Garden-Based Learning Curriculum

Themes by Month

2015–2016

Key

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Monthly Recipes

Fourth Grade

Lesson 1

Garden Community

Personalizing the 3 Be’s

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Explain the rules, practices, and guidelines for working in the garden.

·         Make a journal.

·         Make a poster to highlight the 3 Be’s.

·         Plant a mystery plant and prepare to document its growth.

Activity Preparation

Write the 3 Be’s on the whiteboard. Gather samples of garden tools to demonstrate tool safety.

Materials

·         11 x 17 construction paper, colored and white (at least 36 sheets per student)

·         Stapler

·         Collage and drawing materials

Activity 1: Respect, Safety, and Responsibility

Introduce students to the garden by taking them on a garden tour and identifying plants and flowers. Get them excited about being in the garden by inviting them to taste what is growing. Introduce the garden tools and practice safety, including but not limited to:

1.      Never hold a garden tool, including shovels, above your waist.

2.      Ask before you pick.

3.      Be careful of where you walk, and do not step on plants.

4.      Walk along the paths.

5.      Walk, don’t run.

6.      Notice the squirrel distractions, but then refocus.

Practice the 3 Be’s that your school follows. Here in Berkeley Unified, each school has its own set of these that help with classroom management and student engagement. Remind students that we follow these same rules and practices in the garden:

7.      Be Safe

8.      Be Respectful

9.      Be Responsible

Activity 2: Making Garden Journals

Distribute construction paper and white lined paper to demonstrate how to make a garden journal:

10.  Hand out 11 x 17 construction paper (multiple colors or single color).

11.  Layer sheets one on top of the other.

12.  Fold down the middle lengthwise.

13.  Staple the middle where the fold is.

14.  Hand out drawing materials to have students write their name and classroom number on the front.

Activity 3: Creating a 3 Be’s Poster

Distribute collage materials and invite students to create a collage in their journals that is reflective of the 3 Be’s and how they will interpret them in the garden. Hang this poster in a visible space to remind students and reflect throughout the year.

Student Reflection

What are you most interested to learn about in the garden this year?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Abstract Nouns

·         Practice tool safety.

·         Respect the garden and each other.

·         You have a responsibility for taking care of the garden.

Standards

CCSS

W.4.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Health

7.4.N Practice how to take personal responsibility for engaging in physical activity.

8.1.N Support others in making positive food and physical activity choices.

7.3.S Use appropriate protective gear and equipment.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Edible Schoolyard, Berkeley

Fourth Grade

Lesson 2

Plant Science

Plants Need Light

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Conduct an experiment to demonstrate the importance of sunlight for healthy plant growth.

·         Make recycled plant containers using newsprint.

Activity Preparation

Cut long strips of newspaper for the plant container activity.

Materials

·         Masking tape and markers

·         Leaves

·         Newspaper strips

·         Glass jars

·         Soil

·         Seeds

·         Popsicle sticks for seed labels

Activity 1: Making Plant Containers

Review the things that plants need to survive: sun, water, soil. Make two recycled plant containers by following these steps:

15.  Cut up newspaper in vertical strips

16.  Lay the newspaper out so you can roll glass jars neatly along the strips so that the newspaper is wrapped around the jars.

17.  Pull out the glass to leave a newspaper mold.

18.  Round the bottom of the newspaper mold by folding newspaper points like a present on the bottom.

19.  Fill the mold with soil and place popsicle sticks with labels of the seeds (suggested seeds are butterfly bushes/milkweed) you will have students plant in them.

20.  Have students place seeds and water.

Activity 2: Experimenting with Light

This activity will demonstrate that a plant cannot make its own food in the absence of sunlight. Students observe the two plants they planted over several weeks and make notes regarding their observations following these steps:

21.  Label half of the plants made in Activity 1 “light” and the others “dark.”

22.  Place the plants labeled “dark” in a dark place.

23.  Place the other plants outside or by a bright window

24.  Water both sets of plants regularly.

25.  Have children sketch pictures of the two plant sets over several weeks and make notes regarding their observations.

26.  After two weeks, have students share what they have observed about the “light” and “dark” plants.

Student Reflection

What do you think will happen to the plants that don’t get light? What do you think would happen if a plant didn’t get carbon dioxide?

English Language Leaning Focus: Analogies

·         If plants do not get enough light, they will ____________.

·         If the plants do not get enough carbon dioxide, they will __________.

Additional Information

Plant leaves absorb sunlight differently. There are red and blue light wavelengths that plants absorb. When you see a color, it is actually a color that the object does not absorb. For example, green plants do not absorb light from the green range. 

Standards

NGSS

4.LS1.1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

4.PS4.2 Develop a model to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen. (Assessment does not include knowledge of specific colors reflected and seen, the cellular mechanisms of vision, or how the retina works.)

CCSS

RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Rivka Mason

Sources

Life Cycle of Plants, Utah Education Network

Fourth Grade

Lesson 3

Plant Science

Leaf Functions

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Observe plants parts and describe many types of plants.

·         Record their observations and discuss the function of each part.

·         Conduct an experiment to reveal the importance of the sun for plant survival.

Activity Preparation

Collect the plants that students potted during the last lesson. You may want to include some edible plants in the bags for students to explore.

Materials

·         Variety of leafy plants

·         Petroleum jelly

·         Large piece of paper

·         Paper clips

·         Clear tape

Activity 1: Reviewing Plant Part

Review plant parts: flower, stems, leaves, roots. Help students create a foldable flower to review the functions of the parts of a plant by demonstrating these steps:

27.  Take a 8 ½ x 11 sheet of paper and fold it horizontally.

28.  Draw a plant and its parts on the outside of the folded paper. The inside of the sheet will be used for recording the functions of plants.

29.  Cut parts of the drawn plant into four sections (flower, stem, leaves, and roots; see sample).

30.  Record the function of the leaves for plants.

31.  Revisit this foldable flower to complete the function portions for roots, stem, and flower sections, as those concepts are studied in later labs.

Review the different parts and their functions. Students identify the different parts of the plants (e.g., flower, stem, leaf, and roots). Explain vital functions of each plant part.

Ask:

·         What is the main function of a plant’s leaves?

·         How do the structures of plants support their roles in food production?

Activity 2: Observing Leaves and Light

Revisit Lesson 4.2, Plants Need Light. Distribute the leafy plants that each student. Tell students that plants make their own food using light. Food production could not take place without light. Students place items on the leaves to experiment with varying degrees of light absorption. Guide students in a light experiment by following these steps (this experiment will need to be set up for five days):

32.  Have the students cut pieces of cardboard large enough to make a cut-out patch and place it on their plant leaf.

33.  Use paper clips to attach patches to a few of the leaves.

34.  Be sure that students do not cover all of the leaves. The uncovered leaves should be able to continue to absorb sunlight.

35.  Place clear tape over some parts of the leaves.

36.  Place small amounts of petroleum jelly on other parts of the leaves.

37.  Students record these steps with drawings in their journals.

38.  After five days, remove the patches. Have students record their observations in their science notebooks.

39.  Students examine the lighter-colored spots on the leaves.

Ask, What do you think happened to create lighter-colored spots in the leaves? (The patches prevented the light from reaching the leaves.)

Student Reflection

Which part of the plant is vital in order for it to be able to make its own food? (Leaves)

What helps the leaf make food for the plant? (The sun)

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Adjectives

·         Small

·         Slender

·         Wide

·         Prickly

·         Hairy

·         Soft

·         Hard

·         Smooth

Additional Information

All leaves change sunlight into energy through photosynthesis, which they learn about in the fifth grade lessons. The leaves are the primary food-making part of the plant. Leaves absorb carbon dioxide from the air, combine it with water that comes through the roots of the plants to make food (a sugar molecule known as glucose), and release oxygen into the air.

Standards

NGSS

4.LS1.1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

CCSS

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which is appears.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Orange County Public Schools, June 2010

Fourth Grade

Lesson 4

Plant Science

Dissecting Flowers

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Dissect flowers, identifying and labeling their parts.

·         Plant edible flowers to beautify the garden and control pests.

Activity Preparation

Print a flower part diagram handout and worksheet for each student. Collect flowers and place them in jars of water for each small group of students to use during flower dissections.

Materials

·         Printouts of the diagrams

·         Leaves and flowers such as foxglove, sweet pea, bean, lily, poppy, and apple blossoms. (Avoid composite flowers, such as daisies and sunflowers.)

·         Tweezers

·         Magnifying glasses

·         Pencils

·         Flower seeds or starts

Activity 1: Flower Parts

Show students a flower in the jar and review the different flower parts, their features, and their functions:

40.  Sepals: green leaf-like parts under the petals that hold the petals together.

41.  Petals: different colors, shapes, and smells designed to attract pollinators (bees and birds).

42.  Stamen: the male part of the flower that holds the pollen at the very top.

43.  Pollen: a powder-like grain that travels from flower to flower.

44.  Pistil: the female part of the flower that holds the seeds.

Describe the different leaf parts, their features, and their functions:

45.  Veins: carry water throughout the leaf.

46.  Mid-rib: the main vein the runs through the center of the leaf.

47.  Stomata: very tiny openings, too small to see without a microscope, on the underside of the leaf that take in gas and diffuse it throughout the leaf.

Activity 2: Dissecting Flowers

Student work in small groups around a jar of water and flowers. Distribute dissecting materials and Flower Part worksheet. Demonstrate how to dissect the flower by gently taking their flower apart using the tweezers and magnifying glasses for identifying the sepal, petal, pistil, and stamen, per the diagram below. Students choose a flower to examine and dissect. Students label the flower parts in the worksheet below.

Activity 2: Planting and Tasting Edible Flowers

Students plant edible flowers in the garden, per the guide below. Invite students to taste edible flowers, collect them, and add them to a prepared quick salad with mixed greens and vinegar and olive oil dressing for tasting.

Student Reflection

Now you’ve dissected seeds, leaves, and flowers. What’s important to know about dissecting plants?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Contractions

·         I’m thinking of ____________.

·         You’re thinking of ______________.

Additional Information

Consider planting these edible flowers for pest control:

·         Borage: deters hornworms and cabbage worms and can help increase plant resistance to disease.

·         Chrysanthemums: contain a chemical called pyrethin that’s toxic to insects but safe for humans and animals, used for repelling beetles.

·         Lavender: repels pests, particularly fleas, moths, and mosquitos, and smells great.

·         Marigolds: the scented variety repels whiteflies from tomatoes and protects the health of soil under the plants.

·         Calendula: resembles saffron, and the petals are edible.

·         Dandelions: the stems and leaves can be salted or tossed in a salad, and the buds are tastier than the flowers.

·         Clover: sweet and anise-like and can be used for teas.

Standards

NGSS

4.LS1.1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

4.PS4.2 Develop a model to describe phenomena.

CCSS

RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

RI.4.9 Integrate information form two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

4.LS.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on Grade 4 topics and texts, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

The Growing Classroom, Life Lab

Flower Part Diagram Answers

Flower Part Diagram Worksheet

Name: ______________________________________ Classroom Teacher: ______________________________

Fourth Grade

Lesson 5

Plant Science

Seed Dissection

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Dissect a seed.

·         Use a magnifying lens to identify the parts of a seed/bean.

·         Plant seeds or beans and hypothesize about what will happen to the plants.

Activity Preparation

Prepare a whiteboard or print student handouts with the Seed/Bean Parts diagram (see below). Gather examples of seeds (lentils, rice, and sunflower seeds) to demonstrate the variety of seeds. Punch holes in paper or plastic cups for drainage on the bottom. Layout paper towels for dissecting seeds/beans. Soak seeds/beans in jars of water for 24 hours.

Materials

·         Diagram of seed parts

·         Magnifying glasses

·         Small paper cups with holes punched out in the bottom for drainage

·         Paper towels

·         Soaked and non-soaked fava, pinto, or soy beans (any other large seed)

Activity 1: Examining Seeds

Explain that seeds and beans come from flowering plants. Given the right amount of water, oxygen, and warmth, most seeds germinate and develop into mature plants. Seeds vary in physical appearance both on the outside and on the inside. Distribute the Bean/Seed Anatomy diagram and discuss the functions of the six parts of seed/bean anatomy in full germination:

48.  Seed coat: a thin, protective outer covering of the seed.

49.  Cotyledon: the largest part of the seed, where the seed’s nutrients are stored.

50.  Embryo: the growing part of the seed.

51.  Plumule: becomes the plants’ leaves.

52.  Epicotyl: elongates so that cotyledons remain in the soil.

53.  Hypocotyle: becomes the plant’s stem and first root.

Demonstrate how to dissect a seed/bean by following these seven steps:

54.  Inspect the outside of the beans and identify the seed coat (hilum).

55.  Use your fingernails to carefully remove the seed coat from one of the beans.

56.  With a fingernail, gently pry open the rounded side of the bean like a book.

57.  Spread open the two halves of the bean.

58.  Use the magnifying lens to study the inside of each bean half.

59.  Use the magnifying glass and the second diagram to identify the parts of a seed in full germination.

60.  Open several beans/seeds and compare their parts for differences in size, shape, and organization.

Activity 2: Planting Seeds

Students plant a bean that has not been soaked in the garden or in planting containers provided. Students write their name on the cups with a permanent marker, place soil in cups, and use a spray bottle to moisten, if they are not in the garden).

