Teacher Training
Professional Development Workshops for Individual Schools or Educators' Groups
We will gladly work with your staff to develop a program tailored to support your professional development goals for science and other areas of study. Programs may include inquiry-based classroom explorations, guided tours of the Garden's indoor and outdoor plant collections, and hands-on "potting-up" horticultural activities.
Some suggested workshop topics include the following:
- Sensory Learning Through Plant Explorations
- Journaling Through the Changing Seasons at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
- Expeditions into Habitats of the World
- Edible Plants in Everyday Life
Professional development courses are offered at BBG for individual teachers in collaboration with the NYC Department of Education. For more information and to arrange for a program designed to meet your needs, contact BBG's Teacher Education Coordinator at 718-623-7381.
Urban Composting Workshops for Teachers in New York City
Pre-K–12 Teachers
Worm Composting in the Classroom
Working with worms in the classroom offers a great hands-on way to teach ecology, recycling, and gardening. Learn how to set up a worm bin, feed worms with food scraps, and maintain the system successfully. Activities, curriculum ideas, and ways to incorporate worm composting into science, math, and language arts for students of all ages will be introduced. This class can also be held at your Brooklyn school for a group of ten or more teachers. Teachers will receive a voucher to buy a pound of red wiggler worms and a plastic worm bin for only $44.
For more information on this and other workshops offered by the NYC Compost Project in Brooklyn, call 718-623-7290.
Project Green Reach (PGR) is an outreach program for K–8 teachers and their classes from Brooklyn's Title I schools. PGR provides a curriculum package for the topic of your choice, inquiry-based instruction in your classroom with a plant for each student, transportation to and from and a guided tour of BBG, as well as teacher training and supplies for a community horticulture project.
Project Green Reach offers the following curriculum options:
Life Cycle of a Bulb
The fast-growing paperwhite narcissus is the perfect subject for scientific observation and data collection. Students can see these bulbs bloom within six weeks of being planted. Find out with your class why bulbs grow so fast!
Kitchen Botany
Do people eat plants? When you eat a carrot, what part of the plant are you eating? Students will observe, plant, and cultivate their own carrots as they answer these questions and learn about the different plant parts and their functions.
Desert Environments
The desert environment is both harsh and fascinating. Students will discover how plants have adapted to survive the arid conditions and extreme temperatures of this environment. In class, students will dissect a cactus and pot up a desert plant of their own.
Tropical Rainforests
The tropical rainforest is home to an incredible diversity of plants. We will examine tropical plants up close to discover their particular niches within the rainforest environment. In class, students will each plant their own terrarium with tropical plants they propagate themselves. Themes of biodiversity, adaptation, and plant-animal interdependence are introduced.
Science Standards Connections
Use this matrix to find NYC Science Performance Standards supported in BBG School Programs.
Project Green Reach
Available to Brooklyn's Title I schools by application only. Provides a curriculum package for the topic of your choice, inquiry-based instruction in your classroom with a plant for each student, transportation to and from and a guided tour of BBG, as well as teacher training and supplies for a community horticultural project.
| School Workshop | Elementary K–5th grades |
Middle 6th–8th grades |
High School 9th–12th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life Cycle of a Bulb
(Grades K–8) |
2A, D; 4B, D; 5F; 6A, 8A, B, C |
2A, C; 4B, E; 5A, C, F; 6A, B; 8A, C |
n/a |
| Kitchen Botany
(Grades K–8) |
2A, C, D; 4B, D; 5A, F; 6A, 7A; 8A, B, C |
2A; 4B, E; 5A, C, F; 6A, B, C; 8A |
n/a |
| Desert Environments
(Grades K–8) |
2A, B, C, D; 3A; 4B, D; 5A, F; 6A, 8A, C |
2A, C; 3A; 4B, E; 5A, C, F; 6A, B |
n/a |
| Tropical Rainforest
(Grades K–8) |
2A, C, D; 3A; 4B, D; 5A, F; 6A, 8A, B, C |
2A, C; 3A; 4B, E; 5A, C, F; 6A, B; 8A, C |
n/a |
Key
- S1 - Physical Science Concepts
- S2 - Life Science Concepts
- S3 - Earth and Space Science Concepts
- S4 - Science Connections and Applications
- S5 - Scientific Thinking
- S6 - Scientific Tools and Technologies
- S7 - Scientific Communications
- S8 - Scientific Investigation
Leadership support for Project Green Reach provided by National Grid
After-School Professional Development Program In-Service Course/NYC Department of Education
3P-credit course/30 hours/Pre-K–12 Teachers
What Did a Plant Ever Do for You?
