
April
2008
This
Month's Lessons
Announcements
Resources
For Educators
Conferences
Funding
Opportunities
This
Month's Lessons: Botany
on Your Plate
The
National Gardening Association is excited to announce
a new publication, Botany on Your Plate. Written
by education staff at The University of California
Botanical Garden at Berkeley, this science unit for
grades K-4 inspires fascination for and exploration
of the structure, function, and flavors of the plants
we eat. In this month's
Teachers' Room, we introduce
you to the curriculum and provide a sample lesson.
You'll
also
find links
to lots of other resources to help you take your investigations
further.
___________________________
Announcements
Announcing
the Wuzzleburg Preschool Garden Award Winners
NGA and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Depot congratulate
the 75 winners of this new award especially for early childhood
programs. View
recipient list
Win
Garden Supplies in the "When You Garden You GROW" Giveaway ~
Enter by April 30
April is National Garden Month, and to help celebrate, the National Gardening
Association will present gardeners with goods to help them GROW! Prizes are awarded
in three categories (school, community, and home gardeners); one entrant in each
category will win a selection of tools and products from our sponsors, Ames True
Temper and Scotts Miracle-Gro, and a gift certificate to the NGA Garden Shop
(total value of package: $1,000). Learn
more and enter here
Earth Day Event Calendar
Earth Day 2008 is coming up on April 22nd, so NOW is the time
to register your school or community event on our Global
Events Registry . No matter the
scope of your event, you can register it, and find out about
the thousands of Earth Day activities happening around the world
and around the corner! This is a great way to promote your event,
gather more participants, and join efforts with others for Earth
Day. After you register, you will receive RSVP for information
about how many people will attend your event. If you have any
questions, please e-mail education@earthday.net.
Citizen
Science with Sunflowers
San Francisco State University biologist Gretchen LeBuhn
has launched The Great Sunflower Project. She’s asking gardeners
to grow a sunflower and monitor bee traffic once it blooms. Bee
watchers are asked to spend half an hour on two Saturdays per month
taking note of what kinds of bees visit their sunflowers and how
long it takes for the first five to arrive. Sunflower seeds are
provided. Learn
more here
Call for Proposals: Community Food Security Coalition Conference
CFSC’s conference, Re/Storing Our Urban and Rural
Communities with Healthy Food, is scheduled for October 4-8. If
you'd like to present, please download
the Call for Proposals form (PDF). Deadline: April 30, 2008.
2007
Grants Impact Report
What are the benefits of school and youth gardens? Click
here for a summary of data reported by grant program recipients.
___________________________
Resources for Educators
Human Dimensions of Urban Greening
Looking for information about the latest research on the benefits of
a green city? Check out The
Human Dimensions of Urban Green.
Children and Nature 2008
The Children & Nature Network has published Children and Nature
2008: A Report on the Movement to Reconnect Children to the Natural
World, a resource for leaders, organizers, and participants at
all levels as part of their ongoing efforts to build the movement to
restore
children’s link to nature. It makes the case for children having
frequent opportunities for outdoor experiences, citing many positive
benefits. Click
here for a PDF of the report.
Planting a Bee Garden
Bees of all kinds are important plant pollinators in North America,
but for years their numbers have been declining. Learn all you need
to know about planting a bee-friendly garden to give young gardeners
the opportunity to learn
about these important
insects and foster an understanding of the role they play in our nature
and agricultural production. Check out Urban
Bee Gardens for more details.
Operation Green Plant: FREE SEEDS
Each year, America the Beautiful's Operation Green Plant provides
free seeds to educators and nonprofit groups to encourage citizen
efforts
to protect and preserve America’s
lands and resources. These are seeds from 2005-2007 with germination
rates of 90% to 95%.
