SproutEd
Land to Learn’s in-school program brings garden-based education to 2,000 k-2 students in 10 public elementary schools throughout New York’s Hudson Valley region.
We build school vegetable gardens and teach lessons during the school day, year-round, that educate students in nutrition, cooking, plant science, ecology, and food systems. Our curriculum is experiential and hands-on, offering students a fun, engaging way to apply and develop their academic and social emotional skills. Our experienced school garden program managers also work with school food service departments to bring fresh vegetables into cafeterias, and collaborate with other school community partners to support health and wellness initiatives in schools.
“So THANKFUL for the Garden Time part of this school year. My daughter LOVED it and enjoyed learning about plants, vegetables, and fruits and how they are good for her.”
-Parent of SproutEd student
Watch kids learning together in gardens and classrooms with LtL educators!
“This is going from gardening to history - how many subjects are in this thing?!”
-Emmett, a 2nd grader, noting the cross-curricular connections in an LtL lesson
Land to Learn’s pedagogy features lessons rooted in gardening, food, community, health, and ecology. Experiential, place-based, democratic, and transformative philosophies and practices inform our work. We strive to center social justice and environmental consciousness in the learning communities we co-create with students and participants.
We have developed 68 unique garden-based lessons, which are part of a scaffolded curriculum in which each year builds upon the last, from the start of kindergarten through the completion of 2nd grade:
Kindergartners are Beginning Gardeners: Developing an Understanding of what a Garden is and Who Gardeners Are
Kindergarteners entering the school garden for the first time learn the foundational aspects of gardening from planting seeds to harvesting, within the theme of the four seasons. Students build their garden-based vocabulary by doing activities such as: creating a garden alphabet book, reading garden signs, playing games in which they practice using describing words, reading garden-based books, and labeling their drawings of garden plants and animals. Throughout the year, students are exposed to diverse representations of farmers and gardeners, in photos, books, and videos to show that people of all ages, races, ethnicities and genders are gardening, which now includes them!
1st Graders are Garden Scientists: Developing Environmental Literacy
1st graders draw on their basic knowledge of gardening to observe the growing space and think critically about the relationships between plants and animals in the garden habitat. Students learn about the ecology of garden habitats that include predator/prey dynamics, the mutually beneficial relationship between plants and their pollinators, as well as how decomposers build garden soil through the process of decomposition. Students also learn mapping and garden planning. As scientific gardeners, they focus both on investigating the garden habitat and learning to grow crops, in order to develop an understanding of how to create a space that supports wildlife while providing healthy food for humans. And of course, they partake in harvesting and eating from the garden.
2nd Graders are Gardening Chefs: Developing Food Literacy
After deepening their understanding of how food grows in a garden, 2nd graders explore how to turn that produce into nutritious, delicious meals to feed ourselves, our families, and our communities. Students learn basic cooking skills as they chop freshly harvested vegetables, measure ingredients, preserve their harvest through quick pickling, create their own recipes, and explore the range of different kinds of tastes. Classes collaborate to follow recipes and make culturally diverse snacks. Students explore cookbooks with recipes from around the world, and “meet” (via videos and books) a diversity of chefs, from famous kids to local professionals. They develop their “food literacy,” which includes an understanding of where food comes from and how it gets to our plates. This second grade curriculum supports a foundational understanding of nutrition with the core message that vegetables and fruits provide vitamins and nutrients that help our bodies and taste great too.
Vegetable of the Month
Making fresh vegetables accessible, exciting, and delicious for our kids!
In our Veggie of the Month program, Land to Learn educators integrate a featured seasonal local vegetable into at least one of our lessons each month, during which students taste the vegetable and learn about it. We serve it fresh and raw or sometimes we prepare a snack together in class. Each month, we share with our communities fun facts, a video, and recipes featuring the vegetable.
Students do not just try the vegetable in the classroom, but also in the cafeteria. We work with the school food service department and local farms to get the veggie served in the cafeteria too! The vegetable is served in the school cafeteria throughout the month, and then there is a taste test in which students vote whether they like it or not.