Student Reflection

How many parts of the seed were you able to identify with the magnifying lens? What parts did you identify without a magnifying lens?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Verbs for Dissection

·         Inspect the outside

·         Remove the seed coat

·         Pry open the bean

·         Spread the two halves open

·         Examine the parts

Additional Information

Given the right amount of water, oxygen, and warmth, most seeds germinate and develop into mature plants. Seeds vary in physical appearance both on the outside and on the inside.

Standards

NGSS

4.LS1.1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

CCSS

4.LS1.1 Construct an argument with evidence, data, and/or a model.

W.4.7: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Contributors

Daria Wrubel

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Bean Seed Cycle, National Agriculture in the Classroom

Department of Biology, Miami University

Education.com

Life Lab

Plant Parts and Functions, by Alisa Kowalski, Jessi Spry, and Alyson Wilson

Seed/Bean Part Diagram

Fourth Grade

Lesson 6

Nutrient Cycles

Winter Harvest

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Describe the ideal compost pile.

·         Identify and explain the purpose of chlorophyll in kale leaves.

·         Assemble a kale salad using the ingredients provided.

·         Use metaphors to describe decomposition.

Activity Preparation

Prepare the whiteboard with a review of the compost pyramid, including the role of fungus, bacteria, and invertebrates (FBI). Print out the digestive system diagram or draw it on the whiteboard. Wash kale leaves, and gather materials for kale salad dressing.

Materials

·         Human digestion diagram

·         Washed kale leaves

·         Whisk and large bowl

·         Salad dressing ingredients (oils, vinegars, lemon, salt, pepper)

·         Small bowl for each student

Activity 1: Decomposition Is Like Human Digestion

Review the ingredients for a perfect compost pile and past lessons on FBI: fungus, bacteria, and invertebrates, focusing on the decomposition cycle:

1.      Organic materials are converted to nutrients.

2.      The soil brings the nutrients into the roots and through the plant.

Explain that plants rely on decomposition in the same way that we rely on our digestive systems. Review the digestive system diagram to connect the two processes.

Ask, What is similar and what is different between human digestion and compost decomposition?

Distribute kale salad materials to each student and instruct them how to make kale salad by following these steps:

61.  Break up kale leaves away from the spine.

62.  Add salt and lemon to break down plant cell walls in the leaves.

63.  Mash the leaves with your hands until texture becomes soft and the color becomes dark green.

Ask, What do you notice happening to the kale leaves?

Review that the green color is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is found in the green leaves of plants. It absorbs the sun’s light and combines with carbon dioxide to produce sugars that plants use for food. Review lesson 4.2, Plants Need Light and 4.3, Leaf Functions.

Assign a student the role of making the salad dressing with your help by following these steps:

64.  Add a small amount of vinegar to the larger bowl.

65.  Whisk oil in gradually as you add small amounts of honey and pepper.

Ask, What happens to the vinegar as you whisk in the oil?

Distribute small amounts of the salad dressing into the students’ bowls. Students taste the kale salads.

Ask:

·         What part of the plant do we eat?

·         How do we digest this part?

·         How do the FBI digest this part?

Student Reflection

How is decomposition similar to digestion?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Figurative Language—Metaphors

·         The chlorophyll in leaves suck up the sunlight through the chloroplast.

·         The chloroplast is a sun-harvesting molecule.

·         The FBI digest the decomposing material to make food.

·         The FBI are the intestines of the earth.

Additional Information

The browns, oranges, and reds of fall leaves are the colors “underneath” that are revealed after the chlorophyll (green) dies in the autumn leaves.

Standards

NGSS

4.LS1.1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

CCSS

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which is appears.

Health

1.1.N Identify and define key nutrients and their functions

Contributors

Ben Goff

Colette Rowe

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Food for Thought: Elementary Lessons on Nutrition and Healthy Living, Nutrition Services Branch of the North Carolina Division of Public Health

K–12 Soil Science Teacher Resource, Soil Science Society of America

Human Digestion

Fourth Grade

Lesson 7

Cycles in Nature

Water Cycle

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Identify the main processes in the water cycle.

·         Draw a diagram to illustrate the main processes in the water cycle.

·         Explain the relationship between the decomposition and water cycles.

Activity Preparation

You may want to show the video about the water cycle (link below) before taking your students out to the garden to explore the water cycle in more depth. Print out a copy of the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission worksheet for each student. Cut the top off of enough plastic bottles for each student group.

Materials

·         Global Precipitation Measurement Mission worksheets

·         NASA Water Cycle diagram

·         Plastic bag

·         Soil

·         Pebbles

·         Soda bottle bottoms

·         Grass seeds

·         Watering can

Activity 1: What is a Water Cycle?

Remind students that they already know about two different types of cycles: decomposition cycle and human digestion cycle.

Ask:

·         What is a cycle?

·         How does water travel in a cycle?

Explain that:

·         All of the water on the planet is all the water that we have forever.

·         Water makes up three-fourths of the planet and three-fourths of our bodies.

·         Most of the planet’s water is in the ocean.

·         All living things need water to survive.

Outline each step in the water cycle, including these steps.

66.  A cloud that causes a big rainstorm

67.  An arrow from the ocean to the cloud, labeled “evaporation”

68.  An arrow from the cloud to the planet, labeled “precipitation”

69.  An wiggly line across the board, labeled “rising temperatures”

70.  Dashes from the wriggly line to the planet, labeled “evaporation”

71.  Gathered dashes in the clouds, labeled “condensation”

Review the three major processes in a water cycle with students, having them repeat after you (perform hand gestures according to each step):

72.  Precipitation (fingers sprinkling down like rain)

73.  Evaporation (hands rising into the air)

74.  Condensation (hands coming together above their heads, pretending to hold a cloud)

Activity 2: Biome in a Baggie

Group students and distribute one of each of the following items to each student group: plastic baggie, bottom of a plastic bottle, bag of soil, bag of pebbles, grass seeds in a cup, and water in container. Demonstrate how to make a biome in a baggie by following these steps:

75.  Fill the bottom of the plastic bottle with one inch of pebbles.

76.  Add twice as much soil.

77.  Make a half-inch well in the soil and add the grass seeds.

78.  Cover the grass seeds with the soil already in the bottle.

79.  Add enough water to seep through the soil.

80.  Place the entire plastic bottom inside a plastic bag and seal it.

In about four weeks you will see a plant growing. The plant uses the water cycle to recycle all the water it needs and has enough light from the sun to help regenerate the soil it uses for food. Review with students that:

81.  There will be condensation on the inside of the bag from the water evaporating.

82.  That condensation goes back into the soil through precipitation, like rain.

83.  The plant’s roots absorb the water through the leaves and roots.

84.  The leaves release water back into the biome to cycle all over again.

Student Reflection

Think about cycles within cycles. Why is the water cycle necessary for decomposition and human digestion?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Nouns to Verbs

·         Transportation > Transport

·         Precipitation > Precipitate

·         Evaporation> Evaporate

·         Condensation > Condense

Additional Information

Watch the “Biome in a Baggie” video (see Sources, below) for student instructions on how to make a biome in a baggie. Water is essential to life on Earth. In its three phases (liquid, gaseous, and frozen), water ties together the major parts of the Earth/climate system—air, clouds, ocean, lakes, vegetation, snowpack, and glaciers. It influences the intensity of climate variability and change. The water cycle significantly impacts our daily lives, the local and global ecosystems, and even economic systems.

“Show Me The Water” is a short video, derived from the Science on a Sphere film Water Falls, that explores how Earth’s freshwater resources are allocated and used: http://pmm.nasa.gov/education/videos/show-me-water.

Standards

NGSS

4.ESS.1 Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, or vegetation.

4.ESS2.2 Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

4.ESS3.2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

CCSS

RI.4.1 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations, or interactive elements) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Delaware River Basin Commission

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.stru.baggiezoom/biome-in-a-baggie/

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Scientific Visual Studio (SVS)

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Education Resources

Fourth Grade

Lesson 8

Cycles in Nature

Soil Composition

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Identify and describe the purpose of the two main components of soil.

·         Explain the origin and composition of loam.

·         Describe the visual and textural characteristics of various soil samples.

·         Test soil samples from the garden for their loam content.

Activity Preparation

Prepare the four soil samples. Print out the Soil Composition pie chart or draw it on the whiteboard. Set up materials for soil testing on each student table or group area.

Materials

·         Soil samples with gravel, sand, silt, and clay in four separate trays

·         Glass jars with lids (one for every three to four students)

·         Clear plastic containers (one for each group)

·         Shovels

·         Masking tape

·         Marker

·         Soil layer diagram

·         Watering cans

Activity 1: Understanding Soil

Review the four ingredients that plants need: sun, water, organic matter, and minerals.

Explain the two main materials that make up soil (the organic matter and minerals of a plant’s needs):

Abiotic components of soil are the minerals. Explain that gravel, sand, silt, and clay are all tiny rocks of various sizes. Rocks are broken down and eroded over thousands of years to become sand, silt, and clay.

Draw a pie chart on the whiteboard to illustrate that soil is 40% sand, 40% silt, and 20% clay. This is called “loam.”

Biotic components of soil are organic material (FBI). The organic material (plants and leaves) combine with water and air to keep the rocks together.

Display the four different soil samples in separate trays. Allow time for students to observe similarities and differences between the samples. Invite students to touch the contents and organize them in two groups: abiotic (minerals) or biotic (organic matter). Students observe characteristics that are different and similar between the samples.

Activity 2: Loam Tests

Divide students into four groups, according to the numbers below. Direct each group to a section of the garden where they can use shovels to dig one or two scoops of dirt into plastic containers. Regroup students and have each group use masking tape and markers to label their containers according to where in the garden they found the soil and their group name. One student from each group adds water to their container. Students in each group follow the same steps according to their number:

85.  Add sand, silt, and clay into separate jars.

86.  Add water to each jar.

87.  Close the lids on each jar tightly.

88.  Place masking tape on each jar and labels each one “sand,” “silt,” or “clay.”

Each student takes a turn shaking or mixing the container until the water is mixed in. Students observe what happens to the contents in the jar. Prompt them to look for the one contents that fall to the bottom of the container first. Group all of the soil samples from the class.

Ask, Which one of the soil samples (sand, silt, or clay) is closest to loam?

Student Reflection

What can we do to change the composition of our soil to make the perfect balance of sand, silt, and clay?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Verbs for Science

·         Observing soil samples

·         Analyzing soil samples

·         Comparing soil samples

·         Testing soil samples

Additional Information

Gardeners add sand or organic matter to bring the percentages closer to that of loam.

Standards

NGSS

4.ESS2.A Rainfall helps to shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move them around.

4.ESS2.1 Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

4.ESS3.2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

CCSS

4.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion (one on one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on Grade 4 topics and texts, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g. in charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations, or interactive elements) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Contributors

Erica Woll

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Nitty Gritty, Life Lab

Why Compost, Composting Across the Curriculum: A Teacher’s Guide to Composting, Marin County Office of Waste Management

Soil Composition Pie Chart

Fourth Grade

Lesson 9

Cycles in Nature

Soil Erosion

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Observe and document the results of erosion in several erosion demonstrations.

·         Compare the effects of various amounts of organic material on erosion.

·         Explain the importance of minimizing erosion.

Activity Preparation

Prepare three trays of soil: one with organic materials (sticks, roots, leaves, dead bugs, and other rotting plants); one with living organisms (worms, roly-polies, and centipedes), and one with various sizes of rocks (pebbles, sand, silt particles). Make sure that each tray has different amounts of organic materials (grasses and roots) so that the erosion experiment demonstrates water drainage and erosion with less and more organic material. 

Materials

·         Three trays of soil with varying amounts of organic matter

·         Journals and pencils

Activity 1: Observing Erosion

Review lesson 4.8, Soil Composition. Use soil sample trays to demonstrate how erosion occurs.

