Lesson plans and garden work

Hot links

Getting around the BUGS hive...

Slow site connection?

"bugshive.org" is quick to type but can be slow to load. Try this location instead for faster page loads: http://sites.google.com/site/bugshive/ and add it to your favorites

Please direct any webmaster type questions or comments to Bill or Bill at: BrittanAcresBUGS@gmail.com

Home‎ > ‎BUGS: How to do it?‎ > ‎

Below are links to the various lesson plans. You will find copies of the same documents in the backpacks, but these links allow you to come to your lesson fully prepared. If you need to print a copy you can, but there are multiple copies for you to use in the classroom, so consider saving a tree, etc. If any of these links does not work for you, please let us know. You will need the appropriate Adobe reader to open the PDF's, but that's not usually an issue these days.

Lesson themes and links to classroom material

	Kinder	First Grade	Second Grade	Third Grade	Fourth Grade
October	BUGS intro, Schoolyard Snoop Song: Inch by Inch	Spiders Say Hello to Harry!	Soil Types	Crickets / Grasshoppers	Composting
Nov/Dec	Trees	Bees	Parts of a plant	Rocks	Redwoods
January	Recycling	Discovering Dirt Song: Dirt Made My Lunch	Hello to Hummingbirds	Ecosystem, Praying Mantis	Oak: chaparral and riparian
February	Birds, bird feeders	Insects	Artrhopods, ants	Wild about Water. Water cycle Song: Water cycle boogie	Water: Surface tension, density Song: Water Cycle Boogie
March	Parts of a flower	Birds, Beaks, Food. Camoflage.	Learnin' worms & pressing flowers	Day Skies	Leaves: Observation, anatomy, prints
April	Ladybugs, Insect Hunt, Grass growing	All 'bout Bats	Pressed flower cards and bookmarks	All 'bout butterflys	Habitats - bog and compost
May	Harvest, summer prep, celebrate!	Harvest, summer prep, celebrate!	Harvest, summer prep, celebrate!	Harvest, summer prep, celebrate!	Harvest, summer prep, celebrate!

Planting / Garden work

	Kinder	First Grade	Second Grade	Third Grade	Fourth Grade
October	Beds: Cool season vegetables & plants to attract birds. Patio: Flowers showing 1 or more parts	Beds: Cool season vegetables, plants attracting beneficial insects Patio: flowers	Beds: Cool season vegetables, plants showing 1 or 2 distinct parts. Patio: flowers	Beds: Cool season vegetables. Patio: flowers	Beds: Cool season vegetables. Plant some soaproot Patio: flowers
Nov/Dec	Beds: Weed, maintain. Check compost	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Bog snoop	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Bog & compost snoop.	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Bog & compost snoop	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Bog & compost snoop
January	Beds: Harvest?, Maintain, add plants to attact beneficial insects (e.g. ladybugs). Check compost	Beds: Harvest?, Weed, feed, water. Bog snoop, compost snoop.	Beds: Harvest?, Maintenance. Plant flowers to harvest for pressed flower project in March	Beds: Harvest?, Maintenance, plants to attact beneficial insects	Beds: Harvest?,Maintenance. Add spinach, chard, or different kinds of lettuce
February	Maintain beds, Harvest? Replant patio w/ new flowers. Compost.	Beds:Harvest? Replant for May harvest Weed, feed, water. Patio: refresh/replant	Beds: Harvest? Replant for May harvest Weed, feed, water. Patio: refresh/replant	Beds: Harvest? Replant for May harvest Weed, feed, water. Patio: refresh/replant	Beds: Harvest? Replant for May harvest Weed, feed, water. Patio: refresh/replant
March	Beds - plant for harvest	Harvest last items? Replant for May harvest. What's happening in the bog?	Harvest last items? Replant for May harvest. How's the bog doing	Harvest last items? Replant for May harvest. Any compost ready to use?	Harvest last items? Replant for May harvest. Got compost?
April	no gardening	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Check bog, compost.	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Check bog, compost	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Check bog, compost.	Beds: Weed, feed, water. Tend that bumper crop!
May	Harvest and prep bed for next year's class (video)	Harvest and prep bed for next year's class (video)	Harvest and prep bed for next year's class (video)	Harvest and prep bed for next year's class (video)	Harvest and prep bed for next year's class (video)

Bog snoop: (if there is enough time, adequate supervision)

Try and get your students into the bog area in groups of 2 or 3. Small groups is the most manageable AND the least likely to chace every observable animal away. Small groups are made possible if there are two volunteers working the garden. Get familiar with what's growing, flying, skating, swimming... Look for pond skaters/ water boatmen, amphibians, dragonflies etc. What are the plants doing? Does anyone see the mosquito fish? Try have the kids compare what's going on now with how it was last month.

Compost snoop: (if you have enough time)

There's an amazing aray of fauna mixed in with that flora! The decomposing organisms are hard at work and in a huge variety, from beetles to bacteria, flys to fungi.
Freshly loaded compost material is likely to be "cooking" - running hot while the decomp process fires up. Hot running bins will show less obvious signs of animal life. And while they're running hot it's best not to disturb them. The "unloading" bins are all done with the high temp phase. Have a prod and a poke and see what you turn up. You'll be amazed, and so will the kids.

Subpages (32): View All

Comments