Background Knowledge and Information

Module 1 

Description: In Module 1 we will examine background information and knowledge, allow intern to gain the ability to remember and analyze topics in order to provide community with knowledge on the same       

When: Beginning of Coordinator term, before garden implementation
Approximate Dates: Term beginning to mid-April

Lesson 1: Why the Effort

  • Benefits of garden-based learning
  • The many adjectives: experiential, nature-based, place-based, project-based learning
  • Future of school gardens: why you're so important... showing up and not letting down

Lesson 2: Working with Children

  • outdoor classroom management
  • age appropriate communication
  • cooking with children: making nutrition fun! (plus rules and safety)

Lesson 3: Getting all on Board

  • gain teacher buy-in: align garden lessons to state standards
  • Organizing and communicating to volunteers, community groups, and all stakeholders

Lesson 4: Organic Gardening 101

  • But I have a brown thumb!
  • Many options: square foot gardening, raised beds, creative kid friendly gardens, fence or no fence
  • Matching ideas to needs of space and community

Lesson 5: Community Practice

  • Write in the forum an idea for a practice lesson. You can come up with this idea with your host school or on your own. Keep in mind the core requirements for your age group. 
  • Respond to other's ideas! 
  • Bring the idea to our face-to-face meeting in March for discussion and PRACTICE! Be ready to be silly. 
  •  Write your first assessment of your garden based on your current position and progress with the host and the garden preparation. Choose a format that you can continue to use bi-weekly that assesses personal and project-wide progress and failures. (Example: A blog post, a running Word document, physical journal that you don’t mind leaving with Lettuce Learn) Format is up to you, but needs to be something that can be passed on to next year’s garden coordinator, preferably including one visual per entry (examples: sketch of layout, photo of first seeds sprouting, photo of kids learning, etc.).
As you move through the assignments, remember the ultimate goal is to be best prepared for your particular experience. Contact your supervisor to modify an assignment for your own needs. 

Goals:
1.    GOAL: Identify benefits of a school garden
2.    GOAL: Define and share food and nutrition concepts and issues, develop ability to summarize basic educational concepts for target age group, including an ability to work practically with the language and understanding levels of the assigned classroom.
3.   GOAL: Discuss the basics of garden development, problems, planning
4.    GOAL: Ability to Interpret gardening knowledge, garden benefits, history of particular assigned garden into assigned space needs

Go back to the Modules Outline: 
Get started with Lesson One:
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