Intermediate Grades 3-5
INTRO TO GARDEN
The Basics
From Berkeley USD. This activity supports exploration and observation in the garden and encourages students to ask questions about what they see.
From Berkeley USD. Introduction to garden teamwork, standards, expectations and tools.
From Berkeley USD. This activity supports exploration and observation in the garden and encourages students to ask questions about what they see.
From Berkeley USD. Students use five senses to experience and appreciate the garden. Discussion about land stewardship and native people. (CA SOCIAL STUDIES 4.2.1, 5.2.1)
Science and Math Skills
From Berkeley USD. Students will use their observation skills to look, draw and then share their findings.
PLANT NEEDS
Interdependence
From Exploring Our Urban Forest by SD Children and Nature. Unit of lessons on the importance of trees composed of structures that function together with the environment in which they live. (3-LS3-2 3-LS1-1 3-LS4-4 3-LS4-3)
From Berkeley USD. Observation and writing activities of plants and animals in the garden. (LS2.A, ESS3.A)
From Berkeley USD. Lesson introduces the need for diversity while designing a vegetable garden. (LS1.A | Structure and Function, 2-LS4-1)
From Food Corps. While learning the traditional Native American method of interplanting of corn, beans, and squash, students will learn how to grow healthy food, how plants depend on one another, and be able to compare to humans depending on one another. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.3, RL.3.2, NGSS.LS2.A)
From Berkeley USD. Matching activity demonstrating the mutual relationship existing between plants and animals. (NGSS LS2.A, LS4.C)
From Exploring Our Urban Forest by SD Children and Nature. Unit of lessons showing that trees have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, and reproduction and how humans and other organisms obtain resources from our environment. (4-LS1-1)
Weather
From Berkeley USD. Students observe and learn about common cloud formations and how they inform us about the weather. Then they journal their observations. (NGSS 3-ESS2-1,2, 3-ESS3-1,ESS2.D)
From Berkeley USD. Students observe the clouds in the sky and illustrate the process of cloud formation in a jar. (NGSS ESS2.C)
Soil
From Berkeley USD. This lesson demonstrates the relationship between organic matter and soil erosion. (NGSS LS1.A, ESS1.C, 4-ESS1-1, 4-ESS2.A)
From Life Lab's The Growing Classroom. Students observe components and compare topsoil and subsoil, then try to make soil. (2-LS2-1)
From Life Lab's The Growing Classroom. Students participate in a soil erosion experiment comparing different soil conservation techniques.
PLANT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
Stems and Leaves
From Berkeley USD. This lesson is an overview of photosynthesis and the vascular system of plants. Students experiment with food coloring and leaves. (NGSS 4-LS1-1, LS1.A)
Flowers
From Berkeley USD. This lesson is an introduction to the parts of a flower with observation, dissection and scientific labeling. NGSS 4-LS1-1, LS1.A)
Seeds
From Berkeley USD. Students dissect a seed and identify its anatomy. They also "plant" bean seeds in wet paper towels and baggies to watch them germinate. (NGSS LS1.A)
From Berkeley USD. This lesson demonstrates seed saving and grain processing methods. (CA Social Studies 4.2.1, 5.1.1, NGSS LS4.C)
From Life Lab and Mighty Migrations Unit (previously from The Growing Classroom). This is an updated version using all aspects of NGSS for 2-LS2-2 investigating how seeds and pollen travel.
ECOSYSTEMS AND ADAPTATIONS
Compost
From Berkeley USD. Students learn how to build a compost pile and introduces decomposition. (NGSS LS2.C, LS4.C)
Pollinators
From Berkeley USD. Students will identify insect anatomy and draw the monarch butterfly life cycle. (2-LS4-1, Disciplinary Core Idea LS2.A)
From Berkeley USD. Students will review the anatomy of a flower and create a flower that to which a pollinator would be attracted. (2-LS2-1, LS1.B)
From Berkeley USD. Students design their own experiment to attract pollinators. (NGSS LS2.A, LS2.C, LS4.C)
From Life Lab. Diversity of pollinators, adaptations, and their role in the ecosystem.
From Berkeley USD. Students explore pollinator facts and adaptations. They have an opportunity to work in a group to invent their own pollinator and determine its needs and how it can adapt to its environment. (NGSS LS2.A, LS4.C)
Adaptations
From Berkeley USD. This lesson introduces the concept that insects adapt to their environment over time. Working in groups, students discuss and then create an insect that would survive in a habitat using various adaptations. (NGSS K-LS1-1, LS1.C, LS1.D)
From Berkeley USD. Students begin to learn about plant classification by observing differences in samples. (NGSS LS4.C, LS2.C, LS2.A, 2-LS4-1)
From The Nat's Coast to Cactus in Southern California. Compares adaptations of plants from different southern California habitats. (3-LS4-3)
From The Nat's Coast to Cactus in Southern California. Explores the adaptations of desert plants. (3-LS4-3)
From Berkeley USD. Students begin to learn about plant classification by observing differences in samples. (NGSS LS4.C, LS2.C, LS2.A, 2-LS4-1)
Habitats
From Berkeley USD. This lesson involves observing plant and animal habitats in the garden. (NGSS Systems and Models Disciplinary Core Idea LS2.C Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.C)
From Life Lab. Exploring plant and animal habitats helps students learn more about the diversity of life in the garden.
From Berkeley USD. Lesson involves observing global habitats and researching characteristics of habitats. (NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea LS2.C, Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.C)
Cycles in Nature
From Berkeley USD. This lesson contains an activity to demonstrate how food chains work. (NGSS Systems and System Models Disciplinary Core Idea LS1.C, Disciplinary Core Idea LS2.A)
From Berkeley USD. This lesson explains how food chains and food webs work. (NGSS Systems and System Models Disciplinary Core Idea PS3.D, Disciplinary Core Idea LS2.A)
From Exploring Our Urban Forest by SD Children and Nature. Unit of lessons on oak tree communities including many organisms that are part of food webs. (5-PS3-1)
Human Impact
From Berkeley USD. This lesson builds practices students can use to conserve resources. Students practice taking care of our Earth by reducing, reusing, recycling, and rot/composting. (ESS.3.C)
From Berkeley USD. Students learn and demonstrate he concept of watershed mapping. Introduces water as a finite resource. San Diego's watershed.
From Berkeley USD. Hands-on demonstration of pollutants in watersheds. (NGSS 4-ESS2-1, LS2.B, 4-ESS2.A)
From Life Lab's The Growing Classroom. Students participate in a soil erosion experiment comparing different soil conservation techniques. (5 ESS3.1)
OTHER
Nutrition
From Berkeley USD. This focuses on the role fiber plays in digestion, and processed refined grains compared to whole grains.