Somerville Farm to School Project

Last fall was a very busy time for the Somerville Farm to School Project. We conducted sensory taste tests , apple tastings in our cafeterias , garlic planting days, special events like Food Day , and farm to school in class lessons. In fact, we were so busy that we are just finding time to post about some of our Fall 2014 activities! We hope the next few posts inspire you to think about warmer weather and working in the garden - spring is only 2 months away! In October and November of last year, first graders at the Argenziano School participated in a 6 week pilot farm to school curriculum. These lessons will be available to all first grade teachers in the Somerville school district as one of our farm to school curriculum kits. Working with the first grade teachers, we developed a science based curriculum that uses content literacy skills, cooking demonstrations and science experiments to teach students about plant parts and what they need to grow. These lessons were...

A few weeks ago in this post  we told you about a new holiday: FOOD LITERACY MONTH! We even gave a few suggestions for how to celebrate.  Well, we followed our own advice and did some of these local food activities. What we said: Read a book about food .   What we did: Not only did we read a book about food but we piloted an entire 5 week food and garden based science curriculum in the first grade classrooms at the Argenziano School! On the first day of the unit, students created a garden alphabet book, just like The Farmer's Alphabet and Eating the Alphabet . Content literacy, in action!   Students were assigned a letter of the alphabet and during a visit to the garden they drew pictures and wrote sentences using that letter as inspiration! The creativity was truly astounding. These "e"ggplant and "r"ed tomato pictures are just two of the amazing images these students created. We can't wait to show you "u"nderground r...

The Somerville Public Schools Summer Reading Program has wonderful book recommendations for summer reading! Some books that focus on nature, gardens, plants, seasons and animals are The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss Seeds Grow! by Angela Shelf Medearis Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsberg Living Sunlight by Molly Bang & Penny Chisholm To see the full list organized by grade and other tips for reading please click here . The SPS Farm to School Project recommends a few other good reads: Everybody Needs A Rock by Byrd Baylor Right Where You Are Now by Lisa Montierth The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle Chicks And Chickens by Gail Gibbons Eating The Alphabet by Lois Ehlert Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert Blueberry Shoe by Ann Dixon and Evon Zerbetz Ten Seeds by Ruth Brown Seed, Soil, Sun by Cris Peterson What is your favorite book about nature?

The Somerville Family Learning Collaborative (SFLC) held a hands-on, multilingual, learning opportunity for parents and children at all elementary schools across the city. The focus of the program was Raising a Reader! And all of the activities focused on food - trying new foods, shopping for food, and, of course, reading about food!       Fresh farm-grown blueberries and strawberries were part of a tasting activity that led to participants graphing their preferences, creating a visual math activity.       Parents took home a Scavenger Hunt activity to bring to the grocery store to help children identify fruits and vegetables of different colors.       Books about growing, cooking and eating food were on display for children and families to look through.        SFLC staff handed out blank books entitled “My Favorite Foods” for children to write and draw in.     ...

What is it the wind has lost that she keeps looking for under each leaf? -Jim Harison and Ted Kooser From Firefly July and Other Very Short Poems "invites children to sample poems throughout the four seasons" selected by Paul B Janeczko illustrated by Melissa Sweet