Asparagus to ZucchiniGarden-based learning in early childhood settings

Hope WilsonUniversity of Arizona

Ashley SchimkeArizona Department of Education

Objectives

1. Explain the benefits of integrating gardening activities into early childhood settings.

2. Describe how gardening activities align with the Arizona Early Learning Standards

3. Identify available resources for developing or strengthening garden-based learning in early childhood settings.

Who is here today?

Farm to Early Care EducationFarm to Early Care Education (ECE) helps young children develop healthy eating behaviors through a variety of activities. There are three categories:• Buying Local Food: purchasing and

serving local food • Early Care Gardens: gardening

activities help children build curiosity about their environment

• Food & Agriculture Education: activities that help children understand where some of their food comes from

NFSN Farm to ECE Garden Statistics

In school and in preschool settings school gardens among the top activity within Farm to School or Farm to Early Care and Education Programs.

• 75% Gardening with Children • 85% Very important reasons for Farm to ECE:

• Family and Parent Engagement• Experiential Learning• Incorporation of the Early Learning Standards

2019 Arizona Farm to ECE Survey Results

27% participate in edible gardens

64% food and garden-based education

20% serve local food at meals and snacks

91% provide nutrition education to children

CDC Funded Obesity Prevention Project

Arizona received the ASPHN Mini CoIIN Childhood Obesity Prevention Mini CoIIN along with four other states tasked with advancing Farm to ECE in their state.

ü Arizona is developing and online trainings: Buying Local Food, Engagement in Gardens, and Food & Agriculture

ü The Arizona team will follow pilot sites to assess knowledge acquisition and implementation.

Gardens Require Care

2017 25 Early Care Gardens

201919 Early Care Gardens

Types of ECE Gardens

Hydroponic & aquaponic Raised bed

Vertical Container

In-ground Themed-gardens

Edible gardens vs flower gardens

Benefits of Garden-based EducationHealth and Nutrition

• Improve nutrition knowledge and vegetable preferences• Increase interest in eating fruits and vegetables

• Improve attitude toward fruits and vegetables• Increase preference of vegetables

• Increase fruit and vegetable consumptionSocial-Emotional

• Improve social skills and behavior • Improve life skills, including working with groups and self-understanding

• Contribute to communication of knowledge and emotionsNature and Environment

• Improve environmental attitudes• Instill appreciation and respect for nature that lasts into adulthood

Gardens in Early Childhood

Education Settings

Gardening Activities for ECE Settings

Start Small!• Books• Seeds• Taste Test• Songs• Container gardens• Plant parts

Books

List of Gardening Books

• A Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds by Jean Richards

• Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss• From the Garden: A Counting Book About

Growing Food by Michael Dahl• Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert• If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson • Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn• Our Community Garden by Barbara Pollak• Plants Feed Me by Lizzy Rockwell• The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin• Up, Down and Around by Katherine Ayres

Seeds

• Counting• Sorting

• Color• Size• Shape

• Matching seed and pictures of fruit, flower, stem, lead, root etc.

• Germinating seeds

Sensory Experience / Taste Test• Wash hands and produce• Model participation• Show in its whole form and how it

grows• Experience with all senses• Describe experiences• Compare colors, shapes, textures

and flavor• Do not force children to taste

Let’s Grow TomatoesTune of “The Farmer in the Dell”

by Hope Wilson

Let’s grow tomatoes.Let’s grow tomatoes.

Let’s plant this tiny seed I found.Plant it in the ground.

Sun is shining down.Sun is shining down.

And then a little rain will fall. To make my plant grow tall.

Reaching for the sky.Reaching for the sky.

Stems and leaves of darkest green.Tallest that I’ve seen.

I pick my tomato.I pick my tomato.

I wash it off and eat a bite.Yum! it tastes just right!

Container Gardening

Linking to Arizona Early Learning Standards

• Social-Emotional Development • Approaches to

Learning • Language and Literacy • Mathematics • Science • Social Studies • Physical Development,

Health and Safety • Fine Arts

Social-Emotional Development StandardStrand 2: Relationships and Social Skills• Concept 2: Social Interactions

• a. responds when adults or other children initiate interactions

Approaches to Learning StandardStrand 1: Initiative and Curiosity

Concept 1: Initiative• c. Exhibits flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness when

attempting tasks and activitiesConcept 2: Curiosity

• a. Shows interest in learning new things and trying new experiences

• c. Asks questions to get more informationStrand 2: Attentiveness and Persistence

Concept 1: Attentiveness• a. Displays ability to pay attention when engaged in an

activity• b. sustains attention when engaged in an age-appropriate

activity

Strand 3: Confidence and ResilienceConcept 1: Confidence and Resilience

• a. Expresses opinions or ideas• c. Is willing to take risks and consider a variety of alternatives

Language and Literacy StandardStrand 1: Language

Concept 1: Receptive Language Understanding• b. Engages actively in finger-plays, rhymes, chants, and songs, poems, conversations, and stories.

