Resources for Educators, Parents and Food Service Providers
Find information for:
Educators
Farm to School Curricula
Many schools across the country have developed curricula that explore where food comes from and why fresh, local produce is good for us. Below you will find some comprehensive examples of full lesson plans that are being used across the country.
Click on this PDF link for descriptions of lessons, and links to download or order curricula to use.
Food Miles: Educational Curriculum to teach your students about the food they eat and where it comes from. This curriculum was created in New Brunswick but can be adapted to any classroom. Full of interactive activities such as jeopardy and menu creation!
“Eat Lots of Colors” book for young children about healthy food and lifestyle choices
Helen Marstiller’s book (www.eatlotsofcolors.com) is a delightfully light-hearted first read on the nutritional benefits of eating colorful foods written for young children (ages 4-8). Simply written and charmingly illustrated, it motivates children to make healthy choices. The book includes a chart that makes it fun for them to follow their weekly progress as they discover a world of new and healthy foods they can enjoy for life. The book can be bundled with cute foldable tote bags to be used when shopping for produce.
Simple Activities
Below you will find some examples of simple activities you can do with kids in the classroom. The activities explore where food comes from and why local produce is healthy for people and the environment. They are for children of all ages!
Photograph by Sarah Bernardi
Activity Suggestions
- Make apple cider, apple butter, applesauce!
- Arrange a field trip to a local farm – Check out this helpful PDF from Washington State University and this information from Scholastic.
- Have students produce a calendar of seasonally available foods. Check out this seasonal calendar here for ideas.
- Study the connection between the types of food grown and geography, climate and soil. Learn more here.
- Research the geographic origin of our foods. Learn more here.
- Learn about urban gardening. Read a gardener’s journal; learn more here.
Activity Lesson Plans
1) Learning from Labels: Explore the nutritional content of everyday foods, using visuals.
2) Edible Celebrity of the Week: Focus on a food each week: research, prepare, and taste.
3) Fun Activities to do with plants: Explore plant growth and function with these activities.
4) Orange Vinaigrette: Use proportions and percentages to make this vinaigrette.
5) Celebrate Biodiversity: Using EcoHealth’s website, learn about biodiversity while creating puzzles and placemats.
Links to More Activities
What’s Left to Eat?! Explore Worldwide Food Production and Water Usage: Use EcoHealth’s website to learn about irrigation, genetic engineering, and sustainability.
Click on this PDF for links to more activity ideas!
Grants
The following grants are available for those interested in making the environment, gardening, and the Farm to School movement a large part of your classroom and/or curriculum. Please click on each link to learn more about the specific opportunity.
- Kids Garden News: There are multiple funding opportunities focused on different areas of gardening.
- Annie’s Grants for Gardens: This grant provides funds for schools and community gardens to purchase gardening tools, seeds, or other needed supplies.
- The Fruit Tree 101 Program: Recipients must be public schools that own the proposed planting site, are committed to aftercare as needed, and utilize the orchard strictly for the benefit of the school and its students. Orchards are often valued between $5,000 and $10,000.
- Operation Green Plant: Free Seed Grants: Grants of 100 to 1,000 vegetable, flower, or herb seed packets to encourage citizen efforts to preserve America’s lands and resources.
Parents
Better DC School Food: The Official Blog of Parents for better DC school food; partner of the DC Farm to School Network! Join the Google Group.
“Eat Lots of Colors” book for young children about healthy food and lifestyle choices
Helen Marstiller’s book (www.eatlotsofcolors.com) is a delightfully light-hearted first read on the nutritional benefits of eating colorful foods written for young children (ages 4-8). Simply written and charmingly illustrated, it motivates children to make healthy choices. The book includes a chart that makes it fun for them to follow their weekly progress as they discover a world of new and healthy foods they can enjoy for life. The book can be bundled with cute foldable tote bags to be used when shopping for produce.
Simple Recipes
These recipes are designed to be made with children or by children.
Photograph by Sarah Bernardi
Recipe Source: Children of Mine Program, a gardening, cooking and arts program in SE Washington, DC.
1) Spicy Cilantro Chutney
2) Peanut Sauce
3) Pita Pockets with Shredded Carrots
4) Pepper and Vegetable Sticks
5) Sweet Corn and Orzo Salad
6) Green Bean Tacos
Recipe Source: Colleen Levine, creator of Foodie Tots, a blog that explores local, sustainable food and recipes for children.
7) Creamy Apple Celery Soup
8 ) Harvest Tomato Soup
9) Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Recipe Source: Vermont FEED, an organization that works with schools and communities in Vermont to “raise awareness about healthy food, the role of Vermont farms and farmers, and good nutrition.”
10) Autumn Harvest Salad
11) Carrot, Beet and Parsnip Salad
Food Service Providers
Farm to School/School Meals and the Healthy Schools Act
Check out this PDF Visual describing the requirements for school meals as a result of the Healthy Schools Act, the incentives for schools that comply, and the penalties for those that do not.
Farm to School Produce Calculator
Courtesy of the OK Farm to School program. The calculator helps food service personnel calculate quantities/costs of fruits and veggies and also calculates poundage needed from the farmer based on desired servings/serving size (based on the USDA Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs). Download the Excel File HERE!
DC Farm to School Toolkit
A guide to purchasing and serving local foods in D.C. schools. Download the Guide HERE.
Full of information on farmers’ markets, CSAs and Gleaning Networks, and Web resources, all designed to help you achieve easier access to local food
The Washington, DC Area Foodshed Map
This map is divided by farmers’ markets, restaurants, grocery stores, community gardens, local farms, and nonprofits.
The No Cook Cookbook
Download the Cookbook here. Created by the Anacostia Farmers’ Market, the book is full of seasonal, no-cook (no pots, pans, stoves, or ovens required!) recipes, such as corn and vegetable salad and black bean dip.
Fresh From the Farm: The Massachusetts Farm to School Cookbook
Download the cookbook here. Recipes are listed both by vegetables and seasonal availability.
Click here for 30 Fruit and Vegetable based recipes
These can be used with School Lunch Programs, Head Start, camps, and other groups. Recipes can serve 25, 50, or 100 people, and there are matching ‘family size’ recipes available, too.
Still want to learn more? Contact: Andrea Northup, andrea[at]dcfarmtoschool[dot]org, or at (202) 526-5344 x298
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