School Gardens
Ag in the Classroom is proud to support school garden programs. Check out our garden-related resources for garden lesson ideas, a guide to starting your school garden, and more! Be sure to also explore the opportunities on our Grants & Scholarships page.
Prolific Pollinators
How does your food get pollinated? Pollinators are essential to agriculture and the environment. Students will learn about the various categories of pollinators and their contribution to producing California agriculture commodities. Includes three activities, a math exercise and ideas for Service Learning and Citizen Science. This resource is aligned to California Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
WE Garden Lesson Packet
These one-page lessons have great ideas for hands-on, garden-based learning that can be used within or outside the classroom walls.
Subjects: Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, Health/Nutrition
- Entire Packet for Grades K-6
- Seed Match for Grades 1-3
- My Life as a Fruit or Vegetable for Grades 4-6
- Eat Your Plants for Grades 1-3
- Frozen, Canned or Fresh? for Grades 4-6
- Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other for Grades 1-3
- Let's Make Compost Cake for Grades 4-6
- Shake, Rattle & Roll for Grades 1-3
- Read the Roots for Grades 4-6
- Bug Sweep for Grades 1-3
- California Crops for Grades 4-6
- Busy Bees for Grades K-3
School Garden Links and Resources
- Teacher Resource Guide
- CROP (California Regions of Optimal Planting) Circles
- California Fruits and Vegetables Seasonal Chart
- WE Garden Planting Plan
- Request Free Resources
- Partnering Organizations
Gardens for Learning Book
Download the guidebook developed through a collaboration with the Collective School Garden Network.
CROP Circles
CROP (California Regions of Optimal Planting) Circles
This easy-to-use diagram illustrates proper planting and harvesting times for 18 crops commonly found in California school gardens.
California's Fruit & Vegetable Crop Seasons
Check out the chart of California's fruit and vegetable crop seasons, created by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Garden-Related Acrostic Poems
An acrostic is a structured poem in which the first letter of each line forms a word or phrase, vertically. The poem can describe the subject or tell a brief story about it. Use this download for students to create their own garden-related acrostics.
Agricultural Fact and Activity Sheets
The fact sheets include one page of information related to an agricultural commodity and one page of lesson plan ideas for using that information. The set includes everything from almonds to table grapes, as well as plant nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potasium.
The Invasive Species Fact Sheet Set introduces six invasive species, the damage they cause to California crops and how to stop their spread.
Lesson Plans
Our lesson plan collection includes some great resources for garden learning.
- A Garden Plot: TheÂTale of Peter Rabbit
- Fruits and Vegetables for Health
- What's BuggingÂYou?
- Edible Plant Parts
- Entire Lesson Plan Collection
What's Growin' On?
Your Link to California Agriculture
This edition of our hands-on student newspaper is focused on gardens. You can also explore the entire collection, as each issue can easily be used to complement a garden-based education.
- Entire Packet
- Teacher's Supplement
- Entire What's Growin' On? Collection
A Garden Plot: The Tale of Peter Rabbit
By Donica O'Laughlin, Edited by Pamela Emery
September 2003
Grade: K-1
Subjects: Science, English Language Arts
This unit uses The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other stories by Beatrix Potter as a vehicle to teach reading, writing, and science concepts. This unit encourages students to think about where their food comes from, distinguish between fact and fiction, observe roots and soil, and write about personal experiences they have while caring for the personal gardens they create.
- Download entire lesson plan
- View this lesson online in the National Curriculum Matrix
- Follow us on Twitter to receive notifications about new curriculum resources.
Fruits and Vegetables for Health
By Brenda Byers, MS and Priscilla Naworski, MS
Updated 2017
Grade: 4-6
Subjects: Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, History/Social Science, Health/Nutrition
Standards: Common Core State Standards
Newly updated to include the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Fruits and Vegetables for Health contains five lessons designed to teach students about the production, distribution, and nutritional value of California-grown produce. Students will gain knowledge in geography, language arts, science, nutrition, and math as they learn about the process through which fruits and vegetables are transported from California farms to kitchen tables. Healthy eating is emphasized throughout. Aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
- Download entire lesson plan
- Spanish Lesson: La quÃmica de las frutas y verduras
- Order your printed copies here!
- View these lessons online in the National Curriculum Matrix
- Follow us on Twitter to receive notifications about new curriculum resources.
What's Bugging You?
By Pamela Emery and Ethan Heifetz, July 2001
Grade: 4-6
Subjects: Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, History/Social Science, Visual/Performing Arts
Through a variety of activities, students reinforce their skills of reading, writing, designing, investigating, and problem-solving while learning about a current issue--pest management. The students develop a definition for the word "pest," learn about agricultural pests in a cooperative setting, observe insects in student-made insect observation chambers, learn about the life cycles of certain pests, and create individual and class poems. In a concluding activity, students create an imaginary pest and discuss its hypothetical habitat.
- Download entire lesson plan
- View this lesson online in the National Curriculum Matrix
- Follow us on Twitter to receive notifications about new curriculum resources.
Edible Plant Parts
By Karen Chambers and Pamela Emery
September 2013
Grade: 2-3
Subjects: Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, History/Social Science, Health/Nutrition, Visual/Performing Arts
Standards: Common Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards
This unit allows students and teachers to examine the six basic plant partsâroots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seedsâin a unique way. Through hands-on activities, students will learn about the different plant parts, as well as how to include fruits and vegetables into their daily meals as part of a healthy diet. Students will also learn about California agriculture and the people who produce our food.
- Request your free copy.
- Download entire lesson plan
- View these lessons online in the National Curriculum Matrix
- Follow us on Twitter to receive notifications about new curriculum resources.
