Grow a Better World Through Lemon Trees!
Why Lemons?
Of all cultivated plants, Lemon trees are the top sequesterer of CO2, (see citation). Lemons are also a high value agricultural crop, used in cuisine world-wide and have active ingredients useful for cleaning and fragrance products. For education, Lemon tree planting offers experiences in soil science, agriculture practices, design and construction, culinary arts, innovation and entrepreneurship. Lemon Trees are also school-safe, drought tolerant and low maintenance. For FAQs and more, see About »
Leveraging Lemons to Learn
PLT empowers students to design and build their own outdoor classroom. Options include planting lemon trees in pots, planting in the ground and building support structures like trellises and pergolas. See Video »
PLT Curriculum features 16 modular activities that empower teachers to customize syllabi to fit available time, interests and resources. Our Teacher’s Guide includes a quick-start checklist, student handouts, student surveys, Care Plan and CCSS Alignments. Student Journals include team-building, Project Journaling, instructions, tips and examples. See Curriculum »
Teachers: Get a Class Kit
Curriculum Packages (a $300 value) include:
- 1 Lemon Tree (depending upon supplies, more may be available)
- 1 Teacher’s Guide
- 20 Student Project Journals (available in print or online version at BizzyB.com)
Register your class to purchase or enter a plea to receive a FREE Curriculum Pack. Open to Hawai’i schools, all islands, while supplies last.
Sponsors: Adopt a Class
For just $300, you can provide a PLT Curriculum Package to a class of 20 students. Packages include 1 lemon tree, 1 Teacher’s Guide and 20 Student Journals. You can select a recipient school from our School List or specify a contact at a school of your choice.
Residential & Community Adoptions
Lemon trees, other citrus species and “cocktail trees” (multiple citrus types on a single tree) are available for a requested minimum donation of $20/tree (or $20/species if a cocktail tree). We commonly have Meyer Lemon, Lisbon Lemon, Yuzu, Tahitian Lime and sometimes other citrus. Available stock varies.
100% of donations go to support our school planting programs.
Student Perspective
I feel so lucky to have been part of the Project Lemon Tree (PLT) at Jefferson Elementary School and Kalani High School. It was truly inspiring to witness a community brought together to positively transform a torched playground to a beautiful pergola…
I gained many valuable critical thinking, presentational, and management skills… I learned how to build a scale model… how a trellis should be constructed and how to create a presentation to share the project. This project also taught me how to facilitate the process of building, initiate weekly reports and collaborate with others.
After hearing how lemon trees reduce carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and that gardening spaces will teach children about sustainability, my motivation to engage in serving our community, environment, and education system grew.
Katrina Kuo, Kalani High School
Teacher Perspective
The curriculum was based on “Why Lemon Trees?” Every day we talked about how we’re going to take care of the lemon trees, how we’re going to use the lemons in the future and how we’re going to connect with our community. This program gets them ready for the real world.
Jessica Barbera, 1st Grade Teacher, Thomas Jefferson Elementary
IMPACTS & OUTCOMES
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Blog
Elks & Masons Support Kalili Waena Project
The longest Project Lemon Tree pergola is in construction starting with a new 150 foot long walkway, thanks to generous donations by the Elks Club and the Mason's Union. The Elks Club, lead by Gloria Yao and Uli Cutter, have been working with Principal Dan Larkin and...
Fern Elementary Lemon Tree Update
A year later, we were back at Fern Elementary School in Kalihi to visit Jessica Canyon's class and checkup on the Project Lemon Tree installation. We're happy to report that all four meyer lemon trees are healthy and producing lemons! Scale & Ants Removed One tree...
Lanakila Senior Center Gets Zesty
Project Lemon Tree has entered a new phase of supporting residential citrus growers via Zoom. This meets our mission of increasing urban tree growth. In fact, it's proving to be a superior model of growing in that most tree planting programs see huge percentages of...
Program Partners
PLT Now at BizzyB.com!
GET MODERN. SAVE TREES. PLT is a featured project at BizzyB, the student project-based learning platform published by Bizgenics. BizzyB features multi-user collaboration, remote mentoring, awesome presentation formats like slideshows & business plans, digital student portfolios & aspiration and skills assessments.
HAVE A GREAT PROJECT YOU WANT TO SHARE? BizzyB offers a 20% revenue share to project template authors. Teacher and students alike are invited to post templates.
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