Life Lab

Life Lab cultivates children's love of learning, healthy food, and nature through garden-based education.

The resources listed below were created by Education Outside, a nonprofit based in San Francisco that operated a successful AmeriCorps program serving schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Education Outside was committed to advancing science education in public schools, outdoors. Education Outside closed its doors in June of 2019, but garden-based programming continues in these schools through other organizations.

These resources represent best practices, and lessons learned over eight years of training and deploying garden educators in public schools.

These materials are for use by schools, School Garden Support Organizations, AmeriCorps programs, or other environmental education programs working in schools. There is a range of topics from building buy-in to building and maintaining infrastructure. Also included is an abridged version of Education Outside’s kindergarten through 5th grade curriculum. These resources will be particularly helpful for organizations supporting multiple school gardens and the specialized educators who teach in them, but will also provide many useful tips and templates for classroom teachers who bring students to the garden.

For parents and teachers looking to start a school garden and aren’t sure where to begin, please refer to Education Outside’s book, How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers which can be purchased online.

Importantly, Education Outside has included materials related to their approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion in their hiring practices, programming, and training.

Please note that these resources are made available to the public for free, but are not for commercial use. Credit should be given to Education Outside if any material is used or adapted.

View a complete introduction to these resources and a brief history of Education Outside

 

Browse Table of Contents in the Drop-down Sections Below

View Table of Contents as a Google Doc

Download All 54 Documents in a Zipped Folder

 

Education Outside Program and Instructional Materials

Education Outside K-5 Science Curriculum (Abridged)
β€’ Education Outside Curriculum Overview and K-5 Lessons
β€’ Kindergarten
β€’ First Grade
β€’ Second Grade
β€’ Third Grade
β€’ Fourth Grade
β€’ Fifth Grade

Lesson Planning Resources
β€’ Using The Learning Cycle to Write Outdoor Science Lessons
β€’ Adapting the Curriculum
β€’ Curriculum Visuals: English
β€’ Curriculum Visuals: Spanish

Education Outside’s Best Practices for Teaching in the School Garden Overview
β€’ Best Practices for Building Classroom Culture
β€’ Best Practices Rubric

Back Pocket Activities, Art Projects & Celebrations, and IcebreakersΒ 

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
β€’ Education Outside’s Organizational Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
β€’ Building Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Outdoor Classrooms

Cooking Outside
β€’ Best Practices for Cooking Outside
β€’ Recipes for Cooking in the Outdoor Classroom
β€’ Essential School Garden Cooking Supplies
β€’ Training: Cooking Outside with Students

Hiring Garden Educators

β€’ Hiring Considerations

Training Garden Educators

β€’ Education Outside’s Training Approach
β€’ Training Calendar Scope & Sequence

Learning & Teaching Outdoors (one PDF that includes all LTO trainings below)
β€’ Backwards Planning, The Learning Cycle, and Lesson Adaptation
β€’ Building a Foundation for Effective Classroom Management
β€’ Making it Stick
β€’ Teaching Next Generation Science Standards Outside
β€’ Restorative Practices
β€’ Behavior Management
β€’ Facilitating Inquiry
β€’ Cooking Outside with Students
β€’ Trauma Informed Practices

Leadership for Community Engagement (one PDF that includes all LCE trainings below)
β€’ Laying the Foundation for Discussing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Among Garden Educators
β€’ Getting to Know Yourself and Your Community: Identity Mapping, Fitting-in vs. Belonging, and Asset Mapping
β€’ Supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with External Consultants
β€’ Communication: Feedback, Nonviolent Communication, and Grant Writing
β€’ Reflecting on Organizational Culture: Deepening the Work

Outdoor Classroom Design (one PDF that includes all OCD trainings below)
β€’ Annual Care with Students in the Outdoor Classroom
β€’ Designing Outdoor Classrooms for Effective Teaching
β€’ Construction Skills & Safety Basics
β€’ Perennials in the Outdoor Classroom

Garden Educator Management & Coaching

β€’ Education Outside Support Systems for Garden Educators
β€’ Education Outside Support Systems for Program Managers
β€’ Program Feedback & Evaluation

Garden & Green Spaces

β€’ Building Your Outdoor Classroom: The Top 10 (Overview)

