Hello AllI'm helping start a community garden that will be utilized by an elementary school in South Phoenix and we were hoping to find an existing curriculum that we could give to the school to incorporate the garden into their classrooms. Does anyone know of a source for elementary age curriculum that we could use? I've looked at kidsgardening.org and they have some good resources, but would love to hear about others.ThanksBen
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I am sorry I missed this when you first posted it. I have several copies of a booklet called "Planting Seeds, Growing Minds: A Horticulture K-6 Curriculum" that are distributed by the Arizona Nursery Association. Let me know if you want me to put a side some for you. I work at the Cooperative Extension office near 44th St and Broadway, Phoenix.
Look up the Junior Master Gardener Program. They have several teaching and student curriculums along with the text books needed to teach them. I've read through a few things and it's really good stuff. They are made for grades 3-12. So you should be able to find what you need within that range.
Thanks Ron! I appreciate your reply. I've glanced through the JMG site and was definitely impressed with their materials. My only concern is that we don't really have the funds to purchase text books, so we were trying to find free/open access resources.
I can tell you that my kids go to Quail Run Elementary and they do cover some of this in second through fifth grade curriculum, I don't know about the other grades yet. I checked out the school garden at Hidden HIlls Elementary and it is very impressive. I am looking at starting a garden at our homeschool but I am running into a problem with watering a garden. I have been told that ALL schools in PVUSD or even the state have been advised they may not add a garden, they can water existing gardens but the schools do not have the funds to add a garden.
If you do this community garden on other property, how do you intend on including the school kids in this garden? I would love to know what you are doing.
Thanks for your reply! We are very fortunate in that the land has been donated by a local businessman who has a vacant lot directly across the street from the school. He has agreed to also donate the water costs in the short-term until we can secure more funding. The plan is to start by having one raised bed for each of the grades at the elementary school, and at least two for the local boys and girls club. From there, we plan to expand to add space for individuals and families to have their own plots, probably in the spring.
Do you have a contact at Quail Run for someone that I could connect with about how they incorporate the garden into the curriculum?
Replies
-Kris
http://www.ca4h.org/projresource/jrmastergardener/
http://msucares.com/lawn/garden/youth/benchmarks.html
http://www.jmgkids.us/
http://www.gardeningwithkids.org/junmasgarpro.html
Hope that helps.
Ben
If you do this community garden on other property, how do you intend on including the school kids in this garden? I would love to know what you are doing.
Thanks for your reply! We are very fortunate in that the land has been donated by a local businessman who has a vacant lot directly across the street from the school. He has agreed to also donate the water costs in the short-term until we can secure more funding. The plan is to start by having one raised bed for each of the grades at the elementary school, and at least two for the local boys and girls club. From there, we plan to expand to add space for individuals and families to have their own plots, probably in the spring.
Do you have a contact at Quail Run for someone that I could connect with about how they incorporate the garden into the curriculum?
Thanks
Ben