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The Living
Classroom

LEARNING LAB

Lessons learned with The Living Classroom K-5 Curriculum help children connect with nature, and help them understand why that connection is important. Children experience nature first hand, getting real world lessons on plants, animals, soil, ecosystems, biodiversity, and sustainability.

What I hear, I forget. 
What I see, I remember. 
What I do, I understand.

~ Chinese Proverb ~

Our Belief and Purpose

For 25 years, the purpose of The Living Classroom K-5 Curriculum is for children to learn, through hands-on experiences, the intricacies, interdependencies, and mysteries that exist in nature. Our lessons guide children to understand the importance of being Keepers of the Earth. 

We understand that many schools do not have the ability to establish a garden. Our lessons have been modified to use recycled materials and ordinary classroom supplies, so that any school regardless of where they are or the grounds they have access to, can present our lessons to every child. Our lessons are unique and adaptable.

We believe children need to understand their connections to our planet Earth in order to care for their environment. Based on this belief, we developed a nature based curriculum so children gain this knowledge, not only to meet academic standards, but to raise achievement, and experience the wonder and joy in learning.

Our hope is that you use this extraordinary resource.

Living Classroom K-5 Curriculum
Plant the seeds of learning, exploration, and discovery
with The Living Classroom K-5 Curriculum!
K-5 Environmental hands-On Curriculum

A Curriculum Based on Inquiry

Each lesson in the Living Classroom K-5 environmental learning curriculum uses an inquiry-based learning approach in asking children a question which they explore throughout that lesson. As they investigate our nature lessons for children, the children’s wonderings can lead to further topics to explore in that, or future lessons.

There are four major themes which run through the scope and sequence of the Living Classroom K-5 Education Curriculum: Nature Detective, Ecosystem Study, Seed to Seedling, and Private Eye. The lessons are connected within each theme in an ascending, spiraling dependence upon one another. For a fifth grader to achieve in a Sustainability lesson, he/she must also have the prior knowledge of the basic needs of plants, animals, and humans learned in Kindergarten and First grade.

“An environment-based education movement–at all levels of education–will help students realize that school isn’t supposed to be a polite form of incarceration, but a portal to the wider world.”

~ Richard Louv ~
Help us sustain the Living Classroom Learning Lab Curriculum as we transition to a non-profit, no donation is too small, thank you!
Donate to the Living Classroom Learning Lab!

the themes of the Living Classroom K-5 Curriculum

NatureDective

Nature Detective

Being able to sit quietly and observe everything around one’s self is an important skill in learning about nature. As the children progress through the activities in the Nature Detective series (PreK-5th), they will need to use their senses of sight, sound, smell, and touch to understand the plants and animals that make their home there. The purpose of this lesson is for the children to deepen their observation skills by concentrating on their sense of touch while interacting with the variety of plants present in the Living Classroom as well as the world around them.

ecosystem

ecosystems study

Understanding the relationships between the living and non-living, the consumers and producers, and the decomposers in an ecosystem help children understand the interdependencies in nature, and why each is important. As the children progress through the activities in the Ecosystem Study series (PreK-4th) they begin to understand the vital role every creature and plant plays in creating a harmonious planet.

private eye

Private eye

The Private Eye series (PreK-5th), helps children sharpen their observation skills, to express their thoughts, to look closely and wonder, to begin to think metaphorically, and to start to theorize on their own.

seed2seedling

Seed to Seedling

In the Seed To Seedling series (PreK-2nd) children learn what a seed is, what a seed needs in order to grow and the lifecycle of a plant. “It is also a magical moment when the children first see the green tips of a seemingly lifeless seed bursting through the black dirt becoming a living plant. Their eyes light up and they want everyone to come and look at what is happening, beaming that they are partly responsible for this amazing occurrence.”

The Concepts Taught Throughout The LCLL Curriculum

Newsite ecosystems icon

~ Ecosystems ~
&
~ Life Cycles ~

Newsite bee icon

~ Adaptation ~
&
~ Pollination ~

Newsite biodiversity icon

~ Biodiversity ~
&
~ Food Chains ~

Newsite patterns icon

~ Patterns ~
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~ Shapes ~

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~ Balance of Nature ~
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~ Sustainability ~

Sample Lesson | Making A Seed Tape

This video will walk you through the entire Lesson.
additional Resources And lesson activities follow this video.
The Expandable Rows Below Contain Teacher Resources & Information About The Unit.

