3-4 years experiment the mud with their feet and make a mud print on their journal. For children ages 4-5 years old, ask the children to dip their fingers in the mud and paint a circle on their Mud drawing page of their journal. • Children ages 5 years and above can apply to the surface on thick paper (for example 300 gr paper) to make their works of art. • Let the children explore freely. Play the song I Love to Go Outside. Ask the children about what the mud feels like. Explore tactile sensations of mud: soft, moist, wet, cold, warm.

• Now ask the children what they think would happen if soil and water mix together.

Teaching Tips This activity is inspired by the Land Art movement (also known as earthworks or Earth Art). In this form of art, landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked. It is also an art form that is created in nature, using natural materials such as soil, rock, organic media (logs, branches, leaves), and water; the landscape is the means of their creation.

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> Lesson 2

Companion Planting Exploring and understanding the concept of cooperation and collaboration through plants. As we prepare to plant our Garden-in-the-Box, children will learn that some plants can keep other plants healthy if they are growing close by. This is called companion planting. Companion planting in gardening is the planting of different plants/crops in proximity for pest control, pollination, providing a habitat for beneficial creatures, maximizing use of space, and to otherwise increase crop productivity.

Companion planting is a great way to introduce collaboration and friendship to children. Just like plants, some children naturally tend to compliment each other and work better together than with others.

Science & Nature

Arts

• Pattern combinations using plants

• Pattern awareness

Science & Nature

Arts

Vocabulary Friends, vegetable names (customize according to the list of vegetables you have selected), combinations, work well, get along, companion Materials • Images of eggplants, carrot, string beans, onion, strawberry, corn, radish, garlic • Brown paper or an image of a brown plot of land • Student Journals

• Complimentary colors

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The Scientific Method â€˘ Do you think plants grow differently? â€˘ Why do you think some plants grow better when planted together with another plant-friend?

Program Narrative - Some plants work better when they are planted together. They are friends - A friend is someone you like to spend time with. - Do you have a friend you work well with?

• Some vegetables don’t like to work together at all, for example: Science & Nature • Explain to the children the concept of companion planting and that some plants work better together than others. • Did you know that plants have friends? • Some work together and produce more vegetables when they are planted close to their friends.

+ +

• Take a look at these good combinations:

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• Take cut outs of vegetables on the next page and ask the children to put a combination of two plants that work well together. For children ages 5-6yrs old, have them cut out the images of a variety of fruits and vegetable

• Next have the children glue their combinations together on a brown piece of construction paper or an image of a barren plot of land.

• For 5-6yr olds, have them put the ones that work well together next to each other in a plot of land (brown paper).

• Draw a line in the middle. Now ask the children to put a different combination of fruit and vegetables that work well together but that wouldn’t work well with the first plot they put together.

Project Ideas

• Have children bring 4 passport sized pictures of themselves to class, printed on paper • Once children are naturally grouped into their corners of interest, give them small, recycled cardboard planters and have the children place pictures of themselves in the cup. • Have them notice how some friends share common interests. • Read How to Grow a Friend by Sara Gillingham.

Bookworm Corner • How to Grow a Friend by Sara Gillingham

> Lesson 3

Planting The Garden Project-In-A-Box Create your Garden-in-the-Box through transplanting small plants. Watch it grow! Gardening skills such as planting provide fabulous ways for children to refine fine motor skills as well as teach them an incredibly important life skill: patience. In this section, children will learn about the basic elements a plant needs to grow: soil (nutrients), rain and sun and a lot of care. In this lesson, we will give you the step-by-step process to create your mini-edible Garden-in-the-Box out of an old vegetable crate and teach children the vocabulary to go with it. Choosing small plants allows children to see the process without loosing interest and delight in eating their homegrown produce!

Grouping 4-5 children to work on a box together is a very powerful experience as children start to recognize the importance of collaboration as well as “personal space” needed in this activity. Plants also need space to grow, just like people.

Science & Nature

Arts (children 5-6yrs old)

• Transplanting plants, fine motor skills, composition

• Planning and design

• Companion planting

Science & Nature

Arts

Vocabulary Fruit and vegetable plants you choose for your garden. Review – planting, growing, seeds, stem, leaves Materials • Box: approximately 25 centimeters deep x 50 centimeters wide x 30cm high • Use vegetable plants or flowers, No more than 8 small plants for this sized box, keeping in mind that plants will need space to grow • Garden soil and water sprayer • Ensure the container has sufficient drainage and fill with compost. • You can decorate your crate with different colors to make it more colorful! Use light-colored paints for hot climates. • Children 5-6yrs old: Plot template or construction paper • Black markers • Ink or colored markers

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The Scientific Method • Do you remember what plants need to grow? • Is there anything you have to plan before planting? If so, what? • Are there different types of plants you would plant at different times of the year? • Why do you think plants need to be planted in a box that is at least 30cm deep? • Where do you think the best place to store the box is? • Is there any other container you could use to plant your veggies?

Program Narrative - Review parts of a plant lesson

Teacher preparation [1-2hrs + outing to select plants] • Select 5-6 plants from the following quick maturing small fruit and vegetable plants for your Garden-in-the-Box that can be eaten raw and have relatively shallow roots:

Visually stimulate children with colorful edible flowers such as pansies, marigolds or chives (check seasonality)

Use quick-growing small herbs and leaf lettuces

Strawberries already as a plant (check seasonality chart)

Use a variety of vegetables: small roots (baby carrots or radishes), stalk (fennel), leaf (Pak Choi) and/or bulb vegetables (spring onions).

For a tactile exploration, use soft hairy leaves such as sage or lambs-ear that tickle you when touched.

To combine hearing, movement and texture, include grasses as they stimulate all three senses and make noise when different grasses are planted together.

â€˘ Refer to the chart to assess how long each plant will take to mature to plan the duration of the Garden-in-the-Box. Complete the chart on the opposite page on which plants you have selected and why. â€˘ Line each box with plastic film on the inside, and create someholes or slits in the bottom. Plan on preparing one box every 4-5children. This gives children the opportunity to work togetherbut not being too cramped! â€˘ Fill the box half way for the children. Add some little plastic insects or other treasures to the box of earth as this will give children the incentive to dig their hands in the dirt (especially for younger children who may not feel comfortable at first with the texture). We suggest to use plastic insects as that will allow you to introduce the next lesson about friends of the garden. Place a large container with the rest of the dirt at the center of the room.

Northern Hemisphere example of seasonality

CROP NAME

MATURITY

JAN

FEB

beets

40-70 days

peas

60 days

tomatoes

2-5 months

strawberries

varies

lettuce

70-90 days

onion

50-120 days

carrots

90 days

radish

30-50 days

basil

60-90 days

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

Chart Project 1 Plant Name

Season

Type (fruit/ veg/ herb)

Fruit/ Veggie Color group (green, blue/purple, red, yellow/ orange, brown/white)

Days to mature

Key characteristics

Chart Project 2 Plant Name

Season

Type (fruit/ veg/ herb)

Fruit/ Veggie Color group (green, blue/purple, red, yellow/ orange, brown/white)

Days to mature

Key characteristics

Chart Project 3 Plant Name

Season

Type (fruit/ veg/ herb)

Fruit/ Veggie Color group (green, blue/purple, red, yellow/ orange, brown/white)

Days to mature

Key characteristics

Science & Nature • To start the planting activity, group the children into 4-5 per box. Ask them to look for their little treasures as they dig their fingers through the dirt. This will give children the incentive to get their hands dirty and manipulate the dirt (not all children are comfortable getting their hands “dirty” with soil). • Once children have had ample time to play with the dirt, ask them to fill the rest of the box with soil, almost to the brim. Children can use plastic cups or containers to transport the soil • Take the first plant out of its pot, showing the roots and how delicate they are, explaining that plants must keep their roots intact. Stress the importance of planting the plant at exactly the right depth, not too deep (danger of rotting) nor too shallow (drying out the roots). Art

• Let children take turns, one by one, as the teacher makes certain every step is done correctly. • When all the plants are re-planted, place The Garden Project-in-abox in a sunny/very bright spot.

• The beauty of planting and growing is that it also develops children’s planning skills, as they have to think ahead and plan for seasonality and space. This is an excellent opportunity to get children ages 5 years and older to design their plot of land and/or the layout of the plants in their Garden-in-the-Box. • Group children up into groups of 4-5 children and hand out a sheet of construction paper or a plot template • Ask the children to think about companion plants and which combinations would work well together • Have them design their own vegetable plot drawing the plants in each square, first with black marker and then coloring it in with colored ink or colored markers

• Complete The Garden Project Chart with the plants you have select.

• Name your project and start taking pictures. The App will create a time-lapse so children can see the growth in their plants as well as document the changes with a voice recording. Ingenious! • Children ages 5 and up should complete the Plant Me page in their journal and take a picture of their Garden-in-the-Box and add it to their journal.

Technology

• Document the growth of your Garden-in-the-Box with My Food App in My Garden section.

Teacher’s Tip If planting on a plot of land, getting the right consistency of soil is key. Here is a recipe for good compost: look at the color, it should be dark, light, soft and permeable. Mix it with a bit of thin gravel and a bit of manure. If the earth is “clayey” add some red soil. If the soil is too pale and sandy, add some compost.

Garden-in-the-Box Chart picture

picture

.................................................

Plant name

Recommended reading for Story Time: • Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

Teaching Tips: • Have enough plants, one for every child plus a few extras, in case a plant is destroyed. This can easily happen especially with young children. • Show children pictures of how the plants will look once they grow. Alternatively, you may want to keep this a surprise. • Organize and delegate responsibility for caring of the plants.

> Lesson 4

Friends of The Garden Finding out who are the wanted or unwanted guests of our garden! This lesson focuses on identifying those creatures that are vitally important to the health of our garden as well as identifying those that are considered “pests” and unwanted guests. For example, bees are our biggest friends and helpers! It’s been estimated that one third of all our food supply relies on bees and the role they play in pollinating plants. Whether they’re gathering nectar or specifically gathering pollen, they are essential for allowing plants to develop fruits and vegetables. They are vitally important to crops around the world and to some of the plants you will grow (fruit vegetables mainly in spring/ summer months).

Helping children understand that a gentle equilibrium exists in nature and we can play a role to facilitate it. Balance and respect are the key words.

Science & Nature

Arts

• Garden friends

• Storytelling through images

• Garden pests

• Aboriginal Art

Science & Nature

Arts

Vocabulary Bees, ladybugs (ladybirds), earthworms, aphids, slugs/snails, caterpillar, friends, pests, sap, spots, stripes, long, think, round, small Materials • The Garden Project Journals • Pictures of bees, ladybugs, slugs/ snails, caterpillars and earthworms • Magnifiers to observe the bugs you find from close-up

• Patterns

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The Scientific Method • Which creatures do you think are friends of the garden and why? • Which creatures do you think are foes/ pests of the garden and why? • Why do you think plants need friends to help them in the garden? • How can you tell if a creature is friend or pest? • How can you make it easier for friends of the garden to stay in your garden? • How can you make it easier for pests of the garden to stay away – without harming them?

Program Narrative - Today we are going to look at friends and pests of the garden. A friend is a creature that helps our plants grow stronger. - A pest is an enemy of the plant. - This is a ladybug/ bee/ earthworm/ aphid/ slug/ snail/ caterpillar - What does a ________ [ladybug/ bee/ earthworm/ aphid/ slug/ snail/ caterpillar] look like? - A ladybug is good for the garden because it eats garden pests [aphids] - A bee is good for the garden because it pollinates the plants in our garden - An earthworm is good for the garden because it makes the soil better - An aphid is bad for the garden because it eats the sap from our plants - A caterpillar is bad for the garden because it eats the leaves of our plants - A slug or snail is bad for our garden because it eats the lettuce leaves in our garden

salad leaves. Look for holes in the middle or around the edges of leaves and petals. If you find caterpillars on young plants, pick them off and leave them in a place for birds and other animals to eat them.

