Using our class gardens, four 2nd grade classes will take a journey to learn about ethnic cultures that have made America what it is today.  Along the way, we will learn about Chinese, German, Italian and Mexican Americans, their cultures, traditions, and cuisine.  All of the different cultures can be discovered through a cultural food garden.  Each of the four classes will plant a garden focusing on vegetables and herbs used by one of the four cultures. 

Each class will grow vegetables and herbs commonly associated with the culture they are studying  With the help of parent volunteers from these cultures, the classes will prepare and cook the produce using traditional family recipes.  The four classes will have a tasting party where we taste each other's recipes.  We will take turns sharing what we have learned about the different cultures.  We will invited people from these cultures to visit and tell stories from their childhood in their native countries and how it is the same/different from living in the United States.  The children will also learn the names for the vegetables they are growing in their gardens.  For example: they will learn that tomato is “tomate” in Spanish, “pomodoro” in Italian, “tomate” in German and pronounced “fan1 qie2” in Chinese.  Each class will write a report of what they learned which will be published on the school website.

We Are America: a collection books featuring real immigrants from the homeland to becoming part of American society.  6 pack of books for each culture being studied. 4x $37.50 =$150

Go Facts Science Series 2: Classroom set (24 books (6 copies of 4 titles (Plants, Trees, Flowers, Plants as food) $179.

One  2-tier Grow Lab   $369.

One 30 lb bag seed starting mix $10

Total grant proposal $708