The Lessons Start Below This List.

Teacher Resources

The main purpose of this lesson is for the children to learn the best way to plant carrot seeds which happen to be very small. Before we used the seed tape method to plant the carrots, we would make furrows and the children would drop the seeds in the furrow by hand. The process of sowing seeds by hand requires thinning. (Thinning is the process of reducing the number of seedlings in a row by physically taking out or cutting seedlings down so that the seedlings that are left are spaced correctly and produce a good yield of plants.) Thinning usually did not happen in our garden. As a result, the children’s carrots would be extremely small. One of the basic needs of all living things is space. Everything needs its own space to live. To understand why this element of space is so important, the children will be conducting an experiment to see if having enough space helps a plant grow best. In order to understand that making seed tapes is a good way to plant seeds, an experiment will be set up that the children will not know the results of until the Fall when they come back to school as second graders.

The question for this lesson will become What is the best way to plant our carrot seeds?

The experiment will consist of three ways to plant our carrot seeds:

  • Planting the seeds correctly spaced on a seed tape
  • planting the seeds in a furrow by hand
  • Making 5 holes spaced evenly apart and planting 3 seeds in each hole.

"A secondary purpose of this lesson: Planting a small seed and watching it grow is a magical time for Kindergarten children — for all children. Making the seed tape is easy, fun, and anticipates a trip out to the Living Classroom Learning Lab to begin planting a new crop of vegetables to grow throughout the spring and summer."

Danette "Danny" Riehle

  • Bring in one large carrot for each kindergarten
  • Lay out the large sheets of bulletin board paper and the seed tape materials
  • If the toilet paper is not one ply, then separate the toilet paper into one ply strips, cut into 3 foot sections
  • chart paper
  • packaged carrot seeds The seeds need to be bought. They need to be marked Non-GMO, Non-hybridized, organic or heirloom. Some companies have fiddled with seeds and now some seeds will not grow at all or will revert back to an early variety.
  • large carrot for each kindergarten
  • one ply toilet paper used to make the seed tapes, cut into 3 foot strips
  • 1 1/2 cups flour (for paste)
  • 1 cup water (for paste)
  • a mixing bowl and spoon to stir the paste
  • containers to hold the paste
  • containers to hold the seeds
  • rulers
  • unifix cubes
  • craft sticks or paint brushes to apply paste
  • craft sticks to identify the place where the seed tapes, seeds in a furrow and seeds in hole are planted
  • markers
  • large sheets of bulletin board paper
  • picture of the beds in the vegetable garden
  • if no outdoor garden is available to plant in: large containers for planting - cardboard produce containers from Costco provide the surface and depth for planting all three experiments
  • soil
  • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
  • Vegetables in the Garden: A First Discovery Book

directions on how to make a seed tapeLay the one ply toilet paper on each side of the table to
make 2 seed tapes. Each tape should be as long as the
table. Place a few seeds in one plate and some paste in
another plate and place them both near the appropriate
seed tapes. Read the seed packet to see how far apart the
seeds should be. Show the children this measurement and
connect the same number of Unifix cubes as the
measurement. These cubes then become the measurement
stick the children will use to measure the distance between
each seed. Using the Unifix cubes and a marker, the
children can measure and place a dot where each seed will
go. Keep the dots on the side of the toilet paper closest to
the child. Have the children take a paint brush or craft stick and place a smudge of paste on the colored dot (One paint brush tip or one craft stick end of paste should do about three to four dots - too much paste may get the seeds to sprout before the seed tape is planted.) Next, have the children put one seed on each spot of paste. While the paste is still wet, fold the toilet paper in half lengthwise over the seeds to make a cover for the seeds. The seed tape is now complete. The seed tape needs to dry before it can be rolled up. The children can make plant markers for the garden. Once the seed tape is dry, you may roll it up until it is time to plant it.
There should be only 2 children working on each seed tape.

