Submitted by
Amy Holonics, teacher at
Tudor Elementary School
Anchorage, Alaska

Grades
Kindergarten to Sixth Grade

Subject
I teach elementary Art to all the students in the school. I also incorporate environmental education in my lessons and many other aspects of the curriculum when applicable. I would coordinate with the 2nd grade teacher, a 6th grade teacher and the gifted education teacher.

Overview
First of all my window of my art room is the third most visible window in the school, seen by all the students and parents from the outside, and viewed by all the students because they all come to my room for art. Therefore, it would get a lot of exposure, and here in the far north in the wintertime, everyone would say”"What is that?”"
My window farm would be taken care of by a windowfarming club, which I would start. My neighboring rooms are made up of 6th graders, who are very capable and could learn to run the farm. The 6th graders study the environment and this would fit into their theme of “”There is No Away.”" They do a school wide recycling program and study what goes into the landfill.
The second grade kids start seedlings every winter, as part of their science curriculum. They would be the ones I would use to start the plants. They have a grow light set up in their classroom and every year they get overgrown by seedlings!
The gifted education teacher is working with the kids on looking at our school lunches and what could be done to encourage healthy eating.
As the art teacher, the windowfarm can be looked at as sculpture with a purpose, and we can be scientific artists and draw the apparatus and draw the growth of the plants.
Overall math science and social study concepts can be woven into this project just by it being on my window, and virtually the whole school would watch it grow because it is in the art room, and it would be everybody’s project.

Learning Outcomes
Students will learn that our food grows from seed.
Students will learn to grow their own food.
Students will learn what hydroponic farming is.
Students will earn about the needs of plants: water, nutrients, light, space.
Students will learn about the physics of gravity and pressure by the water pump system.
Students will eat what they grow.
Students will learn about the carbon cycle, and it’s effects on climate change.
Students will discuss issues concerning food and learn alternatives to shipping greens such as lettuce long distances to Alaska.
Students will use math and science to work on this project.
Students in Alaska need to see ways that we can grow our own food up here in this climate, and windowfarming is a creative solution and a challenge to the way we see our food production and choices.
Students will get to taste new vegetables.
Older students can give tours of the windowfarm to younger students, parents, and community members.

Assessments
Students will write about the windowfarm in the school newsletter.
Students can enter the windowfarm as an all school project in our science fair.
Students will write about the farm and how the life cycle of the plants work.
Students can begin to learn about the carbon cycle, and why plants are important to our planet especially with issues such as climate change, and will discuss this in small groups and create art related to our windowfarm to put up in the school.
Students will complete a pre and post windowfarm evaluation to see what science knowledge they have learned.

Submitted by
Connie Papantoniou, teacher at
The Bay View School, P.S. 102
Brooklyn, NY

Grades
Fourth Grade

Subject
All Academic Areas

Overview
This would be a wonderful opportunity to have the students have an on going living investigation in their learning environment. Students will be able to apply their skills of inquiry, and make applicable hypothesis to the windowfarm in their classroom. It is a great way to implement the new core standards and have them make connections by being able to sythesize the changes that will be taking place in their farm.

Learning Outcomes
The students would have a great motivational tool in their classroom that would implement responsibility. The students would be able to understand the responsibility that as citizens, regarding their environment. Make appropriate connections to academic areas, in social studies, science and personal connections through writing prompts.

Assessments
Students will be able to make connections and apply information obtained to express thoughts to respond to open ended science questions, have group discussions concerning the area of study, and evaluate their hypothesis and predictions concerning their windowfarm.

Submitted by
Marybeth Gazlay, a teacher at
PS 8, The Robert Fulton School
Brooklyn, NY

Grades
3rd

Subject
All Academic Areas

Content Description
As the former science teacher and current 3rd grade teacher, I would appreciate using a windowfarm in the classroom to compliment the FOSS Environments kit that we currently use. I have noticed that my 3rd graders learn more when they are able to work with hands-on materials but also when a project is in the room that they can revisit often vs. doing it once and then it goes away.

Learning Outcomes
Students will apply the scientific method to hydrofarming and will impact their reading, writing and science goals positively.

Assessments
Informal observation, group discussions, science notebooks

Submitted by
Nancy Kaminash, teacher at
P.S. 10 – School of Math, Science and Technology
Brooklyn, NY

Grades
k-5

Subject
I teach science to grades K-2, but windowfarms would be shared with all the grades.