Science & Nature • If you look closely enough you will find creatures in your garden, some are helpful and others less so. • Ask children to describe what the creatures or insects look like. Do they have stripes/ spots? Are they small and round or long and thin? • Plan an outing to go on a “friends/ foes of the garden” hunt. • If an outing isn’t possible, use pictures instead. • Talk about friends of the garden: o

Bees: Bees are extremely important for gardeners because they take a powder called pollen from flower to flower. This is called pollination, and it makes plants grow new fruits, vegetables and seeds. Growing flowers that bees like will help your plants to grow better.

Ladybug/ ladybird: ladybugs like to feed off the aphids that are on some plants, which is why gardeners think it’s a sign of good luck to see one in their garden.

Earthworms: Earthworms feed on soil, plant remains and dead insects. It pulls the leaves into the soil and it grubs the soil, increasing soil fertility.

• Talk about foes, unwanted guests of the garden: o

Slug and snails: slugs and snails love to munch their way through plants with juicy leaves, such as lettuce. Every time you see a slug or snail on or near your plants, pick it off and put it in an open area of your garden.

Caterpillars: Caterpillars feed on the leaves and flowers of many plants, especially Asian leaves, nasturtiums and some

Aphids and whiteflies: Aphids and whiteflies are tiny insects that swarm onto leaves and stems of some plants. They suck out sap- the liquid inside a plant – and keep it from growing properly. Gently wipe off any aphids you see using a sheet of paper towel.

• Now have the children identify friends/foes of the garden. Print out pictures of friends and foes and have the children sort between the two piles. • Use the magnifiers and have children observe the creatures from close up, if possible. • Ask them to look for the eyes, legs, wings (if any)

• For children ages 3-4yrs old, have them complete the Friend or Pest? Friend! And Friend or Pest? Pest! activities.

Arts • This part of the activity links creatures of the garden with storytelling through Aboriginal Art. • Aboriginal Art symbols are used on all forms of Aboriginal Art to help tell the stories of their history and culture. • Aboriginal artists employ a basic set of symbols, such as dots, concentric circles and curved and straight lines. Concentric circles usually represent campsites or rock holes. Straight lines between circles illustrate the routes travelled between camps or places, wavy lines across a painting usually is water or rain. Tracks, whether human or animal, are often depicted in plain view as they appear on the ground.

• Complete the Friends of the Garden journal activity on the 4-5 and 5-6 year old journals. 4-5 year olds develop this concept further by finger-painting the bees in My Flower Garden. Link this activity with reminding the kids which of their plants need bees to pollinate them to bear fruits!

Project Ideas • Read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. Next ask the children to finish the ladybugs’ and bees’ journeys on the journal, following the given pattern. • With children ages 5-6yrs old, create your own symbols, flight, water, etc. together with the children and create a library of symbols. Next ask children to depict the ladybugs journey using the symbols they decided upon. Ask children to explore other creatures. Discuss the role they play together in class. Teacher’s Tips To keep slugs and snails away from your plants (if you have planted your plants outdoors) put some cracked eggshells around our plants. Slugs and snails need a smooth surface to move around so the eggshells will keep them away from your plants.

Bookworm Corner The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle

Unit 3

Growing

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Sowing and growing are exciting to children, motivate learning, develop selfconfidence and encourage collaboration, helping to support personal, social and emotional objectives. In addition, they bring young children into meaningful contact with the diversity of nature.

In this Unit:

This unit will focus on the skills needed to care for plants (for example - watering) and the observational skills developed as the children learn to see the differences in plants as they watch them grow.

Unit Goals

• Lesson 1: Caring for Plants: Watering and Water’s Properties • Lesson 2: Observing and Documenting A Life-Cycle • Lesson 3: Discovering Fruit & Vegetable Shapes • Lesson 4: Watch the Plants Grow

• Caring for potted plants through watering • Careful observation and documentation of changes in plants • Developing early math skills through measuring, classification and shape recognition

> Lesson 1

Caring for Plants: Watering and Water’s Properties Develop hand-eye coordination and measuring skills through caring for plants. Children will explore the connections between water and living things, delighting in water’s value as a resource and its varied nature. By the end of this activity children will master watering a plant correctly and know how to care for The Garden Project for the weeks to come. In addition they will explore ways in which they can measure the temperature of water by crafting their own thermometers.

This activity teaches children responsibility towards living things whilst practicing math and measuring concepts.

Science & Nature • Hand-eye coordination to successfully pour and dose water • 5-6yr olds Fine motor skills: cutting

Engineering

Math

• Finding a way to measure water

• Measuring water and temperature

for watering

for thermometer

Vocabulary Water, rain, thirsty, watering jug, hot, cold, pour, wet, dry, spill, fill, sprinkle, measure, temperature, thermometer Quantifiers: a little bit, a lot of, just right Materials • Small watering cans or plastic cups; any small container that can be handled easily by the children. Prepare a watering jug by taking a small plastic bottle and poking a hole through the cap and screwing it back onto the bottle. • Planter or plastic cup for transplanting/potting on • Rectangular cardboard 7cm width x 15cm height with perforated holes in the middle (at 3.5cm) on either ends of the rectangle • White elastic band • Red and blue markers • Scissors for thinning out (5-6yr olds) • Garden-in-the-Box • Printed Water Chart

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The Scientific Method • Where does water come from? • Why is water so important for plants? • Can you describe water? • How do you think plants get water when it doesn’t rain? • Can you think of ways to transport water? • How do you think we can know the temperature of water without touching it? • Why do you think it’s important to be able to measure the temperature of water?

Program Narrative - Plants cannot live without water (just like us). - If plants don’t get enough water they get very thirsty. - Nature waters plants with rain. - Plants can be watered with a watering jug or can. - Plants don’t like cold water. Plants don’t like hot water. - Plants like water that is just right or at room temperature. - Thermometers are used to measure the temperature of water.

Engineering

• Group children into groups of 4. Prepare two basins of water per group (or table) – one with warm water (make sure it’s not too hot) and the other with cold water.

• Begin the class by talking about water and rain and the fact that plants need water to live and grow.

• Have them talk about how the different temperature waters feel on their hands. Does it feel different on different parts of their body (elbows/ feet..)?

• Teacher guides the class to make water sounds and movements using her fingers

• Talk about water temperature and that plants don’t like cold water • nor hot water but water that is at room temperature.

• Demonstrate tapping one finger in your palm, next two fingers as the rain gets heaver, then 4, 5 and finally clap for heavy rain.

• How can we measure temperature? How do we know the temperature is just right?

- We are going to make rain with our fingers - Tap one finger on your palm for a light rain - Tap two fingers on your palm as the rain gets heavier - Tap three, four, five fingers to hear the rain get stronger - Clap both your hands for heavy rain! • Explain to children that when we care for plants indoors or there is no rain outdoors, we have to water plants ourselves. • Encourage children to talk about the properties of water

• Have your hand made thermometer handy. Demonstrate the way you can move the elastic up or down depending on how the temperature feels. If it’s hot, make the red line go up, if it’s cold, pull the back of the elastic in the opposite direction and make the blue line go up. • Hand out the rectangular pieces of cardboard. Children ages 3-4 will practice on ready made “thermometers” whereas children ages 4-6 will make their own thermometers by coloring the elastic half red and half blue with their markers. Have the children put the elastic through the perforated holes and help them tie the two ends together in the end. • Ask the children to show you what cold water would look like, what about hot? And now ask them to show you what lukewarm or room temperature looks like. Remind the children that this is how plants like their water. • Children ages 4-6yrs: Have a few containers of water ready at different temperatures and have the children indicate with their thermometers the temperature of the water in each container.

Thermometer Template Science & Nature • Now that children understand the concept of temperature, you can proceed with showing them how to water their plants. Fill the watering jug with water pointing out that it is heavier now because it has more water in it. • Ask the children to pour the water in very slowly and carefully in the box. • Demonstrate by watering slowly, directly into the soil, without wetting the leaves.

• Once everyone has seen how it’s done, allow the children to have a try, making sure they pour the water slowly, not spilling water out of the crate. • Water until all the soil is wet remembering that plants don’t like to have “wet feet”. • After 1 or 2 days (or whenever the soil is dry) let the children feel the soil again and if it’s dry then make sure to water the plants again. • Distribute the responsibility of caring and watering The Garden Project throughout the class. Tasks include: o Feeling the soil to see how dry/ wet it is o Checking the water temperature o Filling the bottle with water o Watering The Garden Project o Marking the amount of water that has been poured with drops of water • Mark water amounts on the Water Chart on the next page (one drop of water indicates small quantities of water used versus two or three drops for more)

Rotate the tasks between all children so that every child has the chance to perform at least one of the tasks more than once.

• For 3-4 year olds, have them complete the Rain Rain Come Again page with cotton swabs dipped in ink. • For 4-5 year olds remind them of the importance of watering plants with the Let It Rain! page. Watch out for the following signs for overwatering or not enough water:

Project Ideas • Extend the learning on temperatures prior to watering the plants by letting the children play with water temperatures. Give them three cups: one cup of warm water, one cup of cold and one empty cup. Have the children pour a little of each water temperatures in the empty cup to reach the right temperature or room temperature. Make sure the warm water isn’t too hot. • Set up a weather station in your classroom by using one or more pinecones. Pinecones open and close depending on how much water is in the air. If the air is humid and it is going to rain, they are shut and if the air is dry, they open up. Have the children observe the pinecone to decide whether or not their plants are going to need extra water.

Week beginning: ......................................................................................... DAY

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

NAME

AMOUNT OF WATER [BY DROPS]

> Lesson 2

Observing and Documenting A Life-Cycle Learn to sprout a seed and observe the life-cycle of a living organism. This activity provides children with a wealth of experiences, including the surprises of the plant world, which develop curiosity and children’s desire to investigate. They will look for changes from seed to plant and as budding scientists will notate the changes on a daily basis on their Student Journals.

Science & Nature • Observational skills of the changes the plant goes through

minimum

daily

Vocabulary Lima bean(s) or any bean available in your area, grow, seed, soil, leaf, leaves, stem, big, small, sprout Materials • One transparent plastic cup for every child • Lima beans for sowing • Soil • Water sprayers • Student Journal

Scientific Method • • • • • • • • • •

Do you think all your beans will sprout? Can you still see the seed under the soil? How deep should you plant a seed to get the best results? Does it matter how deep you plant a seed? How many roots can you see? Which seeds sprout fastest? Why do you think the root is growing downwards? Can you change the direction the roots grow in? Can you see any leaves? How many leaves can you count?

Program Narrative - All plants come from seeds. - This seed is called a bean - Today we are going to plant beans and watch them grow patiently day-by-day. In the beginning the baby plant gets its food (or nutrients) from the seed. - Later it grows roots so that it can drink and get food from the soil. - If we water and care for our plant we will see a little stem grow out of the seed. - If we water our plant some more, we will see a little leaf grow from the stem. When the seed opens up and sends its first roots and leaf, it is sprouting. - We will draw our growing bean in our life-cycle page of our journal so we can remember what it looks like as it changes.

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Science & Nature • Remind children that all plants come from seeds. • Today you are going to do an activity using a special kind of seed: lima beans. • This lesson will review seeds and explain their importance as a source of energy for the growing plant.

• For 5-6 year olds have them notate the changes on their journal on the Life-Cycle pages, every 3-4 days.

