Events

Make the connection from seed to table in this fun and delicious workshop. Using tried-and-true Life Lab lessons and recipes for grades K-8, participants explore effective ways to teach nutrition and encourage kids to eat more fruits and vegetables through hands-on activities with food, including harvesting and meal preparation. Graduate education units available.

Learn to use a garden to breathe life into standards-based lessons, promote ecological literacy, encourage healthy eating, and support students' social development. Using Life Lab’s The Growing Classroom activity guide for grades K-6, participants in this hands-on workshop, experience tried-and-true garden-based lessons linked to Common Core Language Arts and Math and Next Generation Science Standards; practice basic gardening techniques; and develop management strategies for a school garden program. Graduate education units available.

Learn to use a school garden to provide a meaningful context in which students can apply their emerging skills in math and English language arts. Using lessons from The Growing Classroom activity guide, participants in this workshop will experience and discuss garden activities. Whether they are graphing the temperature of their compost pile over time; reading a recipe to make fresh salsa; writing a story from the perspective of an ant; or presenting to a buddy class on the animals that visited their sunflower patch, the opportunities for children to practice traditional academic subjects in the garden are limitless! Graduate education unit available.

Learn to facilitate engineering experiences for students in the garden! Participants will engage in a 3rd-5th grade unit designed for Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), in which students design and build trellises for peas in the school garden. We will make observations; design, build and test prototypes; and then build full-size trellises to grow peas. By unpacking this unit, we will learn how to facilitate engineering experiences that address real problems or needs in school gardens. You will leave with resources to lead this unit, and also a framework for designing your own engineering in the garden unit.

The Santa Cruz area is home to robust, long standing school food and garden programs. Join us to visit resilient school gardens and innovative scratch cooking school meal programs that are exemplary of the programming that has been running for decades.

Become a confident and knowledgeable garden educator that inspires a love of learning, an appreciation of healthy food, and connection to nature in every child through garden-based education! Throughout all 4 courses participants will learn how to set up their garden classroom as a safe and welcoming space that honors diversity and inclusion while supporting each child’s social and emotional wellbeing. We will learn gardening tips and tricks with children while also demonstrating activities that engage children in using their senses to explore the natural world. We will learn how to use a garden to breathe life into standards-based lessons based on Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core Language Arts and Math. Additionally we will use Life Lab lessons and recipes to explore effective ways to teach nutrition and encourage kids to eat more fruits and vegetables. In the last course, we will discuss key elements of building a strong school garden culture. And explore different, sustainable school garden program models; planning tools to align year-round garden activities with academic and garden care goals; methods for assessing garden programs; and strategies for increasing funding.