Somerville Farm to School Project

A big congratulations to the following Somerville Public Schools, who are recipients of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Healthier US School Challenge (HUSSC) Bronze Award:   ·          Dr. Albert F. Argenziano School ·          East Somerville Community School ·          Arthur D. Healey School ·          John F. Kennedy Elementary School ·          West Somerville Neighborhood School ·          Winter Hill Community Innovation School   What does it mean to be a HUSSC Bronze School? Well, besides being among an elite group of schools, only approximately 7% of schools throughout the United States are certified as HUSSC schools, this means that these Somerville schools have been working day in and day out...

Have you seen this?   Where did it come from?     It’s a lime green MyPlate backpack and one may be lying around your house somewhere.   The backpacks were an incentive students received last year as part of the UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program .   Nutrition educators from UMass Extension have been found in classrooms across the Somerville school district since 2007.   Rotating to schools throughout the school year, a nutrition educator visits each classroom once a week for 5 weeks, teaching students from kindergarten to eighth grade about the importance of eating healthy.   Does nutrition education make a difference?   Go ahead, ask your 4 th , 5 th , or 6 th grader to tell you the nutrient found in the grains group and how it helps your body.   They will likely raise their arms like they are driving a car and show the actions for the word ‘carbohydrate’ and shout ‘it gives you energy!’ (You can ask your 7 th or...

Somerville Food and Nutrition Services celebrated Massachusetts Farm to School Week with our annual Corn Shucking at Breakfast tradition on Thursday, October 2nd. Massachusetts Farm to School Week is an opportunity for schools across the state to celebrate the local harvest season. Students at all Somerville elementary schools and Capuano were hard at work early in the morning to get 3,500 ears of local corn from Verrill Farm in Concord, MA shucked so that fresh corn on the cob could be served at lunch that day. Hundreds of students as well as countless volunteers, parents, teachers and staff members joined together to get this mammoth task achieved before the first bell!   This event brought together students from all grades as well as students with varied corn shucking experience. Older students enjoyed the task equally as much as the younger students, and were able to help younger students get the first difficult husk off the corn. Many students have participate...

  The Somerville Farm to School Project has a new logo! This design was inspired by our tagline:  EMPOWERING MINDFUL EATERS ! As a project of the Food and Nutrition Services Department of the Somerville Public Schools we work closely with kitchen staff, educators and community based organizations to provide good food inspiration and education to students and parents so that Somerville's youth can eat well all day long- both in school and at home. GROW, COOK, EAT, REPEAT Through food literacy programs in our cafeterias, classrooms and communities, students will acquire the tools to make informed decisions about personal and environmental health. From the garden to the table to the compost pile, students will have opportunities to interact with food at various levels. CULTIVATE A SENSE OF PLACE By purchasing locally produced food when possible, we will connect students to their immediate urban surroundings and the larger Massachuse...

Members of the Somerville Farm to School Implementation Planning Team had an opportunity to spend a day on a farm and work alongside each other outside of the traditional office setting.  The team was comprised of school staff, members of community based organizations such as Groundwork Somerville , Shape Up Somerville , and UMass Extension , and other key members.  Welcome to the farm!   Introductions and goals for the day The trip was organized and led by Tamika Francis of theMOVE . TheMOVE "organizes reflective farm-volunteer workdays for diverse urban groups across Metro Boston, to connect folks hands-on with fresh food, and with the labor and land that sustain us." It sounds lovely, doesn't it? It was lovely; a beautiful late summer day. Flowers in the labyrinth were in full bloom and the tomatoes were at their height of ripeness. Some of them were so ripe that they were nearly falling off of the plants! ...

At the end of the school year, Lauren Mancini, Director of SPS Food and Nutrition services was asked to reflect on the accomplishments of the past year and examine the Food and Nutrition Service Department ’s  efforts to support the schools work in feeding students healthy meals each and every day.  "This review serves as a critical reminder that we have many achievements to celebrate, which in turn gives us the energy and momentum to keep moving forward," Lauren said. "In just a few minutes of reflection I tallied up several successes worthy of applause. " In September, we launched our Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program at 3 of our schools.   In October, we held our annual Corn Shucking & Food Service Staff Appreciation Day. During the winter months, we were awarded a Farm to School Grant through the USDA and we introduced our Farm to School Project Director, Karyn Novakowski. This has allowed us the opportunity t...

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?

Students at Argenziano, East Somerville Community School and Winter Hill Community Innovation School tasted ripe, fresh picked strawberries, organic oranges, crunchy celery as well as many other fresh fruits and vegetables this school year as part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP).  All students at the three schools were offered a fresh fruit or vegetable as a midmorning snack Monday through Friday.  Students gushed with enthusiasm about the program and voraciously consumed the fresh fruits and vegetables on a daily basis!   We are excited to announce that the FFVP will be continued at Argenziano, ESCS and WHCIS during the 2014-2015 school year!   The goals of the FFVP are to establish lifelong healthy eating habits and to fight childhood obesity since it promotes healthy eating habits among students by introducing a variety of produce on a regular basis, giving students an opportunity to try fruit...

Last week students in the second and third grades at the Winter Hill Community Innovation School tried strawberry spinach salad, a fruit and vegetable combination not many had tasted before! The strawberries and spinach were sourced regionally (Pennsylvania and New Jersey, respectively). Funding for these items came from the Somerville School District Farm to School Project's USDA Farm to School Planning Grant.  Strawberry spinach salad The students were suspicious at first. Many liked strawberries but few enjoyed raw spinach salad. We are happy to report that 100% of the students tried the salad! Principal Chad Mazza loved it, stating "Oh! That's good!" The teachers gave the salad a thumbs up too.  Did you try the food? How does the food look? Would you eat the food again? We have done many taste tests in our cafeterias where more children are able to try the food. For this test we wanted more in depth sensory information such as "How doe...

In December 2013, Somerville Public Schools received a $45,000 Farm to School Planning grant from the USDA. This one year grant provides funding to develop a long-term district-wide strategy that supports local sourcing and helps expand current farm to school efforts. The overarching, long-term goal is for SPS students to eat healthy meals ALL DAY LONG – before, during and after school-time.  Seedlings from the Winter Hill Seedling Farm For the Farm to School Project to be a continued success it depends on connections among three areas: cafeteria, classroom, and community . The SPS Food and Nutrition Services Department is working very hard to source local, fresh ingredients whenever possible. Classroom teachers are creating linkages between food in the cafeteria, school gardens, and the curriculum. The third piece is community, which include parents and community organizations that serve the SPS families. Ladybug enjoying a snack of aphids on an eggplant leaf ...