Ask, What are ways soil can erode?

Fun Facts:

·         The three main causes of erosion are wind, water, and glaciers (large masses of frozen water).

·         One inch of topsoil can be removed from land by erosion in one year.

·         Erosion is a problem because it takes 600 years or more for nature to create one inch of topsoil.

Prop the trays up on a slope so that students can observe water absorption and drainage. Demonstrate pouring water continuously and systematically over a tray. Students write in their journals what they think will happen.

Ask, Which hillside will experience the most severe erosion and why?

Select a different student to pour water in the same way over the next trays. Students observe the differences and explain what they observed and why in their journals.

Students pair-share ideas about why the tray with the most organic matter is not losing soil. Lift the plants to show them the roots that are wound around the soil, holding it in place.

Ask:

What would happen to our plants if all the topsoil washed away?

What can be done to stop erosion in our garden?

Activity 2: Preventing Erosion

Students turn over the compost pile to aerate and allow for drainage, prepare beds with mulch to retain water and heat, and plant seasonal seeds to reinforce soil with organic matter.

Student Reflection

What can be done to stop erosion on hills and fields nearby?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Would, Should, Could

·         If all the topsoil washed away, our plants would _____________.

·         To stop erosion on hills and fields nearby, we could _________________

·         To stop erosion in our garden, we should _____________________

Additional Information

When water, wind, and ice move rock, soil, or another material, it is called erosion. Erosion is the mover, and weathering is the breaker. Wind carries away loose bits of soil and rock, particularly in dry areas with no plants to cover and protect the land. Water can erode in several different ways. Flowing water carries soil and rock particles down streams and rivers into lakes and oceans. Ocean waves pounding the shore and ocean currents can also carry particles away. Finally, glaciers, massive, slow-moving rivers of ice, gouge the land beneath them and scrape away particles and rocks.

Conduct further investigations on erosion and have students research and journal about their predictions, findings, and what surprised them: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview?LPid=9862

Standards

NGSS

4.ESS2.1 Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

4.ESS2.2 Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

4.ESS3.2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

4.ESS3.B Natural Hazards. A variety of hazards result from natural processes. Humans cannot eliminate the hazards, but can take steps to reduce their impacts.

CCSS

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write and speak about the subject knowledgably.

Contributors

Ben Goff

Jezra Thompson

Sources

“Slip Sliding Way,” Utah Education Network

Fourth Grade

Lesson 10

Cycles in Nature

Mapping Your Watershed

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Make a map of their watershed.

·         Simulate the effect of residual pesticides on the watershed.

·         Explain the difference between permeable and impermeable land.

Activity Preparation

Distribute butcher paper, white card stock, and markers for each small student group.

Materials

·         Watershed map for demonstration

·         Large butcher paper, one sheet per group

·         Cardstock paper, one sheet per group

·         Permanent markers with multiple colors, one washable in a bright color and one in blue

·         Tape

·         Filled spray bottle or other water tool

Activity 1: What Is a Watershed?

Review lesson 4.9, Soil Erosion, to reiterate the importance of stable soil and the ability of water to move through land in different ways. Explain to students that everyone lives in a watershed. Watersheds include water that is above and underground and support habitats of all kinds. There are ten major creeks in Berkeley that make up the Berkeley watershed, including Wildcat Creek, Codornices Creek, Strawberry Creek, Derby Creek, and Hardwood/Temescal Creek.

Prompt students to think about their watershed at their school. Show students a watershed map created that indicate the location of above-ground and below ground water sources.

Watershed maps also indicate where the land is permeable (water seeps up through the surface) and where it is impermeable (water cannot seep up through the surface). Permeable spaces include soils and gravel. Impermeable land is covered with concrete, asphalt, and cement.

Ask:

·         Where are some permeable and impermeable surfaces around school?

·         How does water get through these permeable surfaces?

·         What happens to water if it can’t get through the surfaces?

Activity 2: Mapping Your Watershed

Explain that gardeners need to know where they can get their water from for their plants. Gardeners use maps to plan safe locations to grow food, where the water is of good quality, without pesticides, and far away from runoff that might pollute the water source.

Distribute paper and markers to student groups. Students work in small groups to draw a map of their watershed using paper and markers. Demonstrate that the paper represents the land and show how to note cardinal directions. Explain that students will draw permeable (allows water to seep through) and impermeable (doesn’t allow water to seep through) spaces found along our watershed. 

Guide students to follow these steps to create their own watershed map. (You could also do this with a whole class and ask a student to come up and add each step to the larger map.)

89.  Title the map and cardinal directions.

90.  Add a key at the bottom for roads, agriculture, mountains, forests, urban development, streams, and other waterways.

91.  Draw a grid that represents roads and streets.

92.  Add creeks and other bodies of water with the blue washable marker.

93.  Draw squares for land uses, including urban, agriculture, industry, etc.

94.  Place dots in the squares to represent natural and non-natural pesticides, including manure and Roundup.

95.  Use the marker colors to represent:

a.       Brown: Mountain areas

b.      Green: Agricultural areas

c.       Gray: Urban areas

96.  Add color in the agricultural areas with brightly colored washable markers.

97.  Add lines across each urban and industrial squares to signify spaces where water cannot be absorbed.

98.  Crumple up the paper to represent varying topographies.

99.  Tape their paper to a wall or vertical area.

100.                     Use the spray bottle to lightly mist the paper to represent rain.

101.                     The brightly colored markers represent pesticide residuals that run into waterways.

Students share what they observed when the “rain” fell on their land (permeable and impermeable).

Ask, What are other types of contaminates that get into watersheds, and how do they get there?

Prompt students to recall the types of living organisms that live in watersheds. Students share what they think might happen to organisms that live in these watersheds when pesticides end up there. Students journal what they learned about watersheds.

Student Reflection

What happens to pesticides and other contaminates in urban areas when they get washed into the watersheds?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Prepositions for Water

·         Permeable land allows water to seep through to the surface.

·         Impermeable land blocks water so it cannot seep through to the surface.

·         Contaminated water runs into waterways.

·         Contaminate water washes into waterways.

Additional Information

You can access a watershed map of Oakland and Berkeley to demonstrate to students here: https://www.museumca.org/creeks/MapOak.html.

Standards

NGSS

4.ESS2.A Rainfall helps to shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move them around.

4.ESS2.1 Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

4.ESS2.2 Analyze and interpret data from maps to describe patterns of Earth’s features.

4.ESS3.2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

CCSS

4.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion (one on one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on Grade 4 topics and texts, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g. in charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations, or interactive elements) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Contributors

Erica Woll

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Explore Your Watershed, Rangers in the Classroom, National Park Service

Examples of Mapping Watersheds

Fourth Grade

Lesson 11

Interdependence

Mutualism

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Explain mutualism and mutualistic relationships between plants and animals.

·         Match mutualistic animals and plants using a worksheet.

·         Hypothesize about the effect of extinction on mutualistic relationships.

Activity Preparation

Print out a Mix and Match Mutualism worksheet for every student.

Materials

·         Flowers and animal pictures or samples

·         Diagram of plant parts and flower parts

·         Mix and Match Mutualism worksheet

Activity 1: Matching Mutualistic Relationships

Mutualism is when two organisms of different species (a plant and an animal) exist in a relationship where each individual benefits. The behavior of the species benefits the other species and vice-versa. Explain that plant-animal mutualistic relationships are believed to be partly responsible for the large diversity of flowering plant species that showed up 90–130 million years ago. For example, approximately 750 species of fig tree are pollinated by approximately 750 species of fig wasps. Distribute the worksheet to each student. Instruct them to fill in the missing information in order to match mutualistic species and plants.

Student Reflection

How is a mutualistic relationship affected if one of the pair goes extinct?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Nouns to Adjectives

·         Mutualism

·         Mutualistic

Additional Information

An extreme form of mutualism, called an obligate mutualism, occurs when the interdependence between a plant and a pollinator is so specific that no other organism can take its place. In this case, one specific pollinator is required to pollinate one specific plant, and that pollinator needs that specific plant in turn. This is the most precarious kind of mutualism, because if one partner becomes extinct the other can’t survive and goes extinct.

An example of an obligate mutualism is the yucca plant and the yucca moth. The yucca plant is dependent on the yucca moth to pollinate its seeds. The yucca moth larvae cannot survive without yucca seeds to eat. The system works because the larvae eat only some—not all—of the seeds.

Standards

NGSS

4.ESS2.1 Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation.

4.ESS3.2 Generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of natural Earth processes on humans.

CCSS

RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Honey Bee Suite

North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC)

Mix and Match Mutualism Worksheet

Name: _______________________________ Classroom Teacher: _______________________________

Instructions: Fill in the blanks to match the plant with the organism. Describe how they are mutualistic (help each other out).

Fourth Grade

Lesson 12

Interdependence

Insects in the Garden

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Name several insects and their basic anatomy.

·         Explain the influence insects have on a healthy garden.

·         Conduct an investigation to solve a common garden problem.

Activity Preparation

Print out a How Do Insects Benefit The Garden worksheet for each student pair.

Materials

·         Diagram of insects

·         How Do Insects Benefit The Garden worksheets

Activity 1: Describing Insects

Explain that entomology is the study of insects and bugs. Entomologists study bees, ants, beetles, termites, and mosquitoes as well as related animals (known as arthropods), such as spiders and scorpions. Review common traits of insects:

·         All insects have six legs, three body sections (head, thorax, abdomen), and usually two pairs of wings.

·         Insects include flies, mosquitoes, bees, crickets, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies, and many others.

·         Spiders, ticks, and centipedes are not insects. One feature that sets them apart from insects is the fact that they have more than six legs.

Present the anatomy of insects as compared to that of humans using the diagram below. Prompt students to identify the following body parts as you point them out on the diagram, overhead projector, or whiteboard drawing:

·         Six legs

·         Three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen)

·         Hard exoskeleton

·         Compound eyes

·         Antennae

·         Two pairs of wings

Review behaviors of insects that allow them to survive in their environment:

·         Insects can be herbivores (eat only plants) or carnivores (each only meat).

·         Some insects are pests to humans: mosquitoes feed on mammalian blood, aphids and scale insects infest our gardens, and wasps produce a nasty sting.

·         Most insects are beneficial: bees, beetles, and butterflies pollinate our gardens and crops, making possible such foods as chocolate, nuts, and most fruits.

·         Some insects are decomposers, helping to break down dead material. Other insects, like ladybugs and praying mantises, feed on pest insects.

Ask, Can you think of a problem or benefit in the garden that involves insects?

Activity 2: How Do Insects Benefit the Garden?

Explain that since we know some insects are beneficial and others are pests, we need to be aware of how insects are affecting our garden. There may be too few insects, because there are not enough flowers turning into fruits (lack of pollination), or a lot of mosquitos biting kids (too much standing water where mosquito larvae hatch).

Distribute worksheets to student pairs. Students identify a problem they would like to solve. Prompt them to work in pairs to propose a hypothesis for how the problem could be solved and create an experiment to test their hypothesis. For example: the problem is that we have mosquitos that bite kids. The solution is that mosquitos can be avoided by removing standing water. The experiment is removing standing water from one section of the garden and not from another and then comparing which section has more mosquitos over time.

Revisit this worksheet with students in the following weeks so they can observe their experiments and record their final observations (what happened, what worked, what didn’t work, how they could do it better).

Student Reflection

Why is it important to try to solve problems in the garden using hypotheses and experiments?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Conditional Statements

·         If there are not enough flowers in the garden, then ________________.

·         If there are too many mosquitos in the garden, then __________________.

Standards

NGSS

4.LS1.1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

4.LS1.2 Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways. Emphasis is on systems of information transfer.

LS1.A. Structure and Function. Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

CCSS

RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Dr. Toby Schuh, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History

Honey Bee Suite

North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC)

Anatomy Diagram

How Do Insects Benefit the Garden?

Name: __________________________________ Classroom Teacher: _______________________________

Definitions:

Identify the Problem: A situation that is bad for the garden.

Create a Hypothesis: A proposed answer to how to solve the problem.

Conduct an Experiment: The act of conducting a controlled test or investigation to test the proposed answer to the question

Make Predictions: Best guesses for what will happen during the experiment.

Problem: _____________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hypothesis:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Experiment: _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Predictions: _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Final Observations:_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fourth Grade

Lesson 13

Plant Biology

Classification of Plants

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Explain the concept of plant families using potatoes and/or wildflowers as examples.

·         Prepare potatoes for growing slips.

·         Prepare potato slips for planting in the garden.

Activity Preparation

Write the classification of plants on the board.

