Resource Library
Discover free lesson plans and materials created by our program and partners.

Resource Library

Garden Visioning Exercise
This document, used at the 2018 Edible Schoolyard Academy, assisted participants to envision the growth of their garden programs as well as consider what assets they could make use of to support their work.
Recommended Garden Books
Longtime garden consultant Wendy Johnson compiled this list of gardening books to help the reader become more skilled and knowledgeable about the theories, techniques, and history of gardening.
Edible Schoolyard Garden Meeting Template
The attached resources show how the Edible Schoolyard garden teaching staff structures their meetings.
BEETLES Questions and the Five E's
This resource provides the general framework that ESY garden teachers use to design their lessons. This framework divides student learning into five phases – Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate – and provides sample critical thinking questions teacher can ask for each phase.
Reflection Cards
We use Reflection Cards with our students to prompt reflection and self-evaluation on skills, norms, and behaviors that are important in the kitchen and garden classrooms.
Edible Schoolyard Garden Culture
The routines that students and teachers follow create a responsive garden classroom environment that fosters access for all students.
Edible Schoolyard Garden Jobs
In the garden program at the Edible Schoolyard, we emphasize four main skills as the foundation for maintaining a healthy garden and incorporate jobs into every garden class that appeal to the diverse interests and energy levels of our students.
A Typical Edible Schoolyard Garden Class
A typical garden class with 6th graders at the Edible Schoolyard is 86 minutes (1 hour and 26 minutes) and is divided into three main parts: Opening Circle, In the Field (work time), and Closing Circle.
ESYB Curriculum
Levers Lab
In this seventh grade science lesson, students learn about levers and use them to make work easier.
Grade: 
6 – 8
Progression:
4 of 5
Standards:
Aligned
ESYB Curriculum
Microscope Lab
In this seventh grade science lesson, students deepen their understanding of pollen and pollinators by using microscopes to observe pollen and bee species from the garden.
Grade: 
6 – 8
Progression:
3 of 5
Standards:
Aligned
ESYB Curriculum
Cuttings Lab
In this seventh grade science lesson, students identify desirable traits in plants and take cuttings from parent plants to facilitate asexual propagation and produce offspring with identical DNA.
Grade: 
6 – 8
Progression:
2 of 5
Standards:
Aligned

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