Seed to Salad

In Kindergarten, students at Nantucket Public Schools learn about plant life cycle with hands-on lessons from Farm to School. Students harvest lettuce seeds in the Joyce N. Furman Youth Garden; grow the seeds under grow lights in the school (tending them and watering them as they grow); harvest the lettuce that they planted; and finally have a taste test. In addition to inculcating a sense of joy and empowerment through growing one's own food, these series of lessons focus on two Massachusetts State Standards for STEM:

• K-LS1-1. Observe and communicate that animals (including humans) and plants need food, water, and air to survive. Animals get food from plants or other animals. Plants make their own food and need light to live and grow.

• K-LS1-2(MA). Recognize that all plants and animals grow and change over time.