Overview
As the science teacher of grades K-2, I try to provide as many opportunities as possible for students to interact directly with the natural world around them. Window farms would most certainly afford my students a hands-on approach to learning and discovering the process of how living things grow and change, as well as to understand the needs of living things. It would allow them to observe and compare the different structures that enable a plant to thrive, and understand first-hand the life cycle of plants and how they respond to their environment. These are just a few of the basic standards that are part of the early childhood science curriculum. One great activity to delineate the different parts of plants would be to make a “”stone”" soup. We could use our vegetables from the window farm or each student could bring in a favorite vegetable from home. After sorting our vegetables we could discuss what parts of the plants are going to be used in our soup. For example, the cabbage, spinach and lettuce are the leaves of the plant, the radishes, carrots, etc. are the roots, the peas and beans are the seeds, and so forth. This activity not only demonstrates the “”value”" of each part of a plant, but it connects the student to the food which nourishes them and how nature supports us to grow and stay healthy.
There is a wealth of great literature regarding plants and gardening, such as “”Growing Vegetable Soup”" and “”Eating the Alphabet”" by Lois Ehlert, and “”One Bean”", by Anne Rockwell, just to name a few. There are art lessons to use an extension of this study, such as vegetable prints and fold out books of growing plants. Students can visit farmers’ markets and community gardens, and compare their window farm to vegetables that grow in soil All these activities and more would support our window farm study and enforce the concept of urban farming and really knowing about the foods we eat.
In addition, our school is truly embracing a green approach to living, whether it be through recycling, or learning about eating locally grown foods (our Green Committee recently put a salad bar in the lunchroom), or teaching students about composting. Window farms would support and incorporate so many of these concepts and it would be a creative and fun way to do it!

Learning Outcomes
At P.S. 10, we want our students’ natural curiosities to develop into positive science experiences. For younger students the emphasis is on discovery and investigation. Window farms would naturally lead to the development of inquiry and process skills in science. Students may do an inquiry study on other ways we can help plants grow. This study might lead them to root an avocado pit, or soak beans in a clear jar with wet paper towels. They might discover that most plants grow from seeds, but some plants can grow from roots and stems, such as rooting a sweet potato in a jar of water and watching both roots and leaves emerge over time. We could make a potpourri garden where students bring up their seeds from their lunch and put them in a specifically designated terrarium to see what sprouts. Students would question, investigate and problem solve, as they observe the growth of our plants. When students understand the process of hydroponic plant growth, it will enable them to see different approaches to gardening and growing food.

Assessments
Students keep science journals where they can communicate their ideas, make predictions, observe, collect and organize their “data”. Their journals are creative and imaginative, and filled with their observations, questions, and drawings. Students of all ages learn that part of being a scientist is to express your thoughts and explain your findings. Window farms would no doubt expand our students’ science literacy, and give our students ideas for discussion and sharing. Charts and graphs would be created monitoring the growth of our plants. Learning to work together to create a window farm environment is another way students can learn to work cooperatively and be part of a group effort.

Submitted by
Amanda Laird, a teacher at
Oakley Elementary School
Union City, GA (Fulton County Schools)

Grades
k-5

Subject
Art

Overview
As an art class, we are constantly drawing from observation in our sketchbooks to become better observers, artists, and planners. I love to take my students outside and draw students on the playground, sketch the plants around the school, and many other nature-related items! I have recently gotten interested in building a window farm at my teeny apartment in Atlanta, and thought how great for my students to experience this as well! I would incorporate the growing process into our science portion of my lessons, but also use the final product for students to observe and draw. What a great combination of science and art!

Learning Outcomes
I believe children are not gaining the “back to the basics” skills such as farming and would love for them to gain this knowledge in my classroom. What a fun way to learn about it through art, too! I would incorporate the science and facts about plants and the growth cycle into my lesson as well.

Assessments
Because I have an art class, I love to have students do creative assessments! I was thinking our assessment for this project would be to make a flipbook showing the growth process of a plant. Students would change something about their drawing on each page just slightly. This also incorporates one of my favorite types of art, bookmaking. Along with the flipbook, I would have daily journal entries with various questions of the day students would answer.

Submitted by
Liz Colwell, teacher at
Nokomis Montessori Magnet School
St Paul, MN

Grades
First, Second and Third Grades, multi-age classroom

Nokomis is a Title 1 urban public school with more than half of the families whose primary language is not English.

Subject
I teach all subjects in an integrative style, combining traditional Montessori elements with related environmental education materials and lessons. I have the added benefit of having my students for three consecutive years, enabling me to have a developmental approach toward each student. My students, largely because of the Montessori approach, tend to be hands-on in their learning and would greatly benefit from this gardening experience.

Overview
The heart of the Montessori philosophy is that children develop an imagination and appreciation of life in all its dimensions. In my classroom, studies of the continents involve learning about the biomes, and their native plants and animals. Political and biome puzzle maps, books, and other media assist student learning. I tend to spend more time on the animal world and am looking for ways to highlight the life giving power of plants. Since many of my students have little or no space in their home yards for gardening, I want to demonstrate the hydroponic method of growing vegetables. I want them to learn about the essential nutrients and participate in the gardening process. Typically in Montessori, they learn about the parts of a plant, types of leaves, and varieties of seeds and fruit. A Windowfarm would take their learning to another level, giving them ongoing direct observation experiences and opportunities to choose seeds to plant in their garden.

Learning Outcomes
Since much of our school year is not during the Minnesota outdoor growing season, the hydroponic garden would afford our students greater exposure to plant growth. Active involvement in the gardening process will increase the potential that students will become gardeners. Certainly, the presence of a variety of growing plants will illustrate the terms associated with botany. For English language learners, concrete experiences positively impact learning of concepts and related vocabulary. Even more importantly, the hydoponic system will give urban students an encounter with the plant world and foster wonder about the great potential in the seeds. Any experiences I can provide that bring students into contact with life, growth, nature have an affective, behavioral impact as they feel more connected with real life and more peaceful.

