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World Food Day: October 16, 2012

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 13:30
in
By: 
NGA Staff
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Download this free classroom guide from Kidsgardening and Oxfam America:

World Food Day Classroom Guide for Educators

World Food Day is a great opportunity for students and teachers to understand more about global approaches to ending hunger. This year’s theme is “Agricultural cooperatives—key to feeding the world”. Observing the day as a school or individual classroom is one of the best ways to raise awareness about food instability and other food-related issues like malnutrition. Don’t be intimidated if you don’t know where to start!

Sharing the Love: Spreading Seeds

Submitted by RoseJM on Mon, 06/11/2012 - 00:00
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By: 
Rose Judd-Murray, NGA Staff
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How-To: Make A Seed Bomb

Materials:

  • Clay (purchase at craft stores)
  • Compost or potting soil
  • Seeds (we recommend easy-to-grow or native varieties)

Bring this activity home, or share it in the classroom with these easy step-by-step directions (PDF). »

Follow these step-by-step instructions to make your own seed bombs.

Taking a walk together as a family is a great way to teach your kids about varieties of flowers, shrubs, and trees. It's an unstressful time to engage and allow them to ask questions about their own local environment.

World Food Day

Submitted by sarahp on Wed, 10/03/2012 - 00:26
in
By: 
NGA Staff
Right Side Box: 

Download this free classroom guide from Kidsgardening and Oxfam America:

World Food Day Classroom Guide for Educators

World Food Day is a great opportunity for students and teachers to understand more about global approaches to ending hunger. This year’s theme is “Agricultural cooperatives—key to feeding the world”. Observing the day as a school or individual classroom is one of the best ways to raise awareness about food instability and other food-related issues like malnutrition. Don’t be intimidated if you don’t know where to start!

Fertile Ground: Growing Food, Community, Cultural Connections

Submitted by sarahp on Wed, 12/22/2010 - 02:22
in

Photo courtesy of Fertile GroundWhen Massachusetts parent and environmental consultant Catherine Sands learned that a garden was slated for her daughter’s rural elementary school, she saw an opportunity. Why not use the plots as a springboard for enticing students to eat fresh food, connecting them to diverse communities, and introducing them to local aspects of food systems?

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Fertile Ground

Over the years, Fertile Ground has grown from a single school pilot program to a consulting group able to “empower schools and families to make smart food choices, and to work together across race, class, and difference, improving their communities through school gardens, food celebrations, and caring for the land.” Intrigued? Learn more or contact Fertile Ground staff through the program’s Website.

Bringing Social Studies to Life in School Gardens

Submitted by sarahp on Wed, 12/22/2010 - 01:48
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As students sow, grow, and reap the fruits of school gardens, science and math lessons are naturally relevant. But consider the added possibilities for using school plots as a compelling lens for social studies and history. After all, exploring how food is (and has been) raised, transformed, and consumed across the globe can reveal a lot about communities and cultures, economies, human settlement and migration, changing world views, the influence of geography and climate, and more.

Mountain People - Himalayan Expedition Part 2

Submitted by sarahp on Sun, 08/01/2010 - 16:29
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As you climb higher, the number of houses increases, and so does the number of agricultural fields, until almost 75 percent of the land is being farmed. In places it is very hard to see the original vegetation. In fact, you can see some locals working in a nearby forest, cutting down trees. Laxmi explains that this wood will be used in their homes for fuel. When they finish cutting down the trees in this area, they light the remaining brush and weeds on fire. Laxmi refers to this practice as "Khorea," which translates into "slash-and-burn" in English.

Community Planning Event

Submitted by sarahp on Wed, 07/21/2010 - 22:08
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Objectives

  • To engage students, parents, teachers, staff, and other community members in planning the garden.
  • To increase and strengthen support for the school gardening program to ensure its sustainability.

Central Concept

By facilitating a planning event, students will see the benefit of collective brainstorming and develop connections in their community. It will also help foster ownership in all program participants.

Know Your State Flower

Submitted by sarahp on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 02:18
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Objectives

  • Learn about symbols and why they are important.
  • Investigate their state flower and how it fits into state history.

Central Concepts

  • Symbols are ways to communicate information or feelings without using words.
  • Symbols can hold great meaning and inspire powerful emotions.

Materials

  • Paper
  • Pencils
  • Internet or a state almanac

Discussion Topics

  • What is a symbol?

Give a Garden

Submitted by sarahp on Tue, 07/20/2010 - 00:56
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Objectives

Students will:

  • Reflect on and discuss ways that plants support human health and well-being
  • Give a plant or a container garden to a group or individual that can benefit from a gift of plants

Materials

Container for planting, plants, bagged soil mix, basin for moistening soil

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