Bookworm Corner • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

• Hold a bean seed up and show it to the children and ask them what it is (it’s a seed). Large beans like Lima Beans are best for this activity. • Encourage the children to talk about what the seed looks like and feels like. • Give every child a transparent plastic cup • Demonstrate how to fill the cup with soil almost up to the brim. • Distribute a few lima beans to each child and have them sprinkle them on the soil, making sure that they are not all on the same spot. • Talk about how a baby plant gets its food (or nutrients) • Demonstrate how to sprinkle some soil on top. • Spray the soil with a water sprayer and maintain moist soil for the following days until the seeds germinate.

• Observe the seeds on a daily basis until the seeds germinate.

........................................................................................................................

• Ask the children to note the changes on their life-cycle page

........................................................................................................................

• Transplant the baby plants into your Garden-in-the-Box or if you don’t have space, transplant it to a bigger pot after they sprout.

1-3 days

100

4-6 days

7-9 days

10-13 days

101

> Lesson 3

Discovering Fruit & Vegetable Shapes Shape recognition using plants, fruit and vegetables. The most obvious changes children notice in plant growth are in size, shape and color. In this lesson we will introduce shapes and colors related to fruit, vegetables and plants whilst activating their taste buds! Children are more readily engaged when they can relate the material to real life context.

It’s important that children learn to define themselves through their own likes and dislikes of firsthand experiences. Before a child can say they like or dislike a fruit or vegetable, make sure they have had a chance to taste it (being mindful of food allergies). They might just be surprised of how tasty a fruit or veggie can actually be!

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Math

Arts

• Developing early math skills through: shape and color recognition, classification of shapes, sequencing of a pattern

• Fine motor skills and composition • Print making • Contrasting black/white

Vocabulary Circle, square, apple, sweet, sour, red, yellow, green, long, leaves, vegetables, apple, salad, onion, “Do you like? Yes I do, No I don’t” Materials • Circle and Square flashcards • Apples, pears, oranges, salad, onions, broccoli, cauliflower and other fruit and vegetables. • Black cardboard paper • White paint • My Food App

The Scientific Method • Can you describe an apple/ onion/ broccoli…? • Do fruit and vegetables come in all different shapes and colors? • Which shapes do you see more frequently in fruit and vegetables and why? • Do fruit and veggies change shape when you cut them in half? • What shapes do they change to? • Do you see certain color type vegetables more at different seasons (ex. like more greens in the winter)?

Program Narrative Shapes - What shape is this? It’s a circle - (Point to other circle shapes you can find in the room) - Look, I can see another circle! - Can you see any other circles in the room? - Repeat with square and other shapes you find in your room. Flavors

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Math • Prepare two flashcards, one with a circle and the other with a square

• Transform the “Triangles, Circles and Squares… Oh My!” into fruits and veggies on your 4-5 years journal.

• Show the circle visual. • Outline with your finger demonstrating making a circle shape with your arms overhead. • Ask the children what shape it is • Show the square visual, and point to and count each of the four sides. • Count 1, 2, 3, 4 the corners • Encourage children to point to other square shaped objects in the room.

Technology • Use My Food App to explore whole and half concepts. There are some beautiful images of veggies that can be “sliced in half” at the swipe of a finger! • Tap on “My Dishes” • Scroll until you get to the sandwich plate. Next have the children tap on the vegetables within the plate.

• Recite the rhyme and have the children make circular motions when describing the circle and square motions when describing the square. Circle + Square Rhyme This is a circle, ‘round and ‘round. (make circular motions) This is a circle that I found. There is a square with four sides the same (make square motions). This is a square, that’s my name. • Bring out the apples and other fruit • Cut up the apples in different ways – widthwise and lengthwise – and have it ready to be distributed. Have the children observe how the shapes change depending on how you cut the fruit and vegetables.

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• The “Cut yourself a slice” game will then appear

• Have the children repeat this game several times so they can see what a variety of veggies look like when sliced in two.

Art

• If the weather allows for it, use an outdoor space to do your print making activity. • Introduce the art lesson by telling the children that you are going to look at shapes of different fruit and vegetables. • Review the shapes of every fruit and/or vegetable you are going to use. • Start the print making activity with onions. Cut two onions two different ways, width and length-wise. • Click on the dialogue icon to find out more about vegetable’s nutritional properties. This activity is a perfect precursor to the art activity, which will take these concepts, and add a tactile dimension to it.

• Apply paint on one side of the onion pieces. • Place the paint side of the onion on black paper (a plastic fork can be used to keep it from slipping out of the child’s hand) • Repeat the activity with the pears, apples and other vegetables you prepared. For salad, cut at the base and make rose shapes, slice a broccoli’s head in two to make a forest. • Google Bruno Munari’s print making activities for more printmaking ideas. Check out his Roses in the salad book for some beautiful examples.

105

Project Ideas • For children ages 3 to 4, complete the Foodscape page of the journal to explore the different shapes veggies make when cut in two. • Have children ages 5 and up document their X-Ray Onions on their journal and count the layers their onion has.

Technology • You can also use the My Food App game “Is That a Fruit or a Vegetable” found on salad plate to have the children categorize fruits and veggies.

• Use this lesson to distinguish between fruit and vegetables as well as categorizing them as you hold each one up. Pick fruit and vegetables from your Garden-in-the-Box and create a chart with 2 columns, one for fruit and the other for vegetables. As you categorize them, draw each fruit and vegetables under each column. • This is also a great activity to experiment with flavors. If using apples, hand out a slice of each type of apple – Golden Delicious and Granny Smith – to every child. This activity allows children to discover different tastes, in this case sweet and sour (Granny Smith apples are sour and Golden Delicious apples are sweet). Ask the children to taste the apples. Make sure you’ve checked for food allergies before you ask the children to taste the apple. • Ask children to talk about flavors: sweet/sour/ bitter, etc. Do they like the flavors? Give each child the opportunity to say Yes, I do or No, I don’t. Introduce the Super Simple Song to practice singing what you like and don’t like to eat: “Do you Like Broccoli Ice Cream?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frN3nvhIHUk

• Notate their answers on the Sensory Page at the end of the journals.

Bookworm Corner • Read Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert as a follow-up to this activity • Achoo! by Viginie Morgand is also a perfect book to explore shapes within the fruit and vegetable realm • Roses in the salad by Bruno Munari (1974) will give you some beautiful ideas of how to extend this activity artistically

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> Lesson 4

Watch the Plants Grow Introduction to mathematical concepts through observation of plants. This activity should be repeated daily or at least 3 times per week so that children can observe the changes taking place in their Garden-in-theBox. The goal is for children to use language to describe mathematical concepts such as color, shape, size and height.

Vocabulary “How tall is….?” “How many leaves does…. have?” “What shape is….?” “As tall as, taller than, yesterday”

108

Math

Science & Nature

• Early math skills through numeracy and measuring the different plants

• Observational skills • Documenting changes to the plants on a chart

Materials • Student Journal • The Garden-in-the-Box • Ruler, string or blocks for smaller children • Growth Chart • The Growing Song, within Squeeze Your Vegetables, The Vegetable Plot CD (Track 12)

The Scientific Method • What direction are our plants growing in? • Have you noticed that plant stems and leaves always grow up? Why is that? • Can you make your plants grow down instead?

Program Narrative - How tall is the [name of plant]? - How many leaves does the [name of plant] have? - How many flowers are there in Garden-in-the-Box? - What shape is the [name of fruit or vegetable]? For children 5yrs+ measure the plant - The plant is 5cm tall - The plant is as tall as it was yesterday - The plant is taller than it was yesterday

109

Science • Talk about growing and how that relates to us too. Use whole body movements to convey the concept of growth by practicing growing like a plant. • Play The Vegetable Plot Track 12 “The Growing Song” and dance around to the music, jumping up, up, up every time you hear the word “up”! The Growing Song Grow up up up Grow right up to the top up up up but don’t you ever stop Being full of wonder at the sunshine and the thunder Keep your dreams in sight And grow towards the light Grow up up up You can grow up big or small up up up Be thankful for it all Don’t forget the ones who love you and have taken good care of you Keep them in your sight And grow towards the light Grow up up up Grow Up up up Grow Up is where you’re going if you never stop growing Reach to your full height And grow towards the light

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Grow up up up Grow up just like a tree Up up up See all that you can see Splash in water fountains and go dashing over mountains Life is full of fun When you grow towards the sun Grow up up up Be a dancer or a clown Up up up Or mayor of Sydney town You could be an astronaut who flies through outer space You could be a lawyer who also plays the bass Grow up up up Grow Up up up Grow Up is where you’re going if you never stop growing Reach to your full height And grow towards the light You gotta reach to your full high light And grow towards the light

Math • Take the Garden-in-the-Box. • Measure the plants on a daily basis or every other day with a ruler or use blocks for younger children. • For children 4 years and under: keep a chart and mark the height of the plant once it’s been measured. For children who haven’t yet started to use measuring devises like a ruler or meter, use blocks, stacking one on top of the other, as your measurement tool. Enhance the activity by having the kids feel the leaves on the Plan Toys braille pieces, closing their eyes and counting the leaves. • For children 5 years and up, have the children document the growth of their plants on their student journal.

• For children ages 5 to 6, have them draw their plant on the Measure Me! page of their journal. In addition each child will be able to document the growth of their plants by completing the Plant Growth Chart.

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Observation Chart Day:

Plant Height

Number of leaves

Color leaves

Flower color

Fruit or vegetable shape

Day:

Day 1

Day 16

Day 2

Day 17

Day 3

Day 18

Day 4

Day 19

Day 5

Day 20

Day 6

Day 21

Day 7

Day 22

Day 8

Day 23

Day 9

Day 24

Day 10

Day 25

Day 11

Day 26

Day 12

Day 27

Day 13

Day 28

Day 14

Day 29

Day 15

Day 30 Day 31

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Plant Height

Number of leaves

Color leaves

Flower color

Fruit or vegetable shape

Technology • If you have been using the My Food App to document the learning, ask children to show the time-lapse they’ve created so far..

• How have their plants grown over time?

Teaching Tips This is a great activity for children to practice their linguistic skills thanks to its repetitive nature.

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In this unit, children learn that there is a season and a reason for everything. At last, their patience will be rewarded and the fruit and vegetables they have tended to with so much care will come to maturity.

Unit 4

Harvesting

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Every fruit and vegetable ripens at its own time and children will delight in tasting the food they have grown, developing healthy eating habits!

In this Unit: • Lesson 1: Family of Vegetables • Lesson 2: How did your vegetables grow? • Lesson 3: Eating by Season • Lesson 4: Eating the rainbow

Unit Goals • Seasonality of fruit and vegetables • Categorizing vegetables by family type • Collecting and counting fruit and vegetables • Tasting a variety of veggies and nurturing healthy eating habits

> Lesson 1

Family of Vegetables Counting vegetables and categorizing them by family type. Children learn to recognize and classify vegetables by family type, which is a skill that develops their counting abilities and math skills. They also use their creativity to make music with vegetables.

