Cleveland Elementary

How Does Your Garden Grow will allow students to learn about sprouting plants from seeds as well as the scientific concept of photosynthesis. Primary grade students will work with intermediate grade students to produce starts for outdoor garden boxes.
Students will be given a pretest to find out what students already know and what they need to learn. Teachers will teach about photosynthesis and germination. The students will begin their gardens with containers, collecting and recording data as the seeds sprout in a variety of controlled growing environments. As the seeds become starts they will be transplanted into garden boxes in our school garden where the students will continue to care for, track and record data in journals throughout the growing season.
* December 2014-January 2015: Purchase materials, plant seeds in classroom containers and begin growing process; Prepare outdoor raised beds for planting; Classroom teachers give pretest and then introduce the concept of photosynthesis and germination while conducting a variety of classroom experiments by varying growing conditions; Visit local garden. Students will record data online in electronic portfolios.
*February-May 2015: Transfer starts to raised garden beds outdoors and continue daily care; maintain electronic journals that contain information about growth factors, photographs and other evidence.
In order to keep our garden growing we need seeds & plant material, dirt for 4 outdoor boxes and 100 start containers. We would also like to add 2 more outdoor garden boxes and need the following materials for building it: lumber, screws and banding.We need rakes, hoses and other gardening tools to maintain our garden and transportation so we can visit local gardens in the area. We need supplies/consumables such as containers, paper, ink, etc.