Feed
Menu of Services
VT FEED Farm to School
Tool Kit Order Form
Learning & Activity Tools
TasteTestGuide2005
[PDF]
A great way to involve students, teachers, and the community
in food service and awareness of healthy food choices.
In the News
Policy
Recommendations to Improve School Meals (UMinn) [PDF]
USDA
Farm to School Cafeteria Initiatives [PDF link]
School Food Service Tools
How Do We Feed Vermont’s School Children :An Insiders
Guide to Vermont School Meals and How To Improve Them [PDF]
Current Legislation
Farm to School ACT145.doc (2006)
Ammendment
H 91 (2007)
Teacher Units
Kindergarten and Preschool
Nicole
Arsenault – “Kindergarteners Are Sprouting:
Growing, Nutrition, Food and Fun” 2003 Edmunds
Elementary School, Burlington
Students will learn about where our local food comes
from, personal nutrition and to eat more foods that
align with the five food groups represented in the food
pyramid. Students will learn where vegetables come from
a visit to the Intervale in Burlington where they will
pumpkins for carving and cooking, understand a “wheat
to bread” lesson by grinding wheat berries into
flour to make their own bread as well as visiting the
Great Harvest Bread Company. In the classroom, students
will make vegetable soup, figure out where their snacks
fit into the food pyramid, read and sing about foods
and healthy choices.
Terry
Ferland “Healthy Choices Life Skills Curriculum
unit for informed decision making” Milton School
Begin by asking and answering questions about food,
making choices based on what information, making individual
choices through growing, preparing and storing foods
that have been studied from seed to consumption.
Melissa
Hatin – “Feed Me Fabulous Food” 2003
Edmunds Elementary School Burlington
Understanding the relationship between how and where
our food was grown/gathered in the past and today so
that students can make informed healthy choices that
positively affect their health, safety and well being
and share this knowledge with their families. The class
will take a field trip to Shelburne Farms for their
“Farm to Table” program and visit Great
Harvest Bakery. Making vegetable soup, grinding wheat
berries for bread making, writing poetry. The students
will learn how to pick and preserve apples at Adam’s
Apple Orchard. These activities will all be tied into
the food pyramid and FEED rubric. The unit will culminate
in a school wide FEED Celebration with an ethnic dinner,
slide show presentation, scavenger hunts and songs.
Virginia
Holiman – Alburg’s Bread and Butter 2003-2004
Unit introduced by the fictional “Felicia Farmer”
who’s goal was to work with the teacher to encourage
children to become aware of their surroundings. “Felicia”
was going to give children information to take an active
part in their own healthy living decisions. “Felicia”
worked with the cafeteria staff and the students families.
The class visited a dairy farm, participated in cheese
making, ground wheat berries and helped a local bakery
make bread and letter pizzas. The students wrote cookbooks
and involved their families in their eating adventures.
They wrote a culminating play with songs, invited their
families and served healthy student made foods.
Tami
Koester and Justin Mcavoy Lee “Savvy Snacking
at the Milton Early Education Program, 2002-03
The program uses a play based format to ask the question:
what foods does a body need to keep it healthy and happy?
A guiding principal is that it is easier to develop
healthy eating habits than to unlearn less healthy ones.
Children will plant a small indoor salad garden, experience
foods in a multi-sensory manner, visit an apple orchard,
a pumpkin patch, a dairy and make fruit smoothies.
Keenan
Kuiper – “ Healthy Choices/ Healthy Snacks”
Hardwick Elementary School
A year long endeavor to improve decision making around
foods that are good for the human body by looking at
where foods come from, personal nutrition, and the food
pyramid. Students will be able to sort food into food
groups, make informed choices about food, gain a deeper
understanding about where food comes from and share
healthy snacks that they have made with families and
peers, and sample new and different foods.
Activities include apple taste tests, harvesting and
preparing vegetables form the school garden, grinding
wheat berries for making bread, hosting a FEED celebration.
Rosemary
Sadler “Feed Me Fabulous Food” Edmunds Elem
2003
Understanding where our food comes from, what foods
are your family eating, the food system and how the
parts work locally and globally, what healthy bodies
need and choices for healthy bodies. Examples: students
will explore life cycles of plants, how milk gets from
farm to table, grinding wheat berries, make applesauce
after picking apples, discuss the role of pollinators
and learn plant parts. Students will learn about the
food pyramid and vitamins, prepare and eat healthy snacks
and share this with their families. Culminating Activity
is FEED dinner celebration.
