Gardens – Island Grown Schools

Curriculum Toolkit
Over the years, we have honed in on priority curricular units for every grade level, preschool through 12th grade, that build on each other and provide a meaningful food education for the students we work with.
This Toolkit is the compilation of these units, along with their related teaching standards and sequence. We are constantly adding to this site, so please check in again soon for updates.

We designed this curriculum framework to help our students grasp the following key concepts by the time they graduate from High School:

Feel confident in making healthy food choices

Appreciate the farming profession

Know that everyone can grow food

Understand the connection between healthy soil, healthy plants and healthy people

Recognize a regenerative, local food system is inclusive and promotes a healthy ecosystem.

Making Sunflower Seed Butter

OBJECTIVE Students will be able to cook a nutritious snack with adult help Students will be able to taste sunflower seeds and sunflower seed butter Students will be able to chop vegetables or fruit safely ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS What seeds do we eat? What is the sunflowers lifecycle? Why do plants have seeds? Why do we […]

Grade levels Prek-2

Core curriculum subjects Science

Island Grown Schools topics Gardens, Seeds

Milkweed Seed Saving

OBJECTIVE Students will observe monarch caterpillars eating milkweed in the read aloud Students will understand milkweed seeds will grow and turn into food for monarch caterpillars Students will notice how milkweed uses wind to travel ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS MATERIALS PROCEDURE Introduction: Ask students if anyone has made a wish on a dandelion before? Show them a […]

Grade levels Prek-2

Core curriculum subjects Science

Island Grown Schools topics Gardens, Seeds

Pest and Pollinator Game

OBJECTIVE Students will be able to name common garden pests Students will be able to name common pollinators Students will be able to name characteristics of insects ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS Why is it beneficial to have pollinators in a garden/on a farm? How can the practices a farmer uses help or hurt insects on their farm? […]

Grade levels 3-5, Prek-2

Core curriculum subjects Health & Wellness, Science

Island Grown Schools topics Farms, Gardens

We Eat All Parts of Plants

OBJECTIVE Students will identify the main parts of a plant: seed/fruit, leaf, root, and flower. Students will understand that we eat different parts of plants in our everyday diets. Students will practice observation and categorization skills through hands-on activities. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS What are the parts of a plant? MATERIALS PROCEDURE Introduction Hands-On Exploration Worksheet Activity […]

Grade levels 3-5, Prek-2

Core curriculum subjects Science

Island Grown Schools topics Gardens

Introduction to the Garden Scavenger Hunt

OBJECTIVE Students will explore a garden, observe plant characteristics, and identify various types of crops and plants based on a set of criteria. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS What is growing in our garden? How do we identify plants? MATERIALS Printed worksheets Writing utensils Clipboards PROCEDURE Introduction: Exploration Wrap-Up Extensions Introduction to the Garden Observation Sheet

Grade levels 6-8

Core curriculum subjects Science

Island Grown Schools topics Gardens

Curriculum Toolkit

Making Sunflower Seed Butter

Milkweed Seed Saving

Pest and Pollinator Game

We Eat All Parts of Plants

Seedfolks

Introduction to the Garden Scavenger Hunt