Somerville Farm to School Project

"They have learned so much!" That's what one of the Transition to Kindergarten teachers said to me as I left her classroom for the last time. I had been visiting 6 different classrooms once a week for the past four weeks to teach the students about the plant parts we eat and what plants need to grow. Another teacher quipped, "I didn't know which plant parts I was eating until I went to college. It's great that they are learning about it now." That was our goal: to get students thinking about where food comes from and to get teachers thinking about how to incorporate food literacy into their lessons. Our first day started with Sunbutter and seed collections. Chef Guy Koppe from Project Bread led the kids in preparing Sunbutter, using this recipe. The students watch toasted sunflower seeds transform into creamy Sunbutter right before their eyes.    Preparing and tasting sunbutter   After reading Seeds, seeds, seeds! by Nancy Elizabeth Wal...

This past Monday, we held our final apple taste test at the Capuano Early Childhood Center. Students had the chance to try Macoun and Cortland apples. This was a VERY close race with the Macouns (53%) barely winning over the Cortlands (47%). Our youngest students had a great time sampling the different apples. Thank you to Donna Perry for photographing the event and creating this beautiful bulletin board right in the cafeteria! Capuano apple tasters! A big thank you to Tracie Gillespie from UMass Extension for providing apple bookmarks to the students and helping at the Capuano Taste Test! And another big thank you to Charlotte Stephenson, Somerville Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grant Coordinator for helping at the Capuano and conducting many of the other taste tests. For results from all the other apple taste tests use these links: West Somerville Neighborhood School Winter Hill Community Innovation School Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School Art...

For two weeks in July, Chef Guy Koppe from Project Bread , visited two Somerville Schools as part of the Healthy Summer Harvest Program. This collaborative program among Project Bread , Mass Farm to School and the Somerville Farm to School Project focused on eating different plant parts. Did you know that broccoli is a flower and asparagus is a stem?   Now you do and so do 94 students from the Somerville Public Schools! Guy Koppe demonstrating knife skills Each lesson built on topics from the previous day. Some had the students identifying plant parts or discussing Lois Elhert’s Growing Vegetable Soup. One day they even planted cucumber seeds to take home with them. They also learned about MyPlate and make sure they are eating foods from each of the food groups.   Identifying parts of the plant and what plants need to grow   Each cup holds a single cucumber seed for the students to take home.   Each day’s lesson and recipe highlighted a diff...