How Does Your Garden Grow?
By Patricia Peters
Books to Share
And the Good Brown Earth by Kathy Henderson
Busy in the Garden by George Shannon
Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming
Up, Down and Around by Katherine Ayres
Vegetable Dreams / Huerto Soñado by Dawn Jeffers
Books to Show or Booktalk
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
A Gardener's Alphabet by Mary Azarian
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
Zinnia's Flower Garden by Monica Wellington
Bulletin Board
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Cover the bulletin board with green paper. Design a flower. On each flower bloom, write the title of a garden-themed book.
Nametag
Vegetables
Make Vegetable nametags from the patterns provided in this program.
Refreshments
Oreo Dirt Cake
Bake a cake using the recipe at Cooks, http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,196,150160-225197,00.html. Decorate the cake with a brand new, washed trowel and plastic flowers. Remove the flowers before serving. Use the trowel to serve the cak into small bowls or cups. Use spoons to "dig in."
Fingerplays
Growing
(By Patricia Peters)
Dig a hole. (Cup left hand; "dig" with right hand)
Take a seed. (Place right thumb and forefinger together)
Drop it in. (Open over left hand)
Cover it up. (Brush "dirt" over cupped left hand)
Let the sun shine. (Hold arms in circle overhead)
Feel the rain fall. (Wiggle fingers as raindrops falling)
Watch the new plant (Cup left hand)
Grow strong and tall. (Move right hand up and up above left)
Songs
Sing "The Garden Song," sometimes called "Inch by Inch," by David Mallett, Lyrics may be found at CD Universe, http://www.cduniverse.com/lyrics.asp?id=1563269.
Action Rhymes
Here's the Tiny Seed
(By Patricia Peters)
Here's the tiny seed. (Curl into a ball on the floor)
Now it grows some roots. (Move hands along the floor)
Our new plant lifts its head (Lift head and move up to a crouch)
In shiny green shoots.
Now the bright sun warms (Stand up straight with arms over head)
As more shoots reach up high.
Tiny blossoms open up (Open hands slowly to make wide flowers)
As flowers to touch the sky.
Rhymes and Poetry
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary
(Traditional)
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.
Stories to Tell
The Enormous Turnip
Use your favorite version of this traditional tale. Make it a participation story by asking children to join you in saying and mimicking the actions when you say "and they pulled and they tugged and they pulled but the turnip wouldn't budge" (or however your version goes). One version is available as a play from Oxford University Press at http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/elt/products/turnipplay.pdf?cc=global, or invite older children to present the story as a reader's theater using the script at Mrs. McGowan's First Grade, http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/turnip/script.htm.
Crafts
Plant Cycle Book
Materials
- Card stock or white or manila construction paper
- Markers or crayons
- Scissors
- Stapler
- Hole punch (optional)
- Yarn (optional)
Directions
Copy patterns from Enchanted Learning, http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/sequencing/floweringplantlifecycle/ or http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/sequencing/sproutingbean/index.shtml onto paper. Use markers or crayons to color the cards. Cut the four cards apart. Place them in order and staple along the left side. Alternately punch two holes along the edge and tie the pages together with yarn.
The children may make their cards into mobiles. Use a holepunch to punch holes in the top of the cards. Hang the cards from a hanger or rod with yarn. Be sure to secure each piece of yarn to the rod with tape.
Craft Materials
Vegetable Nametag Pattern
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