Materials

·         Photo or samples of roses, potentillas, and morning glories

·         Plant Family chart from Lesson 4.13

·         Toothpicks

·         Shallow bowls for harvesting slips

·         Bowls of water

Activity 1: Tracing Plant Families

Review that botanists group seeds/plants into groups called plant families. “Family” is an official botanical classification that is important to gardeners. These plant families share features and characteristics. In botany, the word “family” has a definite meaning that extends beyond what flowers and plants may look alike. Looks are not always the common denominator, just like in your own family. Show and discuss examples; below are two prominent wildflower families represented in North America:

Acanthus family (Acanthaceae): These wildflowers are similar to the snapdragon family but are distinguished by having seeds attached to a two-cavity capsule. Many of the species of this family can be found in rich, moist woods. The Midwestern native wild petunia is a famous member of the Acanthus family.

Amaranth family (Amaranthaceae): A weedy family with inconspicuous flowers made up of 71 genera and about 800 species, mostly herbs. “Amarantos” is a Greek word meaning “unfading,” referring to the fact that if moistened with water, many of the species in this family will revive. Most members of this family have a sort of plumed flower cluster. Garden cockscomb is a showy member, and one of the world’s most common weeds, pigweed, is an amaranth.

Activity 2: Growing Potato (Convolvulaceae) Slips

Sweet potatoes and morning glories are examples of flowers within the Convolvulaceae family, mainly recognizable for their colorful funnel shape. Other members of the family grow like vines, tree, or shrubs. The roots are usually fibrous and sometimes form rootstalks or tubers, such as the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).

Explain that slips are small sprouts that are grown from pre-existing sweet potatoes. Guide students through these steps to root a potato slip for planting during the next lesson.

102.                     Choose 1–2 mature, healthy sweet potatoes.

103.                     Wash them well in the sink.

104.                     Cut the potatoes in half. If they are particularly large, consider cutting them into thirds or fourths.

105.                     Stick 4–5 toothpicks out of the sides of your potato, equidistant and near the middle, like spokes on a wheel.

106.                     Fill a jar with water. 

107.                     Place the potato in the jar with the cut side down, balancing the toothpicks on the edge of the jar, so that half of the potato is submerged in the water.

108.                     Follow the same steps for each potato piece.

109.                     Move the jar with the potato onto a windowsill that gets a lot of sunlight.

110.                     Allow 2–4 weeks for the small, leafy slips to begin sprouting out of the top of the potato.

Student Reflection

How is your family like a plant family?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Collective Nouns

·         __________ are members of the __________ family.

·         __________ belongs to the __________ family.

Additional Information

Plants are classified in several different ways. The further away from the garden we get, the more the name indicates a plant’s relationship to other plants. Usually, only the family, genus, and species names are of concern to the gardener, but we sometimes include subspecies, variety, or cultivar to identify a particular plant.

Standards

NGSS

LS1.A Structure and Function. Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

CCSS

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g. charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations, or interactive elements) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Getting to Know Plant Families, Eat Think Grow, Portland Partners for School Food and Garden Education

Plants (Botany), Teacher Vision

Fourth Grade

Lesson 14

Plant Biology

Plant Families

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Describe various features and characteristics of plants and group them into families.

·         Plant sweet potato slips directly in the garden.

Activity Preparation

Prepare the whiteboard with a list of the plant families below and create seed cards for each family (you can create seed cards with students instead).

Materials

·         Two to three seed cards from each family featured

·         Making Seed Cards

a.       Heavy paper stock for seed cards

b.      Scissors and glue

c.       Markers and tape

d.      Colored pencils

·         Plant Family chart

·         Several sweet potatoes

a.       Several glass jars large enough to fit a potato.

b.      Toothpicks

·         Shallow bowls for harvesting slips

·         Sweet potato sprouts (You can order these online or from a garden center, but students can also grow their own.)

Activity 1: Matching Seeds to their Plant Families

Review lesson 4.13, Classification of Plants, and how botanists group seeds and plants into groups they call “plant families.” Present the plant family chart below and discuss the characteristics of the plants in each family. Distribute two to three seed cards to pairs of students. Students compare and contrast the seeds/plants according to color, shape, size, and other features they notice. Students move around to match each seed/plant with other members of its family. When a proper match has been made, help students attach their seed cards on the appropriate place on the chart.

Activity 2: Plant Sweet Potato Slips

Distribute the sweet potato slips students made during the last lesson, 4.13. Explain that once the top of the potato pieces are covered in slips, students will carefully twist each one off individually. The slips won’t have roots yet and will resemble small leaves with a short stem. Guide students through the following steps to harvest the potato slips:

111.                     Put your slips in water. 

112.                     Fill a shallow bowl with a bit of water, around one inch or less depending on the number of slips you have.

113.                     Set the slips in the bowl so that the stems are submerged in the water.

114.                     Let them stand for several days, until roots have formed from the bottom.

115.                     Add fresh water once a day or so to keep the slips healthy until they develop roots at the bottom. If any of the slips are not forming roots or begin to wilt, throw them out.

116.                     Plant the roots directly in the garden.

Student Reflection

What family does your favorite vegetable belong to?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Collective Nouns

·         X are members of the X family.

·         X belongs to the X family.

Standards

NGSS

4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

4-ESS1-1Patterns can be used as evidence to support and explanation.

CCSS

RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, timelines, animations, or interactive elements on the Web) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Variations in Families/Populations of Plants, The Science Behind Our Food.

Plant Family Chart

Name: _____________________________________ Classroom Teacher: ________________________________

Instructions: Study the seed cards you have been given.  List the features and characteristics you observe or have learned about each seed.

Fourth Grade

Lesson 15

Nutrition

Whole or Processed

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Compare processed and unprocessed foods based on nutritional value.

·         Analyze nutritional facts labels.

·         Graph the nutritional content of processed and unprocessed foods.

Activity Preparation

Print out worksheets for small groups or individual students.

Materials

·         Samples of processed food containers, such as soup cans

·         Nutrition Label worksheet

Activity 1: Comparing Processed and Unprocessed Foods

Describe the difference between whole and processed foods. For example, an apple, an orange, and a tomato are considered whole, natural, or fresh foods because they are unprocessed. The apple pie, orange soda, and tomato soup are processed foods because they contain one or more plant foods that are treated by a chemical or industrial process, such as drying, cooking, canning, and freezing.

Distribute nutrition facts labels on the processed food samples to student pairs. Review how to read the labels, including energy, total fat, sodium, and carbohydrates. Explain that carbohydrates and fat are measured in grams and sodium is measured in milligrams. Point out that calories are the unit for measuring energy in foods. A calorie is a unit of energy. Our bodies need energy to survive, and plants produce energy from the sun. Different nutrients provide different amounts of energy.

A gram:

·         Of fat has 9 calories

·         Of carbohydrates has 4 calories

·         Of protein has 4 calories

Ask, Which foods have the highest amount of calories, fat, carbohydrates, sugar, and sodium?

Activity 2: Graphing Nutrients

Review the amount of nutrients per serving. Ask the following questions and assign a student recorder to fill in the class predictions using the Whole or Processed worksheet.

Group students into groups of four and distribute the worksheets (one per group). Each group assigns a role for the team members: Material Coordinator, Teamwork Facilitator, Data recorder and Safety Coordinator. Students use the food labels to complete the worksheets. Student pairs compare one serving size of whole and processed foods.

Students use the information from their completed worksheets to create a bar graph to represent and compare the amount of calories, fat, sodium, and sugar in each of the two food items.

Regroup students. Students report the amount of nutrients they would consume if they ate the whole package.

Ask, How does this compare to the recommended daily amount of each nutrient?

Student Reflection

What will you notice about the foods you choose the next time you’re at the market?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Measurements

·         Grams

·         Milligrams

·         Servings

·         Calories

Standards

CCSS

4.MD.A.1 Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr., min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table.

RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Health

1.1.N Identify and define key nutrients and their functions.

1.2.N State the recommended number of servings and serving sizes for different food groups.

2.2.N Analyze advertising and marketing techniques used for food and beverages.

3.2.N Use food labels to determine nutrient and sugar content.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

California Department of Public Health, Network for a Healthy California, 2010.

Linking Science and Nutrition, Tips, Lessons, and Resources for Integrating Instruction.

Whole or Processed

Class predictions and results

Data summary

Investigate Whole and Processed Foods

Name of Team: _____________________________________________________

Instructions: Every team member should have an assignment, and there may be more than one student assigned to one role. Fill in the names of each team leader and answer the questions.

Material Coordinator: _________________________________________________________

Teamwork Facilitator: _________________________________________________________

Data Recorder: _______________________________________________________________

Safety Coordinator: ___________________________________________________________

Read the food fact labels distributed to your group. Record the data from the food label for the two food items you are investigating.

117.                      Which food is whole? _______________________________________________________________

118.                      Which food is processed? _______________________________________________________________

119.                      Which food has more calories? _______________________________________________________________

120.                      Which has more total fat?  _______________________________________________________________

121.                      Which has more sodium?  _______________________________________________________________

122.                      How does processing change the whole food you investigated?
_______________________________________________________________

123.                      Which group (whole or processed) does the team think is healthier?
_______________________________________________________________

Fourth Grade

Lesson 16

Nutrition

Making Healthy Choices

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Make a kale salad using kale from the garden.

·         Compare suggested serving amounts for fruits and vegetables.

·         Identify vitamins, minerals, and fiber content associated with different groups of fruits and vegetables.

Activity Preparation

Prepare a chart that illustrates the natural sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber (see below).

Materials

·         Nutritional chart

·         Kale from the garden (have students pick the kale during the lesson or prior lessons)

·         Bowls for tasting and mixing

·         Lemon, oil, and vinegar or soy sauce for light salad dressing

·         Additional options: seeds, dried fruits, nuts

Activity 1: Making Healthy Choices

Explain that fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of healthy nutrients: vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and cholesterol. Present the chart below to illustrate the nutrients found in common fruits and vegetables.

Ask,How many fruits and vegetables should we eat each day?

·         5–8-year-olds: 1½ cups vegetables and 1½ cups fruits (3 medium fruits).

·         8–11-year-olds: 2 cups vegetables and 1½ cups fruits.

Show students the equivalent amounts using the samples you’ve prepared. For example, one cup is equal to one small apple, eight strawberries, 12 baby carrots, or one cup of cooked greens. A half-cup of fruits/vegetables is equal to one small box of raisins, half a grapefruit, or one large plum.

Activity 2: Making a Kale Salad

One way to ensure that we get the nutrients we need is to eat the colors of the rainbow every day. Prompt students to use the nutritional chart to find out what vitamins are in kale.

Ask, What are other reasons that it’s good to eat kale?

Show students the ingredients in kale salad. Have them pick the kale from the garden and wash the leaves off. Distribute kale and small bowls. Prompt students to rip the kale leaves and massage them until the color is dark and the leaves are soft. Help students make and add salad dressing.

Student Reflection

What are other vegetables we could use to make a healthy salad?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Cause and Effect

·         ____________ is important to eat because ____________.

Additional Information

The shorter the distance your food travels from farm to your plate, the less time the produce has to lose nutrients and flavor. Buying locally also supports the community and means that less gasoline was used in transportation.

Standards

CCSS

RI.4.9 Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgably.

Health

4.1.N Demonstrate effective communication skills to ask for healthy food choices.

6.1.N Make a plan to choose healthy foods and beverages.

7.1.N Practice how to take personal responsibility for eating healthy foods.

7.2.N Practice how to take personal responsibility for limiting sugar consumption in foods, snacks, and beverages.

7.3.N Identify ways to establish and maintain healthy eating practices consistent with current research-based guidelines for a nutritionally balanced diet.

8.1.N Support others in making positive food and physical activity choices.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

California Department of Public Health, Network for a Healthy California.

Linking Science and Nutrition. Tips, Lessons, and Resources for Integrated Instruction.

Nutrition Chart

Fourth Grade

Lesson 17

Celebration/Reflection

Garden Reflections

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Reflect on themes and concepts they learned in the garden this year.

·         Identify the most important concept they would like to share with others.

·         Write and/or draw to communicate their ideas.

Materials

·         Journals and pencils

·         Select visual aids from past lessons

·         Poster making materials for each small student group

Activity 1: Sharing What We Learned about the Garden

Distribute student journals and display any projects or posters made throughout the year. Students review their journals and other materials that were used and take a quick tour of the garden to reflect.

Distribute poster making materials to student groups. Prompt students to think about what they are most grateful for in the garden. Direct them to make a poster, write a letter or speech, or create a diagram to explain the concept they most want to share with others. If writing thank you cards or letters, prompt them to think about whom their letters and speeches are addressed to: their families, teachers, donors, etc.

