Teaching Math​ in the Garden

Math in the Garden

There are so many ways to teach math in the garden!  Just look at all the opportunities on the back of a seed packet. Teachers at every grade level can find a way to discuss math while planning, planting, observing, and harvest a garden.  At the same time, you'll be showing your students how math is used in everyday life.  Check out these ways to dress up your math lessons with a little green.
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Grades PreK-5
​Download the complete lesson.

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Discover an Acre

Farms are measured in acres, but how big is an acre?  Students use one-foot squares of paper to discover how many of their classroom would fit inside an acre.
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​Grades: 3-5
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Seed Statistics

Not every seed you plant will germinate (sprout), but how many of them do? Students plant seeds and record how many they planted. Younger students write number sentences showing germinated seeds compared to duds, and older students show the difference with fractions and decimals.

​Grades: 1-5
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Making A Garden Map

What’s the first step to planting a vegetable garden? Make a plan!

Seeds and seedlings can’t be plopped just anywhere in the garden. Different plants require different amounts of space to grow. And plants grow to different heights, so you need make sure that tall plants don’t shade the smaller plants.

Before you go out to the garden, teach your students how to determine what space requirements their plants need. Then have them draw a map of their garden on graph paper. This activity gives your students a chance to use their math skills in a real-life setting. It also gives them ownership of the garden from the start.

Grades: 3-5
Download the complete lesson.

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Comparing
 Soil and Air Temperature

Do your students know that the temperature of the soil and the temperature of the air are not the same? Farmers and gardeners need to pay attention to soil temperature to know when to plant the first crops in the spring.  Soil holds heat better than air and is usually warmer than the air.  In this lesson, students learn the relationship between soil and air temperature, using their math skills to compare and graph the changes in both temperatures during a planting season.

Grades 4-5 (can be modified for grades 2-3 as a whole class observation)
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You Are the Ruler:
 Measuring In The Garden

No need to drag those measuring tools out to the garden when you are planting seeds.  Teach your students about nonstandard measurement, and have them use their fingers and feet to measure.
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​Grades: 1-4
Download the complete lesson.​

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Pumpkins
in the Primary Classroom

Pumpkins are definitely not just for Halloween. These vibrant-colored squash that are a symbol of autumn can be used in a wide array of pumpkin-related curriculum with links to math, science, language arts, and social studies. Take advantage of the ubiquitous fall pumpkin and bring it into your classroom for a multitude of activities.
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​Grades: PreK-2
​Download the lesson ideas ​here.
Download our fun, classroom-friendly Pumpkin Pie in a Bag recipe here.

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Pumpkin Math For Bigger Kids

Let your older students have some pumpkin fun this fall while they are working on some math problems Students in grades three to five can estimate the number of seeds in a pumpkin based on an estimate of 16 seeds per section.

​​Grades: 3-5
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Cranberry Graphing

New Jersey is the United State's third largest producer of cranberries. In this lesson, students learn how cranberries are grown and harvested, sample three different cranberry juices, and predict and graph the ones they like best and least.
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​Grades: 2-5
​Download the complete lesson. ​

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Seed Packet Math

Planting seeds begins with understanding the instructions on the seed packet. In this lesson, students will use their math skills to follow instructions on the back of seed packets to map a cool-season vegetable garden plot. This lesson can be used as an exercise in the classroom or to map out an actual cool-season garden. 

Grades: 3-5
Download the complete lesson.

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The Christmas Farm

In Mary Lyn Ray's delightful book Christmas Farm, Wilma and her young helper Parker order 62 dozen evergreen seedlings to start a Christmas tree farm. Year after year, the pair nurture their trees, keeping careful count of how many perish and how many grow into fine, full Christmas trees.

The book is full of math problems for fourth and fifth graders and has the added benefit of teaching students the process involved in growing Christmas trees.
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​Grades: 3-5
​Download the complete lesson. ​

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