A Great School Garden Resource

The Garden Club of South Carolina's Good to Grow program is an excellent program that teaches school age children along with their families not only how to grow their own food, but how to make healthy food choices. The most significant purpose of the program is how beneficial Good to Grow is for the youth of our state.  Childhood obesity is at an all time high and is affecting not only the health of the children of South Carolina, but also their ability to learn.  Through gardening, the Good to Grown program teaches families how to grow food that is nutritionally valuable, while having fun while reinforcing lessons of reading, science, and math.

The Good to Grow program manages a BLOG that is an excellent resource for those involved or interested in school gardens and healthy eating for today's youth.

National Farm to School Webinar

The National Farm to School program is hosting their next webinar titled "Built to Last: Sustainable Farm to School Programs" on Tuesday, April 10 at 1:00 pm EST.  Click here to register!

New Edition of the Farm to School Garden Newsletter

Check out our latest edition of the Farm to School Garden Newsletter!

"Lunch Bites" Webinar Tomorrow

The National Farm to School Network is offering a "Lunch Bites" webinar series that is designed to be short, but loaded with crisp snippets of information related to Farm to School programs and partnerships.  These will feature 20 minute presentations, followed by a short question and answer session.  Presenters will also stand by to answer additional questions if needed. 

Tune in TOMORROW, February 14 at 1:00 p.m. EST and join the group as the learn more about GAP and safety planning through the story of Peach Crest Farm in Oklahoma.  The webinars will continue on the second Tuesday of every month.  Visit the Farm to School website to registar for future webinars and check out recordings and resources from past webinars.

If you have suggestions for topics or speakers you'd like this series to cover, please send an email to Chesley Simpson.

New Edition of the Farm to School Garden Newsletter

Check out the February edition of the Farm to School Garden Newsletter.  Lots of great gardening tips, especially with spring just around the corner!

NEW - Eat Smart, ... it's in the Garden Toolkit now available!!

The Eat Smart,...it's in the Garden Tookit is now available online at: www.agriculture.sc.gov under the School Garden section. Happy Gardening :)

Riverbanks Zoo Garden Programs

Every Saturday from 11:00am until 1:00pm the Riverbanks Zoo Botanical Garden hosts free gardening demonstrations! Activities for children include explorations in vine-covered tunnels and tepees in the Play Garden as well as Garden Scavenger Hunts. All of the activities provide kids with the opportunity to learn interesting facts about a variety of plants and some crawly creatures! More information about the Riverbanks Garden Programs can be found at the address below and don't forget that you need to pre-register for all of the activities! We hope to see you there!

http://www.riverbanks.org/education/garden.shtml

LiFE Curriculum for Grades 4th through 8th!

"Linking Food and the Environment (LiFE) is a collaboration of the Science Education and Nutrition education programs at Teachers College Columbia University. Established in 1996 with the vision of promoting scientific habits of mind through thoughtful, inquiry-based activities that integrate the study of food, food systems, and environmental and personal health. The mission of all the LiFE modules is to increase scientific conceptual understandings in life sciences; improve attitudes towards science; improve attitudes toward personal health and nature; and promote behavior changes in relation to personal and ecological health.

In the modules of the LiFE Curriculum Series students embark on an exciting adventure—learning how to use scientific evidence to construct theories of food, food systems and health that can lead to choices that promote ecological and personal health."

http://www.tc.edu/life/overviews.html

Check out and use these free lessons!

"Keeping the Flow" (investigating the impact of ones diet on the cardiovascular system)
http://www.tc.edu/life/docs/lesson%2015%20Keeping%20the%20Flow.pdf
"Celebrating Plant Parts"
http://www.tc.edu/life/GF.L6.CelebratePP.pdf

How to Integrate Your Garden into Classroom Curriculum!

Check out these links for ideas:

http://www.csgn.org/pdf/GFL_3.pdf

http://www.gardenmosaics.cornell.edu/pgs/science/english/mainscience.htm

http://216.248.206.131/wizard/learn/teach_curricula.html

http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/cla_lessons.html

Please post any ideas or experiences that you have had with garden curriculum!