β—¦ The Top 10: An Extended Picture Guide
β—¦ The Top 10: A Summary Guide

β€’ Basic Construction Plans for School Garden Infrastructure

Building Buy-In With Data

β€’ Evaluating Your Program: Building Buy-In with Data

Resources Focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

These resources are included in the Table of Contents above, and are highlighted here for reference.
β€’ Education Outside’s Organizational Approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
β€’ Building Culturally Responsive and Inclusive Outdoor Classrooms
β€’ Hiring Considerations
β€’ Laying the Foundation for Discussing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Among Garden Educators
β€’ Getting to Know Yourself and Your Community: Identity Mapping, Fitting-in vs. Belonging & Asset Mapping
β€’ Supporting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with External Consultants
β€’ Reflecting on Organizational Culture: Deepening the Work

 

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3 days ago

Life Lab

🌱Calling all Garden Educators!🌱We are excited to announce Life Lab’s 2023 Workshop schedule! Join us for a workshop at our Garden Classroom to get inspiration and information on bringing learning to life in the garden! 2023 Workshops:🌻 Responsive Classroom Management 4/21/23 🌱The Growing Classroom 8/24-8/25/23πŸ”Ž NGSS 9/14/23🍎 Plant to Plate 10/12/23To register and for more info please visit: lifelab.org/gcworkshops P. S. Sign up 14 days in advance to receive a discount on your registration! #LIFELab #gardeneducation #gardeneducator #outdoorclassroom #education #schoolgarden #gardeninginschools #gardenclassroom #cookingclassroom

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3 months ago

Life Lab

Become a Life Lab Certified Gardener! 🌱🌻Based on the success of our first four cohorts of Life Lab-Certified Garden Educators, we are excited to announce that registration is now open for individuals to register and be part of our fifth cohort starting January 23rd, 2023! We’ve put together a series of 4 on-line courses that will guide and support educators in becoming a Life Lab-Certified School Garden Educator. Upon successful completion of the 4 courses, participants will receive a certificate and the distinction of being a Life Lab-Certified Garden Educator. Each course will last 4 weeks long and include 4 synchronous meetings, at-home work, and a unique coaching model. The total commitment for the full series is 16 weeks. Check out our website for more information! Registration for the full certification series is now open. Please share with others who are looking for ideas and inspiration in the garden! There are 24 spots available and we sold out in our last 4 certification series. We hope you can join us!Life Lab offers a limited number of course fee reductions based on need and anticipated impact. To apply for financial assistance, follow the link below. Scholarship applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis between now and December 1st, 2022 or until all funds have been awarded.

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4 months ago

Life Lab

Thanks Shmuel! and all those that joined the Starlight workday.

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9 months ago

Life Lab

www.lifelab.org/jobs Full-time Bilingual Garden Educators at PVUSD School Gardens and Summer Program Staff at Garden Classroom on UCSC Farm

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9 months ago

Life Lab

Full-time Career and Summer Staff Positions in @pajarovalleyusd school gardens and the Life Lab Garden Classroom. On the @ucscagroecology farm @ucsc @pvusdschoolfood lifeLab.org/jobs

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9 months ago

Life Lab

We are so glad to be a part of this year’s Growing School Gardens Summit! 415 attendees from 45 states across the US, representing 6,000+ school gardens serving more than 2.5 million students. Here we go!!

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11 months ago

Life Lab

Rainbow Chips πŸ“—πŸŒ±πŸ“™πŸŠπŸ“•πŸ…In this lesson students introduce themselves, create group agreements, listen to a story about a rainbow, and then go on a search for different colors in order to begin to form a personal connection with the #gardenclassroom .Also, we just wanted to show this really awesome squash gradience πŸ˜„#gardenbasededucation #NGSS #scienceinthegarden #schoolgarden #NGSGintheGarden

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Stock up your Garden Classroom

Life Lab provides truly inspiring training. Their breadth of experience, joy for teaching, and commitment to sharing knowledge highlight the best practices in food and garden education.
Erica CurryTraining and Professional Development ManagerFoodCorps
Thank you for such a wonderful field trip experience! Your leaders did such a great job at keeping our kids engaged.
Sheila BrickenKindergarten TeacherSan Lorenzo Valley Elementary
Terry had another awesome two weeks at Life Lab. I think he learns more there than in any other part of his year. School is great, but he’s passionate (and often dogmatic) about what he learns there.
Tara NeierCamp ParentSummer camp mom
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