Grants of 100 to
2,000 seed packets are being offered on the basis of availability
and relative need. Shipping and handling fees for the first set of
100 seed packets is $14.95. Additional set(s) of 100 packets are
available
for $5 per set. Learn
more and order seeds here
Grow Dwarf “Space Crops” in
Your Classroom from FREE SEEDS
Utah State University’s Crop Physiology Laboratory provides teachers
with instructions and free seeds for growing dwarf "space crops.” Explore
plant biology and plant growth systems such as hydroponics; compare
plant growth with conventional crops grown here on Earth; and identify
other differences between crop production on Earth and in space. Learn
more and order seeds here
___________________________
Conferences & Professional Development
2008 National
Agriculture in the Classroom Conference ~
June 25-28 Costa
Mesa, CA
Let the adventure begin...with 350 different commodities grown in California,
this is the place to gain agricultural literacy that will last a lifetime!
Visit
the CAITC Web site for full information.
Save the Date: 2008
National Children and Youth Garden Symposium ~ July 24-26
This year, the American Horticultural Society's annual symposium will be
hosted in the Greater Philadelphia area by Camden Children's Garden, Longwood
Gardens,
the
Pennsylvania
Horticultural
Society, and Winterthur Museum and Country Estate. This networking opportunity
providing ideas and inspirations that no youth garden educator should miss! Registration
begins in May. We'll keep you posted through Kids Garden News.
___________________________
Funding Opportunities (Listed
chronologically by deadline date)
Captain
Planet Foundation ~ Deadline: June 30
Committed to supporting hands-on environmental projects for
young people, the foundation provides grants from $250 to $2,500 to school
and community groups. There are four quarterly proposal deadlines per
year. Visit the
foundation's Web site for guidelines and a proposal form.
2008
Hooked on Hydroponics Awards ~ Deadline: September
15
Classroom hydroponics offers eager students loads of opportunities
to explore concepts across the curriculum, from biology to economics.
Our generous sponsor, The
Grow Store, is giving more schools the opportunity
to enjoy these benefits by increasing the number of award packages
for 2008 to 36! Winning programs receive a compact hydroponics package
that includes everything required to grow plants successfully indoors.
To learn more and download an application, visit
here.
2009 Youth Garden Grants ~ Deadline: November
1, 2008
NGA is happy to announce that The Home Depot has returned to sponsor
our Youth
Garden Grants for 2009. For this cycle, NGA will award 125 grants. Packages
are as follows:
-
Five (5) programs will receive gift cards valued at $1000 (a $500
gift card to The Home Depot and a $500 gift card to the Gardening with
Kids catalog
and store) and educational materials from NGA
-
Seventy (70) programs will receive a $500 gift
card to The Home Depot and educational materials from NGA
-
Fifty (50) programs will receive a $250 gift card
to The Home Depot and educational materials from NGA
For
full eligibility criteria and grant categories, please
visit here.
The
Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Fund ~ Deadline: November 15
This nonprofit gives small grants to schools and other educational organizations
committed to creating natural landscapes using native plants. Visit
the Web site for details.
Mantis
Awards ~ Deadline: March 1, 2009
Mantis sponsors this award program in support of charitable and educational garden
programs that enhance the quality of life in their host communities. NGA will
select 25 gardens to receive a Mantis Tiller/Cultivator. We welcome applications
from all nonprofits; past winners include community gardens, schools, ministries,
colleges, master gardening groups, and hospices. Learn
more here.
Outdoor Classroom Grant Program ~ Deadline: Rolling
Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation, International Paper,
and National
Geographic Explorer! classroom magazine have partnered to create an
outdoor classroom grant. The goal is to provide schools with additional resources
to improve their science curriculum by engaging students in hands-on experiences
outside the traditional classroom. All K-12 public schools in the United
States are welcome to apply. Visit
the Lowe's Web site for more information.
Grant
Wrangler Funding Directory
Grant
Wrangler is a free grants listing service that makes it easy for
teachers to find funding. To see the full list of funding opportunities,
and to subscribe to the monthly e-newsletter, visit the Grant
Wrangler Web site.
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