Student Reflection

What is the most important thing you learned this semester—so important that you want other people to know?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Modals

·         People should know that__________.

·         People need to know that __________.

·         People ought to know that __________.

·         People must know that __________.

Additional Information

The results from this lesson can be used to make thank-you cards to supporters, funders, and donors who have supported garden-based learning throughout the year. Include a fun activity that allows students to make a snack together, such as smoothies using a bike blender, or making pizzas if you have a pizza oven.

Standards

CCSS

W.4.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgably.

W.4.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Berkeley Unified School District Gardening and Cooking Program

Fifth Grade

Lesson 1

Garden Community

Welcome to the Garden

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Explain the rules, practices, and guidelines for working in the garden.

·         Hypothesize about themes and topics related to the garden program.

·         Pose 2–3 questions they hope to answer during the year.

Activity Preparation

Write the 3 Be’s on the whiteboard.

Materials

·         Sample garden tools

·         3 Be’s

·         Construction paper, colored and white (at least 36 sheets per student)

·         Stapler

·         Drawing and writing materials

Activity 1: Welcome to the Garden

Explain that behavior expectations in the garden are the same as in the classroom. Review the 3 Be’s.

Ask:

·         How can we interpret the classroom Be’s into garden Be’s?

·         How will you practice the 3 Be’s in the classroom, garden, and cafeteria?

Introduce key elements of the garden with a garden tour, focusing on tools and safety.

Activity 2: Making Journals

Distribute construction paper and white lined paper to demonstrate how to make a garden journal:

1.      Layer sheets one on top of the other.

2.      Fold down the middle lengthwise.

3.      Staple the middle where the fold is.

4.      Hand out drawing materials to have students write their name and classroom number on the front.

Activity 3: What Is a Garden?

Students create their first journal entry. Prompt students to answer one or two of the questions:

·         What’s the difference between soil and dirt?

·         What does safe drinking water have to do with gardens?

·         People get their food from plants. How do plants get their food?

·         Why do animals need plants? Why do plants need animals?

·         What’s the connection between gardens, farms, and grocery stores?

·         What does healthy eating have to do with gardens?

Student Reflection

What are you most interested in learning about in the garden this year?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Asking Questions

·         Who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Addition Information

Prompt students to revisit this first journal entry at the end of the year. Ask them the same questions at the last lesson and invite them to compare their answers to see if there is any change in response, expectations, or assumptions.

Standards

CCSS

W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

Health

5.1.P Use a decision-making process to determine personal choices that promote personal, environmental, and community health.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Students Learning Through Urban Gardening (SLUG)

Fifth Grade

Lesson 2

Plant Biology

What Role Will I Play?

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Discuss “The Gardener,” by Sarah Stewart (or a similar book).

·         Describe and compare the roles of a gardener.

·         Identify students’ responsibilities in the garden.

·         Make a plan for how for how to carry out students’ responsibilities.

Activity Preparation

Prepare the whiteboard outlining the roles and responsibilities required for the garden throughout the year. List tasks for each responsibility. Highlight sections in the book, “The Gardener,” that you would like students to read during group reading and discussion.

Materials

·         Journals and pencils

Activity 1: Reviewing Roles and Responsibilities of a Gardener

Lead a garden tour with students, asking them to identify plants and characteristics of the different plots. Lead a reading and discussion of “The Gardener” with students. Allow students to compare roles a gardener plays in the garden.

Ask, What did you learn about garden responsibility in your garden tour and after reading “The Gardener?”

Activity 2: Writing Out Garden Roles and Responsibilities

Present the five main responsibilities and call on students to share the tasks involved in each one. Explain that each responsibility involves several steps and will need to be completed according to seasonality. Students make a commitment to take on a responsibility as an individual, pair, or small group.

Ask, Is there a responsibility or task that you think is important that is not on the whiteboard?

Students write in their journals what they will do in the garden, their responsibility, each task, the schedule and timing for each task, and who will be involved. Students pair-share their responsibility and what they are looking forward to doing most.

Activity 3: Getting the Garden Started

Assist students as they prepare garden beds for planting: turning soil, collecting items for compost, and/or adding ripe compost to the beds. Demonstrate how to plant a plant start with the roots down in the earth, such as tomatoes or cucumbers. Help students plant starts. As they work, prompt students to consider how each plant part uses the sun, soil, water, and air.

Student Reflection

If you were going to a store that sells supplies for a gardener, what would you buy?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Noun and Verb Form

·         In the garden, I am responsible for _________.

·         In the garden my responsibility is _____________.

Additional Information

Another book that connects to garden roles is “Just a Dream,” by Chris Van Allsburg. After reading this book with students, you can use the following questions to prompt discussions:

·         What is an environmentalist?

·         Is Lydia Grace an environmentalist?

·         Is she a philanthropist?

·         How did Walter use his talent for the common good? (What is the common good?)

Standards

NGSS

LS2.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion with diverse partners on Grade 5 topics and texts, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

CCSS

RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Clare Friend, Curriculum Consultant, Learning to Give

Fifth Grade

Lesson 3

Plant Biology

Flowering Seeds: Winnowing

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Explain the reason for winnowing.

·         Compare methods of winnowing.

·         Experiment with two winnowing methods.

Activity Preparation

Collect samples of seeding flowers from the garden. Prepare stations for winnowing.

Materials

·         Sieve, screens, or strainers

·         Metal bowls

·         Small containers (paper boats used in the cafeteria work well)

·         Sheets of newspaper

·         Cloth sacks

·         Wooden boards

Activity 1: Why Winnowing?

Show students a plant with the seeds and the flower intact. Review flower anatomy in lesson 4.4, Dissecting Flowers. Discuss a brief history of seed saving in farming:

·         European settlers and Native Americans established an important agriculture seed saving base.

·         The wealthy formed agriculture societies to save and trade seeds during the colonial era.

·         The society of the treasury initiated a seed saving program in the early 1800s.

·         The USDA established a budget for collecting and distributing seeds to farmers across the country in 1862.

·         Today, roughly 10 top companies control 65% of the seed property.

Activity 2: Methods for Winnowing

Review the different travel modes of seeds from lesson 2.2, Seed Travel. Explain that winnowing is the process of separating the seeds (the grain) from the flower (the chaff). Demonstrate techniques for winnowing different seeds from flowers found in the garden. Discuss the different methods for winnowing seeds, prompting students to share different ways they think the chaff could be removed from the seed.

5.      Threshing: Perhaps the most common method. Place seed pods in a pillowcase or cloth sack and thrash (“thresh”) it against a hard surface to break the seeds from their coverings.

6.      Apply gentle pressure to crack open the pods with boards.  Take care not to press so hard you split the seeds.

7.      Separate dirt from seeds with screens or strainers: Screens with meshes of varying sizes provide a quick way to separate debris from seeds. A single screen is a vast improvement over hand picking. Screens work especially well for seeds (such as lettuce) that do not have pods. A set of graduated screens will cut out about 80% of the hand work. You can build screens yourself or order seed cleaning screens from sources like Horizon Herbs.

8.      Wind power: Outside on a breezy day, drop seeds from one container into another and let the wind blow away the unwanted chaff. Use your breath to slightly blow on the seeds at an angle to separate them from the chaff. This method works particularly well for amaranth.

9.      Gravity: This works well for round seeds. Use gravity to help roll seeds down a newspaper into a container. The heavier seeds roll down, while the chaff remains behind.

Once the grain has been separated it can be milled into flour, which is used to make bread.

Activity 3: Practice Winnowing

Demonstrate how to collect flowers that are seeding in the garden. Students work in small groups to practice winnowing flowers using two of the methods discussed for amaranth, hollyhock, wheat, and/or cosmos. Students compare how the chaff of seeds from different plants is different and pair-share with their small groups or journal entry.

Student Reflection

What are the benefits of saving seeds?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Phrasal Verbs

·         Separate from

·         Blow away

·         Roll down

·         Blow on

·         Crack open

Standards

NGSS

5.LS1.A Structure and Function. Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

5.LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants.

5.ESS3.1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

CCSS

5.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion with diverse partners on Grade 5 topics and texts, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Contributors

Daria Wrubel

Elena Garcia

Jezra Thompson

Rachel Harris

Sources

History of US Seed Development and Patent Regimes, Center for Food Safety

Northwest Farm and Food

Fifth Grade

Lesson 4

Nutrient Cycles

Nitrogen Cycle

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Explain the importance of nitrogen.

·         Illustrate and label the nitrogen cycle.

·         Illustrate and label nitrogen nodules.

Activity Preparation

Draw the nitrogen cycle diagram on the whiteboard.

Materials

·         Butcher paper for each student group to examine soil

·         Perfect compost pile pyramid

·         Fava beans or other legumes with nodules on their roots.

·         Thermometer

Activity 1: Carbon and Nitrogen in Compost

Review the perfect compost pile by showing students the compost bin and reviewing the layers of the compost for decomposition and the importance of nitrogen from lesson 3.4, Introducing Nitrogen. Present the nitrogen cycle diagram below. Explain that nitrogen is essential for plant growth. To absorb nitrogen, a plant must form a mutual relationship (also called a symbiotic relationship) with bacteria in the soil called “nitrogen-fixing bacteria.” This relationship is good for the plant, good for the bacteria, and good for our garden.

There is plenty of nitrogen in the world, although most of it is in a gas form. These types of plants rely on gardeners to add nitrogen through healthy compost and soil. Adding nitrogen through chemical assistance, such as manure, blood, and fertilizers, can be damaging to the watershed.

There are only a few plants (legumes) that are able to draw the nitrogen gas from the air and store it in their roots, with the help of bacteria. An environmentally friendly approach to adding nitrogen is to plant a winter crop of legumes or alfalfa that naturally will add nitrogen to the soil. As these plants decompose, they will raise the total nitrogen in the soil and will make it available for plants that are unable to get nitrogen from the air (gas form).

Activity 2: Observing Nitrogen Nodules

Show students a legume plant with nodules on its roots. Explain that when a plant stores nitrogen in its roots, it produces a lump on the root called a nitrogen nodule; this is where bacteria is stored. These nodules are harmless to the plant and very beneficial to your garden.

Assign a student to take the temperature of the compost every week and compare rising heat levels.

Ask, How do legumes in our garden affect rising heat levels in our compost or soil?

Student Reflection

How can too much nitrogen damage our garden and our environment?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Language of the Nitrogen Cycle

·         Bacteria

·         Nodules

·         Nitrogen

·         Mutual or symbiotic relationship

·         Legumes

Additional Information

Composting breaks the paper down into small particles of organic matter that return essential nutrients back into the ecosystem. Compost heats up when legumes turn the nitrogen gas into a solid. Plants and soil absorb less than half of the nitrogen added to them. Too much nitrogen can create additional heat trapping gasses, which goes into our air and water.

Standards

NGSS

5.LS1.A Structure and Function-Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

5.LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants.

5.ESS3.1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

CCSS

W.5.7 Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Contributors

Elena Garcia

Jezra Thompson

Rachel Harris

Sources

“Closing the Loop,” California Academy of Sciences

What a Waste: K–6 Waste Management Education Curriculum, Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance:

The Climate Friendly Gardener, Union of Concerned Scientists

Nitrogen Cycle Diagram

Fifth Grade

Lesson 5

Nutrient Cycles

The Carbon:Nitrogen Ratio

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Review the components of a compost pile.

·         Explain the importance of the C:N ratio for creating rich compost.

·         Analyze organic material for content, temperature, and weight.

·         Gather organic materials to create and/or add to the compost.

Activity Preparation

Write the different C:N ratios for healthy compost piles on the whiteboard. Draw the perfect compost pile pyramid on the whiteboard.

Materials

·         Butcher paper for student groups examining soil

·         Compost pile pyramid

·         Scale for weighing compost materials

·         Thermometer for taking the temperature of each compost pile

·         Journals and pencils

Activity 1: Carbon and Nitrogen in Compost

Review Lesson 5.4, Nitrogen Cycle, and the components of a compost pile, the role of fungus, bacteria, and invertebrates (FBI), and clarify the difference between organic and nonorganic materials in breaking down compost layers. Show students the compost pile and review the brief outline:

·         Organic materials will decompose more efficiently if the compost pile is made with the proper balance between carbon-rich and nitrogen-rich materials.

·         Carbon and nitrogen provide the necessary environments for microorganisms (FBI) to live.

·         Generally, carbon-rich materials are brown, although we can find carbon in many colored organic materials.

·         Generally, nitrogen-rich materials are green, but there is nitrogen in many kinds of organic material. Red meat, for example, is rich in nitrogen. Brown walnuts are rich in nitrogen, too.

