School Gardens
Ag in the Classroom is proud to support school garden programs. Check out our garden-related resources for garden lesson ideas, a guide to starting your school garden, and more! Be sure to also explore the opportunities on our Grants & Scholarships page.
School Garden Webinar
This two-hour webinar is an excellent opportunity for educators, parents, and volunteers to learn more about school gardens and how to connect them to local agriculture.
During the webinar, you will have the chance to hear from an experienced UC Master Gardener who will share tips and tricks for getting the most out of your school garden. Additionally, you will learn about free educational resources to help you incorporate your school garden into your curriculum, as well as get ideas for bringing the garden into your classroom. The event will culminate with a virtual tour of a school garden, followed by a Q&A session.
Prolific Pollinators
How does your food get pollinated? Pollinators are essential to agriculture and the environment. Students will learn about the various categories of pollinators and their contribution to producing California agriculture commodities. Includes three activities, a math exercise and ideas for Service Learning and Citizen Science. This resource is aligned to California Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
WE Garden Lesson Packet
These one-page lessons have great ideas for hands-on, garden-based learning that can be used within or outside the classroom walls.
Subjects: Science, Mathematics, English Language Arts, Health/Nutrition
- Entire Packet for Grades K-6
- Seed Match for Grades 1-3
- My Life as a Fruit or Vegetable for Grades 4-6
- Eat Your Plants for Grades 1-3
- Frozen, Canned or Fresh? for Grades 4-6
- Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other for Grades 1-3
- Let's Make Compost Cake for Grades 4-6
- Shake, Rattle & Roll for Grades 1-3
- Read the Roots for Grades 4-6
- Bug Sweep for Grades 1-3
- California Crops for Grades 4-6
- Busy Bees for Grades K-3
School Garden Links and Resources
Gardens for Learning Book
Download the guidebook developed through a collaboration with the Collective School Garden Network.
CROP Circles
CROP (California Regions of Optimal Planting) Circles
This easy-to-use diagram illustrates proper planting and harvesting times for 18 crops commonly found in California school gardens.
California's Fruit & Vegetable Crop Seasons
Check out the chart of California's fruit and vegetable crop seasons, created by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Garden-Related Acrostic Poems
An acrostic is a structured poem in which the first letter of each line forms a word or phrase, vertically. The poem can describe the subject or tell a brief story about it. Use this download for students to create their own garden-related acrostics.
Agricultural Fact and Activity Sheets
The fact sheets include one page of information related to an agricultural commodity and one page of lesson plan ideas for using that information. The set includes everything from almonds to table grapes, as well as plant nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potasium.
The Invasive Species Fact Sheet Set introduces six invasive species, the damage they cause to California crops and how to stop their spread.
Lesson Plans
Our lesson plan collection includes some great resources for garden learning.
What's Growin' On?
Your Link to California Agriculture
This edition of our hands-on student newspaper is focused on gardens. You can also explore the entire collection, as each issue can easily be used to complement a garden-based education.