Themes 1st Semester (Aug-Nov)

Growing gardens

Themes | 1G

  • Make sure that the “Wow!” moments of the projects are clear in the beginning of the Summary
  • Make sure you list all the required materials
  • Make sure that the Financial Literacy skills that will be developed and assessed are clear
  • Make sure you explain and justify the deliverable

Summary:

Can we grow our own vegetables and fruit? In this project, students do research to understand where food comes from and how much it costs. With a list of their favorite vegetables in hand, they begin to research what they need to produce their own vegetable garden, with soil, seeds and sprouts. When the harvest comes in, it’s time to divide it up and calculate how much we can save by using vegetables from the garden.

Learning goals:

  • Learn how to plant and care for vegetables.
  • Understand the stages of plant growth, from seed to harvest.
  • Introduce basic money concepts like saving, spending, and needs vs. wants.
  • Apply counting, addition, and subtraction in a practical context.
  • Develop observation skills and patience through plant growth.

Skills and Standards:

Skills:

  • Financial Literacy – Identify the needs and wants.
  • Financial Literacy – Prepare a shopping list.
  • Financial Literacy – Check the purchase receipt and identify the amounts and information on it.
  • SDG 2 – Identify possibilities for sustainable agriculture.
  • SDG 8 – Understand ways of working, laws and rights.
  • WEF Skill 6 – Engage with the group and their tasks.
  • WEF Skill 6 – Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member.

Standards:

  • Cog Skill – Communicate accurately and precisely, expressing, integrating, and applying specific content and/or conventions with accuracy and precision.

  • ELA | Writing – With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

  • Math – Relate counting to addition and subtraction (e.g., by counting on 2 to add 2).

  • Math – Solve word problems that call for addition of three whole numbers whose sum is less than or equal to 20, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

  • Math – Apply properties of operations as strategies to add and subtract.

     

Deliverable

  • Host the families for a harvest celebration.
  • Prepare a presentation on the journey to the harvest – researching where food comes from, the price of each vegetable or fruit, what can be grown in a garden, growing the crops and waiting for the harvest.

Milestones

  • Milestone 1: Where do vegetables come from?
  • Milestone 2: Are food and money related?
  • Milestone 3: How much money your family spend on veggies?
  • Milestone 4: Can we grow our own vegetables and fruits?
  • Milestone 5: Time to harvest!
  • Milestone 6: How do we make our garden even better?

Planning suggestions:

Milestone 1

  • Investigation – talk to the children about the hypotheses they have about where food comes from. Since this is farm country, maybe it should go from ”Farm to supermarket to table”, so they can see how the regional work ends up on tables across the city, county, state, country… If possible, take them to a local supermarket so that people can help show them the production chain and what is involved.
  • Project wall – display the ideas the children have come up with and their discoveries.

 

Milestone 2

  • Production chain – put together a production chain with the children, showing the money and the products we buy. It’s important to recognize the different stages of work and who does them – include field workers, truck drivers, industrial workers, supermarkets attendants etc.

 

Milestone 3

  • Shopping list – each student can search for the week’s grocery list with their families. The focus can be on vegetables and fruit. It would also be very interesting if, in addition to the list, they could also share the receipts. This way, they can add up and check how much they’ve spent on vegetables and fruits.

 

Milestone 4

  • Choose vegetables – decide which vegetables they would like to grow in their classroom garden. Select easy-to-grow options like lettuce, radishes, or green beans. You also can research the one that can be planted according to the season.
  • Plant life cycle – guide students in planting seeds in small pots. Let them ask about soil, sunlight, water, and the importance of caring for plants. As the plants grow, you can talk about the different stages of a plant’s life cycle: seed, sprout, plant, flower, and harvest.

 

Milestone 5

  • Harvesting Time – once the vegetables are ready, hold a harvest celebration. Discuss how growing your own food can save money and provide healthy options.
  • Sharing with families – Invite families to the harvest and encourage the children to show the whole process – from researching what they eat and how much they spend to the harvest.
  • Savings – ask the children to calculate how much they have saved by consuming the vegetables from the garden.

 

Milestone 6

  • Reflection – invite the children to reflect on the process of caring for a garden and producing their own food. You can check who is interested in maintaining the garden and if families would like to contribute.

Golden Tip:

  • Be aware of interests – this project can change course according to the children’s interests. It’s quite possible that the planting stage will catch their attention, as well as research into the values of each food. If this is the case, take more time and then return to the other stages.
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