1st and 2nd Grade
Suzanne
Bader and Mary-Ellen Lovinsky “Healthy Soils,
Healthy Crops, Healthy Children….and Tulips Too”
Hardwick Elementary 2004
Make connections between healthy soils, healthy foods
and healthy people using the town and history of Hardwick
as an example. Students will learn that soil is alive
and made up of different organisms and components. At
the culminating activity, students will showcase their
newly acquired skills by presenting how to sort root
vegetables, make tea bags, show off their hard working
worms, taste test various dips and read their own books.
Preparations for Hardwick’s Tulip Festival figures
highly as well.
Ruth
Beecher – “The Cycles of Life in Starksboro
and Beyond” - Robinson Elem School Grade 1 2001
Since food represents an amazing window into the soul
of a culture, a community, a country or a home,students
will investigate traditional and contemporary dishes
to learn about the past and the present. Students will
use the scientific method to predict outcomes in what
happens to a seed. Materials include a survey sent to
parents.
Alicia
Benoit-Clark - “Grains: How to Grow, Process and
Utilize” Grade 1 2004-2005 Hardwick Elem School
The overarching questions are how do grains of wheat,
rye, corn, oats and rice nourish us, when to grind flour
and how to use it to bake bread, how did the Abenaki
people who were indigenous to the Hardwick area use
the grains they grew and how do grains fit into a healthy
diet? The students visited a nearby farm to see how
grain was grown, ground their own corn and make “hoe”
cakes, did the same with other grains, learned about
life cycles of farms and woodlands. Students presented
food and recipes to their families as a culminating
activity.
Kathy
Christy, Pam Dunkling, Christine French and Guy Viens
Grade 2/3 “Understanding Differences and Introducing
New FoodsThrough Literature and Music” East Montpelier
Elem School
Students read and share literature, learn and sing
songs and prepare and share food from Asian and Hispanic
cultures and develop an increased interest and acceptance
for diversity, cultural differences and international
food.
Beth
Gage “Our Choice Our Community” Milton Elem
School, 2nd Grade
This unit asks the questions: what are we eating, why
do we eat, where does our food come from and what is
our community about? Activities include visits to local
farms, the grocery store, the historical society, the
school cafeteria and school nurse. Students will prepare
healthy snacks. Students will keep a journal.
Anne Cameron,
Choosing Healthy Exciting Foods (CHEF) , Milton Elem
School 1st grade
This year long unit was an interdisciplinary unit incorporating
science, ecology, creative arts, language arts, gardening,
math, nutrition, health, social studies, service and
community. Students learned about Vermont’s past
and learned how life has changed over the years, what
has been passed down over generations. School lunches
will be tracked for nutritional balance and will keep
a log of the healthy foods they bring to school for
snacks. Culminating activity will be an Open House for
parents and community where children will demonstrate
and share their knowledge through foods they have prepared.
Jane
Halbeisen “Seeds and Cycles” Jay-Westfield
School 2000
Project revolves around the value of seeds for nutrition
and as a necessary component of growing food. Students
will use seeds for germination, investigating and recording
observations. Students will grind corn to make cornbread
and sprout seeds for use in the school kitchen. Students
will visit 3 local farms. The culminating event is a
Harvest Celebration
Taylor
Hubbard “FEED” Waitsfield Elem. FEED 2002
This unit brings with a “get to know you”
investigation of who we are where our ancestors came
from. It will emphasize the diversity and cultural richness
that make up our community. Students will look at cultural
similarities and differences of our ancestors and catalogue
the traditions which are brought to this country. We
will then focus our attention on the agricultural and
culinary traditions found in our community and investigate
how Vermont’s flora and fauna further influenced
the foods we eat. We will visit members of the community
who continue our agrarian traditions, and stress sustainable
resources. There will also be visits to a dairy farm
and greenhouse. Students will also discuss bee keeping,
cooking. The class will then examine celebrations, and
the commonality of celebrations throughout the world.
Mary
Ladabouche – “Not Just A Jack O’Lantern:
Food, Farming, Nutrition, and Milton”
The journey begins in a local pumpkin patch, observing
the pumpkin’s growing environment and gathering
pumpkins. ON return to the classroom, students will
observe their pumpkin’s beauty and compare it
to other fruits. Later, the students capture this beauty
in a watercolor still-life painting. Taking a closer
look, students will cooperatively collect and display
information on numerous pumpkin observations (number
of seeds, number of ribs, color, size, weight, etc.).
The students will discover why a pumpkin is a fruit,
not a vegetable as so many people believe. Later, using
the seeds from the pumpkins and some of the other fruits,
the student will plant the seeds indoors, watching as
they germinate and grow.
