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5th Grade Leadership project

  • 1.  5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 10-15-2025 07:37:00 PM

    Hi all!
    It's this time of year again where we are planning another 5th Grade project. Last year's class developed and built a medicinal plant garden. It was a great project and they all really enjoyed it although it was hard work. Lots of very proud faces at the end. 

    This year we have the opportunity to work on another project with a focus on leadership. I had a little chat with chatgpt and it came up with a few interesting ideas (below). Does anyone have any experience with any of these type of projects? Any guidelines, suggestions etc? I think there are a lot of interesting ideas in there and am just wondering if some of them are too difficult for 5th Graders or too simple etc. 

    Thanks for your input!

    1. Pollinator Ambassadors

    Students care for the butterfly and pollinator gardens, track plants and insects, and teach younger grades about pollinators.

    2. Compost Captains (Waste Warriors)

    Students lead the school's composting or recycling program, teaching others how to sort waste and measuring how much is diverted from landfill.

    4. Habitat Heroes

    Students design and build mini wildlife habitats like birdhouses or bee hotels using recycled materials and track which species visit.

    5. Water Guardians

    Students audit the school's water use, propose conservation ideas, and help set up systems like rainwater collection or mulching.

    6. Kindness Garden / Peace Path

    Students transform a garden space into a calm reflection area with art, affirmations, and soothing plants to promote kindness and inclusion.

    7. Citizen Scientists

    Students collect and share nature data - such as monarch counts or soil moisture - contributing to real science projects and school reports.

    8. Junior Garden Designers

    Students identify an unused area of campus and create a design plan with sketches or models to improve it with plants, paths, or seating.

    9. Garden Storytellers (Eco-Reporters)

    Students create videos, posters, or podcasts sharing garden updates, interviews, and stories for the school community.



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    Karolin Phillips
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  • 2.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 10-19-2025 12:07:00 PM

    THANK YOU as I love these ideas!  The school I work with is K-6th and I focus on one grade level but also look for projects for other grades.

    This list is a treasure trove!

    I run the TeaProject Program teaching herbalism.  To really utilize what the 5th graders have accomplished in building a 

    medicinal herb garden I would make herbal products!  I have done this with all grades.  6th graders developed an herbal bug 

    repellent, created a marketing plan, logo and labels and presented to the principal.  Some boys wrote a rap song about their product.

    The pride was papable!  The 4th graders made a tea blend for the nurse's station to address constipation.  The younger kids made

    herbal salt blends to take home as gifts.  This year they will make it for the school cafeteria!  Progress.  Embrace plant medicine!

    Janet



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    Janet Lawson
    Ruskin Elementary School, Dayton Public School System
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  • 3.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-05-2025 03:53:00 PM

    Janet, I am so inspired by your post!  Last year, I pivoted and made a sensory/herb garden after 7 years of having vegetables eaten by various rodents!  Now it is thriving!  Would you mind sharing some links of projects you've done with kids that were successful?  I teach K-6 Environmental Science.  I see so many cool things online, but it's hard to know what actually works.  Thank you!!!



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    Jamie Davis
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-05-2025 05:49:00 PM

    Oh those are great ideas ! Thank you so much, Janet! I will definitely try and incorporate some of this. 



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    Karolin Phillips
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-06-2025 01:33:00 PM

    Hi again! I want to share a little about the TeaProject.  The slogan is "Mindfulness in a daily cup of tea".  So, this program combines SEL wtih Herbalism.

    It involves two online graduate classes through a university in Vermont and one in-person week-long class in Vermont.  A person can take one course

    or all of it.  Check out the website at:  https://www.luna-root.com/the-tea-project.  If you are knowledgeable with planting then you really just need 

    the first course and the in-person training is just a JOY!  



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    Janet Lawson
    Ruskin Elementary School, Dayton Public School System
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    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-05-2025 03:50:00 PM

    Hi Karolin, I am a K-6 Environmental Science teacher.  My suggestion would be to build off of what you already created last year in the herb garden.  So...maybe a pollinator program?  Maybe signage in your garden about certain pollinators that thrive there.  I know my upper elementary students love to "educate" the younger students about their causes - reading books to them or making a craft.  Good Luck!



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    Jamie Davis
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  • 7.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-05-2025 05:48:00 PM

    Thank you so much Jamie! We'll definitely be adding to the medicinal garden going forward. It's such a wonderful place and hopefully we'll be able to show more of the use of the plants in the future. 



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    Karolin Phillips
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-18-2025 12:18:00 AM
    Edited by Tina Steiner 11-18-2025 12:21:19 AM

    Hi, Janet.

    Something I use for my younger learners are the PBL Project Ideas - Van Andel Institute for Education.

    Below is an example:



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    Tina Steiner
    Round Rock TX
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  • 9.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-19-2025 11:16:00 PM

    Karolin,

    Based off your work with medicinal gardens last year, I think these projects are within your 5th graders' grasp! I think you could combine ideas #8,#4, and #1 if you have an available space and permission from the school of course! Students could work together to design a pollinator garden integrating one requirement to include a mini wildlife habitat. This would culminate with implementation of student design, care for the pollinator garden plot, and using the garden space as an opportunity to teach younger grades about pollinators through either signage (informal) or an integrated presentation (formal). 

    I think this would be a way to build interdisciplinary skills, offer multiple students opportunities for leadership, be an extensive project for the spring season, incorporate SEL skills, and elevate your CHATGPT pitch as a layered project for youth with multiple opportunities for leadership within a start to finish project. This would include multiple disciplines, skills, and leadership initiatives. I think this is a project within a 5th grade capacity so long as you keep your expectations reasonable to not perfection, but to effort. Love many of the other suggestions in this thread and hope to see more of your classroom's projects and successes in the future! 

    -- Kalie J



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    Kalie Johnson
    Cleveland OH
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  • 10.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 11-21-2025 03:52:00 PM

    Hi,

    For the pollinator ambassadors project, I think a good way to help them track pollinators/plants and engage the community is by participating in citizen science. BioBlitz activities are a really fun way to get engagement-- you can pick a specific date and time and invite the students and their families to the garden to take observations (pictures, drawings, journal entries, etc.) (see this website for an example of a state-wide BioBlitz in Texas Texas Pollinator BioBlitz - Texas Parks & Wildlife Department).

     Tools like iSeek (created for educational use by youth-- so it's purely for identification, doesn't store data or have a social component) and iNaturalist (which can be used to compile data from all the digital observations taken at a specific location) or Nature's Notebook work really well and are relatively user friendly.



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    Gabrielle Butler
    Rosenberg TX
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  • 11.  RE: 5th Grade Leadership project

    Posted 02-11-2026 04:50:00 AM

    Wow. thank you posting because I am meeting with my 5th grade students for Garden Club and am looking for some ideas for them!  Karen.



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    Karen Chapman
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