In the area of Science I would like to work with the area of Scientific Inquiry. The
benchmarks in this category for the K-2 program are as follows and I am copying directly
from the Ohio Department of Education website:
A. Ask a testable question.
B. Design and conduct a simple investigation to explore a question.
C. Gather and communicate information from careful observations and simple
Investigation through a variety of methods.
Under the Research benchmarks for the K-2 program, I have identified two Language
Arts benchmarks that I believe dovetail nicely with my Science benchmarks. These two
standards are:
A. Generate questions for investigation and gather information from a variety
of sources.
B. Retell important details and findings.
This year my Kindergarten class planted a garden. I first talked with my principal
about a strip of earth beside our Science room that has had dead grass for at least two
years. I talked about how I would use it to teach standards and I honestly met with no
resistance.
Next I showed the future garden land to my students and we talked about what we
would have to do to get the land ready. We looked at seeds in math and talked about how
they were the similar and how they were different. We made a Venn Diagram to show
how they should be sorted. I asked the children what plants needed to grow and they
said, “Sunlight and water”. So I dropped a seed on our tile floor and asked them if it
would grow if I watered it. They laughed and soon we had a lively discussion going.
We wrote about growing things and each child talked about what they wanted to grow
from our possible choices. This was tied in with our daily writing process. Later I broke
up the soil with a hand tool and my students (with gloves on) pulled out weeds and dead
grass, mixed in humus, composted manure and Miracle Gro Garden Soil.
Another day we planted seeds working around the weather and mischievous student
behavior. (Unruly students are not ones that need to be holding trowels and digging in
dirt.) As our project continued, we practiced measuring with rulers on our sprouting
seeds, we wrote more about our garden, and we worked on cooperation and following
directions as we watered our seedlings.
To aid my students in knowing weed from plant and to conserve water, I came to
school one Saturday and brought mulch and newspapers. I transplanted plants that were
coming up too close and watered them well. Then I laid a row of newspapers up against
the building and covered them with mulch to prevent weeds in the back of our bed. Next
I mulched around every seedling and watered everything again. I used about five bags of
mulch and lots of water and newspaper. The resulting garden was neat and my students
could easily tell where each plant was. My students continued to care for the garden until
the end of the year and our summer camp students are tending the garden with me now.
I propose that in the future I have each student choose a question to research. Each
student would be helped to find grade appropriate books and be shown short informative
videos about gardening (fiction Peter Rabbit, nonfiction- age appropriate such as:
http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/32/39/323900_323900.ppt).
Additionally, I would like to take my students to a local metro park for a ranger to
explain plant life
(http://www.metroparks.net/UserUploads/UserDocuments/School+scouts%20for%20web
.pdf) and/ or invite a gardener from our community to give pointers to my students.
Students and their parents will also be invited to use their home computers or our local
library to research their question. (http://www.kidsclick.org/cgibin/searchkids.pl?searchtype=subject&keywords=Gardening&title=Gardening is an
excellent place to start researching.)
I will speak with our local librarians and give them a copy of my lesson plans so they
can understand what I am asking my students. Our local library will make special
collections for classroom teachers. I will ask for collections to help my students’
research. (http://www.columbuslibrary.org/ebranch/index.cfm?pageid=58&parentid=490)
This project is divided into three parts: Before Planting, During, Conclusion.
Before Planting:
1. Parents and children are invited to become a part of our year long experience at
our Kindergarten Family Open House!
2. Each child will choose a question to explore. (Possible questions should be
simple such as: “What bugs will come to our garden?” or “What is mulch?”.
With as much parental and school volunteer help as possible, the children will be
led to explore the resources outlined above as well as any listed in my
bookmarked favorite section of my project resources.
3. Children will be asked to draw pictures and write what they have found out.
Children’s writing should have captions taken down by teacher or other adult so
the child will be able to share their finished work with others.
4.
Each child will have a folder in the color on their choice with metal brads in the
middle to keep their work in. These folders should be purchased as soon as the
school sales start in the summer and should be kept in a special place in the
classroom. (Very inexpensive at Wal-Mart…get crayons to use as well) As
students discover information they will record the information and the paper will
be saved in their folder.
5. During:
Writing will continue and observation and hands on activities such as:
http://www.msichicago.org/online-science/activities/activitydetail/activities/grow-a-garden-in-a-glove-1/ (Exploring the needs of plants by
growing seeds in plastic gloves). Together the hands on practical knowledge and
the supplemental experiments will help my students learn about their chosen
question. The actual activities would depend on the interests of my students.
3. Conclusion:
At the end of the year we would invite our parents and community back for another
party. We would display our student folder projects. Our students would help me plan
games and decide what they wanted to show those who came. We would invite the local
newspaper to come and visit our garden. Parents and families would be invited to help
maintain the garden in the summer and share in its continued produce.
To recap:

