Life Lab Store
Curriculum and Activity Guides

	The Growing Classroom - Garden and Nutrition Activity Guide
	$39.95
	Revised for 2007! This award-winning resource book for educators contains 480 pages of science, math, and language arts activities that you can do with your students in the garden. Activities are aligned with California Science Content Standards. Topics include soil, plants, cycles, ecology, weather, nutrition, and food systems. Also includes team-building and sensory exploration activities, organic gardening skills, and information on how to create and sustain a successful school garden program.

Sample Lessons: Space Travelers - Students work in small groups to explore the composition of soil
Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other - Groups of students use multiple senses to find and classify contrasting objects in the natural environment

View Full Table of Contents -- View Front and Back Covers

Growing Classroom lessons that support the CA State Science Standards.
Kindergarten, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth

Life Lab offers a one or two day training using the The Growing Classroom. The Growing Classroom: An Introduction to Garden Based Learning Educator Workshop.

Want to preview or borrow a copy of The Growing Classroom? The California Healthy Kids Resource Center has copies for Californian's to borrow. Learn more

	Kids' Garden Activity Cards - 40 Fun Outdoor Activities and Games
	$19.99
	With 40 interactive activities and games divided into five categories, Kids' Garden encourages children to engage with the outdoors and appreciate the green world around them. Each double-sided card has step-by-step instructions with colorful collage artwork. A great way for budding green- fingered gardeners to plant, investigate, learn and experiment! --40 cards plus 8 page leaflet • Box 8.5 x 6.5 x 2 inches; Card 6.25 x 8 inches AGES 8+

Kids' Garden was awarded a Gold Medal for the 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards: Children's Interactive Category!

View the table of contents of our Kids' Garden Activity Cards

Click for Root View Cup and Chive Hairdoos Sample Activity Cards

	Sowing the Seeds of Wonder - Discovering the Garden in Early Childhood Education
	$16.95
	Through hands-on activities preschool-age children will engage all of their senses as they discover the joys of gardening. Sowing the Seeds of Wonder is an educator guidebook that provides insight and lessons for educators to help students develop a lifelong connection to the outdoors. Lessons guide young students to dig into the soil; observe birds, insects, and other critters in the garden; and enjoy the tastes of fresh fruits and vegetables they plant, harvest, and prepare. 120 pages.

Sowing the Seeds of Wonder Includes:

• Getting started information - tried and true tips for launching an educational garden.
• Twenty-eight gardening activities for children ages 2-5, featuring garden explorations; soil, plant, and animal studies; and harvest, cooking, and art projects.
• Gardening how to's: basic gardening techniques, plant lists, and design guides for creating and maintaining a thriving garden, as well as specific techniques for involving young children.
• Educator resources: garden-related songs, ECE garden case studies, and suggested literature lists.

I love this book! I intended to browse through it, but got hooked and read it from cover to cover. Early childhood educators will discover a treasure trove of interdisciplinary projects that will kindle the flame of curiosity inside every child.
- Sharon Lovejoy, author of Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots

Life Lab Science K-5 Garden Based Curriculum

Life Lab Science Program offers teacher friendly, hands-on units that children can dig into! Recognized by the Smithsonian Institute as an “outstanding curriculum, ” Life Lab Science is a core curriculum which integrates earth, life, and physical science concepts within the context of a Living Laboratory school garden. Inquiry-oriented lessons, both outdoors and in the classroom, encourage students to ask questions and explore multiple solutions. Unit topics, such as soil, water, weather, plants, and animals use a developmental approach based on students' prior knowledge. Assessment is embedded in the activities and extensions are included.

Life Lab Science is garden based and grade level specific (K-5). Teacher instructional manuals include pre and post assessment, unit planners, parent letters, and suggested connections to language arts, math, and social studies.

Interested in only one grade level? Grade level sampler packets and CA State Science Standards matrices are linked to from grade level descriptions below.

1st - 3rd grade instructional manuals will be shipped with one copy of the accompanying lab books. Kinder, 4th, and 5th grade books come include lab pages in the appendices.
Additional Lab Books and Spanish Blackline Masters may be purchased separately.

Download Life Lab Science lesson matrix that links science lessons to gardening skills.

Adopting a Garden Based Science Program at your School? Have Life Lab train your teachers. Life Lab has trained tens of thousands of teachers in over 1,500 locations. Life Lab Life Lab Science Curriculum Teacher Workshops

	Great Explorations - Kindergarten
	$75.95
	Use your senses as built-it tools for exploration of the physical properties of soil, water, plants, garden animals, and more. Culminate units of study with garden celebrations.

Kindergarten Sampler Packet
Kindergarten Science Standards

	Earth is Home - First Grade Teacher Resource Manual
	$79.95
	Investigate the concepts of diversity and cycles while studying the differences among organisms. Themes include: plant life, soil, weather, and garden creatures.

First Sampler Packet
First Science Standards

	Change Around Us - 2nd Grade Teacher Resource Manual
	$79.95
	Observe and investigate the concept of change by measuring the conditions that affect living and non-living things such as plants, water, food chains, resource conservation, and air.

Second Sampler Packet
Second Science Standards

	How Things Work - 3rd Grade Teacher Resource Manual
	$79.95
	Investigate concepts such as: garden tools as simple machines, structure and function of plant parts, garden animals, and soil.

Third Sampler Packet
Third Science Standards

	Connections - 4th Grade Module Set
	$189.00
	Explore the interactions and physical properties of a habitat or ecosystem while applying the skills necessary for science investigation of water, nutrient cycles, food webs, and light.

Fourth Sampler Packet
Fourth Science Standards

	Change Over Time - 5th Grade Module Set
	$189.00
	Study the adaptations and evolution of living organisms and their interactions with climate, soil, plants, animals, and seasons.

Fifth Sampler Packet
Fifth Science Standards

Other Life Lab Publications

	Maize Activity Guide for 5th to 8th grade
	$19.95
	Life Lab Science Program’s newest curriculum is designed to help children understand what agriculture is and why it is important. Activities help raise awareness of the diversity of local and national food production, introduce components of farming, and demonstrate basic ecological concepts related to growing food sustainably.

Download the Diversity Game lesson from Maize

	Popcorn Activity Guide for Primary Grades
	$19.95
	Life Lab Science Program’s newest curriculum is designed to help children understand what agriculture is and why it is important. Activities help raise awareness of the diversity of local and national food production, introduce components of farming, and demonstrate basic ecological concepts related to growing food sustainably.

	1st to 4th grade Science Exploration Units - Plants, Soils, Pollinators, Habitats
	$25.00
	Created with lessons from Life Lab Science and the Growing Classroom our Science Exploration Units are garden themed based and aligned to the California State Science Standards. Themes for each grade are: 1st Grade - Plant Adaptations, 2nd Grade - Soil Studies, 3rd Grade - Garden Pollinators, 4th Grade - Garden Habitats.

Science Exploration Units are available as individual downloads as well.

	Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens
	$5.00
	The Life Lab Science Program distilled their years of world-wide school garden experience into a concise 50-page guide that asks and answers most questions you need to consider for creating an outdoor classroom garden. Items covered include your garden’s purpose; school staff, volunteers, and students; connecting with curriculum; site selection and design; theme gardens; fund-raising; public awareness; and more. Get this guide if you are thinking about starting a garden for your school or program, then move on to The Growing Classroom and Life Lab Science. This publication is available free as a PDF download, see link below. If you would like to purchase a hardcopy click the order button.

Download a PDF Version of Getting Started (1.8MB)

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