Throughout the unit, the students will create nutritious
classroom snacks and delicious Harvest Bake Sale Items,
using pumpkins as a focus. At the end of the unit, students
will close with an evening of celebration of foods,
songs and sharing with friends and families.
Andrea
Melnick – “Second Graders on the Rise”
2004
This unit strives to teach students about nutrition
and food choices, whole grains, and the role of food
and food making thin their community. Students explore
the food pyramid and food choices. They keep grain diaries
to record the number and kind of grains they consume.
In addition to this recording, students use Learning
Logs as a place to record thoughts, questions, and ideas
that occur during this unit. Students compare different
kinds of store bought and class made breads, thinking
about their criteria for a good food choice. Students
examine different whole grains and different grinding
methods. At home they bake with their families and bring
in their baked products. At school, they bake pretzels,
pancakes, apple bread, pan de Muerto, granola, and pizza.
Students use their scientific method to experiment with
some of their baking choices. They work with other classes
to connect the grain group across the food pyramid.
They teach and learn from other classes. They also interview
family and community members about baking changes and
memories. They meet local bakers and visit local farms.
The unit culminates with a community FEED night. Students
set up stations in the classroom where they teach family
and community members what they have learned about grains
and cooking. This learning influences their teacher
and community and their own choices.
Kerry
A. Neidermeier, “A History of Food – Starksboro
Robinson School 2001
Through the investigation of traditional and contemporary
dishes, students will trace historical and social influences
and discern the contours of the physical land. By concentrating
on the town of Starkboro, the past and the present,
students can inform their healthy food choices. Students
will learn about the food pyramid, visit a local farm
and study Abenaki stories, language, games, foods, arrowheads
and pottery.
Pam
Quinn “Food for Thought”
Students use food pyramids from around the world and
compare it to the US. Students calculate the fat, protein
and fiber in meals and snacks. Students watch 2 one
half hour tv shows geared towards children and record
how the food commercials made food, healthy or not,
appealing, then did the same with 2 magazines geared
towards parents. Culminating activity is a “culture”
party.
Judy
Reed “From Moo to You” Chelsea School
Students will visit a dairy farm, learn the life cycle
of cows and learn what products we get from dairy cows.
They will also visit a creamery to see how milk is pasteurized.
Students will talk with farmers and learn how dairy
farming has changed over time.
Carolyn Salminen
– “Fairy Tales, Farms, Food and Fun! The
Little Red Hen Goes to Milton” Milton Elem Sch.
2003
Students visit a farm to learn where foods come from,
and learn about old farming tools at the local Historical
Museum. Students grind wheat berries using various techniques
and made bread and pretzels at a local bakery. Students
did taste tests of various foods and learned about nutrition.
Students made presents using seeds and dried fruit and
made ink from berries and walnuts. Culminating event
showcased student work and healthy food with their families.
Joan
Schmoll – Life Cycles of Orange – Orange
Center School 2003
A series of lesson plans that address the standards
being addressed, inquiry and focusing questions, materials
and procedures. Topics include life cycle of butterflies,
sheep, bees, cows via field observations. Students worked
together building a food pyramid, studying of vitamins,
writing a big book together, preparing local foods culminating
in a family party.
Eleanor
Uckele – “Mother Earth, Manure and Me”
Milton Elem School 2002
Many hands on activities in the classroom for learning
about food and it’s impact on humans – see
detailed Table of Contents. Culminating event had a
food pyramid station, slide show, survey forms, grow
lab information, stations for learning about milk fat
content and earthworms and artwork showcasing various
grains.
Sally
Van Dresser Cheney, “Exploring Plant Power –
Parts of an Edible Plant”, Milton Elem School,
2002-03
Students will record growing conditions and how well
their plants are growing in a science journal, have
an understanding of the things plants need in order
to grow and name at least 2 parts of a plant that they
can eat. Students will do experiments with lettuce,
boil and bake green beans, bake and mash potatoes and
make vegetable soup.
Debra
Walton-Strong- “Read Your Way Through the Food
Pyramid”, Sharon Elementary, 2005-2006
This unit was designed for use over the course of the
school year but could easily be concentrated into a
smaller time frame. First, the students will do some
general knowledge acquisition about health and nutrition.
Next, they will participate in a Literacy based activity
that tie in the basic food groups of the Food Guide
Pyramid. After exploring pieces of literature the students
will engage in various extension activities including
a cooking activity which is connected to the story/food
group. During the cooking activity there will be discussion/research
on the ingredients being used (source of ingredient,
natural form, processing, packaging, marketing, etc.).