My students would choose a question (with teacher and parental help) that they
would like to learn about.

Students would research the topic in various ways.

Students would document what they learned through writing and pictures. I
would aim for at least monthly entries. Writing would be kept in a folder in the
classroom.

Students would be given a chance to share with their community what they
discovered. Writing would be displayed in their “Garden Books” and the children
would be encouraged to share with their fellow classmates what they did by
showing their favorite writing and picture during our weekly class meetings
during the last month of school.

Parents and students would be given an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of all the
hard work by volunteering in the garden when school ended for summer break.
Special Considerations:
1. Soil needs to be tested. Produce grown in soil with too much lead is not
healthy to eat. Contact local extension agency to get names of
inexpensive companies who test soil.
2. Start small: Better a little neat and happy garden than one that is too big
and gets out of control.
3. How to pay for seeds and soil. Recycle cans and save pennies. Though
there are many grants for schools and you may need to reach out to them
as your program expands, I really believe the children themselves should
buy the seeds.
4. Tools: I got gloves and garden hand tools for a dollar a piece at local
dollar stores and in Target’s One Spot. I am an avid gardener so I had the
simple hand held (four prongs on a handle by Friskers) soil tiller already.
You may need to borrow items.
5. If you do not like to garden… skip this activity. There are other
respectable ways to teach without dirt. (Though I do love a great reason to
“play” in the soil…)
Other Resources to use:
Garden Night Notes:
At the beginning of the year:
1. Discuss all plans with principal and gain approval.
2. Talk to other teachers and see who would like to participate. Discover hidden
talents- Perhaps someone on the faculty loves to garden or would like to help in
some other way.
Two Weeks Before Family Night:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Introduce Garden Project to students.
Show them where garden will be and read a story about gardening outside.
Tell them why we will be gardening at school.
Make a KWL chart of what they already know and what they want to learn.
Send home Family Garden Night Invitation (Make sure to have a native speaker
read any translated letters before they are sent out.)
One Week Before Family Night:
1. Talk about Family Night everyday explain what an “Open House” is and what
will happen when they arrive.
2. Ask each child to draw a picture of what they want to learn about during our
project. ( Do they want to learn about bugs? … Which plants grow the tallest?...
or perhaps they want to know if bunnies will eat our garden?) Perhaps this could
be done during Center time and each child could be called aside and helped to
sound out at least one word to explain the picture they will draw.
3. Help the children mat the pictures and hang them in the room.
4. Be sure to send home a reminder about Family Night and have the children draw
a picture on it before it goes in their communication folder.
Tuesday of Family Night week:
1. Help children clean room.
2. Make sure to remove any discipline notes or reminders that could embarrass a
child or a parent. (i.e.… color cards flipped, child’s name on “red”)
3. Have children make a note to welcome their parents and place it on their desk.
4. Send home a reminder and verbally welcome all parents you see to come back at
six o’clock.
Supplies needed for Garden Open House:
1. Garden coloring sheets for coloring station.
2. A treat to leave for your student to find on their desk when they arrive related to
gardening. (Look for garden related freebies at your State Fair, from your local
Metro parks. Start collecting the summer before. My Health department has free
books about veggies written on Kindergarten level; they are called “Keep Books”
and are often given away through the WIC program. They have a booth at our
state fair.)
3. Pudding, gummy worms, smooshed cookies, spoons, napkins, clear small cups,
water and drinking cups for snack (dirt cups) Directions written out in languages
of students.
4. Slide show of garden pictures running on room computers.
5. Sign up sheet for parent volunteers.
6. Enthusiasm … It is contagious!
Please come to our
Family Garden Open House!
This year, in Kindergarten, your child will have the opportunity to be
part of a wonderful year long learning adventure. Our class will be
planning, planting and caring for a garden!
At our Family Garden Night you and your child will:

