Our grade 3-4 class began our food waste studies by watching part of the video Just Eat It.
The students came up with MANY QUESTIONS.
One of the biggest questions was “How much food do we waste in our classroom?”
We looked at the scientific process of finding out how much waste we produce in our classroom. We made a form on google docs to collect data to answer this question. Before and after lunch we collected data on how much our food weighed, what food we brought, and how much was left over. We learned how to collect our data and how to make data collection fair (students were using different measuring systems to weigh the food the first week. This led to some great learning about comparing weights, we also looked at limiting the variables so it was easier to compare).
From this study we learned that our classroom wastes less food than the average family in our city. It also lead to some more questions!
The students came up with MANY QUESTIONS.
One of the biggest questions was “How much food do we waste in our classroom?”
We looked at the scientific process of finding out how much waste we produce in our classroom. We made a form on google docs to collect data to answer this question. Before and after lunch we collected data on how much our food weighed, what food we brought, and how much was left over. We learned how to collect our data and how to make data collection fair (students were using different measuring systems to weigh the food the first week. This led to some great learning about comparing weights, we also looked at limiting the variables so it was easier to compare).
From this study we learned that our classroom wastes less food than the average family in our city. It also lead to some more questions!
The second biggest question became: "What is the best way to deal with food waste (beyond not having any)". We researched different ways of composting food waste.
We got some pets in the process! (worms). The worms lived in a vermicompost (a home for worms). We did some great math estimation and counting of worm populations. We got our worms from Green Calgary.
We asked families to start taking their children grocery shopping so that they can become familiar with prices of some of their favourite produce and what produce they can only get at the grocery store. We encourage the students to keep a running list of produce prices.
We also asked students to imagine they are an individual who grows all their produce locally (in your own backyard). You have to grow enough produce to feed your family of 4 (according to the Canada's Food Guide Standards). What would it cost to feed your family for 1 month?
We visited the local farmers market to collect food costs and talk to local farmers.
This (of course) led us to the students wanting to build green houses (we ended up video conferencing with an architect who showed us green houses).
As we started to grow our own vegetables and herbs (which are a lot harder to grow in a classroom than you'd expect), the students started asking more questions! So of course, we had to do a science study of what soil grows plants best.
A third large question arose as: Where does our food come from? What produce is grown in our province?
We started to look at the impact locally grown vs. shipped grocery store produce.
The students created a 'string scale' map to show distance. They created a map of images of produce they like to eat, the distance the produce travelled to get to our city, and the corresponding length that the string needs to be to represent the correct number of km it traveled. Together as a group students decided the scale of how many cm = 1 km. The closest farm is 10 km.
Our Mystery Video Conferencing project was so much fun! The teachers set up conference calls with several classrooms where the students played 20 questions to figure out where in our province the other class was located. The students afterwards got to ask questions about what is grown in that region of the province (often this led to the students comparing life in their respective schools).
We started to look at the impact locally grown vs. shipped grocery store produce.
The students created a 'string scale' map to show distance. They created a map of images of produce they like to eat, the distance the produce travelled to get to our city, and the corresponding length that the string needs to be to represent the correct number of km it traveled. Together as a group students decided the scale of how many cm = 1 km. The closest farm is 10 km.
Our Mystery Video Conferencing project was so much fun! The teachers set up conference calls with several classrooms where the students played 20 questions to figure out where in our province the other class was located. The students afterwards got to ask questions about what is grown in that region of the province (often this led to the students comparing life in their respective schools).
Looking at where food comes from led to the question: "When did people start to be able to get food from around the world?" Looking into the history of food we began looking at old posters and documents about food found in our province. The students identified what the posters said and then created their own posters about local food of today using the old poster format.
We also made an old fashioned store. Some students became the sellers and some the buyers. Students had to count money and give change as they figured out what a family would need to live on the prairies. This was based on a novel study we did from Ticket to Curlew by Celia Barker Lottridge.
We also made an old fashioned store. Some students became the sellers and some the buyers. Students had to count money and give change as they figured out what a family would need to live on the prairies. This was based on a novel study we did from Ticket to Curlew by Celia Barker Lottridge.
Finally, the students shared their knowledge about food to the school by making posters and presenting to families and classes.
Finally, the students where able to articulate what they had learned and what conclusion they could make from the information we had collected:
Why do some things get recycled and some things don’t?
Do you notice a connection between the food that is brought and the amount of garbage?
YES because:
Our Suggestions for others to consider now:
Why do some things get recycled and some things don’t?
- Some things can easily get re-uses. Some things are not healthy or good to use again.
- The materials used impact if we can recycle or not.
- People do not want to reuse old materials -often they like new things.
- Some materials are too thin or not strong enough to use again.
- Often people don’t take the time to recycle properly.
- People often don’t think of it or know they can recycle it.
- There are not that many recycling spots outside or around town -so it is harder.
Do you notice a connection between the food that is brought and the amount of garbage?
YES because:
- for example -grapes don’t create any garbage and a candy wrapper creates more garbage.
- process foods create more garbage.
- there is a sticker on fruit that is garbage.
- Candy makes garbage!
- Fruit and vegetables make compostables that are better for the environment.
Our Suggestions for others to consider now:
- Measure food waste in your household. Try each week to waste less. Keep a running record to see how you are doing.
- Eat more vegetables!
- Eat food grown locally as much as possible.
- Compost your waste
- Reduce use of plastics
- Use reusable materials to carry your food.
Teacher resource Ideas:
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From Chronicle Books:
https://www.chroniclebooks.com/collections/the-great-outdoors/products/up-in-the-garden-and-down-in-the-dirt?_pos=1&_sid=1aa42f855&_ss=r |
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From Chronicle Books:
https://www.chroniclebooks.com/collections/the-great-outdoors/products/a-seed-is-sleepy-paperback?_pos=1&_sid=2cac9f5dd&_ss=r |
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From Chronicle Books:
https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/because-of-an-acorn?_pos=5&_sid=daac81104&_ss=r |
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From: National Geographic Kids
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From Candlewick Publishers
https://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=Title&mode=book&isbn=0763650056&pix=y |
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From: Words and pictures - Quarto Knows:
https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9780711242531/The-Farm-That-Feeds-Us.html?direct=1 |
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From DK Books:
https://www.dk.com/us/book/9780241254783-the-story-of-food/ |