Module 3: We Love Our Food
We Love
Our Food
LEARN
Objective: to learn where the food we eat comes from
Vocabulary: farm
Reading: Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth
Movement Activity: Our Favorite Foods
Earth Friends Lesson
Module 3: Lesson 1
Begin Lesson
move: 7 minutes
Our Favorite Foods
Have the children stand in a circle.
What is your favorite food? Close your eyes, pretend you can smell it and take a big breath in. Can you use your hands to pretend you are eating it? How does it taste?
Once they "eat" their favorite food, they can sit down. Go around to each child in the circle until everyone is sitting down.
Use the photo book to show the children different foods.
sit & learn: 5 minutes
Curious Question
I wonder where your favorite food comes from.
Allow each child to think about where the food they like comes from. All answers are correct here, even if that is the store, the fridge, a restaurant, or Grandma's drawer.
Main Lesson
We get our food in 4 different ways.
1. We grow plants we can eat on a farm or in a garden, which we call fruits, vegetables, legumes, mushrooms, and grains. We can also grow plants we can eat in the water, like seaweed.
2. We raise animals we can eat on a farm, which we call meat and poultry, and we can eat food that comes from animals we raise on a farm, like dairy and eggs. A farm is a piece of land that is used to grow plants or raise animals that humans will eat.
3. We catch or fish for animals we can eat in the water, like an ocean, lake, or river, which we call fish or seafood.
4. We make or process foods in a factory. Processed foods come in a box, bag, bottle, or other container, like chips, cereal, fruit snacks, and soda.
Farm Fish Factory
This will be a repeat activity at the beginning of each lesson in Module 3 to help them build an understanding of the different places where we get what we eat.
Ask each child to choose a food they want to give us.
What food do you have for us today?
Once a child has chosen a food, you can continue…
I wonder if you will need to grow a plant, raise an animal, catch a creature, or make it in a factory to get your food. Will you be a fruit and vegetable farmer? An animal farmer? A fisherman? Or work in a factory?
As the children choose how to get their food*, you have the option to continuing exploring the foods or you can create 4 groups: animal farmers, plant farmers, humans who fish, and humans who make food in a factory. Once every child has a group, talk about where the foods from different groups come from.
We will get strawberries, potatoes, and grapes from our plant farmers.
Our animal farmers will raise chickens, pigs, and goats for us to eat.
This factory makes cake pops, Doritos, and candy.
I will fish for shrimp.
*Depending on the age of the children, you can prompt them with a food. "Who wants to raise cows? Grow apples? Make us lollipops? Catch fish? Are you going to grow it, raise it, catch it, or make it in a factory?”
Closing Sentiment
We eat all different kinds of foods. Some of our food comes from plants and animals that we grow and raise on a farm. Some comes from the water. We can also process food in factories.
move & learn: 8 minutes
place
based
You can draw attention to foods that are native to your area. What do the locals fish, farm, raise? Do you have any food factories in town?
End Lesson
Teachers in the Classroom
Teacher Activity
Where did my lunch come from?
During lunch, choose at least 5 different foods the children are eating. Discuss where that food might have come from. This is not about if food is tasty or not, healthy or unhealthy, natural or unnatural. The objective of this activity is for the children to understand where our many foods come from.
Throughout the Week
Discuss: favorite foods. Where do they come from? Can you grow it or raise it on a farm? Can you fish for it? Can you make it in a factory?
Explore: the rainbow of foods. Using the colors of the rainbow identify foods that are each color. These will likely be fruits and vegetables or candies, so you can add in colors like white and brown too. Help the children differentiate the colors of what they eat versus what might be on the packaging.
Create: Ask the children to draw pictures of their favorite foods (paper + crayons).
Reading: Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth
Vocabulary: farm
Good Choices
I can learn about where my food comes from.
I can eat healthy foods that farmers grow.
I can taste new foods.
Bonus: Look for the rainbow of foods during lunchtime. Can you find every color of the rainbow at lunch?
Vocabulary:
farm: Humans grow plants for food or raise animals for food on a piece of land called a farm.
Families at Home
Discuss: what fruits and vegetables are in season. What does everyone eat during this time of year?
Visit: the grocery store and show your child the different types of food you can find in a grocery store. We buy food that comes from animals (meat and dairy) raised on a farm. We buy food that comes from plants like fruits and vegetables (produce) that humans grow on a farm. We buy food that we make in factories (anything in a box or bag or jar or packaging).
Create: an easy meal that your child can help prepare for dinner. Try one with 3 ingredients and talk about where each one comes from. For example, spaghetti. The noodles or pasta is from a box. The meatballs come from a cow. The sauce comes from tomatoes.