Concept 2: Expressive language and communication skills• a. Communicates needs, wants, ideas, and feelings through three to five-word sentences

Concept 3: Vocabulary• b. Uses rich vocabulary across many topic areas• c. Figures out the meanings of unfamiliar words and concepts using the context of conversations,

pictures, that accompany text, or concrete objects.

Strand 2: Emergent LiteracyConcept 1: Concepts of Print• b. Demonstrates and understands that print conveys meaning and that each spoken word can be

written or read.Concept 3: Phonological Awareness• a. Differentiates between sounds that are the same and different

Concept 4: Alphabet Knowledge• d. Demonstrates understanding of letters by producing letter forms using a variety of materials

Concept 5: Comprehension and text structure• b. Identifies characters and major events in a story• c. Asks and answers a variety of questions about books or stories told or read aloud.• d. Draws connections between story events and personal experiences.• e. Identifies events and details in the story and makes predictions.

Mathematics StandardStrand 1: Counting and Cardinality

Concept 1: Counts Out Loud• a. Shows interest in and awareness of counting

Concept 3: Compares Numbers and Quantities• a. Compares two sets of objects using terms such as greater

than, less than, or equal to.Concept 4: Counts to Tell Numbers of Objects• b. Demonstrates the ability to match object to object in a group

Strand 3: Measurement and DataConcept 1: Sorts and Classifies• a. Sorts and classifies objects by one or more attributes• b. Explains how items were sorted into groups.

Concept 3: Measures• d. Orders objects by measurable attributes

Strand 4: GeometryConcept 1: Shapes• e. Compares, describes, analyzes, and sorts two and three

dimensional objects in the environment using formal and informal mathematical language with prompting and support based on their attributes

Science Standard

Strand 1: Scientific Inquiry and ApplicationConcept 1: Exploration, Observation, and Hypothesis

• a. Exhibits curiosity about objects, living things, and other natural events within the environment.

• d. Begins to describe the similarities, differences, and relationships between objects, living things, and natural events.

• e. Asks and responds to questions about relationships of objects, living things, and events in the natural environment

Social Studies Standard

Strand 2: Community• Concept D: Shows an understanding of how

to care for the indoor and outdoor environment

Physical Development, Health, & SafetyStrand 1: Physical Health and Development

Concept 1: Gross Motor Development• b. Moves with maturing locomotor skills.

Concept 2: Fine Motor Development• b. Uses eye-hand coordination to perform simple tasks• c. Manipulates smaller objects, tools, and instruments

that require wrist and squeezing motions

Strand 2: HealthConcept 1: Personal Health and Hygiene Practices

• a. Demonstrates hygiene practices and personal care tasks with increasing independence

• b. Nutrition knowledge

Fine Arts Standard

Strand 2: MusicConcept 1: Creates and connects with musical concepts and expressions• b: Sings to familiar rhymes, songs,

and chants

Group Activity

Group Activity Share Out

Resources for ECE Gardens• ADHS/AZ Health Zone

azhealthzone.org

• University of Arizona Cooperative Extensionextension.arizona.edu

• UA School Garden Food Safety Training / ADHS Certificatecals.arizona.edu/agliteracy/programs/school-garden-food-safety

• ADE/Arizona Farm to School azed.gov/hns/azf2s/

• NFSN Farm to Early Care and Educationfarmtoschool.org/our-work/early-care-and-education

Upcoming Training Opportunities

Arizona School Garden Sustainability Series• September 4th Prescott, AZ• September 5th Tucson, AZ• September 6th Tucson, AZ• September 20th Tucson, AZ

Farm to Early Care and Education Online Training – July 2020

• Buying Local Food – coming soon• Early Care Gardens – coming soon• Food Education – coming soon

Questions?

Remember to complete session evaluations

Thank you!

Hope WilsonAssistant Agent, Family, Consumer and Health SciencesUniversity of Arizona Cooperative Extension

Yavapai County

hopewilson@email.arizona.edu928-445-6590

Ashley SchimkeFarm to School and School Garden SpecialistArizona Department of Education

Health and Nutrition Services

ashley.schimke@azed.gov602-364-2282

Sources and References

• All photos: Adobe Stock license• Benefits of Garden-based Education: Skelly, 1998; Lohr, 2005;

Robinson, 2005; Pothukuchi, 2004; Lineberger, 1999; Morris, 2002; Gatto, 2012; Morris, 2002; Miller, 2007; Blair, 2009.• Arizona Early Learning Standards, 4th Edition (AzELS)

ECE Gardens in Yavapai County