Math

Science & Nature

• Counting

• Classifying • Experimenting high vegetables by family and low sounds type • Rhythm and intonation of the English language

• 1:1 correspondence

Arts

Vocabulary Family, vegetables, bulb, flower, fruit, leaves, stem, seeds, onion, cauliflower, tomato, salad, peas, celery, potatoes, carrots or parsnips, numbers 1-10 Materials • The Garden Project Journal • The Garden-in-the-Box • Vegetables (one or more samples of each family type) • Family of vegetables flashcard • Family of vegetables chart • Peppers (green, red and/or yellow) • Monkey nut shells (empty) • Rice • Artie Choke, The Vegetable Plot CD, track 10

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Program Narrative - There are 7 families of vegetables (8 according to some other ways of categorization): o Bulb (onion, garlic) o Flower (artichokes, cauliflower) o Fruit (tomato, zucchini) o Leaf (salad spinach) o Seeds (peas, beans) o Stem (asparagus, celery) o Root (carrots, potatoes) - How many bulb vegetables are there? - Count 1, 2, 3.. - There are [number] bulb vegetables in The Garden Project. - Repeat with bulb,, stem,, root,, fruit flower,, seed and leaf.

bulb flower fruit leaf seeds stem root 116 116

Artie Science & Nature • Begin by talking about different types of vegetables. Talk about the variety of vegetables that exist. • Invent some moves for some of the vegetables the children suggest, like: the jumping bean - jump up and down, the runner bean - running on the spot, the split pea - splits or star jumps. • Rehearse the moves you have invented before playing the music by calling them out and having children act out the moves. • Play The Vegetable Plot, Artie Choke track 10 and have the children move to the music.

Hey folks I’m Artie Choke and I just love vegetables Did you know there are over 1000 different types of vegetables and they all belong to different families [Wow! You don’t say] That’s right There are leafy and salad vegetables like rocket lettuce here There are podded vegetables, flowers and flower buds There are fruit vegetables, root vegetables, tuberous, bulb and stem vegetables Even vegetables at the bottom of the ocean Now in podded veg alone there’s a vibrant society A veritable cornucopia of pea and bean varieties You have your runner bean, ricebean, fava bean and mung bean Moth bean, lima bean green bean and common bean There’s even something called a delicious bean But it hasn’t gained much notoriety You have your garbanzo, gwar, okra and tepary Lentil, horse gram, drumstick and azuki Your black-eyed pea, your velvet bean your soybean and your winged bean And if I left anyone out I’m sorry you just have no idea what kind of a week it’s been • Artie Choke talked about the many families that vegetables belong to. Did you know that even plants have families? • Vegetables are grouped by family according to the part you eat • Categorize the vegetables from your Garden-in-the-Box into their 7 families. Alternatively, bring in veggies and have the children categorize them.

• Have children ages 5 to 6 draw the corresponding vegetables in each box on the Family of Vegetables page.

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VEGETABLE FAMILY

Bulb

Flower

Fruit

Leaves

Roots

Stem

Seeds

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DRAW VEGETABLES

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Math • Ask the children how many types of “bulb vegetables” there are? • Count together • Repeat the activity, replacing “bulb vegetables” with flower, fruit, leaf, root, seed, stem vegetables.

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Arts • Ask the children what other uses vegetables have. Encourage them to give as many ideas as possible. Did you know that vegetables make remarkable instruments? • Show the children the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra to be inspired by the ways you can play vegetables: https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=pwOXFOTagSE&app=desktop • To make a Pepper Shaker cut around the stalk, prepare a few peppers (one per child or per group of 3-4 children) by removing the ‘lid’ of the pepper. • Remove the seeds and the rest of the insides of the pepper, being careful not to pierce the side of the pepper.

Teacher Tips Combine the concept of belonging to a family by having the children make their own family tree. For children ages 5 plus, document their findings on the My Family Tree of the student journal.

Consider using the leftover vegetables from your veggie orchestra to make vegetable soup or ratatouille for lunch the day you do this activity. This will also teach children that it is ok to play with your food but not to waste!

• Ask the children to fill the pepper with rice and cover with the lid. • Hold onto the lid and shake the pepper to create the sound. • Repeat with the empty monkey nuts shells. - How does the sound change? How is it different? • Experiment with different contents and see what happens to the sound. - How does the sound change different materials? • Smaller, more compact items, like rice, make higher-pitched sounds whereas the lighter more hollow materials, empty monkey nut shells, make a deeper sound. - How else can you make music with vegetables? • Play the Artie Choke song again, this time with your veggies. You can group the children by family of vegetables!

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> Lesson 2

How did your vegetables grow? Describing matured and harvested vegetables with the use of prepositions and comparative adjectives. Use language to describe mathematical concepts such as position, shape, and size. Children will use prepositions to describe the way vegetables have grown or matured and discover how to identify when a vegetable is ready to be picked (ripe) to be eaten through their sense of touch. Vocabulary Prepositions: above, behind, between, down, in, inside, near, over, under, with Comparative adjectives: bigger than, smaller than, same as Science & Nature • Spatial awareness and identifying how vegetables grow together with their size.

Materials • The Garden-in-the-Box • The Garden Project Journal • The Vegetable Plot Song: Squeeze Your Vegetables

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Scientific Method • Do certain type of vegetables grow in different ways? • What are the different ways vegetables grow in? • What type of similarities can you find between veggies? • Can you group them based on the similarities you have found? • Can you give groups of vegetables a family? • Why do you think it’s important to group vegetables according to family type?

Program Narrative - Where are the [name of plants]? - The [name of plants or vegetables] are behind the [name of plant or vegetable] - Repeat with several plants - How do carrots grow? - Carrots grows under the ground - Repeat with several plants

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Science & Nature Point at the Garden-in-the-Box. Have you noticed that the plants have grown significantly? How so? What changes have you noticed? Play the song Squeeze your Vegetables from The Vegetable plot.

Well how can you tell If a vegetable’s ready To go into the oven At gas mark 20 You don’t have to ask em Down on your knees You just go up and give one a little squeeze

• What are some of the ways Gus sings about in his song to tell when your vegetables are ready to be picked? • Below are some more tips on knowing when your produce is ripe and ready to be picked! o

Baby carrots: pick when they are 2cm thick and once they’re a rich orange color.

Chard: Harvest the outer leaves of chard when the plants are sturdy and well established.

Cucumbers: Harvest cucumbers when they’ve grown to size, the skin is smooth and glossy and the seeds are small.

Fennel: Cut bulbing fennel at soil level when the base becomes knobby and rounded and about ¾ the size of a tennis ball or larger.

Salad: Mixed greens can be picked as tiny 5cm baby thinnings.

Lettuce: Lettuce can be harvested as delicate baby greens, or as crisp, full-bodied heads. Cut with a scissors when lettuces reach about 10-12cm tall to about 5cm above the soil line.

Onions: Pick young scallions when they are 20-30cm tall.

Spinach: Cut young spinach when it is about 12-15cm tall to about 3cm above soil level. Or you can start harvesting outer leaves as soon as the plants have at least 5-6 full-size leaves, always leaving at least four to five leaves on the plant so it can regrow handily.

• Ask questions about the size of the vegetables: bigger than/ smaller than, etc.

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Technology

• In addition if you want to discover the way some plants grow underground without having to pull the veggies out from the box, have fun with the vegetable section of the app. Tap on the potato.

• Use My Food App to discover the ways in which the various vegetables grow. Scroll through My Dishes and select the plate with broccoli on it. • Tap on the broccoli and have the children play “Do you know where fruit and vegetables grow?”

For children ages 3 to 4 years old, have them document the learning on their journal for Carrots and Radishes and Squeeze Your Vegetables. For children ages 5 to 6 years old complete How Did Your Vegetables Grow? on their journal.

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Healthy Eating • Gaspacho, cold Spanish tomato soup, is a nice and easy recipe to prepare with kids and very healthy too as you are using raw veggies to make it. • Play Spanish Onion from The Vegetable Plot, to get into the groove of making this recipe. Gaspacho Ingredients 5 tomatoes 1 red pepper 1 cucumber 30g of arugula 1 slice of sourdough/ country bread (remove the crust) 10cl of olive oil 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Pinch of salt • Teacher Preparation: peel and dice the tomatoes, red pepper and cucumber and put them in a large bowl (keep some aside for decorative purposes) • Add the arugula, the bread crumbled, the olive oil and salt • Marinate them for 2 hours and once soft blend the mixture • Serve the gazpacho in bowls. Decorate with some of the dice of red peppers and cucumbers • The Enormous Turnip: Ladybird Touch and Feel Fairy Tales for younger children. • I like peas a touch and feel board book by Lorena Siminovich also great for younger children! • How Does My Garden Grow by Gerda Muller

Teacher’s Tip: Repeat this activity whenever you see there are fruit and vegetables in your Garden-in-the-Box that are ready to be picked.

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> Lesson 3

Eating by Season Children learn that there is a season and a reason for everything. Just like humans, plants need water, food and sunshine to grow. And just like us, every plant has different needs of sun, rain, food and temperature. In this lesson, we will review the seasonality of fruit and vegetables.

Learning there is a season and a reason for everything is a very valuable lesson for children to learn early in life! In addition, one of the primary goals for The Garden Project is to introduce healthy eating habits to small children. If they know how to make healthy choices from a young age, this habit will stay with them for a lifetime.

Vocabulary January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, harvest, fruit, vegetables Materials • Garden-in-the-Box • Harvest Chart • Vegetable cut-outs

Science & Nature • Identification of fruit & vegetables • Harvesting

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The Scientific Method • Why do you think there are different vegetables at different times of the year? • How do you think the plant knows what season it is? • Do you think you could “trick” the plant into believing it’s a different season? If so, how so? • Have you noticed that there are fruit and vegetables that come from different parts of the world? If so, which ones?

Program Narrative - Which fruit and vegetables do you harvest in January? - In January you harvest broccoli, carrots, lettuce and spinach - Which fruit and vegetables do you harvest in February? - In February you can harvest broccoli, carrots, lettuce and spinach… - Which fruit/vegetable have we harvested today?

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Science & Nature • Explain that every plant has different needs. Some plants need more sun and warmer temperatures than others. • Fruit and vegetables ripen and mature at different times of the year • Pin-up the Harvest Chart and show the children when the different vegetables come due.

LET’S MAKE A SALAD (sung by Butternut Squash and the sweet greens) This is a message from Butter, Butternut Squash There comes a time in every show When everything drops way down low So you can sing a ballad This one’s a song about love between all things green When I sing the next line you’ll know what I mean Let’s make a salad As long as it’s fresh, you know it’s got soul Just chop it up mama and put it in the bowl Toss it, oh, woah baby woah Let’s make a salad

• For children ages 3 to 4, talk about what type of fruit and vegetables are available at the farmer’s or wet market. Have them complete the At The Market page of their journals, practicing counting. • For children ages 4 to 5, introduce the color wheel, asking them questions about what types of fruits and veggies they recognize in each one of the color groups this season. • For children ages 5 to 6 refer back to the journal and have them complete the My Harvest Chart with the vegetables that are in season. • Talk about how good it is for your body to each salad. A family salad can have a lot of ingredients in it. Talk about all the juicy things you can put in a salad. • Play “Let’s Make a Salad” track 11 from The Vegetable Plot CD.

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You can drizzle on a little oil Give lemon a little squeeze Crack some pepper baby and crumble some cheese Let’s make a salad It’s not just food you need to eat It takes love to make a meal complete Put lots of green things in your bowl It’s good for your body and your soul Let’s make a salad Let’s make a salad Cucumber, lettuce, chopped up zucchini Asparagus spears, baby broccolini Radish and beetroot, sundried tomato Artichoke hearts, sliced avocado Let’s make a salad Let’s make a salad Cos, Iceburg, rocket, romain – if it tastes good we’ll do it again Cos, Iceburg, rocket, romain – if it tastes good we’ll do it again

Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad

• Spinach or salad is one of the easiest and quickest things to harvest. Now it’s your turn to make a salad! Garden Salad Ingredients 100g of rocket 100g of iceberg lettuce 100g of romaine Cheddar cheese Cucumber Chopped up zucchini Asparagus spears Baby broccoli 1 radish ½ beetroot Sundried tomato Artichoke hearts Sliced avocado Pinch of salt

Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad

• Choose the tender leaves of the lettuce and salad you have planted. Mixed greens can be picked as tiny 5cm baby thinnings and you can start harvesting the outer leaves as soon as the plants have at least 5-6 full-size leaves • Wash the leaves under running water • Dry with a salad ringer or clean kitchen towel • Wash veggies and chop up into a bowl. • Add the salad leaves • In a small bowl, mix the lemon juice from the lemons, olive oil and salt together • Pour the mixture into the salad and mix it altogether • Serve a few leaves and flowers to the children • Eat!

