Positives

• The lesson plans suggest various final products students can create based on their interests.
• The resource provides a comprehensive collection of information teachers can use to start their school garden, accounting for curriculum, materials, and space considerations.
• Teachers anywhere in the United States can benefit from the information the resource provides.

Additional Prerequisites

• The Mapping the Garden lesson plan references a Garden Planning Activity sheet that is not included.
• Students should know the elements of a map and how to find points on a coordinate plane.
• For the Persuasive Writing in the Garden lesson, teachers must find anchor texts to use persuasive writing examples and provide different types or themes of gardens to research.

Differentiation

• Older students completing the Mapping the Garden activity can make math connections by finding the perimeter or area of map features.
• Students can study irrigation systems and participate in an engineering activity to develop the best system for their school garden.
• A school garden can spark a conversation about the importance of biodiversity and how climate change impacts it.
• Younger students completing the Persuasive Writing in the Garden activity can do a simplified version, working from a sentence stem such as, "Our garden should__because__."