OBJECTIVE

Students will small and feel different herbs in the garden. Students will be able to compare different herbs. Students will be able to identify some of the herbs in the garden.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

What are herbs? What can we do with plants in the winter?

MATERIALS NEEDED

Herbs to be harvester or already harvested, scissors, small squares of fabric (approx. 3” x 3”)

PROCEDURE

Introduction:
Ask students, “What are herbs? Have you ever heard of some of these herbs?” List rosemary, mint, thyme, sage. Talk about the garden in the winter. “What can we do with plants if they are no longer going to grow in the garden?” Discuss drying herbs.
Activity 1:
Students go out into the garden to harvest herbs. Come back together and share the herbs. Each student gets to smell the herbs. We talk about the differences and similarities. Students lay out the herbs they find in the greenhouse to dry.
Wrap up/ Assessment: Students name one herb they found in the garden.
Activity 2:
Next class, the herbs are brought into the classroom. Ask students to identify the different herbs. Write the names on the board. Students may work on cards for their herb sachets, while others come to the carpet to make their herb sachets.
Each herb is in its own bowl/jar. Students touch, smell, and observe each herb. Then they choose which herbs they would like to put into their sachet. Students choose a fabric, then (using their hands) take a pinch of each herb. Many of the herbs will need to be removed from their stem (rosemary, thyme, sage) Students tie up their sachet (with teacher’s help) and return to their desks to finish their cards.
Wrap up/Assessment: Students go around and talk about what they might do with the herbs in their sachet (cook, make tea, put underneath a pillow, hang up in a room

FOLLOW UP & EXTENSIONS

In spring, students choose a variety of herbs to plant in the garden.