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Observations Technology • Check My Food App for some very healthy and tasty dishes that can be cooked together! You can find these in “It’s cooking time!” Section of the app. Alternatively, recommend this activity to be done at home with parents.

Teaching Tips Watch videos of fruit and vegetables being harvested to give children an idea of how fruit and vegetables are collected. Be sure to explain that harvesting times change according to the country, climate and continent they are in.

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Harvest Chart CROP NAME

JAN

FEB

MAR

APRIL

Green beans

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUG

Beets Broccoli

x x

Carrots Cauliflower

Onion

Peas

Strawberries Tomatoes

x x

Raspberries

DEC

Pumpkin

Spinach

NOV

Potatoes

Radish

OCT

Leeks Lettuce

SEPT

x x

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> Lesson 4

Eating the Rainbow! Developing healthy eating habits. This lesson looks at drawing a parallel between brightly colored fruit and vegetables and their high nutritional value. In fact, the most nutritional foods are those that are eaten raw and keep their bright colors.

We want to make it easy for children to make healthy eating choices. Children will remember the colors of fruit and veggies, identifying what they look like by shape and color and discover the colors of the rainbow as they color their plate! In addition, they will understand that different colors have different nutritional values.

Vocabulary Eat, sleep, exercise, balance, diet, colors of the rainbow, rainbow, apples, sun, flowers, grass, grapes, carrots, sky Materials • Paper plates • Different color fruit and vegetables • Colored pencils or crayons • Vegetable and fruit plate template

Science & Nature

Expressive Arts

• Identifying healthy foods by color, combining foods to make nutritious snacks

• Fine motor skills through coloring

• Developing memory

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• Reviewing the color spectrum • Coloring within lines, hand eye coordination

The Scientific Method • Why do you think it’s important to eat a variety of vegetables? • How do you know if a fruit or vegetable is good for you? • Where do you see fruit and vegetables? • When are fruits and vegetables most tasty? • Are there ways to change the flavor of fruits and vegetables? If so how? • What happens to a fruit or vegetable when you cook it? How does its flavor change?

Program Narrative - Your body is like a plant. It needs special care for it to grow big and strong. - Your body needs to eat well, exercise regularly and get a lot of sleep. - Your body needs a balanced diet with lots of fruit and vegetables. - A balanced diet means not too much of one thing. - Fruit and vegetables are good for you and have bright colors - If you look in the sky on a day when it’s raining and sunny, you might be lucky enough to see a rainbow. A rainbow has all the colors in it - You can see the colors from your fruit and vegetables on the rainbow.

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Science & Nature • Today you are going to talk about healthy eating and the importance of taking care of our bodies. • Bring out the fruit and vegetables you prepared for this lesson. If possible, use fruit and vegetables you harvested from The Garden Project. • Ask the children to point out what colors the fruit and vegetable are as you hold each fruit and vegetable up. • Distribute a paper plate per child together with a variety of fruit and vegetables. Make sure you have an assortment of different colored fruit and vegetables. • Talk about the fact that it is best to eat fruits and vegetables raw, i.e. not cooked (making sure that they are edible when raw). • Talk about the color that fruits and vegetable are when they are raw. This is when they are brightest and most nutritious. It’s important to have a balance of colors on your plate to have a balanced diet. If there is too much of one color, add another fruit or vegetable of a different color! • Now use the fruit and vegetable color wheel to show children that fruit and vegetables can be categorized into five color groups: red, orange/yellow, green, blue/purple and brown/ white.

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• Ask the children to choose the fruit and vegetables to make a composition of fruit and vegetables on their paper plates based on the color wheel. Instruct them to use as many different colored fruit as possible for a “balanced” plate and be sure to point out if there are too many fruit/ vegetables of one color. Have them change it out with a different color. • Introduce the rainbow song whilst they are doing this activity: The Rainbow Song Red and yellow and pink and green, Purple and orange and blue. I can eat a rainbow, Eat a rainbow, Eat a rainbow too. Red apples and yellow sun, Pink flowers in the green grass. Purple grapes and orange carrots, A rainbow high in the blue sky. Red and yellow and pink and green, Purple and orange and blue. I can eat a rainbow, Eat a rainbow, Eat a rainbow too

> Fruit and Veggie Color Wheel

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Arts • Use your color wheel to review the fruit and vegetables in each section. You can also have some cut-outs for children to place within the color wheel

• For children ages 5 years and up, have them complete the Fruit Mandala and then make the Thaumatrope on the following page. A Thaumatrope is an old Victorian toy that consists of a disk with a picture on each side, attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the children’s fingers the two pictures appear to blend into one due to the persistence of vision. This allows for children to begin experimenting with a basic animation technique!

• Now use the picture template from The Garden Project Journal.

• Going back to smoothies, use fresh fruits (the halved fruits you used in the previous activity), ice with yogurt or even frozen yogurt. Insider tip: Freeze ripe or overripe peeled bananas in a zip-close bag to use in future smoothies. • If you are using plain yogurt, add a splash of vanilla and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup to sweeten the smoothie up. • And blend together! Don’t forget to write down your concoctions on your journal under Creative Juices

• Tell the children that you are now going to color the items on your fruit and vegetables plate image. For 3 to 4 year olds use the Colorful Veggies template and for 4 to 5 year olds, use the Eating the Rainbow! template. • Ask them what colors they think the fruit and vegetables are. Review colors. • Use your crayon or pencils to fill-out the colors of the rainbow yellow for lemons, orange for carrots, purple for eggplant (aubergine/egg plant), blue for blue berries, green for zucchini (courgettes), etc Healthy Eating • There are many ways in which you can introduce eating fruits and veggies. One of these is by making fresh fruit smoothies. Smoothies are hugely popular with my kids, even those who claim to not like many fruits, or yogurt and it’s an incredibly creative activity. • Choose a few season fruits. Take the time to observe the beautiful patterns you can find in halved fruits – such as the orange or kiwi. These repeated patterns are natural mandalas.

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• To observe a variety of patterns in halved fruits tap on the lemon in the lemon and fish dish.

Observations Technology Download the Yummiloo App to convey the concept of veggie/fruit color groups. In this game, children harvest as many different colored fruits and vegetables as possible to power up the Rainbow Machine and learn the basics of food identification and nutritional curriculum. Little ones are also provided with a compost bin for spoiled foods, making room for more fresh foods to grow once the rotten ones are removed. Once all five colored carts are filled with food the Rainbow Machine is able to run on full power.

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Unit 5

Decomposing and Regenerating 140

Now that our plants have been harvested, it’s important for children to learn about the final stages of plant life and its cyclical nature. Nature teaches a beautiful lesson of (re)cyclability as everything in nature is recycled and can be broken down to serve a new purpose, once it has fulfilled its initial goal. In this case, our old plants can now be used to make healthy food for the new plants we will plant next season. In this unit children will learn how to use their old plants to make compost and plant food, harvest seeds so that they can plant new seeds at a later date and bring life back with old root vegetables or an old plot of land with seed bombs. Composting is a project older children will enjoy.

In this Unit: Lesson 1: Compositing Lesson 2: Regrown Plants Lesson 3: Super Seed Saving Lesson 4: Seed Bombs

Unit Goals • Understanding the cyclicality of nature • Food scraps can serve a new purpose to make plant food • Earthworms grub and improve the quality of soil • Seeds and their role in renewing life • Everything in nature gets recycled to a new purpose • Our old root vegetables can be brought back to life • Seeds have to be thoroughly washed before they can be preserved • Seeds can be preserved in many ways

> Lesson 1

Composting and Observation of Earthworms Discovering decomposition and grubbing of soil. Now that our fruits and vegetables have been harvested, it’s important to show children that the remains can be used to make compost that serve the purpose to feed new plants. Composting in your classroom is easy, and you will be surprised at how little mess and odor there is.

Nature teaches a beautiful lesson of (re)cyclability. Everything in nature is recycled and can be broken down to serve a new purpose, once it has fulfilled its initial goal.

per activity + prep time

Vocabulary Earthworms, leaves, soil, dirt, water Materials • A large plastic container with a lid (57 liters/ 15 gallons) • Soil to fill it • Foam rubber to keep soil inside • Old plants, vegetable peelings and fruit trimmings • Spray bottle • Earthworms (if possible) • Leaves

Science & Nature • Decomposition of natural materials • Nature as a “recycling machine”

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The Scientific Method • What do you think happens to our plants after they have produced their fruits or veggies? • What happens to the vegetables we don’t get to eat? Can we put them to good use? • What kind of vegetables mold? Which ones mold the fastest? • What questions do you have about mold? • Does temperature change how fast our vegetables decompose/ mold?

Program Narrative - Nature reuses everything it makes. Let’s find a new purpose for our old left over plants. - Do you remember our earthworm friends? - How do they help our garden? - Earthworms ___________________ [encourage children to give you roles earthworms play in the garden]

Teacher preparation • Make holes in the container either by drilling with a household electric drill or a sharp object (nail and hammer). Make sure you don’t drill too hard as you may break the container. • Drill 25-30 holes. Drill occasional holes along the long sides as well, about 2cm (1 inch) below the lid. • Cut a thin piece of foam rubber to fit the bottom of the bin. It should be slightly larger than the bottom, so that it curves up slightly at the edges. The foam rubber should be about 1cm or ¼ inch thick. It may be obtained at most fabric stores.

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Science & Nature • Group children into groups of 4 • Have the children work with a bassinet that is filled with soil and shredded, moistened newspaper or cardboard.

• Ask the children to mix the soil in a bucket, moistening well, before placing it in the bin. The soil should be damp overall, but not dripping moisture. • If you have one compost container, then have children take turns to fill the bin with regular potting or topsoil. The bin should be filled about ¾ of the way to the top. • Bury your greens and browns into a heap. Greens include vegetable peelings, fruit trimmings or peelings, grass cuttings and trimmings from garden plants (small soft pieces). Browns include dry autumn leaves, straw and newspaper and cardboard, torn into small pieces. Eggshells can also be added to your compost. • Release the earthworms into the soil. About 1000 worms can live in a 57 liters (15 gallon) bin. Use red wigglers, which can be obtained from science supply companies and various other suppliers that can be found on the internet. • Hand out a few spray bottles. Ask the children to spray the water into the compost. Explain to the children that it’s important to moisten the soil regularly because earthworms need a considerable amount of water to breathe but cannot be submerged in water. • The holes in the bottom of the bin will help to release any excess. The lid may be placed under the bin for moving or to catch dripping water.

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Engineering • You may recall that earthworms grub soil and improve the quality of our soil. They are also very important to the composting process. Review the lesson about friends of the garden, if you need to remind children. • Now that we just created a compost, it would be nice to see how the layers are mixed together. How could we see the earthworms in action if they are working underground? Is there a way to demonstrate the composting process visibly? Try devising this process together with children! Materials • A large glass • 2-3 earthworms • A piece of paper • Adhesive tape • Sand • Soil • A couple of leaves

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• To see the process in action, we are going to take the following action with 2-3 earthworms. • Take a large glass jar and pour the sand and soil in the glass container, layering the soil and sand in the jar. • Cover it with paper and seal with the tape. • Collect 2 earthworms in your garden with leaves and place them in the transparent glass jar. • In a couple of days, they will mix the layers of soil and sand!

