The New York Botanical Garden

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Tuesday–Friday Session I: 10–11:30 a.m. Session II: 11:45 a.m.–1:15 p.m. Session III: 1:30–3 p.m. Fee per class (Session I &II): $140 Special reduced fee (Session III only): $100	GreenSchool Workshops GreenSchool workshops begin indoors with an inquiry-based lesson and hands-on activities, and are followed by an exploration of either the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, the Forest, or the Botanical Garden grounds. All workshops include activity sheets that enhance the hands-on learning, and teaching methods for these workshops are specifically adapted to different learning styles and developmental needs. For example, programs for younger grades may incorporate storytelling, movement, and sensory explorations, while programs for older grades use experiments, observation, and sketching activities. Workshops are supplemented by downloadable pre- and post-visit activity sheets listed below in the workshop descriptions.
Grades: K-5 Availability: All Seasons Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds/Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–201	'Round and 'Round: The Life Cycle of a Plant Where does the life of a plant begin? What role does each plant part play as a plant develops? These questions and more are answered as students explore the life cycle of plants, observe and compare different plants and plant parts, and plant seeds to take back to school for continued investigations. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: K-5 Availability: Fall/Spring Location: Forest and/or GreenSchool GS–202	A Forest in the City Step out of the city streets and into one of the last remnants of the forest that once covered New York City. The Botanical Garden's 50-acre Forest is an amazing ecosystem of plants and animals that changes with the seasons. Students observe trees at different stages in their life cycles, search for animal homes, and discover the role of decomposers in the forest food web. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: K-5 Availability: Fall/Spring Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds GS–203	Sorting Out Plants Classification is one of the elemental tools of science. Scientists constantly group and regroup living and non-living things to better understand their relationships to each other. Students step into the shoes of plant scientists as they observe and group plant parts, learn about dichotomous keys, and practice identifying plants. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: K-5 Availability: Winter/Spring Location: GreenSchool and Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–200	Life in the Rain Forest Why are rain forests so important? They are home to more than half the world's plant and animal species and many rain forest plants are used for food and medicine. Students explore the amazing rain forest exhibits in the Conservatory, learn about plant adaptations, and pot up a rain forest plant. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: K-2 Availability: All Seasons Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds/Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–500	Plant Parts We Eat We know we eat fruits—but what about stems, leaves, roots, and flowers? Each of these plant parts play a vital role in our food chain. Students learn the role of basic plant parts as they explore plant parts we eat, create a salad snack, and plant vegetable seeds to grow and observe back in the classroom. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: K-2 Availability: Fall Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds GS–501	Fall Harvest As summer draws to a close we celebrate the fall harvest—the time ripe fruit is gathered to eat. Students find out what makes a fruit a fruit; compare pumpkins, cranberries, and apples; create a harvest snack; and explore the grounds to look for fruits and seeds that animals harvest. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: K-2 Availability: Winter Location: GreenSchool and Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–503	Plants People Use Although we know that we eat many plants, how else do we use them in our everyday lives? Many of the things we use, wear, and live in are made from plants. Students investigate plant-derived household objects, use plant parts to make a take-home craft, and explore the Conservatory to learn about plants used by people around the world.

Grades: K-2 Availability: Spring Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds GS–502	Roots, Shoots, and Blooming Bulbs Enjoy the rebirth of spring and explore one of the most popular kinds of spring-blooming plants—bulbs. Students investigate the life cycle and properties of these special plants, plant a paperwhite bulb to follow its life cycle back in the classroom, and explore the grounds to find different kinds of flowering bulbs. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: 3-5 Availability: All Seasons Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds/Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–308	Amazing Adaptations Why are there so many different plants? Plants adapt to living in all conditions, from the wettest bog to the driest desert. Explore these adaptations, and take an up-close look at some unusual plants like Venus flytraps and plants with flowers that smell like rotting meat. Students are challenged to design their own plants in response to a variety of conditions. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: 3-5 Availability: All Seasons Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds GS–302	Numbers in Nature Is Mother Nature a math genius? Series, patterns, and repetition are found everywhere in nature, and many of these patterns are based on mathematical relationships. Students explore math in a beautiful setting and investigate how plants and their parts can be used to extend their understanding of simple arithmetic, geometry, and number series. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: 3-5 Availability: Fall Location: GreenSchool and Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–600	Haiku in the Garden New! Experience Japanese culture through haiku, a specialized form of Japanese poetry. Through exploration of the Garden's exhibition of kiku—meticulously cultivated and trained chrysanthemums—and other diverse plants, students hone their observational an writing skills to create their own haiku. As an added touch, students create origami envelopes to hold their poems. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: 3-5 Availability: Winter/Spring Location: GreenSchool and Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–300	Survival of the Spiniest How do plants live in an environment with very little water? Explore the Conservatory's desert galleries to find out. Students discover the amazing ways desert plants have adapted to their harsh habitats as they observe and draw different kinds of desert plants and pot up a succulent. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: 3-5 Availability: Spring Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds GS–601	Darwin's Discoveries New! Charles Darwin made tremendous contributions to our understanding of plants today. Explore his groundbreaking accomplishments through investigation and experimentation of phenomena such as phototropism, pollination, and plant movement. Students search for signs of plant adaptations in the exhibition, Darwin's Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure, and pot up a plant to take home. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: 3-5 Availability: Spring Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds GS–400	Pollination Partners Pollution—the movement of pollen—is key to the transformation of flowers into seeds. Students dissect a flower to learn more about the process of pollination. They explore the relationship between flowers and their pollinators through a field investigation of pollinators in action. Click here to download activity sheets.
Grades: 6-8 Availability: Winter Location: GreenSchool and Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–602	Travels of a Botanist What is a botanist and what does one do? Many of the Botanical Garden's botanists—or plant scientists—travel all over the world to study plants. Students explore the Conservatory and become botanists for a day as they learn about herbaria and make an herbarium sheet, create their own plant press, and preserve a live specimen.
Grades: 6-8 Availability: All Seasons Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds/Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–400	Photosynthesis: A Light Snack How does a plant get its food? In this workshop, students learn how plants make their own food through the chemical process of photosynthesis, described as the most important chemical reaction on Earth. Through discussion, observation, and hands-on experiments, students gain understanding of photosynthesis and examine its significance to all life.
Grades: 6-8 Availability: All Seasons Location: GreenSchool and Garden Grounds/Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS–401	The Role of Plants in the Water Cycle The water cycle is a prime example of the complex relationships among air, precipitation, and land. To illustrate the role plants play in this crucial cycle, students perform experiments and build mini-terraria to take back to the classroom.
Grades: 6-8 Availability: All Seasons Location: GreenSchool and Enid A. Haupt Conservatory GS-403	Plants Up Close How do leaves and stems look on the inside? In this workshop, students review the structure and role of the major plant parts as they are introduced to basic microscopy techniques. By assembling and viewing microscope slides, students compare and contrast their magnified images of stems, leaves, and seeds.