Students will investigate the movement of heat energy (convection, conduction, insulation) and use their understanding of heat energy to design a solar oven and to design a method for extending the growing season in the schoolyard garden.
Students will review the tree life cycle and then extend their understanding to the rotting of the logs. Students will learn about the different decomposers (fungus, bacteria, invertebrates) then search for evidence of them in the garden.
Students will make a wind vane, anemometer, barometer, and thermometer to measure wind direction, wind strength, air pressure, and temperature. They will collect data from these instruments and use this information to make predictions about the weather that will help inform decisions they make for their garden.
Students will use a coordinate plane arranged on a raised bed to describe the plants that live within it to students that are not looking at the bed but simply drawing the plants and their location based on the students’ descriptions. At the conclusion of the activity, students will check their accuracy.
Students will compare and contrast the life cycles of seasonal crops to trees, closely observing the growth of those plants in the schoolyard garden.
Students will learn about biomonitoring – what it means, how it is used, and how we can use it to learn more about our schoolyard garden.
Students will complete the red cabbage chemistry experiment to observe a chemical change. Then students will demo multiple recipes and classify the changes as physical or chemical, including: mixing a salad, making a smoothie, making popsicles, making sun tea, making pancakes, observing oxidizing apples, sauteing a vegetable.
Students will explore how to plant a rainbow of edible plant parts (even flowers!) and understand how “eating a rainbow” of fruits and vegetables can nourish their bodies.
Students will explore waste diversion techniques like composting and discover how worms can be an integral part of the process. As an extension, the class can make a worm bin.
Students will dissect owl pellets to collect evidence that they will use to reconstruct the owl’s food web and energy pyramid.