Activity #1: Making a Seed Tape (30 min)
Activity #2: Planting Seed Tapes, Seeds in a Furrow & Planting 3 Seeds in a Hole (30 min)
Activity #4: My Seed Tape Journal (30 min)

biodegradable: capable of being slowly destroyed and broken down into very small parts by natural processes, bacteria, etc.

germinate: biology definition as it concerns seeds: to begin to grow

hypothesis: best guess

furrow: row

Kindergarten

Seed to Seedling in the Kindergarten Classroom:
This lesson is the beginning of a series of three kindergarten lessons and one first grade lesson that will show how a seed grows and produces a vegetable or fruit that can come to the child’s dinner table. Essential Questions: Where do we get seeds? and What does a seed need to grow? Children watch vegetable seeds grow in the classroom if they are given water and light.

Making a Seed Tape:
Essential Question: What is the best way to plant our seeds? Children learn that vegetables need the right amount of space to grow.

Planting in the George Washington Vegetable Garden:
Essential Question: Now that our plants are growing in the garden, how will our plants receive the basic needs that they must have to grow?  Children plant vegetable seedlings and seed tapes in the George Washington Vegetable Garden.

First Grade
Harvesting in the George Washington Vegetable Garden: (Two months later, as first-graders…)
Essential Questions: How do vegetables get to my dinner table? and Can the seeds from the vegetables I am harvesting be used for more plants? Children pick the vegetables and fruits that they have grown from seed. As they observe the many seeds that are present inside the fruits they have picked, they will have seen the life cycle of a seed. The new seeds will be stored to plant the vegetable garden again next Spring.

Making a seed tape ensures the success of growing healthy vegetables and plants from very small seeds. If seeds are sown in a furrow, thinning the growing plants is necessary to produce healthy mature vegetables. Thinning is the process whereby some plants that are competing against one another for their existence are pulled so others will have plenty of room to develop. In past years in the Vegetable Garden, thinning has not happened, so the vegetables do not have room to grow and expand. Carrots become thin strings and beets cannot grow at all. With the seed tapes, thinning will not be necessary. The children look at the directions on the seed packet to know how far apart each seed should be placed. They lay down the first seed on the tape and measure the distance between each seed. It is important during this measuring that the teacher verbalizes to the children that, “We are giving the plants space to grow.” When the appropriate time of the Spring arrives, they will be able to plant their seed tapes easily in the Vegetable Garden.
With the beginning of this lesson, it is hoped that the children and their parents will experience the complete life cycle of their plants. In April, the children will be making seed tapes for certain vegetables. At the right time, these seed tapes will be planted in the Vegetable Garden. The children will also sow other seeds and vegetable plants directly in the vegetable garden when the time is right. Through out the summer, kindergarten children and their parents are encouraged to come back to the garden to witness the growth of their plant. When fall arrives, their vegetables will be ready to harvest. With the culmination of the harvesting, the children and their parents will have experienced the life cycle of their plants.

  • It is interesting to note the difference between fruits and vegetables.
  • The definition of a fruit is: the usually edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially: one having a sweet pulp associated with the seed, such as a peach or avocado.
  • The definition of a vegetable is: a plant or part of a plant used as food, such as a cabbage, potato, carrot, turnip, or bean.

Chefs consider foods that are savory instead of sweet as vegetables.
That is how we now know that all sweet foods are fruits.

Disciplinary Core Ideas in the Next Generation Science Standards:
www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards
NGSS small
Structure and Function
All organisms have external parts that they use to perform daily functions.
All organisms have external parts. Different animals use their body parts in different ways to see, hear, grasp objects, protect themselves, move from place to place, and seek, find, and take in food, water and air. Plants have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive and grow. (1-LS1-1)

Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
Food provides animals with the materials and energy they need for body repair, growth, warmth, and motion. Plants acquire material for growth chiefly from air, water, and process matter and obtain energy from sunlight, which is used to maintain conditions necessary for survival. (K-LS1-1)

LS2.A Independent Relationships in Ecosystems
Plants acquire material for growth chiefly from air, water, and process matter and obtain energy from sunlight, which is used to maintain conditions necessary for survival.

The Needs of Living Things
Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. (K-LS1-1)

Natural Resources
Living things need water, air, and resources from the land, and they live in places that have the things they need. Humans use natural resources for everything they do. (K-ESS3-1)

Understandings about the Nature of Science in the Next Generation Science Standards for K-2:
Connections to the Nature of Science: > Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World.
> Science Is a Way of Knowing.
> Scientists study the natural and material world.
> Science knowledge helps us know about the world.
> Science investigations begin with a question.
> Scientists use different ways to study the world.
> Scientists use drawings, sketches, and models as a way to communicate ideas.
Common Core State Standards Initiative: Mathematics Kindergarten>> Measurement & Data
Describe and compare measurable attributes.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K. Measurement & Data.A.1
Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight.

