CPF programs encourage connection to place, which engenders empathy and builds social and emotional intelligence. Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to: 1) Understand and manage emotions; 2) Set and achieve positive goals; 3) Feel and show empathy for others; … Read more
Three-Dimensional Science enables students to make sense of the world by engaging in science and engineering practices to explore core ideas and recognize crosscutting concepts. The hallmark of Three-Dimensional Science is to let students “explore, before explaining.” Students typically observe a phenomenon they know nothing about; attempt to construct an explanation for it; explore the … Read more
Students will harvest vegetables from the garden, taste a variety of plants andlearn about their nutritional value. Students will learn parts of a plant bymaking a ‘plant parts salad.’
Students will review how plants grow and what plants need to grow through kinesthetic modeling. An optional experiment is included to view the effect of plant spacing. Finally, students create square foot gardens, reviewing math concepts of fractions and measuring length.
Students will explore how to use the movement of the sun to tell time and direction without a clock or a compass and extend this understanding by making a shadow stick / sun dial. Students can further create a sun map of the schoolyard garden to determine how the sun’s movement across the sky could … Read more
Students will build an understanding of the idea that all of our food relies on healthy soil (beyond fruits and vegetables, to bread, eggs, milk, honey, meat, etc). Students will compare soil samples and explore the different ingredients in soil by dissecting soil samples and doing a “soil shakedown.”
Students will explore the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl along with what life was like during the Dust Bowl. They will then model how dust moves and investigate solutions for soil conservation that are good farming practices for today.
Students will play a game pretending to be birds hunting for worms to understand how camouflage is an effective adaptation for survival over many generations. Students will play another game hiding different color “insects” made of pipe cleaners in the garden to understand camouflage further. Students will also explore plant adaptations and co-adaptations or co-evolution.
Students will use their senses to explore objects from the schoolyard and then classify them as living or non-living, developing descriptors for each of the two classifications. Further explorations demonstrate plant movement (as a qualifier for being “living”) and provide an opportunity for students to sort plants based on observable traits.
Students will compare and contrast George Washington Carver’s life and times and explore his contributions to science. Then, students will use methods that he developed for growing and cooking sweet potatoes.