Educational Resources for Parents and Teachers

Garden Lesson Videos and Activities

A new project for a new time! We have created videos of Garden to Table lessons, presented by seasoned educators, for viewing at home or in the classroom. Each lesson comes with suggestions for activities to be done at home, in a garden, or in a yard or neighborhood. Similar resources will be created for 2021 Spring Lessons as the gardens wake up.

Additional Garden to Table Lesson Materials

These home-friendly lesson plans are a sample of our standards-based, experiential curriculum.

• Sunlight in the Garden – meets Kindergarten science standards, appropriate for PK-1st
  • Pick a warm sunny day and watch the sun’s energy transfer to the earth – will ice melt faster in the sun or shade?
• Planting for Summer – meets 3rd grade math standards, appropriate for 3rd-middle school
  • This fun mapping activity can be done simply as a math lesson, or can be used to map your home garden for planting! Curved garden bed shapes can be used to create a challenge for 6th and 7th grade math students.

Growing You! Book recommendations & literacy activities from Language Arts teacher Jessica Schmitt

• Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens is a playful book about how Hare, a clever rabbit, tricks a lazy bear into giving up half of the vegetable harvest–and it’s always the best half! How does he do it?!

There are many other school garden support organizations around the country that have been sharing resources as well. To avoid reinventing the wheel, we’re sharing some of our favorites here:

• We love these activities about food and sustainability from the Center for Ecoliteracy.
• The Junior Master Gardener program is hosting a series of live activities for elementary students. Join them every Tuesday and Thursday at noon MST through May 19, 2020.
• Back Pocket Learning provides easy, engaging, off-screen activities for kids with minimal materials. Options include outdoor explorations, crafts and recipes.
• Big Green at Home shares new and engaging lessons, videos, events, and activities perfect for the at-home learner.
• This unit on food waste and composting as a solution to climate change is designed for 5th grade.
• Farmer’s Footprint created this list of Regenerative Activities for Kids for exploring soil, seeds, compost, and biodiversity.
• Kids Gardening has a long list of resources and activities to get families gardening and exploring nature.
• National Agriculture in the Classroom has a bunch of eLearning activities for grades PK-12.
• Partners for Education, Agriculture, and Sustainability have video lessons on the topics of cooking, nutrition, gardening and nature exploration.
• Green Our Schools has a set of video STEM Garden Lessons.

Please visit your Garden to Table garden after school hours to explore and learn! Students are encouraged to bring materials for drawing, journaling, or completing worksheets provided on our website. If you do visit a garden please help us to keep each other safe:

• Be mindful of social distancing and avoid visiting when others present.  All municipal and BVSD regulations must be followed.  Please practice social distancing and wear a mask when others are present.
• Help keep our staff and volunteers safe by not handling garden and irrigation equipment.
• Produce from these gardens is used by schools, sent home with students, or donated to local food banks for families in need.  Please only harvest if in coordination with Garden to Table staff.
• We grow cover crop in our gardens over the winter to improve soil health. What may look like weeds right now is actually feeding the garden!
• School buildings are not open and maybe not be accessed for restrooms or any other purpose.
• Concerns or questions about the garden?  Please email us at info@gardentotable.org. For irrigation emergencies, please call us at 303-564-0133.