Learning Garden Healthy Eating Activity
Title: Sweet Potatoes in a Bucket
Writer / Reviewer: edited by Heather Hanson
Grade: K-5
Georgia Performance Standard in Health:
HEK.1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
HE1.7: Students will demonstrate the ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or reduce health risks.
HE2.1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
HE3.1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
HE4.1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
HE5.1: Students will comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.
Time Required
~1 Hour
Supplies Needed
1.
Bucket, planter, or unused storage bin
2.
Soil
3.
Shovel
4.
Sweet potato slips
5.
Water
Lesson Synopsis
Planting and harvesting sweet potatoes.
Environmental Context
 Lesson takes place in a school garden o List any specific plants needed: _Sweet Potato Slips ___________________________________
 Lesson incorporates use of Garden Kitchen Cart o Is electricity required? _________
 Other: _______________________________________________________________________________
Other Resources
 Lesson includes Recipe for _______________________________________________________________
 Lesson includes Instructable for how to ____________________________________________________
 Lesson includes Video of ________________________________________________________________
LESSON FRAMEWORK
Engagement (Description of ‘Hook’ Activity or Demonstration, designed to spark interest and curiosity)
Students will be able to plant sweet potato slips in the garden, watch them grow, and harvest the plant.

Exploration (Procedures for Hands-On Activity or Investigation)
1. Grab any bucket, planter or an unused plastic storage bin and fill it with soil.
2. Dig holes with a small shovel and stick the slips inside.
3. Keep the container in a warm spot and water it weekly.
4. It is best to plant sweet potatoes in the summer and harvest them in the fall, or about 4 months after planting.
5. Water the sweet potatoes and check their progress before harvesting.
Recipe
Ingredients and Quantities
Directions
Explanation (Opportunity for Students to Articulate what They Learned)
Students will be given the opportunity to discuss what they learned about the growth of sweet potatoes that pertain to specific science learning objectives for that grade level. Science objectives per grade level:
1.
Kindergarten- Day and night sky, sort rocks and soils, physical attributes observed using the five sense, composition of materials, motion, living/nonliving, animals/plants, parents and offspring.
2.
1 st grade- weather patterns, seasons, sound, shadows, magnets, characteristics and basic needs of living things
3.
2 nd grade- motion/patterns of celestial bodies, changes of the earth’s surface, changing attributes of materials, states of matter, energy to keep things going, pushes and pulls, life cycles
4.
3 rd grade- rocks and minerals, soils, weathering, fossils, heat energy, magnets, habitats, features of organisms of Georgia, pollution and conservation
5.
4 th grade- Weather, light, sound, force, mass and motion, effects of gravity, ecosystems, food wed and food chain, adaptation-survival and extinction
6.
5 th grade-Landforms, effects of constructive and destructive forces, conservation of matter, physical and chemical changes, electricity, classification of organisms, cells and microorganisms
Encourage students to think about how the growth of the sweet potatoes pertains to the science objectives they are responsible for learning. Have the students either write down what they have learned and share their ideas with the class, or talk through various students ideas about the growth of the sweet potatoes.
Evaluation (Use Captain Planet Scoring Rubric)