April 30, 2023

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Celebrate National Gardening Month

Gardens have played an essential role in the history of human culture. They have provided us with food, locations for leisure, and more. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of National Gardening Month, we are sharing ten resources to help you teach your students about gardens. 

Grades K-12

Seed Exchange

Seed Exchange offers a way to get new seeds for your classroom or school garden and donate any extra seeds you have in your possession. Use this site to show students the importance of not throwing away leftover seeds, but repurposing and sharing instead.

Grades K-12

Garden Activity Guide: Soil

In this lesson plan, students use analysis techniques to learn about different soil types and examine the relationship between plant growth and healthy soil. Discover links to additional resource materials, including videos and extension activities.

Grades 2-7

Flowers Seeking Pollinators

Try out this lesson plan that incorporates actual data to teach students about plant reproduction and how pollinators are attracted to different types of flowers. The heart of the lesson has students create an imaginary garden.

Grades 3-8

Kids Gardening

If you’re still looking for outdoor gardening space, take advantage of these ideas for indoor gardens, such as terrariums and container gardening. Check out the extensive lesson library to search by theme, standards, season, and more.

Grades K-5

Life Lab

Learn about gardening using these free resources. Begin at the section for educators and slide to gardening resources (where you’ll find resources for planning a garden) and professional resources, which includes archived webinar recordings.

Grades K-6

How Does Your Garden Grow? A Project-Based Approach to Learning

Discover recommended books related to gardening (many with links for activities related to the book), background knowledge, a section on gathering information, suggested activities for growing your garden, standards, and more.

Grades 4-12

Plants Map

Plants Map is an online resource for plant enthusiasts that allows you to create communities and personal plant libraries and map personal gardens. If you are lucky enough to have a school garden, this is the perfect site for planning and documenting.

Grades K-12

Project Budburst

Join Project Budburst and become part of a community of citizen scientists! Collect plant data, learn about climate change, and participate by posting your findings. Record the observations of the first leafing, first flower, and other details.

Grades K-12

Get Your Hands Dirty Guide

Download this packet for specific information on enhancing learning opportunities by nurturing growing things. This guide provides tips and directions for getting started for a variety of situations, including places with little or no land.

Grades K-12

School Garden Resource Center

Find resources for starting a school garden or supporting an existing garden at the School Garden Resource Center. Share information from this site with your school's parent/teacher organization to gain support and possible funding for a garden project.

This Week at TeachersFirst

Learn something new during our virtual workshop on Tuesday (May 2) and our bi-monthly Twitter chat on Thursday (May 4). We also encourage you to check out our Infusing Technology Blog, and we kindly ask for your input in our weekly poll. 


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Tuesday, 5/2, 7 PM ET

OK2ASK: Tech Made EZ with Elementari

Are you looking for an easy way to incorporate digital storytelling in your classroom? Join us for an in-depth look at Elementari, a platform designed to allow students to demonstrate content mastery through interactive storytelling.

Explore ways to use Elementari to differentiate instruction »


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Thursday, 5/4, 8 PM ET

Twitter Chat: Technology & The Daily 5

Come and tweet with us using the hashtags #OK2Ask and #TeachersFirst. During this chat, participants will discuss strategies that empower students during language arts stations and define and discuss using Daily 5 and CAFE in the classroom.

Share tips for using tech tools to support language arts learning experiences »


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Get caught up on our recent posts

Infusing Technology Blog

Dive into our Infusing Technology Blog and learn about tech tools, read about frameworks, discover timely classroom suggestions, and more in posts written by experienced classroom teachers and tech coaches!

What will you learn? »


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Share your thoughts with our community

Weekly Poll

Our weekly poll asks, “Does your school have a garden?” Share your reply and view the responses of other educators once you click submit.

Do you have a school garden? »

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TeachersFirst is a collection of curated, classroom-ready content and ideas — including teacher-authored reviews of thousands of web resources. Built-in guidance from seasoned professionals makes effective classroom technology use trouble-free. TeachersFirst is made available free to K12 teachers by The Source for Learning, Inc., a nonprofit that has been providing educational resources for more than 40 years.