Technology • Use the Yummiloo game to explain composting to children. In this game children are provided with a compost bin for spoiled foods, making room for more fresh foods to grow once the rotten ones are removed as well as getting reused on the field to help grow the new veggies.

Bookworm Corner • Wigglinig Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2 series) • Compost: A Family Guide to Making Soil from Scraps by Ben Raskin • Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth by Mary McKenna and Ashley Wolff

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> Lesson 2

Regrown Plants Find exciting new ways to bring your root vegetables back to life! Roots are the engine house for any plant, which means that even when a plant looses some foliage or fruit, a strong root system will enable the plant to spring back to life. This lesson will show children that we can regrow a number of different plants and bring some vegetables back to life. For example when cutting spring onions down to the ground level, the strong root zones left in the ground will help push out another perfectly good onion in no time, ready for harvest. This technique is particularly suited for root vegtables such as beetroot, parsnips, turnips and potatos.

Science & Nature • Bringing roots vegetables back to life

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+ observation time

Vocabulary Revision of root vegetables (carrots, potatoes), prepositions (growing under the ground). Materials • Old carrot heads, one for every child • A couple of lipped saucers (possibly plastic) • Water • Compost • Potting container

The Scientific Method â€˘ How could we bring some of our veggies back to life, without having to grow them from seeds? â€˘ Do you think some root vegetables grow faster than others? If so which ones?

Program Narrative - What kind of vegetables grow underground? - Can you name some root vegetables? - Review root vegetables. Have sample root vegetables with you to show children.

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Science & Nature

Teacher Tips You can regrow potatoes from roots as well. Be sure you use biological potatotes for this activity to ensure success, since these have been treated and will allow for shoots to regrow.

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• Find a lipped saucer and fll the base with water

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• Trim the old carrot heads, if necessary to roughly 1cm (1/2 in) of the carrot root. Place the carrot tops in the wate. The old sprouts should be above the water.

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• Place the saucer and carrots in a warm sunny place, like a windowsill. Remember, the carrots will be dring the water to help romote growth, so keep topping it up with water.

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• Approximately 10 days later you will find your carrots have resprouted to life. Plant them in your Garden-in-the-Box or other planter.

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> Lesson 3

Super Seed Dispersing and Saving Find out how plants continue their life cycle through seeds. Plants and trees need to spread their seeds so that a plant can continue its life-cycle. Different plants have evolved different mechanisms for dispersing their seeds and some are very clever indeed! One of my favorite is the dandelion, which has seeds that are blown away in the wind and whose clocks of individual seeds and their parachutes are lifted on the lightest breeze. In this lesson, we are going to extract and gather the seeds from the fruits and veggies we harvested and put them in little seed packs so that we can grow new vegetables from our seeds next season!

Seed saving is an essential part of gardening and over time, what makes your garden truly your own!

Science & Nature

Engineering

• Fruit and vegetables • Finding creative continue their life ways to replicate cycle through the seed transportation seeds they produce

Arts • Color coordination • Defining an object with a black marker

Vocabulary Seeds, harvesting, plant cycle, germination, types of seeds, adjectives describing seeds (small, round, light, heavy, smooth, rough). Materials Engineering • A variety of different types of seeds • Loose parts, toilet rolls, twigs, sticks • Glue, tape, or any stick agent (safe for kids) • Scissors, for older children • Beans and small seeds (like from peppers) for children to experiment with Art • Brown paper bags, one per child • Pits or seeds harvested from fruit or veggies (see above) • Images of the veggies, 3-4yr olds • A black marker • Crayons and/or colored markers

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The Scientific Method • How does a plant continue its life? • Why do you think most seeds are small? • Do you think there is a link with size of the fruit/ veggie and size of the seed? What about with the size of the plant? • How can plants get their seeds to travel far from where they are? • Can you think of ways for your seeds to travel?

Program Narrative - A plant’s goal is to grow a flower and/or fruit so that it can make new seeds and disperse its seeds to continue its life cycle through another plant. - Plants have very little mobility, which means that they cannot move around like us, because they don’t have feet or legs. - They rely on a variety of ways to disperse themselves which include: gravity, wind, ballistic (through an explosion), water and through animals (us) - Seeds revision - Where are the seeds in your vegetable? - Can you show me the seeds?

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Science & Nature • Vegetables with seeds in them that can easily be extracted such as red/green/yellow peppers or pumpkins • Papertowels

Engineering • Show the children a variety of seeds that you have collected. Make sure you have brought a sample of seeds that use a variety of forms of dispersal (wind, gravity, etc). • Group children into small groups (3-4 max) and have them test the various ways in which the seeds can move from one place to another. Have them experiment with different ways air (blowing), dropping them (gravity), etc. • Now hand out two types of seeds: beans and smaller sead (from veggies). • Ask them to devise ways for vegetables to be transported from one place to the other. Leave them materials to experiment with: sticks, glue, tape, toilet rolls • Observe the ingenious outcomes the children come up with! Whose seed can travel the farthest? • Return back to your seats and bring the children’s attention to the Garden-in-the-Box. • There are all types of pits found in fruits and vegetables you eat. If you don’t have enough seeds from the vegetables you grew, you can buy a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables to run this activity with children. However, please make sure that you are choosing fresh fruits or veggies and if possible organic, as they are much less likely to have been sprayed with chemicals that might impede germination. • Seeds generally come from a plant’s fruit or the seed head that develops after the plant goes to flower (leafy greens, root vegetables flower and then form seed heads, so you will not likely be harvesting these type of seeds unless you have given these plants ample time to flower).

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• It is crucial that the fruits and veggies that you choose are ripe before you extract the seeds or pits. • Give a seedpod to every child. Alternatively, give a ripe fruit to a group of 4-5 children to extract the seeds. The seedpods should be dried, so that you can free up a lot of seeds. Put the pods in a paper bag to facilitate the process. • Once extracted, wash off the pits thoroughly, making sure they are completely clean. Large pits will have to be scrubbed. For squash or pumpkins for example, extract the pits, scrape the seeds of the fruit and wash well in a seive, rubbing thoroughly all traces of the flesh. • Smaller pits can be washed under the faucet in a sieve. • Put the pits between some moist paper towels or in a sealed plastic bag to prevent them from drying out if they have to be left for a couple of days. • Transfer the seeds to a bowl or plate and leaveout to dry. After a day or two scrape the seeds into a jar or brown paper bag. Store the seeds in a dark place. • Want to find out if your seeds are still good to plant? Put your seeds in a glass of water, if they sink they’re good, if they float, throw them away!

Arts • Hand a brown paper bag to each child. • Remind them of the fruit and veggie seeds you have extracted. What do they look like? Are they round, tall, thin? What color are they? • Give them cut-outs or pictures of the fruits and veggies seeds you will story • Talk about when the fruits and vegetables were seeded or planted and what kind of conditions they needed. • Glue the image of the vegetable on the front of the seed pack (small brown paper bag). Older children can also write the name of the vegetable on the pack. For children ages 4-6, have them draw the image of the vegetable on the front of the seed pack (small brown paper bag). Older children can also write the name of the vegetable on the pack. • Add the date on the back of the paperbag. • Now have the children turn their seed packs. The back will contain the information about what kind of care is needed for the seeds, what time of year to plant and when to harvest. • Talk about the vegetable they just harvested and encourage the children to participate with facts about caring for the vegetable. Encourage children to complete the back of the information with symbols.

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• Or different types of seeds Technology • To review fruits and different types of seeds that you may not have readily available, go to My Food App. Select the plate with the lemon on it and tap on the lemon.

Project Ideas • This is particularly helpful if you want to share information of fruits from different countries, for example Papaya.

• Avocados are one of the most spectacular pits to grow as its pit is big and it’s amazing to see the roots and shoot break the pit open down the middle. From a tactile perspective it offers a a very smooth surface making it ideal for even the youngest to manipulate. This is a great activity to give children the immediate satisfaction of extracting a pit and germinating it as it will make a nice classroom plant to enjoy, even in the winter months! Materials • Avocado pit(s) • 3 toothpicks per avavodo • Glass tumber or small bowl • Small (4in) pot of compost (later) Instructions • Start by cleaning the avocado flesh thoroughly off the pit. Soaking it for 48hrs in warm water will make the sideas easy to piecer and give you a good head start. • Take your pit with the pointy end upward. Use a tooghpick to pierce the pit’s side, roughly in the middle of the pit. Repead with another two toohgpicsk around the circumference.

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• Fill a galls jar almost to the top with water, then caerfully balacne the pit on tis sticks over the top. The bottom half of the pit should be submerged in water. Put it all in a warm, sunny spot and chagne the water every couple of days. • Germination will take a few weeks. The roots willl start to grow out of the bttom of the pit then a shoot will appear from the top.

Teacher Tips Plants and tres need to spread their seeds in the fall and have found a number of clever ways to do this! Head outdoors and see if you can find different types of seeds: self dispersal (pepperpots, exploders), wind dispersal (parachutes, spinners) and animal/bird dispersal (sticky seeds and tasty seeds)

Bookworm Corner

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• Extend the learning with a Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Aston to discover the magical world of seeds and nature’s variety!

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• Read TheTiny Seed by Eric Carle to talk about seed dispersal.

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> Lesson 4

Seed Bombs Seed bombs were designed to enable seeds to be sown in hard to reach places and in locations where a gardener is unable to spend long periods of time preparing the ground for conventional sowing. They are of great use to guerrilla gardeneres who have ambitions to garden in abandoned sites or areas that aren’t being cared for. They’re especially fun for children, as the dirt mixture is similar to clay and even the youngest can practice their fine motor skills, making balls out of the clay seeds.

Science & Nature

Arts

• Fruit and vegetables continue their life cycle through the seeds they produce

• Counting parts/ ratio to get the water mixture just right

Vocabulary Seeds, bomb, smooth, round, soft, hard, compost, air, dry Materials • The Garden Project Journal • A mixture of clay soil • Compost • A variety of seeds • Water or water bottle • 3 containers • Cups, one per child • Food coloring (optional)

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The Scientific Method • Why do you think it’s so important to protect seeds? • Who do you think it’s important to protect the seeds from? • Do you think that every seed that youl plant in the ground will sprout? If not, why do think it won’t? • Is there a way that you can protect seeds from being eaten by other creatures and still sprout? • What shape do you think your seed bomb should be and why? • Can you find a way to remember what seeds you’ve used in your seedbomb? If so, how?

Program Narrative - Seeds have to find clever ways to keep safe from birds and other creatures that like to eat them! - You can store your seeds by making seed bombs - Seed bombs protect the seeds from being eaten by birds and other creatures - What shape is your seed bomb? - What does the seed bomb feel like?

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Science & Nature • Prepare the containers/ bassinettes putting clay soil in one, the seeds in the other and compost in the thrid • Hand out a cup per child and once everyone is settled ask each child to stand up and scoop up a cup from each container • Allow for children to play with the soil/ seeds mixtures. Ask them questions about the consistency and color of their mixture. • Explain that you are going to store your seeds by putting them into clay balls. • Pass by every child and givem them water for them to mix clay balls. Use a ratio of 5:1:1 with water to bind. • Have each child make 3-4 clay balls. You can even use food coloring the color of the plants you are adding to the seed bombs, so you can remember what you’ve put inside (red for tomatoes, blue for blueberries, etc). • Allow for balls to airdry

• Have the children picture a hard-to-reach location where they would throw their seedbombs and embellish it with beautiful plants and flowers. Have them complete their drawings in their Journal on the “Seed Guerilla” page for 5 to 6 year olds. • You can use food coloring to remember what you’ve used in your seedbomb, for example red for poppy flowers or radishes, yellow for squash or daffodils, etc. Teacher’s Tip This is the most widely used mehtod for seed bombs and their creation is credited to Japanese biologist and farmer Masanobu Fukuoka, who found an ingenious way to protect seeds from being eaten by birds when being sown in the fields.

