Top tips for new kitchen garden teachers

This article was originally published by the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation on Tuesday 13 March, 2018. 

Are you a new teacher or specialist at a school running a kitchen garden program? Looking for some tips on how best to dig into the kitchen and the garden?

Here’s a list of our top tips for new kitchen garden teachers.

• Ensure there is a constant flow of information between the kitchen and the garden. Communication between teachers or specialists running kitchen and garden classes is key. Hold regular meetings to discuss what has been planted, what needs to be planted, what needs to be harvested, what recipes will be used and what additional ingredients are required.
• The opportunities to link classroom learning with kitchen and garden activities are endless, as the kitchen and garden are great spaces to learn maths, science, languages and more, and to explore cross-curriculum priorities such as sustainability. Connect with other teaching staff to help plan kitchen and garden classes based on curricular themes.
• The garden should dictate what activities happen in the garden class, and what’s on the menu for the kitchen class. Make good use of the harvest – if a crop is ready, make sure it’s used in the kitchen!
• Special weeks and celebrations, such as Chinese New Year, ANZAC Day, NAIDOC Week and Science Week, provide great opportunities to run themed kitchen and garden classes, and link in with classroom learning.  Put together a calendar of events, and plan your kitchen and garden classes accordingly.
• Laminate all your recipes and garden activities and build up a file. This way you will have a ready source of recipes and activities for all occasions, including those days when there are last-minute changes to kitchen classes and rainy days when you can’t get out into the garden.

If you are a teacher at a Kitchen Garden Program school, you have access to the Foundation’s Shared Table resource library. The site has an extensive resource library of recipes, garden activities, and lesson ideas.

Here’s a list of our top Shared Table resources for new kitchen garden teachers.

• Top tips for successful planning is a useful resource for educators planning kitchen and garden classes. 
• The Getting started in the kitchen resource collection contains menu planners, recipe guides and activities to help educators run effective and engaging kitchen classes.
• The Getting started in the garden resource collection provides a wealth of ideas, including garden activity sheets and time-saving templates for planning.
• Scrolling through the Latest on the Shared Table news feed is a fantastic way to find inspiration for your kitchen and garden classes. As well as posts on kitchen and garden activities from schools across Australia, the feed will also show you the latest resources and news stories uploaded by the Foundation.

You can also sign up to upcoming sessions of our Getting Started webinar, an online two-part workshop series for newcomers to the Kitchen Garden Program journey.

If you don’t have a Shared Table log in, or are having trouble logging in, give our friendly Support Team a call on 13000 SAKGF (13000 72543) or email support@kitchengardenfoundation.org.au.