Integrating Farm Connection into Education!

It is not easy trying to come up with ways to incorporate supporting local produce into lesson plans or into a curriculum, especially for each subject. I have been able to chat with some students on what they have seen being done around their school in terms of supporting local food and they have no doubt been exposed to this idea, more so outside of the classroom.

Lesson Plans with food?
Food is something that can somehow be incorporated into every subject; it may just be difficult to think up some ideas. I am a music and history major; therefore, I am having quite the difficulty thinking about how promoting local food consumption can be attainable in a math or science classroom. I have created a lesson plan below that can be incorporated into a Ancient Civilization History class that would fall under grade 11 curriculum. I have also created a table with some high school subjects and an idea section that can be filled in. Many students have a class they go to for first period, therefore if the teacher is aware of this issue or environmentally conscious, they can let the students do a potluck breakfast using local products only! That could be an idea to raise awareness even though it doesn't pertain to the subject!
(****Make sure, before assigning anything, CHECK FOR ALLERGIES!!!****)

Extra Curricular Activities
There are ways that students can get involved in extra curricular activities. Sometimes students hold events like bake sales and the fund go towards a charity. For example, some students are in a Habitat for Hope/Humanity organization and need to raise money to build houses and schools in other countries. They can use the bake sales to promote another cause too like purchasing local food and supporting local farmers. That is just an idea; there can be many ways food can be incorporated into fundraiser events. I think extra-curricular clubs are the best way to promote this whether it be an environmental issue, or they raise awareness about another issue while holding a bake sale with locally made ingredients.

Asking my students about their knowledge:
- ECO-saders (school mascot is the crusaders): the eco-saders are the environmental club
- there was a guest speaking in last year who was a farmer and she talked about the crops and how purchasing locally grown food is important
- Some students do their Co-OP on a farm, organic farms

Education and Environment
I believe the idea of our social action project is firstly education about this subject and that it is important to take care of the people around, also it is a good thing for the environment. A lot of schools have their focus on the environment and taking care of it therefore this can be another reason for holding a dinner or a bake sale for other funding. The bake sale or dinner can be made up of local food to promote environmental awareness!

Lesson Plan

World History to the Sixteenth Century, Grade 11, University/College Preparation, CHW3M

Summary: This lesson plan encourages the students to work in groups and master the culture of a specific civilization. This activity can be used at the end of the year/semester when all of the civilizations and cultures have been covered in class and the teacher can use this as a way to get the students to have fun and have a pot luck lunch, with ancient food! So it is a fun way of having a social gathering but also incorporating the curriculum. Students will choose a culture, have one class period to research with group and then the week to get together outside of class. They will produce a dish from the ancient culture and explain it. In doing this they will read up on the required readings in regards to the importance of choosing locally produced food. The websites will be provided. The presentation checklist is in the lesson plan so are the websites. In short, students will present a civilization and a dish that is inspired from that time and place. The dish must have 60% locally produced ingredients and students must indicate the ingredients.


There you have it. The lesson has been added to the lesson plans section of this blog. This is only an example and it can me modified any which way! I hope these are some ideas that can be added to the classroom. Happy last week of practicum!!!!