Hear about how creating a garden will help your child master state
standards.

Enjoy playing garden games.

Create a garden snack with your child!
Your family is welcome to visit our classroom anytime between 6:00 and
7:00 PM next Thursday, October 15th. Please return the bottom of this form
in your child’s yellow communication folder tomorrow so our
Kindergarteners and I will know how many visitors to prepare for.
Thank you,
Mrs. Susan Butler
How many people from your family will be attending the
Kindergarten Family Garden Open House, between 6:00 and 7:00 PM on
Tuesday, October 12th?
(Please include your Kindergarten student in your count.)
________ people will attend the Garden Open House
on Tuesday, October 12th.
Family House Jardín Abierto!
Este año, en kinder, su hijo tendrá la oportunidad de ser parte de un
año maravilloso aprendizaje a lo largo de aventura. Nuestra clase ha
comenzado la planificación, la siembra y el cuidado de un jardín!
En la Noche de Familia Jardín usted y su niño:
• Conocer acerca de cómo crear un jardín ayudará a su hijo los estándares
del estado maestro.
• Disfruta de los juegos de jardín.
• Cree una merienda jardín con su hijo!
Su familia es bienvenida a visitar nuestra sala de clase en cualquier
momento entre las 6:00 y las 7:00 PM el próximo jueves, 15 de octubre.
Por favor devuelva la parte inferior de esta forma en la carpeta de su hijo
de comunicación amarilla mañana, para nuestros estudiantes de
Kindergarten y sabré cuántos visitantes para preparar.
Gracias,
La señora Butler Susan
¿Cuántas personas de su familia que asista a la guardería Familia
Jardín Casa Abierta, 6:00-19:00 el Martes, 12 de octubre?
(Por favor incluya su estudiante de kindergarten en su cuenta.)
________ personas asistirán al Jardín de puertas abiertas
el martes, 12 de octubre.
Tafadhali kuja wetu
Garden familia Open House!
Mwaka huu, katika chekechea, mtoto wako atakuwa na nafasi ya kuwa
sehemu ya mwaka ajabu muda kujifunza adventure. darasa yetu itakuwa
mipango, kupanda na kutunza bustani!
Katika familia yetu Garden usiku wewe na mtoto wako:
• kusikia kuhusu jinsi ya kujenga bustani itasaidia viwango vya hali ya
mtoto wako bwana.
• Enjoy bustani kucheza michezo.
• Unda vitafunio bustani na mtoto wako!
familia yako ni kuwakaribisha kutembelea darasa yetu wakati wowote
6:00-7:00 ijayo Alhamisi Oktoba 15. Tafadhali kurudi chini ya fomu hii
katika folder mtoto wako manjano mawasiliano kesho ili Kindergarteners
yetu na mimi kujua jinsi wageni wengi kujiandaa.
Asante
Mrs Susan Butler
Jinsi watu wengi kutoka familia yako itakuwa waliohudhuria
chekechea Family Garden Open House, 6:00-7:00 tarehe Jumanne
Oktoba 12?
(Tafadhali ni pamoja na wako chekechea mwanafunzi katika hesabu
yenu.)
________ mapenzi watu kuhudhuria Garden Open House
juu ya Jumanne, Oktoba 12.