Lesson Activities

The Expandable Rows Below Contain The Three Lessons for Making A Seed Tape.

This activity can be done two ways:
• Plant seed tape outside in a garden along with seeds in a furrow and seeds in a hole experiment
• Plant seed tape inside in a container along with seeds in a furrow and seeds in a hole experiment if no outdoor garden is available

K MaST activity 3

“Remember when we started we said that we would like to know the best way to plant our carrots. Our seed tapes are one way we are planting our carrots. Is there anyone who has planted seeds another way?”

(Hopefully, someone will say they planted them in a row in a garden.)

“That can be the second experiment. In our containers, we will make a deep line in the dirt with our hand and spread the seeds in that row. Does anyone have another idea of how to plant these seeds?”

“I think we should try this idea: Make 5 holes and plant about 3 seeds in each one.”

“These are our three experiments:
1. plant the seeds in the seed tape
2. plant the seeds by hand in a row
3. make 5 holes spaced evenly apart and plant 3 seeds in each hole.”

“Plant markers can now be made so we can mark the place where we planted our seed tapes, the seeds in a furrow, and 3 in a hole.”

“Can we make a best guess, a hypothesis, right now which way we think will be the best way to plant our carrots so that we will have phenomenal carrots? Remember you can only vote once.”

“Hands up for planting our carrots in the seed tape. I count hands.” “Hands up for planting our carrots by hand in a row. I count hands.” “Hands up for plant ng 3 carrot seeds in 5 holes that are spaced apart. I count _____ hands.”

“The vote tells us that you think the seed tape might be the best way to plant carrot seeds. In a few days we will be planting your carrot seeds in these three ways. At the same time, we will plant all the seedlings.”

“Next Fall, when you come back to school as first graders, you will be coming back to the Vegetable Garden to harvest your vegetables. Before you pick any carrots that are part of the experiment, be sure to look and see which was the best way to plant them. You will be able to tell by how big the top of the carrots are. When you come back inside, be sure to write in your new My Seed Tape Journal, which I am going to give you now, if the best guess you made now was correct.”

After planting the seed tapes, if there are any parts of the seed tapes that are not planted, the children should take them home.

First, distribute the journals. (link to journal)

My Seed Tape Image x500 1

“Here is the special journal for our seed tape experiment. It is called appropriately, My Seed Tape Journal.”

“Please write your name on the cover and open to the second page. Where it says, ’Date I made my seed tape’ write .”

“When you plant your seed tape, we will enter that date on the second line. You may enter what seeds you planted on the third line.”

“What did you plant? Of course! You planted carrots!”

“Now, why do you think you measured between each seed that you planted in the seed tape? Put your answer next.”

“Lastly on this page, circle all the things that are listed which your plant will need to grow.”

My planting exp image 2

“Let’s turn to the next page, page 3, where we will see our planting experiment. It starts by asking the question we are trying to answer and shows the three ways we are going to plant our seeds:

• In a seed tape
• By hand in a furrow
• 3 in a hole.

Circle the one you think is the best way to plant seeds which will result in growing the biggest plant.”

“You will finish the rest of your My Seed Tape Journal when you come back to school in the Fall and start harvesting your carrots. Be sure to observe which carrots grew the best and look to see which way they were planted. They will have the answer to our planting experiment! You will also finish your journal at that time.”

Read the book Vegetables in the Garden: A First Discovery Book to show how vegetables are planted and where many of their seeds are.

“Is anyone wondering about anything we did today?”

“You have done an excellent job today, children. I hope all your vegetables grow well, so you have many vegetables to pick next Fall. Be sure to come back to visit the garden and your vegetables all summer. It is fun to watch everything grow.”

Keep “My Kindergarten Seed Tape Journals” so they can be used for the Harvesting in the Vegetable Garden lesson in the fall.

The Living Classroom K-5 Curriculum is available on a sliding scale: $25, $60 or $120 a year, or $6 a month. Pick what fits your budget. Every option gives you access to All Our Lessons!

Try it first with a free Explorer account, which includes the first unit from every grade. Free scholarships and school licenses are also available.

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~ The First living Classroom Learning Lab! ~