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Earth Gardens is the new hands-on experiential curriculum that provides opportunities for K-6 classes to learn all about the world of gardening. The curriculum was created by a consortium of educational groups headed by Colorado State University Extension 4-H Youth Development Programs in Boulder and Adams Counties and the Flower Gardening Foundation.

Our vision is that every individual will have the opportunity to be enriched by gardening experiences. We know that gardening provides a great educational vehicle, but it also requires more than just a curriculum to be successful. Earth Gardens is that bridge you have been looking for. Earth Gardens' mission is to enrich youth in school by developing an awareness of our renewable and sustainable habitats with hands-on experiences through gardening. Important concepts that need to be taught today are stewardship of the land, and reduce/reuse/recycle principles. Earth Gardens is a program that teaches those concepts.

The first school district to adopt Earth Gardens in Colorado was School District #50 in Westminster, with 17 schools. Our goal is to serve all schools in Colorado and eventually, the United States.

Educational Benefits

• Access to the curriculum in easy-to-use lessons all in print-friendly Adobe Acrobat Format.

• Tips on how to best use the gardening hands-on lessons.

• Over 40 classroom lessons in indoor and outdoor settings.

• This curriculum has been aligned with the Colorado Department of Education Model Content Standards in Science and it also depicts the SCANS icons (Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills).

• Links to Colorado State University Service In Action/Fact Sheets that provide interesting and helpful gardening resource information.

• Being able to participate at a level of comfort, from classroom lessons, to raising an outdoor garden, to planting perennials, to marketing fresh vegetables and herbs. Earth Gardens is flexible to fit your classroom and school needs.

• Key points of the program involve up to 30 free seed packets and bedding plants* to landscape schools.

EARTH GARDENS CURRICULUM LESSON EXAMPLES

Indoor Section:

• Plant Growth factors including temperature, water, soils, light, gravity, and C02.

• Plant Growth including the parts of a flower, root view boxes, pollen tube growth, new plant cuttings, and the classroom vegetable garden.

• Arts and crafts including the fingerprint garden, design-a-plant, and making leaf prints.

Indoor/Outdoor Section:

• Pressing plants, twig collecting, how soil is made, and stained glass flowers.

Outdoor Section:

• Activities including planting wildflower seeds, types of gardens, marketing plants, and composting.

• Outdoor color gardens, vegetables gardens, and flower gardens.

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*Free bedding plants available in May to participating schools in the Denver metro area. Counties included in this area are Denver, Boulder, Adams, Jefferson, Arapahoe, Douglas, & Broomfield.