In addition they will participate in daily fitness activities
and other school wide activities.
Tom
Young, Georgeanne Baker and Sylvia Chapman – From
Seed to Plant to Plate: Growing Foods that Sustain our
Communities 2002-2003 Waitsfield Elementary
The essential question asked is: How does a seed turn
into the food that we eat? It starts with how the valley
floor and mountains were formed and a brief history
of the town then move on to seeds and soil. From there
it’s on to plants and the food that comes from
them, the food pyramid and how to have a healthy diet.
Culminating activity will be a Harvest Celebration with
a community dinner presented by the students, chefs
and gardeners.
3rd and 4th Grade
Julie
Boudreau, “Food Ways of Hardwick”
Begin by exploring the garden which has grown outside
the classroom windows. This leads to an investigation
of ecosystems and include chlorophyll rubbings of plants.
Students will gather garlic and dill which will be used
in the school’s “Dazzling Dill Dip”
taste test, one of many recipes they will make from
the gardens. Students will chart their food choices
on the food pyramid for a day, study vitamins and assess
their own choices and identify areas where they might
wish to improve. Students will grind corn, cook corn
cakes and challenge the kitchen manager to create a
bean dish everyone will eat! This unit will coincide
with school’s Native American Celebration.
Mark Emmons
and Donna Petit “Historical Foods of Vermont and
Jay/Westfield” 2000
Students study what happened in Vt. during the Ice
Age, glaciers and mountain formation. Students will
learn when the first people arrived in Vt., the changes
they went through and how they got the food they ate.
Students visit Hazen’s Notch for a workshop on
how the Native American hunted, gathered, grew, foraged
and traded foods, and how these activities were influenced
by the seasons. He culminating activity is a Fall Harvest
Celebration. A detailed bibliography is included.
5th and 6th Grade
Hana
Josephy, Sharon Elem “Guiding What We Eat”
2005-06
It is important to be conscious about nutrition and
the choices we make regarding what we eat. The media
plays a significant role in guiding our food choices.
Furthermore, the food media is driven by profit, not
necessarily nutrition and health. Cooking, preparing,
and eating healthy foods yields delicious and enjoyable
rewards. Each child experienced growth in terms of their
healthy choices and their excitement about healthy choices.
For example, some students started bringing in healthier
snacks to school, some started eating more vegetables
at home, and some students reported that they noticed
food advertisements on television more.
Sue
Pigeon-Vanier “A-maizing Civilizations”
Grades 5/6
By studying the Mayans, Incas and Aztecs and comparing
their cultures to the native peoples of Vermont, students
will learn how important it is to maintain a healthy
soil ecosystem to sustain a civilization. Students will
make their own litmus paper learn how to test soils
and foods to determine acidity and alkalinity. Students
will visit local farms. The investigation of what makes
healthy soil will include an in house earthworm compost.
Students will see similarities and differences between
civilizations and discuss what can be learned from them
that can be applied to today. Culminating activity is
a Harvest Fest which includes student presentations
Lee
S. Van Dyne “The Mad River Valley: Stages of Evolution,
Development, Growth and Learning Through Communities,
Lifestyles and Interdependencies, Past and Present 2002
What we eat and how we obtain our food is the focal
point of our study. The way in which our geography,
weather, and history have shaped the way we eat is the
basis for our search into our community’s farming
systems and practice. The correlation between these
practices, both past and present, provides the thread
that has woven and affected the lives of the people
in the Mad River Valley. We will investigate the various
roles of Native American farming and agricultural practices.
We will also investigate the role of the early explorers
on North American tribes and explore native diets along
with native plans versus species introduced by visiting
peoples. We will be conducting tests, using controls,
variables and the classroom grow lab. Students will
also gain knowledge of germination, photosynthesis,
plants, and ecology. A segment of this study will be
designed to allow student groups the opportunity to
grow and supply the lunch program with some basic greens.
The culminating event will be during a school-community
nights. Students will present presentations of their
ongoing exploration into diversity and sustainability.
They will also harvest the pumpkins they planted and
bake breads and pumpkin pie. Overall, students will
gain a deep appreciation for food, where it is obtained,
how it produced and what factors affect our daily diets.
Students will also gain first hand experience with community
farmers and food producers as they relate to the Mad
River Valley.
7th and 8th Grade
Robyn
Battaile, Social Studies- “Origins of Civilizations
and Agriculture” Integrating the study of food
into a 7/8 grades World Geography and Ancient History
Curriculum 2003-2004
There is a causal link between geography, and conditions
that are favorable to farming and agriculture. There
is also a causal link between areas conducive to agriculture
and those places on earth that were the birthplaces
of civilizations. The relationship between geography
and the more significant factors, or knowledge strands,
that makes this relationship easier to grasp is food,
its production and its role in developing social systems.
