Featured Favourite Edible Resources: GTGK Lesson Plans
Posted: November 28, 2014
Categories: Edible Education Network
Green Thumbs Growing Kids has some spectacular lesson plans on their website, with something for every elementary grade. The lessons are fantastic guides for connecting children to their food and demonstrating how our food grows, while outlining expectations, guidelines and materials for each lesson, as well as how it applies to the Ontario curriculum.
Lessons are categorized by grade level, from K – 6, with lessons also specifically focusing on Soils and Compost (i.e. Compost in the Ontario K-8 curriculum), and Food and Herbs, with colouring pages and illustrations to identify various foods/seeds/leaves/critters.
For instance, their shared lesson for grade 3, You Are What You Eat! The Plant Parts Game, teaches students about different plant parts, their functions and how plants are our primary source of food.
They also have shared a Pesto Lesson Plan for grades 1 -6, which is a two-part lesson that starts outside and moves in to the kitchen/classroom. Children learn about growing food, while experiencing the sights, smells and flavours of fresh herbs in the garden through hands-on harvest and food preparation. The hands-on learning is a great way to bring an understanding of local, organic food to life. Be sure to check out the lesson plan to learn how you can make a simple cheese-free, nut-free, garden fresh pesto with basil, olive oil, garlic, black olives, and salt & pepper!
Along with other partners, Green Thumbs Growing Kids is also leading a powerful provincial campaign, Imagine A Garden in Every School – this site also offers a number of helpful resources, particularly in the area of school gardens, activities and fundraising/grants.