Baird’s Curricular Connections


“How can the garden be linked to the curriculum? Ten million ways!” says Baird’s agriculture teacher, Joey Somawang. Teachers at Baird work diligently to find ways to integrate their content across subjects. There is a family feeling here at Baird, and collaboration is the key.

Teachers and staff partner to make sure that the curriculum is integrated across subjects.

BairdMiddle School: Hands-on is the key

http://baird.fresno.k12.ca.us/

BairdMiddle School is a magnet school on trimesters and attracts highly motivated students from all socio-economic groups all parts of the county who “absolutely love the school because there’s tons of HANDS-ON work in all classes.”

Specialty strands are agriculture, technology and foreign language.

Each trimester focuses on different regions of the world, and the school’s curriculum, whether it be computers, social studies, or the arts, incorporates that part of the world into whatever is being studied.  Teachers collaborate to ensure that subject matter is consistent, connected and coherent.

During the trimester, students and teachers work on a mosaic connected to the region being studied.  Then, to celebrate, they hold a school-wide festival related specifically to that region. In the spring they hold a broader based multicultural festival.

Agriculture is one strand of study in this magnet school and all students, from 5th to 9th grade, participate at some level. 

The gardens provide the hands-on component for the ag classes.  Students especially like the Agriculture program taught by Ag in the Classroom’s Outstanding Educator of the Year 2000, JoeySomawang, who brings a wheelbarrow full of energy to his program and students. Joey Somawang has been at Baird for 20 years and has sustained the garden program for 12 years.

FresnoCounty is the largest agriculture production county in California.  The school gardens mirror the region by focusing on Central Valley crops.  The program links to Buy California-California Grown; California Certified Farmers Markets; the International Agriculture Program; and CSU, Fresno’s Agriculture Program.  With Baird’s emphasis on agriculture, it becomes a microcosm of the Central Valley’s rich heritage.

Science and Agriculture

Mr. Somawang uses the North Forty to focus on the agriculture of Fresno County, the largest agriculture production county in the state. The garden mirrors the region by producing Central Valley crops. Students work in the garden as a part of their agriculture curriculum.

Anna Marie Herrick, the science teacher, collaborates on the links between agriculture and science.

“I love teaching here, and the fact that it’s all integrated. It’s not separate from my life. It’s all a part of life, integrated, all subjects are linked. I’m not just an isolated teacher, but a part of a bigger picture.”

Why a garden in a science class?

“In this class, students look at things on the microscopic level, and then go out into the garden, and there it is. So when they talk about a plant and how it grows and what it needs, they have planted the seeds and have seen it grow and have measured it. It’s not abstract. It doesn’t take a whole other lesson to get them up to speed.”

Science

6th Grade Science

The 6th graders dissect flowers and study pollination and fertilization.

7th Grade Science—Studying cell structure

7th graders in science study cells and the structure of cells. They also study plant nutrients. 

Students go out into the garden and measure plants; look at cells under the microscope; study how plant cells (and animal cells) are structured. They compare the difference between animal and plant cells.  Then they create models of the internal structure and workings of cells.

8th Graders

8th Graders study biotechnology and the double helix, and how biotech is going to impact agriculture.

History-Social Science

5th Grade History--Social Science

Fifth graders study American Indian history.  In the garden, they plantthe “Three Sisters:” corn, beans and squash.  Part of the lesson is to plan the whole cycle. They figure out when and how to plant each crop, and learn what to look for as the plants mature.  Caring for the crops is important as well—what does it take to make a good harvest? When they harvest their plantings, they can use them in their fall festival.  Interwoven with the garden activities are lessons on the significance in native cultures of these crops—how they developed, how they were used, religious and mythic symbolism and stories surrounding them.

6th grade Social Science

Tom Snyder, Social Science teacher, organizes the mural project with his 6th grade Social Science students during the last part of the day and after school as a part of world history lessons. Students choose themes and subjects, help design the murals, and do most of the work of creating them on the walls and in the halls.  All materials for the murals and sculptures—mortar, cement, etc.—have been donated by family members, and community businesses such as Orchard Supply Hardware. Mr. Snyder’s goal is for the students to learn history by becoming engaged in hands-on learning.

The murals depict cultures, foods and agricultural practices from around the world. The PeaceGarden, which the students wanted to create after September 11, 2001, features sculptures of mosaic, metals and other materials. They have continued to work on it and it has expanded since then to include heroes and victims of major wars of the world.

English Language Arts

Ms Herrick uses information from the garden and her science lessons in a variety of ways to work across content areas and incorporate a variety of standards, especially ELA. One fun and challenging assignment is to write a science fiction story in which they have to visit five parts inside the cell. 

The school Librarian helps with science and language arts lessons.  In partnership with the science and ag teachers, she sets up research projects on topics such as insects, or specific crops and their varieties and desirable characteristics. Students go on line, do computer searches and write and format reports.