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Lesson 2: The Traveling Journal

This activity was created by the Plant a Seed for Good Health Program part of California's 5 a Day – Power Play Campaign. For more details, read the Kids Garden News June Spotlight Article.

Objectives
 Students will:

  • Write in a journal that travels to multiple classrooms
  • Develop language arts and math skills by recording information about their school garden
  • Understand they are part of a wider community of people concerned about good health

Central Concepts

  • Healthy eating is an important life-skill.

Standards addressed: click here

Materials

  • Spiral bound or 3-ring notebook journal
  • Suggested journal questions
  • Pencils, crayons, pictures, etc.


In-Class Activity

1. Develop a network of classrooms participating in nutrition-based gardening activities to participate in the traveling journal activity. The classrooms may be in the same school or different schools.

2. Create the traveling journal. The journal can be spiral bound or placed in a 3-ring binder. Determine how many pages to allot to each class. Create a list of suggested questions for each class to answer. Leave plenty of room for responses to each question.

The Plant a Seed for Good Health program traveling journal reserved three pages for each class and included the following questions:

Name of School: ____________________ District: ______________________
Teacher: __________________ Grade: ____________ Room #: ____________

Plant a Seed…

Does your school have a garden? _____________
If there is a garden at your school, draw a picture or tell a story about the garden and the activities that take place there. If your school does not have a garden, draw or describe the types of gardens or agriculture located near your school.

What types of food grow at or near your school?

When are these items in season? That is, what time of year are they harvested and ready to eat?

Good Health!

We all know we should eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day – how does your class like their 5 a Day? On this page, your class can share information about their favorite fruits and vegetables.
Ideas:

  • Graph the results of a survey of your class’s favorite fruits or vegetables
  • Draw pictures of fruits and vegetables
  • Draw or describe nutrition activities that take place at your school
  • Write about the health benefits of the fruits and vegetables your class likes to eat
  • Tell a story about healthy eating
  • Share a healthy recipe

Write a healthy eating message from your class to other classes participating in the traveling journal project.

3. Create a time schedule or itinerary for when the journal will be in each classroom, and attach the a copy to the journal before it is sent to the first classroom. To help teachers, add a question to the end of each entry that states: "Please pass this journal to <insert school and teacher name>."

4. Send the journal to the first classroom with the schedule. When they complete their entry, they should forward the journal to the next classroom by the specified date.


Copyright© 2005 National Gardening Association