a fresher future

Creating powerful classroom experiences to ignite actionable passion for food justice in Arizona's youth.

happy children in garden

our problem

Currently, 1 in 6 children in Arizona are facing hunger.

Without proper nutrition, children are at a disadvantage to reach their full potential, both within and outside the classroom.

How can school garden curriculums fight child hunger in Arizona and create learning opportunities to give our youth the fresh future they deserve?

“US students receive less than 8 hours of required nutrition education each school year, far below the 40 to 50 hours that are needed to affect behavior change.”

(Healthy Eating Learning Opportunities and Nutrition Education)

why school gardens?

Schools with their own garden space create unique learning opportunities for students of all ages, including much needed instruction regarding nutrition and wellbeing. School gardens also provide fresh, healthy foods for students, with the added satisfaction of having grown these vegetables themselves. In a world where our kids spend less time in nature and have a woefully limited understanding of our complex food system, school gardens are now more critical than ever in the development of our youth.

status quo

In addition to their poor understanding of where food comes from and how it contributes to their health, many students do not have proper access to nutritious food. Despite its dense population, much of Phoenix does not feature any reasonably walkable access to a grocery store. Below, the white spaces represent areas with no grocery stores within a 10 minute walk. Without fresh and affordable food to fuel their bodies and minds, children are unable to maintain stable energy throughout the school day, while their overall health remains at risk.

Walkable grocery access in Phoenix, Arizona.

our solution

Not every school currently has a student garden, but for those that do, that space gains value when paired with thoughtful curriculum. One challenge for schools without an existing garden program is generating a curriculum for students so their time invested in the garden is well spent. Existing curriculums also show schools apprehensive towards adding a garden program the value students and teachers gain from this addition.

With Arizona's Education Standards as well as the idea of 4E Cognition in mind, we created a curriculum for first-graders targeting four areas: Health and Wellness, Science, Language Arts, and Math.

Health and Wellness

In the garden, students engage in healthy physical activity, such as weeding, watering, planting, and harvesting.

 Research  finds that spending time outdoors reduces stress and enhances critical thinking, leading to improved performance in the classroom.

School gardens also  promote students’ wellbeing , including their self-perception and interpersonal relations.

Students extend their learning by using tools, such as trowels and watering cans, to tend to their garden space.

Science

School gardens are full of opportunities to explore science curriculum for children of all ages.

For first grade students, the garden allows them to investigate cause and effect, learn about life cycles and the water cycles, contemplate the human effects on ecological systems, as well as observe the characteristics of varying plant and insect species.

Through experiments, changing seasons, precipitation, varying soil compositions, insect and pollinators, and exposure to what components are necessary for life, students will be able to enact their scientific knowledge into the physical world.

Language Arts

For most first grade students, spending time in the school garden may be their first experience working with plants, soil, insects, and other things. 

That’s why it’s super important that the school-garden curriculum introduces these new concepts and new vocabulary to students.

Language Arts is a great subject for teaching first graders the basic gardening terms they will be using throughout their education. 

Students will be able to read informational text about plants and insects. Students will be able to learn new words. Students will also be able to make connections across content areas into the world around them.      

 Students embody the garden by spending time in the garden tasting a fruit or a vegetable. They can use their five senses and reflect on their experience.

Math

For many first-grade students it is difficult to see the connection between what they are learning and the environment around them. They are not able to connect concepts to their external environment.

It is vital to have a school garden based curriculum for these students to make these connections and integrate what they are learning into their time in the garden.

It is difficult for students to make connection to the garden with a subject like math, but when students extend their learning to the garden to reach their goals of learning math concepts, they are able to create a bridge between their curriculum and their enviornment.

Through concepts such as adding, measuring, categorizing, and telling time, the students will be able to truly embody the garden. They will be able to immerse themselves into the garden and learn how vital it is to care for the garden, creating a mutualistic relationship between the student and the garden.

curriculum example

Here is one activity for first-graders targeting Arizona Standard 1.OA.C.6: Fluently add and subtract within 10. Students might spend 20 minutes weeding and watering their garden, then complete their worksheet before graduating to counting real insects living in their plots.

curriculum links

Math: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFR9dXBsL0/-1MbBwr28POBpHXEU-cbdg/view?utm_content=DAFR9dXBsL0&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Language Arts: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFSD4lgTgw/FV-_1XsK09g959zkMVRArQ/view?utm_content=DAFSD4lgTgw&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Science: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFSVX41B2E/GZ2yDfUnY8G8P8TKHmwrcw/view?utm_content=DAFSVX41B2E&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

Overview Seeing what kind of bugs will be in the garden as the children are gardening will allow them to easily acclimate to the environment and get them excited about what they will be seeing. Arizona Standards 1.OA.C.6: Fluently add and subtract within 10. Shows worksheet with bugs in clusters to be added by children

Example from designed curriculum. "Adding Bugs in the Garden"

a second example

Here is a fun and interactive Language Arts activity, which aims to cover two Arizona Standards: 1.RL.4: Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses, and 1SL.4: Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details expressing ideas and feelings clearly.

Example from the designed curriculum. "Five Sense Poem"

Through worksheets such as this, students will become more familiar with the process of adding and subtracting while enjoying a garden-related theme. For more ideas, read our full curriculum  here .

However, these activities are nothing without on the ground leaders in the classroom. Meet Lou Rodarte, master gardener at Echo Canyon School in Scottsdale Unified School District. Lou's gardening knowledge and passion for educating students enhances the learning that takes place in the garden. While a prewritten curriculum makes having a school garden easier for schools, someone like Lou would help relieve time and effort from teachers as well. Currently, many of the "master gardeners" in Arizona schools are volunteers.

Louis (Lou) Rodarte is a native Arizonan and Master Gardener. He and his wife manage the garden at Echo Canyon School. Lou uses the garden to enhance class curriculums and fills the gap between teachers and garden science. Lou is also a member of the Blue Watermelon Project, a group of chefs, farmers, and food advocates encouraging students to develop healthy eating habits.

from SlowFoodPhoenix.org.  https://www.slowfoodphoenix.org/lou-rodarte 

a fresher future

We believe in a future where all students have access to fresh, healthy food in order to achieve their best in school and in life. School garden programs, if wildly successful, could be the change we need to achieve this goal for future decades. In 2042, we hope to see a world where every school has its own garden and children are taught where their food comes from and how it changes their minds and bodies.

That's a future worth growing for.

contact us

Emily Stabilito

Junior | Business (Sustainability), BA | Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership, Minor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-stabilito/

image of emily

Soleil Bejarano

Junior | Business (Sustainability), BA

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soleil-bejarano-845186196/

slbejara@asu.edu

Allie LaRue

Senior | Sustainability (Energy, Materials, Technology), BS | Justice Studies, Minor | Energy and Sustainability, Certificate

anlarue@asu.edu

Hirni Shah

Senior | Justice Studies (BS) | Psychology (BS)| Socio-Legal Studies, Certificate

hbshah4@asu.edu

sources

Arizona State University: Humanities Lab

Justice Through School Gardens

Example from designed curriculum. "Adding Bugs in the Garden"

Example from the designed curriculum. "Five Sense Poem"