We teach hour-long science, math and social studies lessons in kindergarten through 6th grade classrooms across our communities
Our field tested lessons teach key concepts in California's content standards for science, math, social studies and nutrition. Our lessons also provide experiential, hands-on, and outdoor learning experiences that make learning real and relevant to their young lives. Living Classroom makes nature relevant and, by extension, teaches children that nature is all around us. We believe that garden-based education is a key way to reach every student through exposure to nature in their schoolyards - accessible every day without requiring transportation - regardless of their circumstances. Garden-based learning is inclusive and allows for access to nature and equity of experiences for all students.
OUR PROGRAMS
CORE PROGRAMS
Living Classroom provides engaging hands-on, outdoor, nature-based lessons for students in grades Transitional Kindergarten-8th.
Living Classroom will provide more than three dozen different learning experiences during the K-5th grade school years. The experiential lessons build from one year to the next on important core topics like photosynthesis, life cycles, ecology, and the scientific method. The lessons reinforce how what they are learning and doing is relevant to their lives. Students work in small group rotations, led by trained instructors and parent volunteers, to assure every student is an active participant in learning and doing.
Our lessons are real-world and interdisciplinary and meet both major content areas and instructional model for Next Generation Science Standards. Our lessons intertwine life and earth science with social studies/history, math, and nutrition.
In a few of our lessons, students become community scientists and document the biodiversity of flora and fauna in their gardens and school grounds to share with the scientific community. In addition to our excellent teaching staff, a community of dedicated, well-trained instructional docents lead or assist with our lessons which allow us to provide over 600 lessons benefitting 4,500+ students annually.
We design, install and maintain educational gardens.
Living Classroom gardens serve as ecological laboratories that provide stimulating and beautiful outdoor learning environments. We create native habitat and edible gardens in each school we serve, providing the setting for lessons ranging from plant life cycles to history, from ecology to ethnobotany, from nutrition to scientific observation and experimentation. We engage local businesses and service organizations - along with students and parents - to help build our gardens and provide necessary funding.
Living Classroom will provide more than three dozen different learning experiences during the K-5th grade school years. The experiential lessons build from one year to the next on important core topics like photosynthesis, life cycles, ecology, and the scientific method. The lessons reinforce how what they are learning and doing is relevant to their lives. Students work in small group rotations, led by trained instructors and parent volunteers, to assure every student is an active participant in learning and doing.
Our lessons are real-world and interdisciplinary and meet both major content areas and instructional model for Next Generation Science Standards. Our lessons intertwine life and earth science with social studies/history, math, and nutrition.
In a few of our lessons, students become community scientists and document the biodiversity of flora and fauna in their gardens and school grounds to share with the scientific community. In addition to our excellent teaching staff, a community of dedicated, well-trained instructional docents lead or assist with our lessons which allow us to provide over 600 lessons benefitting 4,500+ students annually.
We design, install and maintain educational gardens.
Living Classroom gardens serve as ecological laboratories that provide stimulating and beautiful outdoor learning environments. We create native habitat and edible gardens in each school we serve, providing the setting for lessons ranging from plant life cycles to history, from ecology to ethnobotany, from nutrition to scientific observation and experimentation. We engage local businesses and service organizations - along with students and parents - to help build our gardens and provide necessary funding.
FARM TO LUNCH
Each school year, students partake in two dozen crop harvests followed by same day delivery of fresh, organic produce to the District’s central kitchen. The school-grown produce is then prepared into a delicious dish enjoyed by an average of 250 students for a testing the next day at rotating schools throughout the school year. By the end of the school year, most students in the District have eaten school-grown produce at least once!
Complementing our core academic school day program, Living Classroom’s Farm to Lunch program combines the hands-on experience of growing food with the benefits of students eating healthy dishes straight from the garden. Living Classroom’s Garden Manager plans and supervises students from the Mountain View Whisman School District participating in this after-school program. Students plant vegetables and fruits in more than two-dozen raised planter beds at Crittenden, Graham, and Theuerkauf Schools in Mountain View.
Complementing our core academic school day program, Living Classroom’s Farm to Lunch program combines the hands-on experience of growing food with the benefits of students eating healthy dishes straight from the garden. Living Classroom’s Garden Manager plans and supervises students from the Mountain View Whisman School District participating in this after-school program. Students plant vegetables and fruits in more than two-dozen raised planter beds at Crittenden, Graham, and Theuerkauf Schools in Mountain View.
OUR CURRICULUM
The files below provide a summary of the lessons we currently offer in grades T/K – 8th. All lessons are aligned with Next Generation Science, Common Core Language Arts or Math, and/or Social Studies and Nutrition California State Standards. Each lesson is offered during specific seasons and includes roles for classroom parent volunteers and docents to run small group rotations. To request full lesson plans and student worksheets, contact us at [email protected].
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Click on the links for more information on how Living Classroom implements Environmental Literacy, Common Core & Next Generation Science Standards, Stem, and Healthy Children.