Kids Garden News

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.

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.

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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:

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.