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Specialized Science & Nature Skills Assessments FOR 3-4YR OLDS

Use these statements to assess skills before and after a particular task or a period of time EQUIPMENT SKILLS

HARVESTING SKILLS

I can pour water slowly using a rain cup or light container

I can dig root crops, such as carrots and radishes without damaging them

I can dig a hole using a small trowel or spade

I can identify when some veggies are ripe by squeezing them lightly

PLANTING SKILLS

I can sow large seeds, such as a lima bean or seed bomb

I can delicately pick a ripe vegetable from its branch, for example a cherry tomato OTHER SKILLS

I can dig up the earth

I can identify the natural elements that a plant needs to survive

I can fill a cup with soil

I can identify one or two seasons

I can put a plant in a hole that I dug up

I can describe texture of natural elements and materials

I can firm in a plant in with help

I can identify one or two bugs/ creatures that can be found in a garden

AFTER-CARE SKILLS

FINE MOTOR SKILLS

I can water seedlings

I can represent a flower using squiggly lines

I can water established plants

I can represent a tree using straight or squiggly lines I can glue natural materials on paper

Teacherâ€™s comments

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Specialized Science & Nature Skills Assessments FOR 4-6YR OLDS

Use these statements to assess skills before and after a particular task or a period of time EQUIPMENT SKILLS

HARVESTING SKILLS

I can use a watering jug to water plants

I can dig root crops, such as carrots and radishes without damaging them

I can use a measuring stick to space plants or seeds

I can harvest leafy crops such as lettuce and spinach without damaging the plant

PLANTING SKILLS

OTHER SKILLS

I can sow large seeds such as lima beans

I can conduct hand texturing tests of soil to determine soil type

I can sow medium seeds such as spinach

I can categorize vegetables by family type

I can sow fine seeds such as tomatoes, leeks and lettuce

I can distinguish sweet from sour

I can fill a container ready for sowing

I can observe the changes in plants, fruit and vegetables

I can fill a cup with soil

Planning Skills

I can remove a young plant from its container

I can draw my garden plan

I can plant a young plant into the soil and firm in

I can choose plants to grow

AFTER-CARE SKILLS

I can water seedlings I can water established plants I can pinch out plants such as sweet peas, broad beans and tomatoes Teacherâ€™s comments

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> Vocabulary Verbs MOVEMENT

VOICE

OBJECTS

EMOTION

SENSES

THOUGHT

carry live plant pull pour run shake sprinkle tap turn walk water

laugh sing talk whisper

bend blend break collect close find mix open throw twist

care cry forget laugh like love remember smile

feel eat hear listen see smell taste touch

create count explore identify measure observe plan sort think watch

Nouns

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NATURAL MATERIALS

PARTS OF A PLANT

TOOLS

VEGETABLES

FRUITS

air earth light food (nutrients) rain soil sun water mud puddle

bulb flower fruit leaf leaves plant pollen roots seeds stem

crate pot cup window watering jug/ can magnifying glass

broccoli cauliflower carrot leek onion potato radish tomato

banana orange strawberry pears

Adjectives COLOR

SIZE

EMOTION

TEXTURE

red yellow pink green purple orange

big/ bigger enormous short/shorter small/smaller tall/taller

enthusiastic impatient patient happy sad

bumpy dry moist rough smooth soft wet tender

Adverbs

Prepositions

regularly

Above

gently

Below

slowly

Under

carefully

Over Through

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> The Vegetable Plot Lyrics 1. The Vegetable Plot (Lead vocal by Aspara Gus) In the middle of the night With a shuffling sound In the pale moonlight We come up from the ground We’re part of a family Part of a tribe We come in all shapes and sizes and colours and types We are the Vegetable Plot The vegetable plot The vegetable plot Can you hear us grow? It’s no kind of mystery No conspiracy What you reap is what you sow The Vegetable Plot The Vegetable Plot The Vegetable Plot Can you hear us grow? My name is Asparagus And I speak for all of us When I say we’re happy you came here to see our show This is Sue Kini And this is Ru Barb This is Collie Flower And this is Rockit lettuce They’re green and leafy And they sing so beautifully And they’re backed up by the freshest, filthiest, rootsiest band in town BLOW! One night under the soil We heard music playing We poked our heads up to try and find the source All of a sudden In a flash of light We were whisked up into the air by a mysterious force

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It was aliens from a place called Wambamboobaloo In a spaceship on a transgalactic course They fired their laser beams And turned us into super beings In possession of the power of the human voice Now we’re tired of being stepped on We’re gonna use music as a weapon To electrify all the girls and boys THE VEGETABLE PLOT THE VEGETABLE PLOT Here we come ready or not THE VEGETABLE PLOT THE VEGETABLE PLOT Here we come ready or not [Sax solo] THE VEGETABLE PLOT THE VEGETABLE PLOT Here we come ready or not THE VEGETABLE PLOT THE VEGETABLE PLOT Here we come ready or not [ready or ready or ready orrrr not] From the earth to the sky We don’t know the reason why Ask the guys from Wambamboobaloo What do they do in Wambamboobaloo I don’t know, I can’t say I only met those aliens up in space Spay ay ay ace only met those aliens up in spay ay ace Spay ace Spay ace Spay ay ay ace Spay ace only met those aliens up in space

2. Out of the ground (Lead vocal by Sue, Collie, Ru and Rockit)

3. I love to go outside (Sue Kini’s song)

Verse 1 (Sue Kini) Some vegetables take chemicals To help them grow large They hang around in science labs With businessmen in charge They say “hey hey, take a bite of me baby I’m so tasty and round” But me I like em natural Like they’ve just come out of the ground Like they’ve just come out of the ground

Sue Kini? I love the morning sun I love the bright blue sky I love to get up early and have fun I love to go outside

Verse 2 (Collie Flower) Some vegetables live on the shelf In a tin or a can They never see the light of day Till they’re put in the pan They don’t say nuthin From them you don’t hear no sound That’s why I like em natural Like they’ve just come out of the ground Like they’ve just come out of the ground Verse 3 (Ru Barb) I like ‘em fresh and alert Their little faces all covered in dirt I like them real, because We’re made more beautiful by our flaws I like em the way they are naturally found Like they’ve just come out of the ground Like they’ve just come out of the ground

I love the smell of the sea [Oh Sue] It’s a feast for my ears and my eyes [Where are you?] I love to jump in and swim swim swim I love to go outside I love to pick up leaves that have fallen from the trees I love to look for birds and butterflies I love to look around and listen to the sounds I love to go outside When it’s raining I put on my yellow gumboots and I splash In every muddy puddle I can find Then it’s back home I go And drink my cocoa I love to go outside

Verse 4 (Rockit Lettuce) I like ‘em crunchy, woah yeah! Cos it means there’s lots of good things in there I like them colourful but not too bright Their original colour’s just right Yes I like em the way they are naturally found Like they’ve just come out of the ground Like they’ve just come out of the ground Like they’ve just come out of the ground

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4. Avocado (Lead vocal Aspara Gus, backed by Tom Ato, Colly, Sue, Ru and Rock-it) Avocado Avocado Eat one in the morning or the arvo You can eat him on toast or even just plain He’s good for you body and he’s good for your brain Avocado Avocado Eat one with some lettuce and tomato He is dark green on the outside, pale green on the in You can eat all his flesh but do not eat his skin Avocado Avocado I guess you’d say I’m an afficianado You can eat him with meat, vegetables or beans You can smush him into paste and rub him on your jeans Avocado Avocado From Amsterdam to Denver Colorado You can wrap him up in sushi, serve him up with salt If you eat him up too quick it’s really not his fault Avocado Avocado Worship at his feet like the Mikado When you scoop out his stone you leave him holy Mash him in a bowl for guacamole Avocado Avocado Eat him till you’re incommunicado But wait till he goes squish before you put him on your dish Cover him in chilli and rub him on a fish Avocado Avocado Eat one in the morning or the arvo (x4)

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5. Ru Barb 1 I’m sweet like a button on a shirt I’m sweet like a flower in the dirt I’m sweet like a bumblebee Sweet as a vegetable can be They call me Ru Barb Ba ba ba baba ru barb I’m sweet like a puppet on a string I’m sweet like jelly wobbling I’m sweet like syrup on a pancake But not too sweet that I give you tooth ache They call me Ru Barb Ba ba baba ru barb Chorus Nobody so sweet as Ru Can make us feel the way she do Ba ba Ru Barb Ba ba ba baba Ru Barb Ba ba baba Rooooo Ba ba baba Roo hoo hoo They call me Ru Barb Ba ba baba ru barb Baba ru barb Ba ba baba ru barb 2 I’m sweet like a daffodil crowd I’m sweet like a little fluffy cloud I’m sweet like the song of a bluebird Sweet like strawberry lemon curd They call me Ru Barb Ba ba baba Ru Barb I’m sweet like honey in milk Like a yellow bow tie that’s made of silk I’m sweet like a baby penguin Sweet like a little red fire engine They call me Ru barb Ba ba baba ru barb

Chorus Nobody so sweet as Ru Can make us feel the way she do Ba ba Ru Barb Ba ba ba baba Ru Barb Ba ba baba Rooooo Ba ba baba Roo hoo hoo They call me Ru Barb Ba ba baba ru barb Baba ru barb Ba ba baba ru barb

6. Spanish Onion (Lead vocal: Tom Ato) Intro My name is Tom Ato I sing with vibrato sometimes staccato And sometimes rubato Most vegetables are safe but there are some who strike fear Capsicum can be used as a spray Asparagus can be used as a spear But there is no vegetable quite like the one I will sing about here His name is.... 1 Spanish Onion – he’s a complicated guy Spanish Onion – he can be sweet or make you cry His coat is purple, he’s a man of many layers If you catch him on a bad day..... you better say your prayers 2 Spanish Onion – he is not for everyone Spanish Onion – but for some he is yum His coat is purple, he packs a punch Only the bravest......eat him for their lunch 3 Spanish Onion – you can eat him raw or fried Spanish Onion – it is you who must decide His skin is mauve, but his heart is white If you love him too much.....he will keep you up all night 4 Spanish Onion – he is small but he is strong Spanish Onion – his taste lingers for so long His coat is purple, he does not fear death For he will live on..and on...and onnnnnnnn Forever on your breath [AHHH]

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7. Melon Collie (Lead vocal Collie Flower)

8. Rockit Lettuce (Lead vocal by Rockit Lettuce)

My name is Collie Flower I’ve got some friends who love me But sometimes I still get lonely And then they call me Melon Collie

Awoo ooeeoo Rockit Lettuce Rockit Lettuce – she’s the fastest vegetable in the world Rockit Lettuce – I’m faster than a boomerang hurled Rockit Lettuce – she’s faster than a big jet plane Rockit Lettuce - I’m faster than a runaway train Awoo ooeeoo Rockit Lettuce I’m rocket lettuce and don’t you forget it

Sometimes I feel so happy Like I could touch the ceiling But sometimes how I’m feeling Is only Melon Collie But when I’m feeling sad I can write a poem When I’m feeling sad I can paint a picture When I’m feeling sad I can sing a song And then I won’t be sad too long We love you Collie Flower You fill our lives with music And music makes us jolly Our soft and sweet Melon Collie When we’re feeling sad We can write a poem When we’re feeling sad We can paint a picture When we’re feeling sad We sing our favourite song And then we won’t be sad too long

