Why I’m writing this curriculum

• I realized by reading and teaching a gardening curriculum for HeadStart that 1. While the curriculum does acknowledge that gardening might be completely new to students, 2. It does not acknowledge that many adults also have no experience with gardening. How can someone teach gardening when it’s completely new to them?
• My lesson plans/curricula are not better than anyone else’s. Mine are different because (1) I’m trying to start before even the first step; and (2) I put my contact info below so I can actually work with you! If you are near Austin, Texas, I can even come work in your garden and/or your classroom.
• I aim to be a support to anyone teaching gardening – any teacher who is rushed and busy, anyone who is new to gardening, anyone who is new to teaching gardening. 
• Please let me help your school, your class, and your teachers teach and enjoy gardening. My website is free, of course. If you want/can, I will let you pay me to come help with your lessons – from planning to execution. [Yes, I often volunteer, but I also need to get paid sometimes. To invite me to come help your school, please email me with GARDEN in the subject heading and include your school’s info as well as your own contact info. rabbilippe@gmail.com]

LESSON PLANNING

Here are some sample Goals, Objectives, Vocabulary Words, and other info to mix and match for your lesson plans. Please pick the ones most suitable for your work.

Sample Goals – The leaders of this lesson/course/curriculum aim to: Introduce basic values of gardening; Introduce students to the origins of our foods – especially fruits and vegetables, but also grains; Introduce the phrase “busy as a bee;” Introduce the life cycle of a tomato or another vegetable (or fruit or flower); Provide opportunities for students to watch a seed grow into a seedling (and hopefully into a plant); Provide opportunities for students to harvest something they helped grow; Explain what wildlife contributes to the garden – including but not limited to butterflies, caterpillars, bees, birds, dragonflies, and more.

Sample Objectives – By the end of this lesson/course/curriculum, participants will be able to: Identify the roots of a plant. Describe what the roots of a plant do; Identify three contributions gardening offers to the earth; Identify the life cycle of a tomato; Identify the life cycle of a butterfly; Taste something straight from the garden; Taste a new vegetable; Identify five vegetables; Describe at least one pollinator; Explain the phrase “busy as a bee.” Identify a bee; Describe how a seed becomes a plant; Identify a worm and what worms eat and excrete; Describe the difference between sun and shade and more.

Sample Gardening Vocabulary: Bud, Compost, crop, disease, environment, fertilizer, flowers, fruit, garden, grub, harvest, herb, insect, leaves, mulch, native, nature, nectar, organic, petal, plant, pollen, pollination, produce, pruning, raised bed, recycle, reuse, root, seed, seedling, shade, soil, stems, sun, tool, trimming, vegetable, watering can, wasp, weeds, yard

Sample Wildlife Vocabulary: ant, bats, bees, birds, butterflies, caterpillars, cricket, dragonflies, grasshopper, fly, frog, ladybugs, lizards, moths, pollinators, slugs, snails, spiders, squirrels, toads, worms

Many Humans Garden to: connect with the earth; connect with their foods; avoid buying vegetables and fruits that come wrapped in plastics and/or travel many miles; homegrown foods taste better; save money. Additionally, many organizations find that both physical and mental health can be improved by gardening – especially because planting seeds and watching them grow increases our investment in the future and builds our hope and resilience.

Integration with other Skills/Curriculum 

• In order to garden, you WILL use math and science.
• Related Topics: math & measurement; time, schedules, calendars; patience; teamwork; the scientific method; scientific inquiry; and more. Remember: it goes both ways! Once you start gardening, you can always use examples from gardening in other lessons. 
• Also, all gardens and gardeners include some death and dying. Some plants are annuals so they will absolutely die at the end of their year. My gardening teacher told me – if you have never killed a plant, you’re not really a gardener. I have observed that gardeners of all ages learn to handle death and dying in the garden with perspective. Adding dead plants to your compost* pile is a way of giving them a “new life.” Be Prepared to talk about death and dying – especially with younger students who are associative thinkers and don’t really filter their thoughts/reactions. They might bring up other deaths or their questions about what happens during or after death.

