A new online magazine is now available to gardeners. A Garden Life can be viewed on a tablet, smartphone, or online. It features beautiful images and thoughtful articles on topics that explore life as a garden. Its goal is to help you achieve better health, meaningful spaces and engaged community interaction. Download the app or read it free!
August 2013 Issue
Our monthly e-mail newsletter with thematic and standards-based articles, activities, and resources for educators implementing school gardens and family gardening. Keep up to date with our web site, sign up for Kids Garden News.
NEW THIS ISSUE
MONTHLY FEATURES | ANNOUNCEMENTS | RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS | CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS | FUNDING AND OPPORTUNITIES
MONTHLY FEATURES
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Announcements
Sign-up for our new Garden Registry by September 1st and be entered to win $500 to support your garden program! The National Gardening Association is excited to announce the launch of our new Garden Registry. The registry connects you with volunteers, donors and peers across the country and around the world, and provides resources on everything from botanical collections to your local library garden. The winning program will be announced and featured in the September 2012 edition of Kids Garden News! Sign up today!
For six years, The Home Depot Garden Club has provided over $400,000 in support to youth garden programs across the country through the Youth Garden Grant. One hundred outstanding applicants will receive gift cards to the Home Depot along with NGA curriculum. Five winners will receive a $1,000 award that includes a $500 gift certificate to the Home Depot, a $500 gift certificate to the Gardening with Kids catalog, and an NGA curriculum package. All non-profit youth garden programs are eligible to apply. Apply online!
The Subaru Healthy Sprouts Award recognizes and supports youth gardening programs focused on teaching about nutrition, the environment and hunger issues. Through the program, students gain skills to maintain a healthy lifestyle compatible with environmental stewardship and a greater understanding of how their actions can positively impact their community. Apply online!
Mantis presents the Mantis Awards to charitable and educational garden projects that enhance the quality of life in communities. Winners are selected by the NGA and receive Mantis tiller/cultivators. All nonprofit garden programs are eligible to apply. Apply online!
Course space is limited, and sections have been filling quickly! The National Teacher Institute (NTI) for Garden-Based Learning is a collaborative partnership between Longwood Gardens and the National Gardening Association. The partnership was formed to offer professional development to educators and volunteers from one of the great gardens of the world and the leader in K-12 plant-based educational resources, materials, and grants. This online course is designed to introduce teachers to the benefits of a school garden program; help them identify ways to build support for developing a garden; create a vision, theme, and design; and distinguish the best curriculum for incorporation into their classroom. Participants will gain practical knowledge for laying the groundwork of a successful program. Course participants will receive valuable feedback from their instructor and other teachers while learning new avenues for student instruction. Their first online course, School Gardening 101 is now open for two winter sections. For more information and to register for the course visit the NTI website.
Congratulations to the Top 25 gardens in the Seed phase of the Grow it Forward heirloom seed contest! And a big round of applause to all participants, whose collective efforts have helped to reach some momentous milestones thus far in the effort to Grow it Forward for the benefit of future generations. Watch this short video from Tom at YourGardenShow to get the scoop on the next phase of the contest, starting April 16, and to hear the official winners' announcement for the Seed phase. Keep the momentum going by entering your own garden for the chance to win some great prizes from NGA and others.
Food Day is a celebration of real food and a campaign to help solve food-related problems in our homes, on our farms, in our schools, and in our communities. Join in with the thousands of other food-concious organizations on October 24, 2012 as we bring attention to important issues. Check out FoodDay.org for great ideas of integrating this event into the classroom.
Resources for Educators
Easy, edible garden activities can now be found on the California School Garden Network website. A one-bite lesson is an edible activity that doesn’t require a kitchen or excessive preparation. It’s a fun and creative way to have kids sample plants rights from the garden. You can also submit your ideas and activities; see and share it all from these new links.
A new curriculum unit, developed by the educational staff at the National Gardening Association, which addresses the core specific elements of the water cycle for K-12 students. The lesson plans are grade specific, addressing different aspects of the water cycle and applying the principles to activities and inquiry that can be discussed in and out of the school garden. The curriculum unit is free and can be downloaded at kidsgardening.org.
In a partnership with Burpee Home Gardens, the National Gardening Association developed the “I Can Grow” guide for educators, and now expands that resource to include individual lesson activities. These educational guides cover a range of subjects with activities rooted in the ground and the world around us. Download the Youth Curriculum free.
Seed Savers Exchange offers a fundraising program for schools and nonprofit organizations. Programs earn 40% of what is sold. Find more details on their website.
This resource provides information about the construction, use, and management of greenhouses. There are useful tips and information about experiments that can be done in a greenhouse. Learn more about greenhouse gardening.
The staff at NGA has compiled survey data from our grant recipients to provide evidence to support youth garden programs. The resulting presentation begins with a model that depicts potential beneficial outcomes of gardening for youth, parents, and the community, followed by data supporting these claims. This presentation, About School Gardening, is available as a resource to anyone attempting to gather support for a youth garden program. Know anyone searching for a way to give back and support youth gardening? NGA has three quick and easy ways to Make a Difference.
These resources are available for free to anyone working to support others in creating and sustaining school gardens. At the CSYSG Trainer Page you will find the following:
A download of all CSYSG Workshop Handouts, Trainer Outlines (TO), and Supplementary Trainer Materials. (A zipped file of multiple documents)
PDF file of all CSYSG Workshop Handouts (One download of all the handouts)
Workshop PowerPoints: School Garden Design, Why School Gardens, Introduction to CSYSG
Gardens for Learning Guide Book
CSYSG Online Training Resources
Selected CSYSG Materials in Spanish
Freebies, fliers, and handouts to promote school gardens
Download the CSYSG training materials from the website.
Funding Opportunities
Through the Sip to Support a Garden program, sponsored by Jamba Juice, schools and community gardens can earn credits that can be applied toward the purchase of essential gardening equipment suitable for any age from the National Gardening Association’s Gardening with Kids catalog. Participation is easy: Sign up your school or garden organization online. Your organization will receive a Jamba-Kit that includes program details—and start swiping. Each time a supporter uses the swipe card for purchases, Jamba will donate 10% of the purchase to NGA for your purchasing account. Sign up your school and Sip to Support online.
The National Gardening Association is proud to announce the 3rd year of the Muhammad Ali Peace Center Peace Garden Grant sponsored program by Yum! Brands Foundation. Find grant applications and more information online.
Conferences and Workshops
These workshops are developed for California educators interested in using existing school gardens to enhance nutrition education for children and youth. The workshops are free and activities will be drawn from curricula for grades K-7, and can be adapted for grades 8-12. Dates and workshop locations, including more information is available on the website.
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