Garden Enhanced Nutrition Education (GENE)

• GENE PowerPoint – Why Garden-Enhanced Nutrition Education (click action in lower corner to download at .ppt)
• Research supporting GENE from the California School Garden Network (Academics Brief, Nutrtion Brief, and database of articles)
• Compilation of GENE Research handout that demonstrates Garden-Based Learning is an effective educational method
• GENE Curricular Resources List
• GENE Resources from the CDE

The need for nutrition education – demonstrated by the Obesity Trends Among US Adults

Online Lessons and Curriculum Related to GENE

• Kids Cook Farm Fresh Seasonal recipes, activities & farm profiles that teach ecological responsibility.
• Nutrition to Grow On An innovative curriculum for grades four through six that offers teachers a direct link between the garden and nutrition education.
•  WE Garden   Garden-Based Learning lessons 
• Online lessons for PreK - High School - a categorized list, maintained by Life Lab at the CSGN site of garden-based learning resources. (Have a site or resource to add? send it on) 
• Got Veggies? is a garden-based nutrition education curriculum created with the goal of getting children to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. It features seven full lesson plans, a series of shorter garden-based activities, fun recipes and helpful tips for cooking and eating in the garden.
• Harvest of the Month  a three year cycle of 36 educator newsletters highlighting a different crop for each month, newsletter templates, reading lists and more.
• Harvesting HEALTH is a compilation of lessons and resources that foster nutrition education through gardening concepts highlighting seasonal produce.
• Lessons and resources for kids, parents and educators from Schoolnutritionfitness.com
• Feeling Fine With Fresh Foods Life Lab's Winter Field Trip Packet with 8 lessons and a stone soup recipe.
• Try It You'll Like It Lesson kids create a promotion campaign for for fruit or vegetable. A lesson from The Growing Classroom.
• TeamNutrition.usda.gov extensive free resources for nutrition education including Grow It, Try It, LIke It Pre-School Fun with Fruits and Vegetables
• Harvest of the Month
• Food Group Activities
  • Choose My Plate – the USDA's Food Groups
  • Chef Ann's Meal Wheel
  • Dairy Council of California free resources for teachers, food group cards
• The Edible School Yard has an impressive resource sharing function on their website. Click "show options" for a detailed search.

Incredible Edible Plant Parts                         

• Plant Part Factory Lesson – Introducing the 6 plant parts
• Finger Salad Lesson – Eating the 6 plant parts
• Plant Part Art My Edible Garden Lesson
• Plant Plant Part Classroom Activity Video
• Singing In Our Garden CD – Six Plant Part Song (Roots, Stems, Leaves)

Connecting to California Content Standards

• CA Science Content Standards Related to Gardening
• A Child's Garden of Standards Connecting grades 2-6 to Garden-Based Learning
• Gardens for Learning Standards Supplement K-6 Garden-Based Learning content standards connections.

• Language Arts – Young Reader Literature Lists that connect to gardening, nutrition and agriculture.
  
  • American Horticulture Society/Jr. Master Gardeners Growing Good Kids Book List
  • Super Kids Nutrition Book Review Corner – list of nutrition related literature
  • USDA's Agriculture in the Classroom – a searchable database, search for "book" media for literature resources
  • California Ag In the Classroom Bookshelf
  • Harvest of the Month Literature Links
  • Life Lab's list of literature books that are displayed at workshops

Taste Testing Forms and Resources

• Various sample forms and more. Check out Cooking With Kids!

Edible Garden and Harvest Resources

• Choosing Plants and Planting Times and Edible Theme Bed Planning Ideas, concepts and resources for planning your edible harvest. Links to crop planning guides and charts

Classroom Cooking

• Suggestions for Classroom Cooking Success
• Cooking Methods in the Classroom
• Healthy Recipes from the Network for a Healthy California
• Kids Cook Farm Fresh Seasonal recipes, activities & farm profiles that teach ecological responsibility.
• Age Appropriate Cooking Tasks for Children and Teens
• Solar Cooking, cook in the garden using the sun. Learn to make an oven or buy a cooker

Food Safety

• Resources for keeping safety in mind when serving food from the garden.

From the Garden to the Cafeteria

• Resources and sample policy for serving garden grown food 

For more on creating a Healthy School Environment from visit www.healthyschoolenvironment.org