My Basics: (A) When you are growing something in a pot, the pot requires drainage. If it doesn’t have holes in the bottom for drainage, do not put a plant in it. (B) Feeding the soil sounds weird, but soil needs organic material to grow healthy plants. The easiest way to do gardening is to always buy compost.* If you are trying to grow most vegetables and most flowers, you need compost.* [There are different kinds of soil. Potting soil doesn’t contain much nutrition. If you use potting soil outside, it usually gets washed away in the rain or even when you water. Garden soil is heavy and isn’t great for draining. Using old compost is not advisable unless you can mix some fertilizer or something rich into it. Throw that old compost into the compost heap for later] (C) Don’t forget! It is easier to learn and remember what feels interesting and relevant. Everyone eats. Everyone needs to eat. Therefore, growing food is naturally relevant and interesting to human beings. (D) The plants and gardens surrounding us become more interesting and more relevant as soon as a person begins experiencing even a tiny garden, even just one plant! (E) MULCH – Mulch protects plants from heat in the summer and cold in the winter. Mulch helps plants conserve water. You can buy mulch at the store, but sometimes I just use recycled cardboard to cover my empty garden in the summer. (F) Some will tell you that expert advice is not important. Sometimes plants can beat the odds. Once, I grew a few peas in the hot Texas summer. However, relying on the wisdom of gardening experts is valuable. I use these two websites the most: Gardeners World and The Spruce! (G) Ask for help from local gardeners! In Austin, we depend on: https://travis-tx.tamu.edu/about-2/horticulture/get-expert-gardening-advice/ They offer advice and consultation as well as some fantastic, invaluable resources that tell us the best times to plant each vegetable, flower, herb, and more! So much gratitude for them!

Options for inviting family participation: eggshells, banana peels, & coffee grounds.

In case you couldn’t already tell, I am dedicated to organic gardening. I don’t use pesticides, and I don’t feed my garden inorganic materials. Here are some organic ways to feed your soil for free!

Eggshells – Eggshells are organic material that are good for our soil. When I crack eggs for cooking, I rinse the shells and collect them in a metal pan. Then, after I’ve used the oven, I put the tray of collected egg shells back into the oven while it is cooling. They don’t have to be cooked or brown. They just cannot be raw. [Seriously, don’t cook them on a high heat because it makes your whole house stink.] I collect the dried eggshells in an old rice container. Then, I crush them. [Be careful – they can be sharp – please warn your students.] Your students’ families are probably just throwing those eggshells out. They might be willing to collect these for your gardening project. It takes a little bit of time but it doesn’t cost any money. When I see signs of slugs or snails, I spread crushed eggshells on the top of the soil. When I am planting a new plant, I often sprinkle some dried eggshells in the bottom of the hole. It provides drainage! You can always crush these and throw them right into your compost* pile. They do not rot down but they help air circulate which helps your compost develop.

Banana Peels! I don’t know why, but banana peels are really good for our soil. If you bury a banana peel in your soil, it will feed your soil and eventually your plants. When we had bananas for snack or for breakfast in class, I would give the kids an old yogurt container to collect the peels. Then, we would either put them under one of our trees or bury them in our garden bed. I often wished we had our own compost* pile because you can’t use a ton all at once in a little garden – unless you are starting from scratch and you have a ton of compost to layer on top. Again, people at home throw those banana peels out. They are free because people think of them as garbage. There are probably a few families who will remember to bring you their banana peels and/or they might even use them in a plant at home! Either way – your lesson is amplified! [I do not suggest laying banana peels on top of the soil because some critter will come grab it and probably hang out to dig around and eat your tomatoes and carrots.]

Coffee Grounds are another household material that really helps in the garden. Most of your students’ families are probably not reusing their coffee grounds in their gardens/plants or compost heaps. Encourage them to use them at home and/or donate them to your garden. It costs a little bit of time but no money! Note: Worms love coffee grounds, and lots of students love worms. Gardens and compost heaps need worms to help with air circulation and to process the soil. 

*Scratchmade Compost – If you want to make your own compost, there are tons of free resources online. Put your old soil and dead leaves/plants in there. You can even add lawn trimmings. I add trimmings from veggies and fruits. (If you work at a school, I bet you have tons of leftover fruits and vegetables! Bury these in your compost heap with old dirt/soil.) No dairy or meat or fish. No cooked food with seasoning and oils. *The goal is to balance green and brown stuff.  [Bonus: adding dead plants to your compost* pile is a way of giving them a “new life,” BUT if they died of a disease, throw those in your city compost. You don’t want disease in your homemade compost.] Note: Not all schools are going to be open to letting you start a compost heap on their grounds. Seriously, I worked at a school where they wouldn’t allow me to use the recycling bin.

Some of my favorite GARDENING BOOKS for students

ABCs of Gardening, by Dylanna Press; ISBN – 9781647902575 – For students ages 2 and up. ABCs of Gardening

ABC Bug Book for Kids, by Jessica Lee Anderson; Rockridge Press, Oakland, CA, 2022; ISBN – 978-1-63878-066-3 – For students ages 3 and up.

Lola Plants a Garden, by Anna McQuinn; Illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw; Charlesbridge, Watertown, MA, 2014. ISBN – 978-1-58089-695-5 – For any age.

The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle; Little Simon, New York, 1987. ISBN – 978-1-4169-7917-3 – For students ages 5 and up.