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Rockit Lettuce – she’s flying on to your plate Rockit Lettuce – On a pizza I taste great Rockit Lettuce – she sizzles like a finger in a socket Rockit Lettuce – now flip it around and lettuce rocket Awoo ooeeoo Rockit Lettuce Come on Tom Ato [Piano solo] Ooh yeah, great balls of meat balls Sounds so saucy...why don’t you meet me at the salad bar and we can Groove on like a crouton Now in Paris one time I was veggin out in a cafe Checking out a traffic jam on the Champs Elysees This Monsieur stepped up to me and he said “hey are you roquette” I said “Oui oui” then he tried to put me in his baguette...WHAT!! Awoo ooeeoo Rockit Lettuce Come on Pierre, don’t even go there 4 Rockit Lettuce – she’s the fastest vegetable in the world [I’m peppery] Rockit Lettuce – she’s faster than a boomerang hurled [I look like the top part of a celery] Rockit Lettuce – she faster than a big jet plane [hey parmesan you look different, have you been shaved] Rockit Lettuce – she’s faster than a runaway train [no-one tells me how to behave] Awoo ooeeoo I don’t mind a bit of meat Awooo ooeeoo hey I’m getting cold pasta sheet Rockit Lettuce I’m rockit lettuce and don’t you forget it

9. Bro Colini (Vegetables are Funky) Mr Beet....he never misses a beat Mr Beet....he never misses a beat Verse 1 Bro Colini He’s thin and greeny He likes to get up early I’m long and tall and my hair is curly Colini Bro What do you know? I know chunks are chunky And I know that vegetables are funky

Bridge Bro Colini...can you dance? Can I dance? Can you dance? Can I dance? Well? Can bro colini dance? Let me tell ya I can dance like other people walk Scuse me while I shake my stalk Vegetables are funky Vegetables are funky [vamp] [sax solo] And all we all need something funky every......day!

Chorus Vegetables are funky Vegetables are funky but that’s okay Vegetables are funky yay And we all need something funky every day Verse 2 Bro Colini He’s thin and greeny He’s hardly ever surly My breath is fresh and my teeth are pearly Colini Bro What do you know? I swing like a monkey Cos I know that vegetables are funky Chorus Vegetables are funky Vegetables are funky but that’s okay Vegetables are funky yay And we all need something funky every day

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10. Artie Choke (Lead vocal by Artie, featuring Sue, Ru, Collie, Rockit, Gus and Tom Ato) Girls Artieeeee artie choke He’s a hearteeee smarty bloke He’s an encaeclopedia of veg-related trivia He can peel off facts no other veggie will reveal to ya Boys He knows all the Latin names of all the veggie folk All He’s Mr get the garden party started artie choke Artie Hey folks I’m artie choke and I just love vegetables Did you know there are over 1000 different types of vegetables and they all belong to different families [Wow! You don’t say] That’s right There are leafy and salad vegetables like rocket lettuce here There are podded vegetables, flowers and flower buds There are fruit vegetables, root vegetables, tuberous, bulb and stem vegetables Even vegetables at the bottom of the ocean Now in podded veg alone there’s a vibrant society A veritable cornucopia of pea and bean varieties You have your runner bean, ricebean, fava bean and mung bean Moth bean, lima bean green bean and common bean There’s even something called a delicious bean But it hasn’t gained much notoriety [Clarinet interlude] You have your garbanzo, gwar, okra and tepary Lentil, horse gram, drumstick and azuki Your black-eyed pea, your velvet bean your soybean and your winged bean And if I left anyone out I’m sorry you just have no idea what kind of a week it’s been

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Girls Artieee artie choke Artie tells us a joke Artie Oh okay – well let’s see – what kind of vegetable should you never take on a boat with you? A leek What kind of vegetable should you always take on the dancefloor with you? A beet What kind of vegetable should you always take before a long trip? A pee Girls He’s an encaeclopedia of veg-related trivia He can peel off facts no other veggie will reveal to ya Boys He knows all the Latin names of all the veggie folk All He’s Mr get the garden party started artie choke Artie Phaseolus Vulgaris Lens Culinaris Lablab Purpureus Abelmoschus Esculentis Rock-it What you talking bout Artie, is that from Harry Potter? Artie No Rock-it, those are the latin names Rock-it What’s latin?

Artie Latin’s an ancient language from many centuries ago

Artie That’s a good one Ru, that means couch potato

Rock-it You mean like French?

Colly Is that a type of vegetable?

Artie Well, not so much

Artie No colly, that’s a type of person

Take Gus there, his latin name is Asparagus officinalis

Sue Wingardium Leviosa (using an asparagus as a wand)

All: woooahh

Artie I don’t know that one Sue, what’s that?

Tom: Do I have a latin name Artie?

Sue That’s from Harry Potter

Artie You sure do Tom, yours is.... Solanum lycopersicum

Gus Isn’t latin a type of music too?

All oooooooo

Artie That’s right, in fact there are almost as many different types of music as there are types of vegetables

Sue: Are you doing magic Artie?

Sue You mean like roots music?

Artie No Sue, not magic, just science

Ru You mean like soil music?

Rock-it: Rockit Science?

Artie Well there’s all kinds, there’s jazz

Artie Well you know, science is a kind of magic based on the way things really are

Colly Like jazz apples?

Ru What’s this one Artie - .............. Toro solanum tuberosum

Artie Er, yes and there’s blues Ru You mean greens?

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Artie And of course there’s rock and roll

Artie Er, why not and cabaret

Rock-it Rock it lettuce

Tom You mean cabbage eh

Artie Well yes, there’s boss nova Gus Like I’m the boss and we’re listening to Nova

Artie And well so many more I just can’t mention them all and besides all this talk about music has made me want to hear the band play so ladies and gentlemen, bulbs and girls – let’s hear it for the freshest band in town: the root vegetables

Artie Sure, there’s salsa

Artieeeeeee....he’s mr get the garden party started artie choke hey!

Tom You mean like tomato salsa? Artie And well there’s all kinds of famous bands too like The Beatles Colly The beetroots? Artie No the Beatles Rock-it What about the easy beets? Artie Yes them too and of course there’s the Stones Sue Avocado stones? Artie No Sue The Rolling Stones And there’s reggae Gus You mean veggae

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11. LET’S MAKE A SALAD (Sung by Butternut Squash and the sweet greens)

Cos, Iceburg, rocket, romain – if it tastes good we’ll do it again Cos, Iceburg, rocket, romain – if it tastes good we’ll do it again

This is a message from Butter, Butternut Squash

Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad

There comes a time in every show When everything drops way down low So you can sing a ballad This one’s a song about love between all things green When I sing the next line you’ll know what I mean Let’s make a salad As long as it’s fresh, you know it’s got soul Just chop it up mama and put it in the bowl Toss it, oh, woah baby woah Let’s make a salad

Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad Let’s make let’s make let’s make Let’s make a salad

You can drizzle on a little oil Give lemon a little squeeze Crack some pepper baby and crumble some cheese Let’s make a salad Bridge It’s not just food you need to eat It takes love to make a meal complete Put lots of green things in your bowl It’s good for your body and your soul Key change Let’s make a salad Let’s make a salad Cucumber, lettuce, chopped up zucchini Asparagus spears, baby broccolini Radish and beetroot, sundried tomato Artichoke hearts, sliced avocado Let’s make a salad Let’s make a salad

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12. Squeeze your vegetables (Lead vocal: Aspara Gus) Verse 1 Well how can you tell If a vegetable’s ready To go into the oven At gas mark 20 You don’t have to ask em Down on your knees You just go up and give one a little squeeze Chorus Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Please Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Please Hug em, that’s how you show em that you love em And if you really want to please em All you gotta do is squeeze em Squeeze em good squeeze em tight First thing in the morning last thing at night Just before you give me a bite You gotta squeeze em Verse 2 Well how do you tell (how do you tell?) If a vegetable’s keen (if a vegetable’s keen) To be a part (to be a part) Of today’s cuisine You don’t have to tickle them (hee hee hee) Or make them sneeze (achooo) You just go up and give one a little squeeze

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Chorus Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Please Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Squeeze squeeze squeeze your vegetables Please Hug em, that’s how you show em that you love em And if you really want to please em All you gotta do is squeeze em Squeeze em good squeeze em tight First thing in the morning last thing at night Just before you give me a bite You gotta squeeze em [Sax solo on C7 – transition into The Growing Song] The Growing Song (sung by Gus, everyone joins in for the up up up ..... growwwwwwws) Grow up up up Grow right up to the top up up up but don’t you ever stop Being full of wonder at the sunshine and the thunder Keep your dreams in sight And grow towards the light Grow up up up You can grow up big or small up up up Be thankful for it all Don’t forget the ones who love you and have taken good care of you Keep them in your sight And grow towards the light

Grow up up up Growwwwwwww Up up up Growwwwwwww Up is where you’re going if you never stop growing Reach to your full height And grow towards the light Instrumental - kazoo and clarinet Grow up up up Grow up just like a tree Up up up See all that you can see Splash in water fountains and go dashing over mountains Life is full of fun When you grow towards the sun Grow up up up Be a dancer or a clown Up up up Or mayor of Sydney town You could be an astronaut who flies through outer space You could be a lawyer who also plays the bass Grow up up up Growwwwwww Up up up Growwwwwwww Up is where you’re going if you never stop growing Reach to your full height And grow towards the light You gotta reach to your full high iii iiii iii iiight And grow towards the light

13. Little Green Heads (Lead vocal by Gus, girls join in for the first chorus, everyone joins in for the second chorus and the final, acapella verse) Boys and girls, mums and dads Can you keep a secret? If you can’t keep a secret... We’re going to tell you anyway And it’s not really a secret You should tell everybody you know today 1 [You don’t need to buy us in a shop NO You don’t need to buy us in the supermarket All you need to do is take a little seed And put it in the ground Pour a little water on top Then pat it down So stretch out your hand Take a little seed and put it in the ground Pour a little water on top and pat it down Then wait.......fooooor a little while Then watch out.... watch out For our.. Little green heads poking up out of the dirt (la la la la) Little green heads poking up out of the dirt Little green heads poking up to say hello [Repeat above section] Bridge Poking up to say hello HELLO Poking up to say hello HELLO Our little green heads poking up to say hello hello hello hello Ladies and gentlestems, bulbs and girls, we were the vegetable plot Please clap your hands together for Sue Kini, Ru Barb, Colly Flower and Rockit Lettuce Bringing the groove and flavour, let’s hear it for Mr Beet, Rootabaga, Purple Haze and over here Blowbergine and Tom Ato Our salad spinning dancer, Tina Turnip

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And our special guests Bro Colini, Artie Choke and Butternut Squash My name is Aspara Gus and we would like you to sing with all of us stretch out your hand Little green heads poking up out of the dirt (la la la la) Little green heads poking up out of the dirt Little green heads poking up to say hello Little green heads poking up out of the dirt (la la la la) Little green heads poking up out of the dirt Little green heads poking up to say hello Little green heads poking up out of the dirt (la la la la) Little green heads poking up out of the dirt Little green heads poking up to say hello Little green heads poking up out of the dirt (la la la la) Little green heads poking up out of the dirt Little green heads poking up to say hello Stretch out your hand Take a little seed and put it in the ground Pour a little water on top and pat it down Then wait.......fooooor a little while Then watch out.... watch out For our.. Little green heads poking up out of the dirt (la la la la) Little green heads poking up out of the dirt Little green heads poking up to say hello

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ILLUSTRATIONS:

Ignazio Fulghesu

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The Garden Project

Learning about sustainability and seeding healthy eating habits

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