·         Browns (carbon) can be identified as dry and greens (nitrogen) as fresh and moist.

·         The balance between these two types of materials is referred to as the carbon:nitrogen ratio and shown as C:N. The ideal C:N ratio is around 25 to 30 parts carbon to one part nitrogen, or 25–30:1.

Ask, Why do we need to include nitrogen-rich materials in the compost?

The correct mix of carbon and nitrogen is needed to create an ideal environment with the right amount of heat and rot to produce compost. This ratio describes the chemical composition of a material and does not mean that you need a volume of brown materials that is thirty times greater than the amount of green matter.

Ask, What do you think will happen if there is too much carbon or too much nitrogen?

(If the C:N ratio is too high (excess carbon), decomposition slows down. If the C:N ratio is too low (excess nitrogen), you will end up with a stinky pile.)

Activity 2: Compost and Soil Examination

Students collect compostable materials in two groups (browns and greens) and add them in layers to the garden compost pile. Demonstrate how to take the temperature of a compost pile using a thermometer. Guide them in taking the temperature of each collection before adding it to the compost pile.

Ask, What does it mean for the C:N ratio when the heat rises or falls?

Student Reflection

How does maintaining a healthy compost pile reduce the use of fertilizers and other chemicals?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Prepositions

·         Ratio of C:N means the ratio amounts of C to N.

Additional Information

Microorganisms that digest compost need about 30 parts of carbon for every part of nitrogen they consume. If there’s too much nitrogen, the microorganisms can’t use it all, and the excess is lost in the form of smelly ammonia gas. Nitrogen loss due to excess nitrogen in the pile (a low C:N ratio) can be over 60%. At a C:N ratio of 30 or 35 to 1, only one half of 1% of the nitrogen will be lost. That’s why you don’t want too much nitrogen (fresh manure, for example) in your compost.

Most fresh plant material contains 40% carbon. The C:N ratio varies because of differences in nitrogen content, not carbon content. (Note: dry materials are generally in the range of 40% to 50% carbon, and sloppy, wet materials are generally 10% to 20% carbon. Therefore, the most important factor in estimating the C:N ratio of plant or food waste is how much water is present).

An example of a compost thermometer is the Mantis 201101 Compost Bin Thermometer, which you can purchase online, at garden stores, or use a large meat thermometer.

Standards

NGSS

LS2.B Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems. Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. Organisms obtain gases, and water from the environment and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back in the environment.

CCSS

MP.4 Model with mathematics.

5.NF.B.7 Apply and extend previous understandings of division to divide unit fractions by whole numbers and whole numbers by unit fractions.

W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection , and research.

MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Rachel Harris

Sources

Cornell Composting, by Tom Richard at Cornell Cooperative Extension. Cornell Waste Management Institute, Cornell University.

Home Composting Made Easy

Perfect Compost Pile Pyramid

Fifth Grade

Lesson 6

Nutrient Cycles

Botany on Your Plate

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Name and explain the functions of the parts of a plant.

·         Demonstrate how the garden produces the food they eat by gathering and assembling the ingredients for a burrito from the garden.

Activity Preparation

Draw the six plant parts on the whiteboard or prepare a laminated diagram that is large enough to show a full class (this is helpful preparation for future lessons and will save on time). Gather the plant parts from all six categories and prepare them in bowls (this can also be done as part of the activity). Boil beans and sauté leafy green stems. Prepare tortillas to wrap the plant part ingredients in.

Materials

·         Edible plant parts from each category: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds

o   Lettuce leaf (Leaves), shredded carrots (Roots), chopped celery or sautéed leafy green stems (Stems), basil and fennel flowers (Flowers), chopped tomatoes (Fruit), and hummus or sunflower butter or beans (Seeds).

·         Knives and chopping boards for students

·         Collecting and mixing bowls

Activity 1: Reviewing Plant Parts and Their Functions

Review lesson 4.4, Dissecting Flowers. Show students a plant with all six parts: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds (bonus if it is a legume with nitrogen nodules). Students share descriptions of the parts of the plants. Students answer each question as a group or in their journals.

Ask, What are other traits that  roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds have?

Activity 2: Harvesting Plant Parts for Burritos

Students pair up to receive harvest containers/bowls and harvest produce according to the four groups below. Harvest groups:

10.  Green leaves from lettuces

11.  Edible flowers

12.  Carrots

13.  Fruits

Students regroup. Set up the garden burrito ingredients like an assembly line. Demonstrate how to make garden burritos with the items they harvested and the items you had prepared:  begin with a lettuce leaf (Leaves), fill the leaf with shredded carrots (Roots), chopped celery or sautéed leafy green stems (Stems), basil and fennel flowers (Flowers), chopped tomatoes (Fruit), and hummus or sunflower butter (Seeds).

Ask:

·         What did you pick and why?

·         What’s one nutritional value or each?

Activity 3: Planting for Next Season

It’s not quite time to start warm-weather seeds outside, but it’s time to start seeds in the greenhouse for plants that like to grow in warm weather. 

Ask:

·         What kind of plants do we plant in cool weather? (Plants that tend to grow well in cool weather are plants that we eat the leaves and roots of, although root crops will grow faster in the warmer months.)

·         What kind of plants do we plant in warm weather, and why? (Plants that grow in the summer tend to be more colorful, and we eat their seeds or fruits.)

Students share some plants that like cool weather:

·         Lettuce

·         Kale

·         Collard greens

·         Swiss chard

·         Cabbage

·         Spinach

·         Celery

A couple of exceptions to the leaf rule:

·         Broccoli and cauliflower (We eat the closed flowers.)

·         Fava beans (This is the only bean that grows well in winter!)

·         Sweet peas

·         Roots and bulbs, like carrots, beets, onions, and turnips (Although most will grow faster in warmer months.)

Student Reflection

Why are plants important to eat?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Verbs

·         Plants store nitrogen. This plant is storing nitrogen.

·         Flowers house seeds. These flowers are housing seeds.

·         We plant foods in our garden. We are planting foods in our garden.

Standards

NGSS

LS1.A Structure and Function. Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

5.LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants.

5.ESS3.1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

CCSS

5.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion with diverse partners on Grade 5 topics and texts, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Health

1.9.N Explain how good health is influenced by healthy eating and being physically active.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

“Garden Burritos,” Jennifer Bedrosian, science teacher, Edible Schoolyard, Greensboro Children’s Museum, Greensboro, NC.

“Morphology of Flowering Plants,” Dr. Aarif Kanadia, biology teacher in Mumbai, India.

Fifth Grade

Lesson 7

Cycles in Nature

Weather, Climate, and Drought

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Define drought.

·         List some of the consequences of drought.

·         Explain the cause-and-effect relationships between weather, climate, and drought.

·         Interview several people to investigate how they conserve.

·         List actions they can take to help conserve water.

Materials

·         Journals and pencils

Activity 1: Explaining Drought

Review lesson 4.7, Water Cycle, emphasizing that water is a finite resource. Explain that drought is a period of water shortage, when a lack of normal precipitation (weather) produces dry conditions lasting as long as several years (climate).

Fun Facts:

·         In many areas of the world, droughts are a normal, recurring climate condition.

·         Some of the earliest human climate accounts describe droughts and their consequences.

·         Some hunter-gatherer and animal migrations are attributed to drought.

Ask, Where do we get fresh water? What is it used for?

Activity 2: Water Diaries

Distribute journals or have students make new journals for water diaries to record events, habits, conversations, and observations related to drought. Help students develop several questions that they will ask themselves, friends, neighbors, and family members in order to investigate awareness of drought over the next week. For example:

14.  How do you describe drought?

15.  How has drought affected you personally? If you haven’t been affected, why not?

16.  How can we conserve water?

17.  Why are farmers and city water managers concerned about snow and rain amounts?

18.  How can policymakers help residents conserve water?

Prompt students to use these questions to initiate conversations with the people around them to learn about how people are affected by drought. Student will present their findings at the next class.

Student Reflections

How do you currently conserve water? What else can you do to save more?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Auxiliary Can and Do Questions

·         Why do we study drought?

·         What do you think causes drought?

·         What can policy do to conserve water?

·         How can gardeners conserve water?

Additional Information

As of August 7, 2012, the National Drought Mitigation Center reported that 52% of the United States and Puerto Rico are experiencing moderate drought or worse.

Standards

NGSS

5.ESS2.C The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes. Nearly all of our Earth’s available water in in the ocean. Most fresh water is in glaciers or underground; only a tiny fraction is in streams, lakes, wetlands, and the atmosphere.

CCSS

W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Drought beyond Borders, Bilingual Lesson Plans for the Binational Santa Cruz Watershed

Project WET Discovering Drought, Project EAT

Fifth Grade

Lesson 8

Cycles in Nature

Water Footprint

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Explain the difference between salt water and freshwater and why freshwater is so important for humans.

·         Observe and describe a representation of the distribution of salt and fresh water on earth.

·         Brainstorm ways to conserve water.

Activity Preparation

Cut sponges into twelve pieces. Fill a pitcher with one quart of water. Draw the Water Use Chart on the whiteboard representing the planet’s water percentages according the diagram below.

Materials

·         Pitchers of water (one for each student group)

·         Eye dropper

·         Three cups

·         Small plastic cups (one for each student)

·         Two sponges cut into 12 pieces (one piece per student)

·         Water Use Chart

Activity 1: Drop in the Bucket

Review lesson 5.7, Weather, Climate, and Drought. Remind students that our planet’s water is finite. Explain the difference between fresh and salt water. Demonstrate how much of the planet’s water is drinkable by following these steps:

1.      Hold up the pitcher and fill it with water, which represents all of the water on the planet, 97% of which is salt water.

2.      Pour six teaspoons from the pitcher into a cup, which represents the 3% of the planet’s water that is fresh.

Ask, What portion of the Earth’s water is drinkable?

3.      Pour one teaspoon into another cup to demonstrate the amount of freshwater that is liquid.

4.      Hold up the remaining water left in the pitcher. Students share where they think the remaining freshwater is found. (Most of the remaining fresh water is deep underground).

5.      Use an eyedropper to pull out a single drop of water from the small cup of “fresh water” and place it on your finger, representing the freshwater on the planet that is drinkable.

Ask:

·         What percentage of the planet’s water is solid? (glaciers or polar ice caps)

·         Which percentage is liquid? (waterways)

·         Which percentage is gas? (transpiration)

Activity 2: Observing Our Water Footprint

Explain that our water footprint is the amount of water we as individuals consume and the impact our use places on the planet. Students work in pairs to brainstorm all the ways that they use the 3% of drinkable water, other than for drinking.

Distribute small cups and small pieces of sponge to each student. Students observe their water consumption by following these steps:

19.  Dip your sponge into the pitcher of water each time you think of an activity that you do that uses water.

20.  Retain as much water in the sponge as possible without wringing it out in between actions.

21.  Squeeze your sponge into the small cup, which represents your water footprint.

Students compare the amount of water in their water footprint with the amount of water that represented all of the drinkable water on earth.

Ask:

·         What is conservation?

·         How can you conserve water?

Student Reflection

How will you conserve water?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Verb to Noun

·         Conserve water

·         Water conservation

Additional Information

The reservoir that Berkeley gets its water from is located on the Mokelumne River in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We share this reservoir with other living organisms.

Standards

NGSS

5.LS1.1 Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

5.LS2.1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. Emphasis is on the idea that matter that is not food (air and water) is changed by plants into matter that is food.

CCSS

MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgably.

Contributors

Elena Garcia

Jezra Thompson

Rachel Harris

Sources

Project EAT

Water Use Chart

80% of the freshwater is solid.

Fifth Grade

Lesson 9

Cycles in Nature

Pollution Soup

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Identify the types of pollutants created by various human and natural activities.

·         Explain why watershed contamination is harmful for plants, animals, and humans.

·         Observe and describe a representation of several pollutants as they are introduced into a clean “watershed.”

Activity Preparation

Label seven containers and fill them with the following materials to represent different types of pollutants created by that group/process/category.

22.  Weather: rocks and dirt

23.  Trash: wrappers and crumpled paper

24.  Car owner: metal, pennies, rubber bands

25.  Homeowner: paint chips, soap

26.  Pet owner: Tootsie roll or chocolate-covered raisins to represent pet waste

27.  Gardener: water and food coloring to represent fertilizers and pesticides

28.  Heavy industry: soy sauce and water to represent industrial discharges

Materials

·         Seven containers with the above labels

·         Glass jar or bucket

·         Container of water

·         Samples of pollutants from the seven groups

·         Photo example of how polluted watersheds affect animals

Activity 1: Reviewing Watersheds

Review basic information about watersheds from lesson 5.8, Water Footprint, and lesson 4.10, Mapping Your Watershed. Students report their findings from the previous week/lesson’s drought interviews.

