Students investigate how people in their community get healthy food and what makes some foods easier or harder to access. They use science, health, literacy, social studies, and math skills to research low-cost healthy foods, learn what plants need to grow, and design a school garden that can serve the community. By creating plant posters, planning the garden map, and preparing for a public garden walk, students practice sharing information that can help families make healthy choices. The learning experience leads to a real community product: a public garden and student-created outreach that encourages access to fresh food.
Learning goals
Students will investigate what plants need to grow and use that knowledge to help design and care for a community garden that supports healthy food access. They will research one plant using trusted sources, take notes, write in their own words, and create an informational poster with a simple citation. Students will explain how healthy foods help people grow and stay strong, compare low-cost food options in the community, and describe how places like grocery stores and food pantries help families get food. They will collaborate on a garden blueprint, share decisions about plant placement, and present their ideas clearly to classmates, families, and community partners.
Standards
[Wisconsin] SCI.2.LS.2 - Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of the interactions, energy, and dynamics within ecosystems to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.
[Wisconsin] SCI.2.SEP.6 - Students construct explanations and design solutions, in conjunction with using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.
[Wisconsin] SCI.2.SEP.3 - Students plan and carry out investigations, in conjunction with using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.
[Wisconsin] SS.Inq5.a.e - Explore opportunities for personal or collaborative civic engagement with community, school, state, tribal, national, and/or global implications.
[Wisconsin] SS.Econ4.a.2 - Hypothesize how a good gets to the local community market.
[Wisconsin] SS.Econ4.b.1 - Classify different jobs people have and how these jobs help others. Explain what major public, private, and tribal institutions (e.g., schools, police, fire station) do for people.
[Wisconsin] ELA.2.W.2 - Write text in a variety of modes:
[Wisconsin] HE.1.8.LR.B.1 - Communicate knowledge of healthy and unhealthy behaviors to family members, trusted adults, or friends.
[Wisconsin] SCI.2.LS.2 - Students use science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and an understanding of the interactions, energy, and dynamics within ecosystems to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.
[Wisconsin] SCI.2.SEP.6 - Students construct explanations and design solutions, in conjunction with using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.
[Wisconsin] SCI.2.SEP.3 - Students plan and carry out investigations, in conjunction with using crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas, to make sense of phenomena and solve problems.
[Wisconsin] SS.Inq5.a.e - Explore opportunities for personal or collaborative civic engagement with community, school, state, tribal, national, and/or global implications.
[Wisconsin] SS.Econ4.a.2 - Hypothesize how a good gets to the local community market.
[Wisconsin] SS.Econ4.b.1 - Classify different jobs people have and how these jobs help others. Explain what major public, private, and tribal institutions (e.g., schools, police, fire station) do for people.
[Wisconsin] ELA.2.W.2 - Write text in a variety of modes:
[Wisconsin] HE.1.8.LR.B.1 - Communicate knowledge of healthy and unhealthy behaviors to family members, trusted adults, or friends.
[Wisconsin] M.2.MD.C.8 - Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately.
Competencies
Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
Products
Students will create individual plant research notes, a cited informational poster, and a class garden blueprint showing where each plant will grow based on sunlight, water, soil, and space needs. They will also help grow seedlings in the classroom, transfer them into the school community garden, and prepare simple advertisements for the grand opening to share at school, local businesses, and online. By the end, the main products are the public community garden, the student posters explaining healthy eating and recipes, and the class presentation materials used during the Garden Walk. These products show how students used science, writing, health, math, and community learning to help increase access to healthy food.
Launch
Set up a “Healthy Food Market Basket Challenge” with real or pretend fruits, vegetables, grains, and packaged foods labeled with prices, then have students sort the items by natural/processed, cost, freshness, and where families might get them. Invite a grocery store manager or food pantry staff member to join the launch and talk briefly about how families in the community find healthy food and what makes some foods easier or harder to access. End by introducing the class challenge: design and grow a school community garden that can help share healthy food, and have students record one thing they noticed and one question they have about helping families get healthy food.
Exhibition
Host a Grand Opening Garden Walk on the school grounds where students guide families and community guests through the garden using the class blueprint. Each child stops at their plant, shares their informational poster, explains how the plant grows, and tells how it can help families access healthy food at low cost. Invite the grocery store manager and food pantry staff to attend, ask questions, and help connect the garden to real community food access. Display student posters at the event and then share them on school social media and in local businesses to continue inviting the community to use the garden.
