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Programs for Teachers and Students
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School Workshops
Registration
Registration for School Workshops is handled by phone; please call the Registration Office at 718-623-7220.
Cost: $140 per class.
School workshops take students on an adventure that includes a classroom lesson, a hands-on greenhouse activity, and a tour of the grounds and/or Steinhardt Conservatory. Pre-visit materials are provided and include background information, classroom activities, and discussion topics. They will be sent to you with your reservation confirmation. We strongly encourage you to use them with your students prior to your visit to the Garden. Ask about our discount for Title I schools.
| School Workshop | Appropriate for Grades | Length (hours) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | K-2 | 3-5 | 6-8 | 9-12 | ||
| Making Sense of Nature | • | • | 1½ | |||
| Plants We Eat | • | • | 1½ | |||
| Trees Grow in Brooklyn | • | • | 1½ | |||
| Seed Adventures | • | 1½ | ||||
| Herbs and Spices | • | • | 1½–2 | |||
| Life Cycle of Bulb | • | • | 1½–2 | |||
| Life Cycle of a Seed | • | 2 | ||||
| Food for Thought | • | • | 2 | |||
| Deserts of the World | • | • | • | 2 | ||
| The Tropical Rainforest | • | • | • | 2 | ||
| Plant Ecology | • | • | • | 2 | ||
| Multiplying Plants | • | • | 2 | |||
Making Sense of Nature
Grades Pre-K–2 | 1½ hours
Leaves, bark, flowers, seeds…all offer a tantalizing array of color, texture, shape, flavor, and aroma. Through sensory activities, students will experience the world of plants using smell, touch, sight, and sound exploration. Everyone will pot up a plant to take home.
Plants We Eat
Grades Pre-K–2 | 1½ hours
Look through our grocery bag of familiar and exotic products for parts of plants that we eat. Students will discover roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds that we eat and will plant their own edible plants to take with them.
Trees Grow in Brooklyn
Grades Pre-K–2 | 1½ hours
Come be a friend to trees! Trees are special plants that play an essential role in their environment and in the lives of people and other animals that depend on them for shelter, food, and many of the products we use every day. Students will learn about the diversity of trees that exist in nature and in the city, the major parts of a tree and their functions, and the importance of trees in our lives. Everyone will pot up an indoor tree to take home with them.
Seed Adventures
Grades K–2 | 1½ hours
How do seeds get from place to place? Learn about the various methods of dispersal, from hitchhiking to floating, and examine the wonderful diversity of seed shapes, colors, and strategies. Students will participate in seed activities and plant in the greenhouse.
Herbs and Spices
Grades K–5 | 1½–2 hours
How come pizza has pizzazz and ice cream has over 51 flavors? Aromatic plants have played an important role in world history and culture and have added great variety to the foods we eat. Discover temperate herbs and tropical spices growing in the Steinhardt Conservatory and learn what makes them different. Students will plant an herb to take back to the classroom.
Life Cycle of Bulb
Grades K–5 • 1½–2 hours • Workshop available November-February
Bulbs have stems, roots, leaves, and flowers like other plants, but while they are "sleeping," or dormant, these parts are virtually invisible! In this workshop, students will dissect a bulb to reveal its inner structures. They will observe the rapid emergence of leaves and flowers as they watch the bulbs they plant in our program "wake up," grow, and blossom.
LifeCycle of A Seed
Grades 3–5 | 2 hours
Most plants begin their lives as small seeds, then grow to produce roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and then seeds…and the cycle begins again. In this botanical workshop, students will follow the life cycle of a typical plant and then dissect flowers and pot up a seed or transplant.
Food for Thought
Grades 3–8 | 2 hours
Plants feed us, cure our ills, provide materials for industry, and enrich our lives. They are the foundation of all existence. In this workshop we introduce students to some of the plants that are most useful to us today and those that have been used by people around the world for thousands of years. Students will pot up a plant to take home and tour the Steinhardt Conservatory, where many culturally important plants are growing.
Deserts of the World
Grades 3–12 | 2 hours
Life in the desert is both fascinating and challenging, and it requires unusual adaptations by plants and animals. Students will begin to discover how the desert's plant inhabitants adapt to their arid environment when they observe and dissect cacti during this program. A tour of the Desert House in the Steinhardt Conservatory will continue to focus on the "succulent strategies" that enable these plants to survive in the earth's desert habitats. Everyone will pot up a desert plant to take home.
The Tropical Rainforest
Grades 3–12 | 2 hours
The tropical rainforest is home to an amazingly large and diverse array of plants and animals. In this workshop, students will observe a collection of tropical plants and discover the unique adaptations that allow them to compete for essential resources in the densely populated forests they call home. Students will each plant a mini-terrarium with tropical stem cuttings and explore Brooklyn's own rainforest in the Steinhardt Conservatory.
Plant Ecology
Grades 3–12 • 2 hours
What are some of the complex and essential relationships between plants and their environment? Students will observe plants from desert, tropical, and wetland habitats and identify adaptations that enable their survival in these diverse environments. Each student will create a miniature bog terrarium and plant a carnivorous plant to take with them. Students will tour two or more plant collections that represent desert, tropical, aquatic, and warm temperate habitats. Weather permitting, a walk through the Native Flora Garden may be included. Additional $25 materials fee.
Multiplying Plants
Grades 6–12 • 2 hours
If we wanted to reproduce all of the plants at Brooklyn Botanic Garden so that all of the students in New York City could share them, how would we do it? In this workshop, a variety of methods of plant propagation will be explored. Students will learn about tubers, bulbs, leaf and stem cuttings, grafting, tissue culture, and other propagation techniques as they construct their own mini-greenhouse.