Jackie
Lonergan “Adapting FEED to Middle School Ancient
History” Chelsea Public School 2004
The ancients looked locally for food and supported
each other with the growing of foodstuffs and meat.
Students will look at ancient diets and experience some
not so familiar foods. Students will learn about hunter/gatherer
societies. Students will grind grains and make foods
from their “flour”. Since the ancient Mesopotamians
grew and ground grains and learned to use natural yeasts
to leaven bread, students will make yeast bread.
High School
Alyson
Mahony – “Food First: Launching the School
Garden” 2004
The “Civics in Action” course open to high
school seniors is focused on service learning. One component
of the class is focused on food issues. Students begin
with a “sampling” of food related issues
through readings, videos, speakers, taste tests, research
and field trips. Ideally they will then survey the school
and / or the larger community about food related concerns,
come to consensus about a project and develop an action
plan that they will then carry out and evaluate. The
fall 2004 class decided to launch the school and community
garden.
Nina
Brennan, FEED in Francais, Waitsfield School 2002, Grade1-6
A 12 week whole school FEED (partly in French!) program.
Addresses how students can develop useful French language
skills while participating in activities based on themes
of food education, nutrition and making healthy choices.
Students shopped in a “French” store with
fake food, wrote commercials in French based on food,
made individual food pyramid mobiles labeled in French
and made baguettes with local bakers. Culminating activity
was a French café meal prepared largely by students
for themselves and their families.
John
Fish “Healthy Eating and Physical Education”
Calis Elem 2006
Goal is to integrate health education and physical
education within the school. Developing a new school
garden figures highly in helping students make the connection
to food and healthy bodies. The whole school became
involved in the project. Fitness testing is given twice
a year and there are Polar heart rate watches and pedometers
available for students. The school also created a fitness
room for use by students and staff. More local produce
is used in preparing school lunches.
Carol
Hosford “On the Trail of the Potato Puff”
Waitsfield Elem School
On the trail of the potato puff is a diary of efforts
to improve nutrition at Waitsfield School. This was
a whole school project integrating geology, plants,
nutrition, Vermont history, American history and celebrations.
The overarching theme was Geology and its effect on
life in the Mad River Valley and its effect on agriculture.
Students will visit a local mine and granite quarry.
Jennifer
Morrone “Mexico” Rumney School
Incorporating food into third through sixth grade Spanish
classes during Christmas and Cinco de Mayo was the goal.
Students made corn tortillas and several traditional
salsas.
Kathy
Neil, Librarian, Healthy Snack Unit 2nd Grade 2005
A unit using literature to teach children about healthy
food choices which includes making pizza dough.
Kathy
Neil, Librarian, Around the World Snack Cookbook K/1
class 2005
Students participate in preparing and sharing nutritious
snacks from recipes solicited from their families, some
that are representative of another country. Includes
a large bibliography of books.
Nancy
Pruitt, School Nurse “Healthy Snacks Initiative
for First Grade” 2005
Students will identify each food group in pyramid,
identify the recommended number of servings per day,
categorize food as either “grow” or “go”
foods, and demonstrate knowledge of healthy snacks through
hands-on activities.
Timothy
Scandale, Nutrition Unit for Physical Education, Doty
Memorial School Grades 2/3
Unit will start with food pyramid and go on to cardiovascular
endurance, taste tests, caloric intake, recipes for
smoothies, balance, reading food labels, pyramid relay
and more.
Dan
Treinis, Technology and Food 2003
The application of FEED concepts to technology education
curricula focuses on the study of tools, machines and
systems on the production and consumption of one of
our most essential resources: food. Students will initially
recognize that technology simply satisfies wants and
needs, a basic definition that lays the groundwork for
comprehending how significantly food related technology
has enables our modern society. Students will identify
and visit local facilities that produce food goods that
satisfy wants and needs.
Dell
Waterhouse & Sonya Whitesell “Healthy Eating”
Science/ Social Studies grades 2-4 Doty Memorial School
By exposing children to some important concepts related
to nutrition and healthy eating, as well as ideas about
the goals of eating seasonal foods that can be grown
and bought locally, and by giving them a chance to get
to know some new foods “intimately” by helping
prepare them for eating, children will be encouraged
to try new food and to bring a new consciousness to
their daily nutrition choices.
Web Links & Resources
