OVER IN THE GARDEN by Janna Matthies

Gardening, Community, and Songs, Oh My!

Join Janna and me as we discuss gardening, singing, building community, and much more!  It's a lovely conversation. Come on in and pull up a chair! Listen in or leave us a comment to participate!

OVER IN THE GARDEN
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A delightful, colorful and whimsical view of how a community garden comes together. It shows that everyone has a part and there is a place for everyone. It details many of the things that happen to help a community garden prosper and the positive things that happen when it does!  It follows the cumulative structure of Over in the Meadow, a familiar children's folk song, and indeed it can be sung to that tune as well. The marriage of words and text do a lovely job of capturing the joy and comradery of a community garden and the ways it benefits everyone! A great blend of music, words and art that make the world a better place!

A Little Jam. . .(The Music Kind)

Perhaps you were expecting a karaoke version of OVER IN THE MEADOW that your class could sing along with? I've got you covered! That's also in the playlist, so be sure to check the links section!  This one is sweet and really gets to the heart of community gardens, as does the book, so y'all enjoy it!

Teacher Tips, Tricks and Topics
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ELA

• Rhyme, rhyme, rhyme --This book is full of rhyme.  Depending on the grade level and their familiarity with rhyme, have them 
  • ​Make a list of rhyming words
  • Write rhyming couplets
  • Write rhyming quatrains
  • Use some internal rhyme (as opposed to end rhyme)
• Prepositional phrases --
  • ​Scavenger hunt (list all the ones you find in the book)
  • Extend by having students creat their own mini-booklet of prepositional phrases from the book, but drawing a picture to illustrate.
• Strong verbs
  • ​Scavenger hunt
  • Charades
  • List and illustrate
• Adjectives
  • ​Scavenger hunt
  • List and illustrate
  • Find five nouns in the book and list as many adjectives as you can to add detail about the noun.
    
  • ​Vocabulary
    • ​Garden terms: shovel, weeds, compost, etc.
      

Social Studies

• Power of community
  • ​Research community gardens and how they benefit communities
  • Discuss how communities use their natural resources to cultivate a community garden and grow stronger relationships within their community
  • Discuss/complete a project following a community garden through the steps to get one started in your community

Science

• Plant parts
• life cycles of plants
• Making compost/benefits of compost
• Needs of plants

Math

• Simple Counting
• Adding/subracting to ten
• "Making a ten" problems
• Story problems --rows, plants, seeds, etc.

Art

• Use plant parts (leaves, stems, roots, flowers, fruit) to create paintings
• Make mud paint
• Draw pictures of gardens
• Do leaf rubbings
• ​Check the Pinterest board for more!

Tips and Topics for Music Teachers

• Folk song "Over in the Meadow"
  
  • ​Learn to sing the original folk song
    
  • Sing it with the garden lyrics
  • Extend it with other books/versions of the song 
    • OVER IN THE BLUERIDGE
    • OVER IN THE GARDEN
    • OVER IN THE MEADOW
    • OVER IN THE ARCTIC
    • OVER IN THE JUNGLE
  • Have students write their own lyrics for a nearby habitat or their own community
• Extend learning of "Over in the Meadow"
  
  • ​Use it for body percussion
    
  • Rhythm practice
  • Boomwhackers/desk bells/Orff instrumentation
  • Decode the rhythmic patterns
• Compare versions of the song
  
  • with different habitats
    
  • different styles
  • different instrumentation
• Bring in garden tools and allow students to create music with gardening implements.
• If your school has a school garden, take students out and allow them to create garden rhythms or write a song about the school garden.
  
• Read the story several times and have students choose instruments to accompany the various scenes. (ie. shovel =agogo, digging=sandblocks, hot cocoa = "yum yumm", etc.
  

Writing Tips from Janna

1) READ, READ, READ books in the genre you want to write--picture book, middle grade, poetry, YA. Use the ones you love as "mentor texts," studying them to learn how they do it successfully. Then write, revise, receive critiques...REPEAT! 

2) Scour the most recent CHILDREN'S WRITER'S AND ILLUSTRATOR'S MARKET guide book, in print or digitally, to better understand the industry, your genre, the craft of writing, what editors and agents are looking for, how to find an agent, how to submit queries. It includes indexes by subject matter at the rear, full of publishing info. 

3) Join the SCBWI (pro organization for the children's publishing industry). Read the website thoroughly and find a local critique group via your region's chapter. SCBWI conferences offer great learning and networking, chances to meet agents and editors and to register in advance for a paid critique.

4) Regarding finding an agent, check out manuscript wish lists on twitter at #MSWL as well as www.manuscriptwishlist.com, where editors and agents show what they want in general. 

There are simply no shortcuts! ​

Writing Prompts from Tonnye

1. Plant a garden (or at least a few seeds.). Keep a journal showing the growth and talking about changes you see.
2. Write a letter to your community leaders about starting up a new community garden. Be sure to give them at least three good reasons a collaborative garden would be good for your community.
3. Write about a gardening experience you had.
4. Write a fictional story about a magical garden.
5. Write a sensory poem about being in a garden.
6. Write an acrostic poem using the word "Garden" or for a real challenge "Community Garden".
7. Write a letter to the author telling her whether you like the book and why/why not.
8. Try your own hand at writing a song to the tune of Over in the Meadow.
9. Since OVER IN THE GARDEN is a counting book, too, write your own counting book for your community.
10. If you could grow any type of garden, what would you grow and why?
11.  Write about your favorite treat to enjoy after you've been working outside in the yard or the garden.
12. Write about your favorite flower.
13. Write about your favorite fruit.
14. Write about your favorite vegetable.
15. Write about something you cooked/help cook that went straight from the garden to the table.

​Links, More Fun, Extensions for Families and Everyone!
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YouTube playlist with karaoke versions of OVER IN THE MEADOW, lots of fun songs about gardening and community gardens and plant needs, composting, etc.

Pinterest board full of lots of gardening songs, crafts, printables, science experiments, additional book lists for little gardeners, and much more! Tons of resources for families, daycare/preschools, and elementary school classrooms (music and general ed).

Guest Links and Giveaways
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Janna's website


Janna's Instagram

Janna's Facebook

Janna's
​ (You can get purchase links for any of her books on this page)

Janna is offering a free copy of OVER IN THE GARDEN to one lucky winner (continental US only) Simply leave a comment below to be entered.