Gimme 5 Challenge in the Low Country!

I heard about this neat initiative going on in Bluffton, SC called the "Gimme 5 Challenge!" I thought that some of you who are interested in linking your garden programs with healthy eating and activity choices might be interested in checking out their website and activities. You can learn more about the Gimme 5 Challenge at: http://gimme5aday.org/index.htm

Garden at the White House!

Seems like everyone is getting into the benefits of gardening and the benefits of fresh produce! For more information about the Garden at the White House, check out this link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/dining/20garden.html?_r=1&ref=dining

"Gardening and composting go hand-in-hand, especially in school garden projects: gardening without composting only teaches half the lesson..."

"Learning About Soil" and "Composting Resources for Schools":
http://journeytoforever.org/edu_compost.html

Simple fact sheet (download PDF from link):
http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pid=FS811

SC DHEC information and links:
http://www.scdhec.net/environment/lwm/recycle/compost.htm

Pollinator Curriculm

Check out this link to see how to integrate garden pollination learning into your classroom:

http://www.nappc.org/curriculum/

Overview:
Nature's Partners is an inquiry learning-based curriculum for young people in the 4th through the 6th grade. It is comprised of seven modules. Each module offers three or four activities designed to engage young people in active, investigative science following a learning cycle of

• exploration,
• concept introduction/development, and
• concept application.

The Nature's Partners curriculum is designed to be flexible. Although it is presented as a sequence of activities, there is no need to do them all or todo them in order.

The Healthy School Toolkit

Here is an interesting resource from the Food Trust, for those of you who view your school garden program as part of your overall school wellness program. This publication provides some good ideas about organizing community and volunteer groups, setting goals, and sharing successes. http://www.thefoodtrust.org/catalog/download.php?product_id=144

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!

Harvest Hope's Plant a Row Program!

Harvest Hope Food Bank serves 20 counties in South Carolina. Currently they have a new campaign called Plant A Row for the Hungry, where they are asking gardeners in South Carolina to plant an extra row and to donate the harvest from that row to the food bank. If this sounds like a project that you and your school might be interested in participating in, please visit: http://www.harvesthope.org/plantarow.aspx