Yes, I’m a little stuck on gardening (this is my third post in a row which relates to it). I just found some great links when I was scouting around and I have to share 
The Gardener, by Sarah Stewart, is a really sweet picture book about a little girl who spreads the joy of gardening. It’s a Caldecott honor book with charming illustrations and text in the form of letters written by the main character, Lydia Grace. I found a website which details all kinds of lessons related to The Gardener. There are lessons related to the book itself, lessons on letter writing, gardening ideas, and links related to the 1930’s (the setting for the story). Since the website was created in 2004 some of the links are no longer valid, but there are still some good links to be found there. My favorite idea is the Trucker Buddy program, where truckers are matched up to be penpals to grade school children. What a fun idea!
If you have a preschooler you might be interested in all the gardening related ideas at Everything Preschool. They have a whole calendar there based on Monday to Friday lessons related to the garden. Whether you like to plan out your week this thoroughly or not you’re bound to find some good ideas, like Grow Your Name and Carrot on a String.
I’d never heard of ethnobotany before. Apparently it’s “the scientific study of the relationships that exist between people and plants”. At KidsGardening.org you can find suggestions for thinking and learning about how plants relate to culture and seasonal celebrations. I’m intrigued by the idea – it’s a different angle on studying holiday traditions.
The sun is shining here as I write; I probably should be outside checking on my garden! Do let me know about your own adventures in gardening. If you’ve written about gardening, let me know and I’ll post a link
The Gardener and Caldecott books available in association with Amazon.com.
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