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Grade Level: 9-10
Academic Areas: Science, Math, English Language Arts
Duration of service: Year-Long
Character Virtues: Civic Virtue and Citizenship, Giving, Responsibility
Service Areas: Environmental, Human Services
Materials Needed: seeds, soil, mulch, water, tools, gloves, hose,
stakes, starting flats, picking baskets
Total Cost of Project: $300 – 400
Time Needed for Project: Year-Long
Time Needed for Teacher Preparation: 50 hours over the year
Experience Needed in CE: moderate
Experience Needed in SL: moderate
Service Learning Project:
Students will start, manage, and maintain a vegetable garden
to provide vegetables for local food banks. Using scientific and
math skills, students will be responsible for planning, designing,
and constructing the garden, as well as deciding which veggies
to plant where, when, and in which quantities. They will study
the soil, water regimens, plant growth, fertilizers, weather patterns,
horticulture, and other factors to help with their planning. In
addition, they will use GPS mapping to research plots and the
final location of crops in the garden. Students will also be responsible
for arranging harvest days as well as setting up a delivery to
various food banks. Students will be required to put in time at
the soup kitchens, cleaning, preparing, and serving or giving
away of the meals or baskets. They will volunteer at the local
food pantry on a weekly basis. In the middle of the winter, the
students will hold a food drive to benefit the local food pantry,
helping to keep the students involved during the winter.
At the end of the growing season, students will collect one last
harvest and use the skills they gained by working in the soup
kitchens to prepare a Spaghetti Supper-type event for the entire
community. The students will make a skit or presentation about
their experiences, the people they met, the things they learned,
and the character traits they developed during the project. Over
the summer, students in summer school can participate, there could
be a garden club in which students agree to meet over the summer
to maintain and harvest the garden, or the school could partner
with a senior program or summer work program where others will
take over the maintenance of the garden for the summer.
Goals and Objectives
Academic
Learning Goal: Students will learn effective planning and problem-solving
skills.
Standard: MST 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Learning Goal: Students will understand plant growth and maintenance,
and the effects of weather and soil on that growth. They will
conduct paired research projects so they can become experts on
given topics.
Standard: MPEFCS 2, 3 MST 1,4,6,7 CDOS
Learning Goal: Students will become familiar with the career
fields of agriculture and horticulture and their supporting businesses.
Standard: CDOS 1, 2, 3a, 3b
Learning Goal: Students will research a vegetable and the vitamins
and minerals it provides. They will be able to explain the benefits
of those vitamins and minerals to the body and how they denature
during cooking.
Standard:
Learning Goal: Students will practice research skills while designing
the garden. They will use oral and written language to communicate
with project participants, the community, and the media.
Standard:
Service
Community need: Hunger, malnutrition, and lack of access to fresh
food.
Possible Community Partners: food banks/kitchens, garden clubs,
churches, shelters, CCE, RC&D, SWCS, 4-H, NRCS
Objective: Students will plant, grow, and maintain a vegetable
garden and donate the produce to area food banks and kitchens.
Objective: Students will clean, prepare, serve, and distribute
vegetables at local food banks and kitchens.
Objective: Students will assist at kitchens/food banks on a regular
basis.
Character
Virtue: civic virtue and citizenship
Objective: Students will learn that participation in the community
by all parts of the community is essential to its health and that
all members of the community can play a role.
Virtue: giving
Objective: Students will realize that giving to others can be
rewarding and is essential for the health of a community
Virtue: responsibility
Objective: Students will take initiative, make viable choices,
and follow the project through to completion.
Key Activities
Key Planning Activities
1. Students will coordinate with local food banks/kitchens to
determine types and quantities of vegetables needed.
2. Students will meet with agricultural professionals to explore
careers and gardening options.
3. Students will research which vegetables will grow well in their
climate and soil type.
4. Students will test and compare soils at locations around the
school to find the best garden site (incorporating GPS mapping).
5. Students will write proposals to the school requesting the
site and other needs.
6. Students will research tilling, planting, and harvesting methods.
7. Students will design the shape, vegetable spacing and arrangement
of the garden.
8. Students will create rules and consequences to work by.
9. Students will assign/choose tasks.
10. Students will investigate how weather influences agriculture.
11. Students will read articles and literature focused on agriculture.
12. Students will continually reflect on their progress.
Key Service Activities
1. Students will plan and maintain the garden: set-up, planting,
weeding, watering, mulching, harvesting, etc.
2. Students will donate time to the food bank/kitchen.
3. Students will deliver produce or arrange for its pick-up, then
assist with the clean-up, preparation, and serving of food or
giving of baskets.
Key Reflection Activities
1. (oral – giving) Students will share their experiences
of giving to and caring about others with other students from
the school (who are not involved with the project) during classroom
visits and discussions.
2. (written – civic virtue and citizenship) Students will
create a display for the school’s project billboard. Students
will also keep journals about their experiences, including what
they did each week, how they felt about the project, and what
impact they had on the community that week.
3. (performance – giving/civic virtue and citizenship) Students
will create a video or PowerPoint about their project to share
with their classmates and their community at the Spaghetti Supper-type
event.
Demonstration Activity
Students will host a Spaghetti Supper-type event at the end of
the harvest. Students will harvest, clean, prepare, and serve
the vegetables they have planted and maintained to parents and
community members. During this events, students will also present
their skit and take attendees on tours of their garden. Parents
and community members will be invited to the Spaghetti Supper
event.
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