The Curious Garden Integrated Lesson Plan for Pre-K to Year 2
5 Ready-to-teach lessons that bring biological science, Literacy and maths to life. Download today. Teach tomorrow.
You’ve found a beautiful book. Now imagine children actually living it.
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown is the kind of story that makes children want to dig in the dirt, ask questions about what’s growing, and wonder how one small act of care can change an entire world. This lesson plan gives you everything you need to turn that spark into a full week of meaningful, hands-on learning — without spending your weekend planning.
It’s only AU$6. It’s 23 pages. It’s ready to print and teach tomorrow.
The Curious Garden Integrated Lesson Plan
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A$6.00
A$6.00
This is a complete, ready-to-implement plan that transforms The Curious Garden into an immersive learning experience, where your Pre K-2 learners become scientists, explorers, and environmental champions, all while meeting multiple learning outcomes.
Subject areas covered: Biological Science, English Literacy, Mathematics, Visual Art, Digital Technologies, Sustainability
Click here to see the complete resource.
Have you ever read a picture book to your students and thought, “I wish I could do more with this.” Well now you can.
Finding the time to design activities that genuinely integrate curriculum areas — and actually teach children how to think like scientists and inquirers — is one of the hardest parts of the job.
And if you’re new to integrating curiosity-led learning, it can feel a bit daunting. How do you introduce the process in a way that’s age-appropriate? How do you make sure you’re still meeting curriculum outcomes? How do you keep 5- and 6-year-olds genuinely engaged for more than one lesson?
This plan lays it all out for you.
This is a 23-page PDF you download instantly. Here’s exactly what’s inside:
• 5 complete lesson plans — each with clear objectives, step-by-step procedure, curriculum links and a full resource list. Lessons build on each other across a week (or longer — the learning keeps going as the garden grows).
• A student learning journal — 11 activity pages children work through as the unit progresses. Includes story sequencing, procedural writing, plant predictions, observation grids, a garden visitor page, and an investigation planner. Print it as a booklet or select individual pages.
• Two detailed assessment rubrics — one covering engagement, inquiry skills and collaboration; the other covering science understanding, literacy and mathematical thinking. Four levels from Beginning to Exemplary. No need to design your own.
• Curriculum links for three frameworks — EYLF, Australian Curriculum and US Common Core. Every lesson is mapped. You can justify every activity to your school or families.
• An inquiry skills framework — aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, showing exactly which inquiry skills each activity develops and how.
• A step-by-step introduction to structured inquiry — ideal if this is your first time teaching inquiry. You’ll know exactly how to set up your inquiry wall, how to scaffold children’s questions, and how to lead the class through the process together.
• Extension ideas — including macro photography, pollinators, cooking from the garden, digital technology and more, so the learning can go as far as your class takes it.
Who is this for
This lesson plan is for Pre-K to Year 2 teachers and educators — in mainstream classrooms, nature schools, homeschool settings, or early childhood centres.
It works equally well if you’re an experienced inquiry practitioner looking for a structured unit, or someone just starting to bring inquiry into their teaching and wanting a solid scaffold to work from.
It also works brilliantly for homeschool parents who want a complete learning sequence their child loves, and moderators approve of.
Why is this different from a generic lesson plan
Most lesson plan templates online give you a framework and leave you to fill it in. This one is fully written, fully resourced and fully mapped to curriculum.
The inquiry process is explicitly taught — not assumed. The activities move from reading and discussing the story, to getting outside and exploring, to planting, observing, measuring and reflecting.
And because the garden keeps growing, the learning doesn’t stop at the end of the week.
Children don’t just learn about plants. They learn how to ask good questions, how to make careful observations, how to record what they notice, and how to connect what they’re seeing to the real world.
Those are skills that last well beyond schooling.
Only AU$6.00 — instant PDF download
FAQs
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No. The lesson plan walks you through exactly how to introduce structured inquiry for the first time, including how to set up an inquiry wall and scaffold children’s questions.
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No. The lessons work with pots on a windowsill, seeds in a cup, or a walk around the school grounds. What matters is giving children something living to observe and care for.
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Yes, absolutely — the existing testimonial is from a homeschool parent. The activities work just as well one-on-one as in a classroom.
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EYLF (Early Years Learning Framework), Australian Curriculum, and US Common Core. Every lesson is mapped to all three. However the ideas and activities will work in any curriculum that covers biological sciences/living things.
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Yes, you will need a copy of the picture book. It's available at any reputable book store, library or on-line.
