New lesson plan delves into dirt Learning grows as gardens unfold

UNITY – Students soon will be able to grow organic vegetables, interact with the community, and meet the state’s academic standards at the same time based on a new lesson plan unveiled Saturday during a teachers workshop sponsored by the Maine School Garden Network.

Susan Linscott, Old Town High School science teacher, demonstrated some aspects of the K-12 garden curriculum she helped develop, the first ever designed to be aligned with Maine’s Learning Results.

To show how students can decide the best spot to plant their garden, she provided participating teachers with an empty plastic soda bottle cut in half, a piece of nylon screening, a stopwatch, a measuring cup and soil samples.

The idea was to test soil permeability by making a filter and then estimating the rate at which water moved through the samples.

Linscott, a science education graduate student at the University of Maine, and other members of her university class, designed the curriculum at the behest of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

She then refined and expanded the curriculum as part of an independent study project that aimed to show that hands-on learning and meeting academic standards aren’t “mutually exclusive.”

A community garden would involve residents in a variety of ways. Parents and area experts could work with students to plan, plant and harvest the garden. The produce then could be sold locally or given to food kitchens.

Gardening is an excellent learning tool for a variety of reasons, according to educators.

The activity enables students who have difficulties in traditional learning situations to “find other ways to be successful,” said Mary Bird, UM instructor in science and environmental education who advised Linscott on the project.

“Kids don’t know where their food comes from. Gardening helps them understand that what goes in their mouths comes from somewhere,” she added.

For Linscott, “Any time you can get kids outside and moving, it’s good.”

The new curriculum, which should be available by fall, includes other activities that show students how to prepare the garden, how to decide what vegetables to plant, and what to do with them after they’ve been harvested. It also focuses on environmental concerns and why organic vegetables are healthful.

Activities, together with their corresponding assessments, can be adapted for each grade, Linscott said, “so within one district you could have an elementary, middle school and high school all involved.”

In the past, individual teachers and a school here and there used gardening as a learning tool. But now that there’s curriculum that meshes with the Learning Results the hope is that schools across the state will embrace the concept.

Participating teachers Saturday were enthusiastic.

Wendy Krueger, who teaches at the George H. Robertson School in Belfast, was relieved.

“I’m amazed this exists,” she said. “I thought I’d have to devise my own curriculum to match the Learning Results.”

Krueger also liked the idea of the school and community working together. In her district, “there’s not a lot of interaction. This would be a nice way to have community involvement at a variety of levels.”

Kai George, a teacher at the Walker Memorial School in Liberty, hopes the curriculum will pave the way for her students to build a greenhouse. “It’s hard to get grants if you don’t show how [a project] is connected with the Learning Results,” she said.

Saturday’s workshop included other classes on how to involve children in pest management and how to put local produce on school lunch tables.

For more information contact Bird at 581-2434. Information also will be available at the Maine School Garden Network link at www.MOFGA.org.