In My Garden Sing Along

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As part of a thematic lesson on vegetables, sing a song with your students to identify all the healthy foods that grow in gardens.

OBJECTIVE

After completing the unit plan, students will:

1. Gain the knowledge and skills to select a diet that supports health and reduces the risk of illness and future chronic diseases. ~ Massachusetts Health Curriculum Framework
2. Identify a variety of fruits and vegetables and how they are grown and harvested.
3. Identify the connection between food served in the home with regional food production. ~ Massachusetts Health Curriculum Framework

 

MATERIALS

• chart paper
• marker

SET UP AND PREPARE

• Use chart paper to write out the verses to In My Garden (PDF).
• Add illustrations of the featured plants and foods to the chart.
• Post the chart in your meeting area.

DIRECTIONS

Gather students in the meeting area and have a discussion about the kinds of food they might grow in a garden.  Talk about the parts of the plant that are edible and where they might find those parts.  Read through In My Garden chart with students before singing as a class.

SUPPORTING ALL LEARNERS

Have ingredients written on sentence strips with pictures of the vegetables as visual cues.  Pre-teach soup cooking in your dramatic play center, using plastic vegetables.

LESSON EXTENSION

1. Have students write new lines to the song and share them with classmates.
2. Perform the song for neighboring classes.
3. Have students create their own illustrations for the song.

ASSESS STUDENTS

1. Are students engaged and on task?

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Make a list of vegetables you find in your home refrigerator.   
2. Make papier mache vegetable props to use in the song.

HOME CONNECTION

Send home a copy of the song for children to share with parents.  Submit student photos and illustrations, with song lyrics, to your school newsletter and include them in your class newsletter.

EVALUATE THE LESSON

1. Was I clear in my directions?
2. Was I prepared and set up with the proper materials?
3. Would I do anything differently next time?

Jeremy Brunaccioni is a kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts.

Teaching health, science, and language arts about nutrition and the environment
Students will learn how the personal decisions they make daily affect their personal health, as well as that of the community and the planet!

ARTICLE	Community Gardening for Kids Describes the benefits of community gardening to help kids learn from the land. Lists resources for finding a local community garden.
UNIT PLAN	Meet Your Vegetables This integrated curriculum unit helps students better understand the importance of good nutrition and how to make healthy dietary choices.