Explain that a watershed is an area of land where all water drains off and goes into a common body of water, such as a storm drain, a creek, or the Berkeley Bay. A watershed can be thought of as a large bathtub. When a drop of water hits the edge of a bathtub, it eventually finds its way into the drain (the lowest point).

Ask:

·         What do we use our watershed for?

·         What happens if the watershed gets filled with other material besides water?

Activity 2: Observing Pollutants

Review the seven containers that represent different types of pollutants created by a group/process/category. Explain that the objects in the containers represent the type of pollutant that is created by each group and ends up in the watershed. Students provide examples for each and highlight how they could destroy the watersheds.

Demonstrate how a watershed can be contaminated by displaying a large container of water (the watershed). Each student adds materials from the containers one at a time. Students share which of these materials might contain substances that are harmful to the environment.

Ask, How do these pollutants get into the watershed?

Review examples of how these pollutants get into our watershed by writing down examples that students share on the whiteboard next to each of the seven activities. Add more details as the activity proceeds.

Ask, How might these pollutants affect animals, humans, and plants?

Student Reflection

What can you do to help keep the watershed clean and free of pollutants?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Noun, Collective Noun, and Verb

·         Pollutants are individual material that contaminates water, air, or land.

·         Pollution is a collection of materials that contaminates water, air, and land.

·         Gardeners pollute the watershed when they use pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides.

Standards

NGSS

LS1.A Structure and Function. Plants and animals have both internal and external structures that serve various functions in growth, survival, behavior, and reproduction.

5.LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants.

5.ESS3.1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

CCSS

5.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion with diverse partners on Grade 5 topics and texts, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Health

6.1.P Monitor progress toward a goal to help protect the environment.

8.1.P Encourage others to minimize pollution in the environment.

Contributors

Erica Woll

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Kids in the Garden

Pollution Affects Our Watersheds, Animals, Humans, and Earth

The Perils of Plastics: Two New Perspectives on Seabirds and Marine Pollution

International Bird Rescue

Fifth Grade

Lesson 10

Cycles in Nature

Photosynthesis: Part I

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Describe the different steps in the process of photosynthesis.

·         Explain the role of humans in photosynthesis.

Activity Preparation

Draw the diagram of photosynthesis using the diagram below. Prepare cheat sheet cards that outline the steps in photosynthesis: Cut strips of paper or note cards, write the name of each of photosynthesis process and draw the plant parts involved in each one on the front side of the card, label the description of each step in the process on the back. Laminate the cheat sheet cards for repeated use. These cheat sheet cards will come in handy throughout the year and will continually save you time. Place tape on the back of each cheat sheet card when using them on the whiteboard.

Materials

·         Photosynthesis diagram

·         Strips or paper or notecards

·         Journals and drawing materials

Activity 1: Diagramming Photosynthesis: Sun + Water + CO2

Review lesson 4.2, Plants Need Light. Explain how plants make their own food by absorbing sunlight and carbon dioxide (CO₂) through the surface and stomata in their leaves and turning it into sugar food for themselves, other plants, and humans. This process is called photosynthesis. The “recipe” for photosynthesis  = Sun + Water + CO₂. Organisms obtain gases and water from the environment and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back into the environment. With student participation, follow these steps to demonstrate the equation for photosynthesis using the photosynthesis diagram and your cheat sheet cards.

29.  Sunlight hits the leaf.

30.  The stomata in the leaf absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂). This is how plants breathe in what we breathe out.

31.  The stomata turns carbon dioxide into sugar and releases oxygen into the air. This is how we breathe in what plants breathe out.

32.  Water travels up from the roots to the stem through the ribs into all parts of the leaf.

33.  Plants absorb energy from light through “stomata” in their leaves and turn it into food.

34.  Sugar travels down the stem roots. Specific nutrients are turned into plant sugars that the plant uses as energy.

Students draw their own diagrams of photosynthesis in their journals, labeling the plant parts and their function in turning sunlight into plant food. Students will use their diagram for the next lesson.

Student Reflection

What is our role in the cycle of photosynthesis?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Vocabulary of Photosynthesis

·         Carbon dioxide is what we breathe out.

·         Oxygen what we breathe in.

·         Carbon dioxide is what plants absorb.

·         Oxygen and sugar is what plants produce.

Additional Information

Plants are the only living things on Earth that can make their own food. Thus, they are able to live almost everywhere on earth in a wide range of habitats. This is one of the special adaptations they’ve developed to help them survive.

Standards

NGSS

5.PS3.1 Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motions, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun. Examples of models could include diagrams and flow charts.

5.LS1.1 Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

LS1.C Organization of Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms. Food provides animals with the materials they need for bodily repair and growth and the energy they need to maintain body warmth and for motion. Plants acquire their material for growth chiefly from air and water.

5.LS2.1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

LS2.B Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems. Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die.

CCSS

RI.5.1 Quote accurately form a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Contributors

Ben Goff

Jezra Thompson

Rivka Mason

Sources

Life Cycle of Plants, Utah Education Network

Ph-ocusing on Photosynthesis In and Out of the Garden, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute

How Does Photosynthesis Work?

Fifth Grade

Lesson 11

Interdependence

Photosynthesis: Part II

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Review the steps in photosynthesis.

·         Compare the results of the sunlight experiment to illustrate the importance of sunlight for healthy plants.

·         Observe how water travels through the vascular system of a plant by using a stalk of celery, water, and food coloring.

Activity Preparation

Prepare glass jars with celery stalks for every pair of students. Draw the diagram of photosynthesis using the diagram and cheat sheets from lesson 5.10, Photosynthesis: Part I, for review.

Materials

·         Photosynthesis diagram and cheat sheets

·         Student journal entries from previous lesson

·         Samples of plants with large, green leaves

·         Tall, clear glass jars

·         Water pitchers

·         Red food coloring

·         Knife

·         Celery stalks with leaves

Activity 1: Reviewing Photosynthesis

Review Lesson 5.10, Photosynthesis: Part I, introducing photosynthesis as (Photosynthesis = Sun + Water + CO₂). Students pair-share what they know about how plants make their own food while reviewing their journals and their diagram of photosynthesis. You can have students try to walk through the process for the whole class.

Ask, How do plants use water and sunlight?

Activity 2: Chlorophyll’s Role in Photosynthesis

Show a sample of a plant with large, green leaves. Focus on the leaves. Photosynthesis happens with the help of chlorophyll that is found in the green leaves of plants. Chlorophyll absorbs the sun’s light and turns it into sugars that plants use for food. Demonstrate this with your photosynthesis diagram and cheat sheet cards to locate the chlorophyll.

Ask, How is this similar to how we get our food?

Students collect leaves no larger than their hand and experiment with chlorophyll. Help students observe the process of roots “sucking up water” and moving through their vascular system and into their leaves, which will highlight the chlorophyll, by following these steps:

35.  Fill a tall, clear glass jar half full with water.

36.  Add a few drops of red food coloring and mix well.

37.  Trim the bottom edge of the large stalk of celery, keeping the leaves on.

38.  Put the celery stalk in the glass jar and leave it overnight.

39.  Observe what has happened the next morning.

40.  Students identify that the water has been absorbed in to the celery stalk, tinting the stem and leaves red.

41.  Prompt students to think about how the whole plant got water and why the color moves to the leaves.

42.  Students journal what they observe.

Student Reflection

How does a plant’s vascular system help it get the nutrients (food) it needs?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Comparative Adjectives

·         Plants are similar to humans because ______________.

·         Humans are different than plants because _________________.

·         Plants are the same as humans because _________________.

Standards

NGSS

5.PS3.1 Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motions, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun. Examples of models could include diagrams and flow charts.

5.LS1.1 Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

5.LS2.1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

LS1.C Organization of Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms. Food provides animals with the materials they need for body repair and growth and the energy they need to maintain body warmth and for motion. Plants acquire their material for growth chiefly from air and water.

LS2.B Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems. Matter cycles between the air and soil and among plants, animals, and microbes as these organisms live and die. Organisms obtain gases, and water, from the environment, and release waste matter (gas, liquid, or solid) back into the environment.

CCSS

RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Contributors

Ben Goff

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Ph-ocusing on Photosynthesis In and Out of the Garden, Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute

How Does Chlorophyll Work?

Fifth Grade

Lesson 12

Interdependence

Apples to Earth

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Calculate the amount of topsoil that is available on the Earth’s surface.

·         Conduct an experiment that examines topsoil’s structural ability to filter water.

Activity Preparation

Familiarize yourself with the necessary fractions and the Earth’s resources, per the activities below.

Materials

·         Large Apple

·         Knife

·         Journals

·         5-oz. cups

·         3-oz. cups

·         Kool-Aid

·         Soil

·         Coffee filters 

Activity 1: Representing the Amount of Topsoil on Earth

Review components of soil (mineral particles, organic materials, air, and water). Topsoil is the fertile, upper part of the soil. Soil is formed from parent materials by biological, chemical, and physical processes. Soils are degraded primarily by erosion, loss of organic matter, salinization, and acidification.

Ask, What are ways that topsoil can degrade? (Too much rain and not enough organic matter to hold the soil together.)

Show students an apple as a representation of the entire Earth. Students make two hypotheses based on these questions:

1.      How much of the Earth’s surface is soil?

2.      How much of it is fertile soil capable of growing food?

Demonstrate the amount of water on our planet with an apple and a knife. Cut the apple in four equal sections to demonstrate the following:

·         3/4 of the Earth’s surface is ocean.

·         1/4 of the surface represents all the land on Earth.

Take half of the apple (2/4) and explain that half of all the land on Earth is considered

inhospitable, meaning too cold, too steep, or too dry (polar, high mountains, or deserts).

The other half of this remaining 2/4 represents land that is hospitable to humans, though

not all of it is used to grow food. Of this remaining 2/4ths:

o   1/4 has soil that is too poor, too wet, too steep, or too cold.

o   1/4 is covered in concrete (parking lots, highways, roads).

o   1/4 is where people have homes

o   1/4 has fertile topsoil that is available to grow enough food to support the world’s population.

Distribute journals and pencils. Challenge students to calculate the fraction of the whole to describe how much topsoil is available to grow food for the entire world’s population.

Activity 2: Filtering Topsoil

Demonstrate how water filters through soil by following these steps:

·         Put a layer of sand the width of your pointer finger in the bottom of the 5-oz. cup with holes in it. 

·         Add topsoil until the cup is half full.

·         Put the 5-oz. cup into the 3-oz. cup. 

·         Pour some of the grape Kool-Aid into the top cup. 

Students record observations in their journals.

Ask, What does the Kool-Aid represent? (Chemicals added to water)

What to expect from the experiment:

The soils will vary in color from gray to red to brown to the light brown sand on the right. The color of the water in the bottom cup will range from purple (about the same color as the grape Kool-Aid began), to bright pink, to almost colorless, to a murky red.

Explain that soil naturally filters water that falls as rain and goes into rivers. Soil filters many chemicals out of water, just like it did with the Kool-Aid. These same techniques are used to purify wastewater that comes from houses, cities, industry, and large animal feeding operations.

Student Reflection

Why are some natural resources called “limited?”

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Phrasal Verbs

·         Soil filters out chemicals.

·         Soil filters out pollutants.

Additional Information

It takes 300–500 years to form one inch of topsoil, depending on the environment.

Standards

NGSS

ESS3.C Human Impacts on Earth Systems. Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday life have had major effects on the land, vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. Individuals and communities are doing things to help protect Earth’s resources and environments.

CCSS

RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

MP.4 Model with mathematics.

Contributors

Elena Garcia

Jezra Thompson

Rachel Harris

Sources

Dr. Dirt, K–12 Teaching Resources, Clay Robinson, PhD, CPSSc, PG

Fifth Grade

Lesson 13

Nutrition

Making Healthy Choices

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Use fresh ingredients from the garden to make and eat a healthy recipe.

·         Create an original recipe using at least three ingredients from the garden.

Activity Preparation

Print out a copy of the Healthy Choices worksheet for each student.

Materials

·         Bowls and utensils for mixing and tasting

·         Large pan and burner for sautéing

·         Recipe ingredients (enough for the whole class)

·         Healthy Choices worksheet (one per student)

Activity 1: Making a Garden-Fresh Recipe Together

Students pick and cook some of the vegetables that they have been tending all year. Review lesson 4.14, Plant Families. Students focus on the brassica family (broccoli), which has the following qualities:

·         Broccoli is high in calcium for your bones, teeth, and muscles.  It is also high in iron, which helps your blood carry oxygen.