Offered Spring 2012, Summer 2012
This course provides an introduction to the science and art of botany and horticulture taught in the context of the extensive indoor and outdoor plant collections of BBG. An understanding of the value of plants in natural and human history will complement an inquiry-based approach to learning how plants are built, how they work, and how they interact with the living and nonliving components of the diverse environments they inhabit.
For questions, call BBG's teacher education coordinator at 718-623-7381.
Registration must be completed online with the After-School Professional Development Program.
Science Standards Connections
Use this matrix to find NYC Science Performance Standards supported in BBG School Programs.
Teacher Education
Programs are offered at BBG year-round and are designed to meet the educational needs and priorities of individual teachers, schools, regional districts, and parent/teacher associations.
| School Workshop | Elementary K–5th grades |
Middle 6th–8th grades |
High School 9th–12th |
|---|---|---|---|
| What Did a Plant Ever Do For You | 2A, B, C, D, E; 3A, B, C, D; 4A, B, E; 5A, B, C, D, E, F; 6A, B, C; 7A, B, C, D; 8A, B, C, D |
2A, B, C, D, E; 3A, B, D; 4A, B, E; 5A, B, C, D, E, F; 6A, B, C, D, E; 7A, B, C, D, E; 8A, B, C, D |
2A, B, C, D, E; 3A, E; 4A, B; 5A, B, C, D, E, F; 6A, B, D, E; 7A, B, D; 8A, B, C, D |
Key
- S1 - Physical Science Concepts
- S2 - Life Science Concepts
- S3 - Earth and Space Science Concepts
- S4 - Science Connections and Applications
- S5 - Scientific Thinking
- S6 - Scientific Tools and Technologies
- S7 - Scientific Communications
- S8 - Scientific Investigation
Title II Professional Development Program for Nonpublic School Educators
Pre-K–6 Teachers
Kitchen Botany: The Plants We Eat
Offered Fall 2011
Enhance your understanding of basic botany and the role of plants in your everyday life through a hands-on workshop and guided tour of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, focusing on plants we eat. Participants will plant a kitchen windowsill garden, have the opportunity to register for a free school workshop at BBG, and receive printed materials.
Starting With Seeds: Beginning Investigations Through Inquiry
Offered Spring 2012
What do seeds need to grow? Participants will record observations, share prior knowledge about seed germination, and design and construct their own experiments to answer this question. Working in teams, they will follow the scientific method to generate their own answers to the questions they pose in this workshop. Participants will take home their seed experiment materials, a seed-starting kit for the classroom, printed materials, and have the opportunity to register for a free school workshop at BBG.
Registration must be completed through the Bureau of Nonpublic Schools; call 718-935-4975.
Science Standards Connections
Use this matrix to find NYC Science Performance Standards supported in BBG School Programs.
| School Workshop | Elementary K–5th grades |
Middle 6th–8th grades |
High School 9th–12th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen Botany: The Plants We Eat |
2A, B, C, D; 4A, C, D; 5A, C, D, F; |
2A, B, C, D; 4A, C, D; 5A, C, D, F; |
n/a |
| Starting with Seeds: Beginning Investigations Through Inquiry | 2A, B, C, D; 4A, D; 5A, B, C, D, E, F; 6A, B, C; 7A, B, C, D; 8A, B, C, d |
2A, B, C, D, E; 4A, B, D, E; 5A, B, C, D, E, F; 6A, B, C; 7A, B, D, E; 8A, B, C, D |
n/a |
Key
- S1 - Physical Science Concepts
- S2 - Life Science Concepts
- S3 - Earth and Space Science Concepts
- S4 - Science Connections and Applications
- S5 - Scientific Thinking
- S6 - Scientific Tools and Technologies
- S7 - Scientific Communications
- S8 - Scientific Investigation
