Sally Scalera

Brevard County Horticulture Extension Agent
3695 Lake Drive -- Cocoa FL 32926 -- 321-633-1702

Junior master gardeners

March 17, 2007

It is fun to share the joy of gardening with kids and there is a great program called Junior Master Gardeners (JMG) that does exactly that. This is a curriculum that was written by the Texas Cooperative Extension group and is geared towards kids from 3rd to 5th grades.

Their mission is “to grow good kids by igniting a passion for learning, success and service through a unique gardening education.” Learning with hands-on activities is a great way to add fun to any lesson.

The original JMG program for 3rd – 5th graders is based upon two books. One is the Teacher/Leader Guide and the other is the JMG Youth Handbook. The Teacher/Leader Guide has group activities to choose from. Only one group activity needs to be completed for each chapter. At the end of the chapter are some Community Service/Leadership activities to choose from.

In addition to completing a group activity, and a community service/leadership activity, an individual activity from the youth handbook also needs to be completed for each chapter. The completion of all of these activities for every chapter in the two books ends in certification for the child as a Junior Master Gardener. Now, these activities can still be done and are still beneficial even if certification is never attained.

A group of Brevard County Master Gardeners and I thought that it would be great to get some of these hands-on activities into the classrooms. Some of the Master Gardeners went through all of the activities in the two books and tied the activity to the Sunshine Standard(s) for both Pre K through 2nd grade as well as the 3rd through 5th grade. These documents are available to any teacher to use with the JMG books. There may be occasions where a teacher may purchase the books with their own money (but I know this can become very expensive for teachers) or maybe the PTA or PTO would purchase the books for an interested teacher or possibly even a parent of a student if they knew of the teacher’s wish list.

In addition to the books for the 3rd – 5th graders there are also other books such as: Healthy and Nutrition from the Garden, Wildlife Gardener and Literature in the Garden.

There are also some activities on line that can be used to teach the kids. For more information on the JMG program you can go to their website at http://www.JMGkids.us/ . This program is also great for any groups that meet on a regular basis such as Boy and Girl Scouts, Science Clubs, Environmental Clubs, 4-H Clubs, etc. Where as the JMG activities can be used in a classroom to help students grasp different Sunshine Standards in a fun way without the goal of certification, they can also be used in a club setting where certification can be achieved.

Any group of kids, and it doesn’t matter whether it is school related or club related, can register with the JMG site and receive a certificate recognizing their group. The group can then have a group website on the National JMG web page and receive a monthly JMG e-newsletter. The registration of a group is available for free and can be done without any obligation to become certified by completing the entire program.

So, for all of you teachers and youth group leaders, you may want to check out the JMG program. It has a lot to offer the kids in both education and fun. For any teacher out there that would like to receive a copy of the Sunshine Standards/JMG activity list just contact me and let me know if you want the Sunshine Standards for Pre K–2nd grade or 3rd-5th grades.