School Gardening Part 1: Getting Started

Lesson Plans

Grades2, 3, 4, 5, 6English Language Arts, Mathematics

Scientist Reviewed

Provided by New York Botanical Garden

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What it is

This first resource in the series provides an introductory video, tip sheets, teacher support documents, and two lessons to help your students map out a garden spot an then write persuasively to their peers about their choice of garden theme.
Teachers will learn the proper tools, classroom management strategies, budget considerations, and botany terms to help them start a garden for their students.
The resource also includes grant opportunities and resources for New York City teachers.

Teaching tips

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__."

From the scientist review

This resource pack includes a series of resources to aid in planning and budgeting for a school garden. A short video introduces the basics of school gardens, and a series of tip sheets and teacher resources provide more detail. The resource includes lessons appropriate for students in grades 2-6, and a guide to help students develop their persuasive writing is linked. The "Basics of Botany" teacher resource provides straightforward answers to basic questions and clearly defines terms. This resource features clear text and a wealth of sound information and is recommended for teaching.

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At a glance

Grades: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Subjects: English Language Arts, Mathematics
Other types: Articles/Websites, Videos, Activity - Outdoors
Format: PDF
Language: English
Location: Earth, North America, North America > United States, North America > United States > New York, North America > United States > New York > New York
Provider: New York Botanical Garden
Authors: New York Botanical Garden
Published: April 6, 2024
Last updated: July 16, 2026
: Reviewed by our climate scientists How we review

Standards alignment · D2.Geo.1.K-2 + 9 more

Core

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards

D2.Geo.1.K-2Construct maps, graphs, and other representations of familiar places.
D2.Geo.2.K-2Use maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them.
D2.Geo.1.3-5Construct maps and other graphic representations of both familiar and unfamiliar places.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.4Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

MS-LS2-5.Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.

New Jersey Climate Education Hub

English Language Arts

W.AW.5.1Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
W.SE.6.6Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources; assess the credibility of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and providing basic bibliographic information for sources.
SL.UM.4.5Add audio recordings and visual displays to presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

Mathematics

5.G.A.1Use a pair of perpendicular number lines, called axes, to define a coordinate system, with the intersection of the lines (the origin) arranged to coincide with the 0 on each line and a given point in the plane located by using an ordered pair of numbers, called its coordinates. Understand that the first number indicates how far to travel from the origin in the direction of one axis, and the second number indicates how far to travel in the direction of the second axis, with the convention that the names of the two axes and the coordinates correspond (e.g., x-axis and x-coordinate, y-axis and y-coordinate).

Social Studies

6.1.2.GeoSV.2:Describe how maps are created for a specific purpose (e.g., school fire-drill map, route from home to school, learning centers in a classroom).

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