Building Gardens. Building Minds.

Registration for Fall 2024 offering open through September 30.

*We now have a mechanism in place to accept checks from schools or nonprofits. Use the code PAYBYCHECK in Reporter and we will send an invoice for payment.

Next offering: September 2024, $35

In addition to basic site preparation and crop considerations that will help you build a garden, the course will cover behavior management, curriculum connections, and building a school culture that supports building minds.

The 6-week course includes:

• 12 asynchronous online modules
• Voucher for 1 in-person hands-on workshop
• School garden T-shirt

Target Audience

• K-8 teachers
• School counselors
• School nurses
• Anyone involved in a school garden effort
  • Extension agents
  • 4-H club leaders
  • Master Gardeners
  • Community volunteers

Earn up to 2.5 CEUs

In this course we lay a solid foundation for school garden establishment, development and program growth. The 6-week course offers 12 self-paced online modules and a voucher to attend a 1-day in-person workshop for free.

Course participants can choose the workshop that best suits their interests/schedule. There will be three workshops focusing on these topics:

• Pollinators: Tuesday, October 1, 2024
  • Union County Extension Center, Monroe, NC
  • Registration now open
• Curriculum Connections: TBD
• Learning Centers in the Garden: TBD

A school garden provides an opportunity where students can explore a unique learning environment. The school garden is a highly engaging classroom for students to explore all curriculum areas as well as social emotional learning.

We will walk participants through the steps of establishing a school garden and utilizing it as an engaging outdoor classroom. In addition to basic site preparation and crop considerations that will help you build a garden, we’ll look at behavior management, curriculum connections, and building a school culture that supports building minds. Our goal is to meet teachers where they are in their school garden journey and to help them become comfortable and confident in moving forward. 

Course Outline

• Module 1: Benefits of School Gardens
• Module 2: Before the Build
• Module 3: Designing and Building your Outdoor Classroom
• Module 4: Crop Selection and Planning
• Module 5: Planting
• Module 6: Maintenance
• Module 7: Safety in the Garden
• Module 8: Student Management
• Module 9: Teaching in the Garden
• Module 10: Harvesting
• Module 11: Tastings and Nutrition
• Module 12: Garden Sustainability and Growing Your Program