Growing Together: Open Forum

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  • 1.  Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-06-2022 01:20:00 PM
    Hi all!   I'm taking some time to plan some activities to use in the garden and need some creative new ideas that you love to do!    I'm thinking about 30 minute lessons that can be repeated easily and cheap!  

    My current favorite:  Weed Math.

    I give children 10 minutes to gather 15 weeds.

    Once gathered, they have to divide their weeds on a work mat into two categories:  weeds with roots and weeds without roots.    With older kids, I assign a value to their weeds, i.e. weeds with roots are worth 5 points and weeds without roots are worth 1 point.    

    Thanks in advance for your favorite ideas!




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    Anne Santana
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  • 2.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-07-2022 02:48:00 AM
    Hi Anne, We created this site as a space just for activities like you are seeking.

    I love your weed math idea, so simple, practical and I bet the kids like it too.

    -- JOHN
    John Fisher - Director of Programs & Partnerships - 831.471.7831 - lifelab.org/john
    Life Lab cultivates children's love of learning, healthy food, and nature through garden-based education.
    A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with locations in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, CA





  • 3.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-17-2022 12:10:00 PM
    Thank you so much! I really enjoy the site's navigation-really easy!  I picked up some great ideas for my classroom.

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    Anne Santana
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  • 4.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-07-2022 11:52:00 AM
    Hi Anne,

    This is one of our favorites. It's a Citizen Science project and can be easily turned into a math activity on probabilities. 




    --
    Michelle Zupan
    Curator 
    Hickory Hill & the Tom Watson Birthplace
    502 Hickory Hill Drive
    Thomson, GA  30824
    706-595-7777
    FAX: 706-595-7177

    Visit us at www.hickory-hill.org or on Facebook.
    Follow us on Twitter: HHEducation

    Historic homes of the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc








  • 5.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-17-2022 12:10:00 PM
    I will definitely incorporate this into our work this spring! Thank you so much

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    Anne Santana
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  • 6.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-18-2022 11:21:00 AM
    These are a bit longer than 30 min and many are for older kids, but Exploratorium has great activities called "snacks" that are fun and inexpensive science projects. Put plant, seed, or grow in the search box. Let us know if you try any! One example: https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/vegetable-revival 

    Cheers from Rachel in Maryland near DC




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    Rachel Heckscher
    Piney Branch Elementary School/ Montgomery County Public Schools (Maryland)
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  • 7.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-20-2022 09:01:00 PM
    How crazy!  I was just on their Science of Dirt site 5 minutes ago.   I used to work with some of the folks who created the Science Snackbook years ago, but had not thought about checking it out for gardening experiences.  Thank you SO much for sharing this resource.

    Best,
    Anne

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    Anne Santana
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  • 8.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-18-2022 01:01:00 PM
    I love the Root Math idea! You could also take that a step further and have the sort and graph roots with fibrous roots and roots with tap roots so that they learn the difference between the two.

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    [Lara] [Guerra]
    [Science Teacher]
    [The Hockaday School]
    [Dallas] [Texas]
    [lguerra@hockaday.org]
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  • 9.  RE: Quick gardening activity ideas

    Posted 01-20-2022 09:02:00 PM
    That is a great extension for the activity!  Thank you so much!

    Anne

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    Anne Santana
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