As I was sitting outside this morning, soaking up the sun and trying
to hit the halfway point in the
5th book in the Game of Thrones series, I
realized that the five basil plants we bought last week had still not
made it into the garden (thank goodness for rain. . . ). Of course, that
made me think of the garden I would like to have, if I had any hint of
green in my thumb, and led me to search my bookshelf for good garden
books. I found a few worth sharing...
The first two, both written by
Deborah Hodge, photographed by Brian Harris, and published by
Kids Can Press, make a great combo, with
Up We Grow! documenting a year on small farm and
Watch Me Grow!, highlighting city gardening.
Up We Grow! is structured around the seasons and information is presented through two levels of text:
the primary "story" of the small farm, the people who run it, and its
animals and crops, and the information found in smaller green boxes that
discusses more general information like "Caring for the Land" or
"Caring for Our Food." The text is supplemented by bright photographs
depicting all aspects of the farm and simple questions like, "Do you
have a compost bin?" and "Is there a farmer's market where you live?"
are scattered throughout. While this book could be used as an
interactive read aloud (even in small parts), the text is simple enough
that a fairly fluent 2nd grader and most 3rd graders could read it
independently.
Watch Me Grow! is structured around the ideas of growing, sharing, eating, and caring. The book shows different places (windowsills, backyards, rooftops, etc.) and kinds of gardens--including caring for chickens and honeybees. (Yes! I realize that's not really "gardening," but it's still in the book--and interesting!) The green boxes highlight items like "Sharing your Garden" and "Growing an Herb Garden", and lots of kid are pictured helping work, cook, and eat.
Both books have a page of brief information at the back--one providing a little more information on sustainable farms and the other on urban agriculture, and both would be very useful for talking about life science (needs of living things, habitats, life cycles, etc.)--and even a little bit of social studies (rural vs. urban, communities, etc.). And, both could be particularly inspiring for those kids who, unlike me, DO have green thumbs!
Hello, my name is Colbi Galyon, and I am in Dr. Rearden's online Science Education 531 class. I really liked reading your post about gardening, and I think these books would be great read alouds if you were doing a science lesson on the life cycle of plants or if you were starting your own class garden. Reading your post inspired me to search the internet and see what other good books about gardening there are for elementary students. In my search, I found a book entitled How Groundhog's Garden Grew by Lynne Cherry. In this book, a squirrel teaches a groundhog how he can grow his own food. The book would be a great resource for a science lesson because it could be used to teach about seasons, hibernation, ecosystems, predator/prey relationships, how to grow plants, the life cycle of plants and vegetables, and the importance of sharing. Similar to the books you discussed in your blog post, this book could also be used to guide students if they were planting their own garden. If you would like to read this story, the entire book can be found in a PDF below:
ReplyDeletehttp://fms01.sd54.k12.il.us/treasures/pdf/second_grade/2TB_How_Groundhogs_Garden_Grew.pdf
Hopefully this book will give readers another source for linking science and literacy :)
My name is Morgan Shelly and I am a student in Dr. Rearden's online Science Education 531 class. As soon as I saw this Perfect Pairings post, I immediately remembered my experience visiting the Beardsley Community Farm in Knoxville, TN. Teaching young students about gardening, outdoors, seasons, plants, and animal relationships is extremely important. The Beardsley Community Farm in Knoxville would be a fantastic field trip to take elementary students to see gardening first hand. Many students probably don't have the opportunity to see gardening at home and some schools may be unable to provide a garden or food to plant. Visit http://beardsleyfarm.org/ for more information about planning field trips!
ReplyDeleteHi! My name is Lily Adler and I'm in Dr. Rearden's online Science Ed 531 class. I really enjoyed this blog post and I can't wait to have a classroom garden!! This brought me back to when I was in kindergarten and we grew watermelon plants. I don't know if I've ever been so proud of something that I've done. I think that creating a classroom garden is a great, new, different opportunity for students. The one critique I have about this post is that some students may have no idea what composting is or have never had the opportunity in their families to visit a farmer's market (sometimes food tends to be more expensive there). This could bring about a good opportunity to create a classroom compost and also take a field trip to a farmer's market, or like Morgan mentioned above me, taking a trip to Beardsley Farm! Although I have never been to Beardsley Farms I have friends that have volunteered there and have had incredible experiences!
ReplyDeleteLily-You're so right that so many of our students won't have "gardening" kinds of experiences, nor will they recognize the language of "composting" or "farmer's market." It's exactly why this book is so good--because the real pictures and great explanations help bring this to life for them--and imagine what could happen with a field trip--or even by inviting a local farmer to school! As teachers, we have to do our best to bring the experiences that kids don't have outside of school to them through our classrooms. Thanks for your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI am in Dr. Rearden's online Science Ed 531 and one of my goals was to learn more about encouraging deeper thinking within science! I really like the idea of making the connection between how plants and children both grown and also exploring the interconnection with how a plant and human relationship can be reciprocal. I taught about plants this past year but did not get to go in depth enough about how we can intentionally grow plants that will then help us grow. I would love to use this next year and go deeper into the topic. Also- I like that neither book cover shows the typical flower or tree looking plant. Food plants are the coolest types plants!
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Jess Covington and I am in Dr. Rearden's online science Ed 531 class as well. I greatly enjoyed this blog post and it immediately made me think of social studies Ed and some of the readings we've been doing in class about linking subjects through books. Having the students read one of the books mentioned or one similar and then basing an in class inquiry off a question that occurred to them while reading would be a great way to encourage students to get thinking about science in other areas of their studies!
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Courtnay Underwood and I am in Dr. Rearden's Science Ed 531 class. I really like the books that were outlined in this post. Especially the first one as it emphasized taking care of the land. I think that this is an important thing for students to learn. Although I will be teaching middle school math, I would love to have a gardening club where we have a garden on school property. The books detailed in the blog would be great resources for this I'm sure.
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ReplyDelete