Assessments
My students will create plant growth logs and graphs, nonfiction picture books, and posters illustrating terms they are learning. We may do a photo journal and post it on our school website. We will incorporate observations into our “All About Today” segment of our morning meeting. Ongoing care of the plants will be incorporated into our weekly rotation of classroom jobs, demonstrating understanding of the hydroponic system. Enthusiasm and pride will be evident as a measure of successful learning.

Submitted by:
Jayda Rose Torres, teacher at
Brooklyn New School p.s.146
Brooklyn, NY

Grades
Pre-k through 5th

Subject(s)
Math, Sience, Social Studies, Spanish, Music, Art, Movement, Health,Gym and The Enviorment, how to keep plants safe and healthy, Enviormental science, argriculture, Composting, Ethics.

Overview
Well I’ve had experinces because I am a fifth grader at BNS and a way to make learning easier is every grade has a culture to study. Matt, Green Guy teacher,” would use this to plant flowers with grades Pre-k through 2nd, rice with 3rd graders because they study china, three sisters garden with the fourth graders because they study Native Americans and last but not least corn with the fifth graders because we study the Mayans. We have a program called Garden to cafe. We harvest what we planted and cook it and have a festival. Matt got a certificate for a certain amount of money and he plans on using it to make an Eco Casita in one of our playards an if I win a Window farm for my school I will leave it here at the school when I graduate so Matt can put it in his Eco Casita and the kids and Matt will enjoy it.

Learning Outcomes
Our school will benifit by learning different ways of growing plants in an enviormentally friendly way. Our Eco Casita is going to be a 100% enviormentally a friendly classroom. I can imagine the Windowfarm sitting there in our Eco Casita with beautiful plants in them because they match perfectly with the Eco Casita part of OUR school.

Assessments
Our school doesn’t believe in test. In our school we collobarates with each other in small groups and then we come together as a whole class. We discuss what we observed and learned. In that meeting the teacher observes if the children are learning or not. If you would come in one of our meetings you would see the learning and observing that goes on.

Submitted By:
Mary Tovey teacher at
Bemis Elementary School
Troy, MI

Grades
The school is kindergarten through fifth grade. I teach fourth grade. We have approximately 500 students and we have many nationalities represented in our school.

Subject
I teach all subjects and my classroom is self-contained.

Overview
The goals for my program coincide with the district’s science goals for our unit on “”Environments”". One such goal states: “”Students will design systems that encourage a growing of particular plants or animals.”" Another goal is “”Students will describe the life cycle of familiar organisms.”" In addition to that, “”Students will describe the basic requirements for all living things to maintain their existence.”" I would like to set up a hydroponic growing system so that students can learn how to grow gardens in climates that have shorter growing seasons, such as Michigan. I have set up miniature gardens in the past, but I think that growing a hydroponic garden shows students how to solve a variety of problems. Michigan has been the hardest hit by the recession. I believe that teaching students how to grow their own food may lead to entrepreneurship and teaching them about sustainable agriculture (an newer environmentally friendlier version!)
Planning, planting and harvesting a garden is a hands-on way to show the life cycle of plants. When one introduces another organism such as earthworms into the environment, students learn first-hand about physical and behavioral characteristics that help an organism to survive. Eventually I would love to see our little window garden expand and become a “Grow Lab” for our school. I think the benefits for children to be able to go down into a “room full of green” on a cold, gray, Michigan Winter day are endless. Not only are they learning about how our world works, but I believe that it is very therapeutic for children to work in a green house setting. I have read about other classrooms that seem to show an improvement in mood, behavior problems and ability to nurture all just from caring for and maintaining a garden! On a broader scale, I would love to be able to grow food that could be donated to a local soup kitchen so that the students could give back to the community. I could even see us having a spring plant sale in order to make money for hydroponic supplies to sustain such a wonderful and worthwhile project.

Learning Outcomes
The implications for student learning are endless. Not only will they be learning their district science objectives, but they will also be learning how to solve problems, develop an entrepreneurial spirit, learn about economics,work collaboratively with others for a common goal, give back to those less fortunate, and learn about using recyclable materials to create a functional product. Student learning will also be enhanced in the area of nutrition. Students will learn how to grow their own vegetables and reduce the need for chemicals or pesticides on their food.

Assessments
I will use learning logs and a classroom blog, to assess what students are learning. They will keep a notebook each day of what their observations are and what problems they encounter. I will be able to monitor what they are learning through these logs. I could also assess how they are able to care for and eventually help to build any additional hydroponic systems that we need as we expand. Their logs would be filled with many different things such as, diagrams of systems that might work better than what we have, seed observation charts and growing timelines, which nutrient “soups” work best. I could even have the students research and make their own “nutrient soup” as a part of our “Mixtures and Solutions” unit. As you can see, the possibilities are endless!