·         A head of broccoli is actually just a bunch of closed flowers—if you leave them on the plant, they open into yellow flowers that are also edible. These have a sour smell, a sweaty taste, and fibrous stalks. The leaves are also edible and equally good for you.

Each student adds an ingredient and participates in stirring, serving, and tasting.

Ingredients

·         Broccoli (or other any other brassica family veggie you have growing in the garden)

·         1 Tbsp. olive oil

·         1 Tbsp. broth (optional)

·         Lemon pepper to taste

·         Lemon for zest (optional)

Steps

43.  Sautee the ingredients together until the broccoli is tender. 

44.  You can make your own lemon pepper dressing by zesting a lemon and mixing the zest with pepper and whisking in some olive oil.

After cooking and tasting, students pair up to design a recipe using at least three garden ingredients. Distribute the Healthy Choices worksheet for students to complete in pairs or small groups.

Student Reflection

How can you identify a plant in the brassica family? What are the nutrition facts about brassicas? What part of the brassica plant do we eat?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Verbs with Prepositions

·         Broccoli belongs to the brassica family of vegetables.

·         Spinach belongs to the group of vegetables that like cool weather.

Standards

NGSS

5.PS1.3 Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.

CCSS

W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system, and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real-world problems.

Health

2.2.N Recognize that family and cultural influences affect food choices.

1.6.N Differentiate between more nutritious and less nutritious beverages and snacks.

1.8.N Describe the benefits of eating a nutritionally balanced diet consistent with current research-based dietary guidelines.

5.1.N Use a decision-making process to identify healthy foods for meals and snacks.

7.2.N Demonstrate how to prepare a healthy meal or snack using sanitary food preparation and storage practices.

8.1.N Encourage and promote healthy eating and increased physical activity opportunities at school and in the community.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Bay Farm Alameda Unified School District

Healthy Choices Worksheet

Name: __________________________________ Classroom Teacher: ________________________

Instructions: You have been hired to design a garden-fresh menu for a trendy restaurant. We need to know the one recipe you would like to feature on our menu. Include the ingredients and the nutritional content. Tell us why we should be serving this recipe.

Fifth Grade

Lesson 14

Nutrition

Plant Traits

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Compare and contrast different seeds and their corresponding plant families.

·         Prepare the garden to plant sweet potatoes, including tilling, amending the soil, applying mulch, digging holes, and planting starts.

Activity Preparation

Prepare the whiteboard with a list of the plant families that correspond to the seeds that you distribute. Identify a sunny and warm garden plot for students to plant potatoes. Have a potato with leaves and roots to demonstrate plant parts.

Materials:

·         Potato with roots and leaves

·         Plant families list

·         Potato starts for student groups to plant

·         Seed cards

Activity 1: Matching Seeds to Plant Families

Review Lesson 4.14, Plant Families (a review of the families is below). Distribute seed cards to small groups of 2–3 students. Students observe the seeds, compare their features, and share any other information they know with the group. Prompt students to recall lessons on companion planting.

Ask:

·         What are the characteristics of the seed cards that you have?

·         What plant family do they belong in?

Activity 2: Planting Sweet Potatoes

Review lesson 4.15, Classification of Plants. We previously focused on the Brassica family. Today, we focus on the Convolvulaceae family (sweet potato and morning glory). Show students examples of the Convolvulaceae family growing in the garden. Highlight a potato and ask them to identify the traits they notice.

Ask:

·         How do the potato’s traits support its growth?

·         How will the potato change as it grows?

Explain that sweet potatoes grow primarily underground, so they don’t need much garden space. Choose an area that gets a lot of sunlight, has deep earth, and is well drained. Demonstrate how to plant potatoes with students:

45.  Till the soil 12 inches (30.5 cm.) deep, loosening soil and incorporating gardening soil if necessary.

46.  Prepare or amend the soil by adding a layer of good planting soil and removing any large rocks that might be present.

47.  Choose a mulch over the top to trap heat.

48.  Dig your holes 12–24 inches (30.5–61.0 cm.) apart (sweet potatoes need a more space than other garden vegetables).

49.  Dig holes as deep as the root ball, about half an inch up the base of the plant.

50.  Place each small start in your pre-dug holes and cover the stems with soil about half an inch up the base.

Ask, Why are we planting sweet potatoes to grow and eat rather than other white potatoes? (They are high in vitamin A, vitamin B5, B6, thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, and, due to their orange color, are high in carotenoids, fat-free, relatively low in sodium and have fewer calories than white potatoes— although they do have more sugar.)

Student Reflection

How do the potatoes’ plant traits support their growth?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Verbs for Gardening

·         Planting

·         Tilling

·         Digging

·         Amending

·         Mulching

Additional Information

The leafy part of the potato plant will begin to sprawl its vines outward while the roots will produce the tubers between 6 and 12 inches (15.2–30.5 cm) deep in the soil. Assign a watering student lead to continue watering on a weekly basis and weed the beds if necessary to keep the plants healthy.Sweet potatoes will be ready to harvest in the fall. Prepare baked potatoes or sautéed potatoes and have students taste them.

Standards

NGSS

5.LS1.1 Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.

CCSS

RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

“Getting to Know Plant Families,” School Garden Exploration. Eat. Think. Grow. Portland Partners for School Food and Garden Education.

“Sweet Potatoes: Health Benefits, Risks, and Nutrition Facts,” Jessie Szalay, Live Science, 2014.

Plant Families and Their Plants

Fifth Grade

Lesson 15

Food Systems

Food Chains and Webs

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Simulate a food chain by role playing different animals, plants, and the sun.

·         Explain the relationship between the different members of a food chain.

·         Discuss the implications if any one of the members of the food chains were to die.

Activity Preparation

Print out Food Web Pyramid diagram for each student or student pair.

Materials

·         Food web pyramids 

·         Journals and pencils

Activity 1: Food Chain

Unlike plants, animals can’t make their own food. Energy passes from one animal to another as they eat plants or one another. Some animals eat plants. Some animals eat other animals. The lives of these plants and animals are interconnected. They depend upon one another for survival. Science calls that a food chain.

A food chain follows one path with many steps:

·         Grass grows using the energy from the sun.

·         A grasshopper eats the grass

·         A frog eats the grasshopper, which has eaten the grass.

·         A snake eats the frog, which has eaten the grasshopper, which has eaten the grass.

·         A hawk eats a snake, which has eaten a frog, which has eaten a grasshopper, which has eaten grass.

Explain that a food chain has many different producers and consumers. Scientist calls this a food web, which involves the following:

·         Producers use energy from the sun, like plants.

·         Primary consumers eat the producers, which makes them herbivores in most communities.

·         Secondary consumers eat the primary consumers, which makes them carnivores. Some eat producers and consumers; these are omnivores.

·         Tertiary consumers eat the secondary consumers; these are usually carnivores.

Distribute the A–D Food Web Pyramid diagrams below to each student group. Students pair up to fill in the worksheets.

Student Reflection

Where do you fit into the food chain? Where do you fit into the food web?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus:  conditional

·         What would happen if __________

·         If _______________ then humans would ________________.

Additional Information

Show students the PBS Learning Media video “Food Web”: http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/idptv11.sci.life.eco.d4kfwb/food-web/

You can also share the Food Myth Busters video, “The Real Story About What We Eat,” by Anna Lappé: http://foodmyths.org/myths/hunger-food-security/

Standards

NGSS

LS2.A Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plant parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.

CCSS

SL.5.5 Include multiple components and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Critters, AIMS Education Foundation, 1989

Hands on Nature, Vermont Institute of Natural Science, 1986

Kaleidoscope, Aid for Primary School Science Ed. Feb 92 Vol. 7 #5

Science on the Go! The Chicago Academy of Sciences

Food Web Pyramids

Name: ___________________________________________ Classroom Teacher: _____________________ Instructions: Use the examples below to draw a food web pyramid divided by three levels. Each level represents an actor in a food web. Label the different sections for producers and consumers. List examples for each level in the boxes below.

Fifth Grade

Lesson 16

Food Systems

Tomato Seed to Market

Objectives/Assessment Target

Students will:

·         Identify the processes for getting a tomato from the farm to the table.

·         Talk about the effects of drought on our many different communities and food resources.

·         Plant tomatoes.

Activity Preparation

Prepare a whiteboard on the processes in the regional food system using the food pyramids from lesson 5.16, Food Chains and Webs. You can also prepare this with student participation on the whiteboard. Prepare tomato seedlings for planting and observation.

Materials

·         Tomato seedlings

·         Journals

·         Food system diagram

Activity 1: What is A Food System?

Review lesson 5.15, Food Chains and Webs. Students focus on the big picture, food chains and food webs. Present the five main processes in the regional food system using the diagram below. Students share a food that they like to eat. Use this food as an example to trace the several steps it takes before it gets to the students:

51.  Agricultural production: Planting, tending, and harvesting

52.  Processing: Harvesting and packing

53.  Distribution: Loading, delivering, and unloading

54.  Retail: Displaying, selling, cooking, and eating

55.  Composting/Recycling: Collecting food scraps and digesting

Use the example of a tomato to explain the life of a tomato from seed to market to fork. With student participation, reference the five main processes; naming each one that is particular for a tomato. Prompt students to use the example of their food choice to develop a narrative outlining as many steps as possible for each process.  Students imagine the effects of the following scenarios:

56.  The farmers picked tomatoes at their very ripest

57.  Farmers needed to pay more for the people that worked in the fields (agricultural labor).

58.  There was a drought and farmers were required to cut back their water use by 30%.

59.  There was a big rise in demand for tomatoes at the grocery store.

Ask, What are some consequences of buying and eating tomatoes that are grown very far from your home?

Activity 2: Planting Tomato Seeds

Students prep beds and plant tomato seedlings in pairs. Students hypothesize how this tomato plant will taste, given how they are planting it, the type of soil, the position of the sun, and the amount of water they will give it.

Students Reflect on the Lesson

Fill in the blank: ___________ (ex. labor costs) affect(s) ________________, which affect(s) ________________, which affect(s) _____________.

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: would

·         The first, second, third…. steps in the process are_______________.

·         If there were a drought, the farmers would _______________.

·         If the farmers needed to pay more for the agricultural labor, they would ___________.

·         If the farmers picked their tomatoes at their ripest, the tomatoes would ____________.

Standards

NGSS

5.LS1.A Interdependent relationships in ecosystems. The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants.

5.ESS2-1 Systems and system models. A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.

5.LS2-1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussion with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and txt, building on each other’s ideas and expressing their own clearly.

CCSS

RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print.

Health

2.1.N Describe internal and external influences that affect food choices and physical activity.

4.1.N Use communication skills to deal effectively with influences from peers and media regarding food choices and physical activity.

5.1.N Use a decision-making process to identify healthy foods for meals and snacks

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Bean Seed Cycle, National Agriculture in the Classroom

Diagram by Carsten Rodin, SPUR: Ideas and Actions for a Better City

Education.com

Fifth Grade

Lesson 17

Celebration/Reflection

Drawing from Experience

Objectives/Assessment Targets

Students will:

·         Identify one theme, idea, or concept they decide is memorable.

·         Communicate the importance of the concepts in words and/or pictures.

Activity Preparation

Print out garden bingo cards for each student.

Materials

·         Examples of fruits and vegetables or Fruit and Vegetable Cards

·         Garden bingo cards printout for each student

·         Markers

Activity 1: The Most Important Thing about the Garden

Distribute garden journals and display other projects or posters made throughout the year. Students review their journals and other materials and take a quick tour of the garden, reflecting on what will change next time they see it. Students share the most important idea, concept, or theme covered in the garden.

Activity 2: Test Your Nutrition Knowledge

Distribute the bingo cards to each student. Hold up a picture of each food sample, including fruit and veggie cards if needed. Students fill in their bingo cards until a few bingos have been won.

Student Reflection

Why is it important to share the garden with each other?

English Language Learning (ELL) Focus: Modals

·         Community leaders should know that __________.

·         Teachers need to know that __________.

·         Parents ought to know that __________.

·         Students must know that __________.

Standards

CCSS

W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print or digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources.

W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Health

1.6.N Differentiate between more-nutritious and less-nutritious beverages and snacks.

3.1.N Locate age-appropriate guidelines for eating and physical activity.

5.1.N Use a decision-making process to identify healthy foods for meals and snacks.

Contributors

Jezra Thompson

Sources

Healthy Living for Life, Alameda County Public Health Department, Nutrition Services