THE FOOD PROJECT
by Carmelle Workun
This project was undertaken in the fall of 1996 by
twenty-seven Grade 3 students at Beau Meadow School in Beaumont Alberta.
Preliminary Planning
The topic of study was selected based on the children's
interests, their daily connection with the topic and the range of curriculum objectives
the topic would cover. The teacher brainstormed her own personal knowledge and ideas in a
food topic web. The web provided a strong framework for planning, developing and recording
the progress of the project.
Phase One
The topic was introduced by the teacher telling a simple
story about her favorite meal. The children were encouraged to share their favorite meals
and to share their knowledge about food through talking, drawing, writing and
construction. Through these avenues the teacher was able to find out what the children
knew about the topic.
After the sharing of the children's work the students and
the teacher brainstormed and catergorized words for a class food web which was displayed
on a bulletin board in the classroom. The web was added to and referred to throughout the
course of the project.
Early on in the project a newsletter was sent home to the
parents by the teacher to inform them about the topic of study and ways that the parents
could help contribute to the project. Towards the end of Phase One the teacher helped the
children formulate questions about food that they would be interested in finding answers
to. A list of these questions was compiled and displayed on the walls of the classroom.
Teachers' Concerns
- Who might be able to help the children with their study on
food?
- What resources could we locate for the classroom?
- How could parents be involved?
Phase Two
The teacher arranged for a field visit to the IGA grocery
store. The children toured the different departments in the store and interviewed various
employees. Using their clipboards the children made drawings and recorded observations
while on their visit at the IGA store.
The teacher also arranged for several "experts"
to come into the classroom and talk to the children about food related topics. Some of the
people that came to talk to the children were; a dietician, a nurse, a volunteer from the
Food Bank, and a parent who had a great deal of knowledge about physical fitness and
holistic medicine.
The children participated in a variety of activities during
the second phase of the "food project." Some of the activities were grinding
wheat to make flour, making cinnamon buns, learning about "holistic medicine",
engaging in cooking activities, creating surveys, writing research reports, and purchasing
groceries.
With the teacher's guidance the children began to represent
their new knowledge in a variety of ways. The children made posters, composed class books,
wrote stories, made venn diagrams, constructed models, gathered information and created a
graph to display the information. These were just a few ways that the children represented
the information that they had collected.
Many of the children were interested in cooking. Time was
allotted for the children to research recipes and engage in the cooking of these recipes.
Teacher's Concerns
- How many activities should the children undertake in Phase 2
of the project?
- What kind of assessment strategies could be used to monitor
the children's learning?
- What could they do to represent what they are learning in
the classroom?
Phase Three
The teacher and the children discussed and planned a
culminating activity to help celebrate the learning that had taken place during the
project. The teacher assisted the children in selecting material to share with Grade One
children. The children shared their baking, food games, store models and research with
their Grade One friends.
The teacher set up a display in the hallway of the school
during parent-teacher interviews that depicted a variety of work that had been
accomplished by the children throughout the project.
The children produced a class cookbook that contained all
of the children's favorite recipes. As well the children composed a "Class Memory
Book." The teacher set out a variety of pictures that she had taken throughout the
project. Each child chose a picture and wrote about the picture in detail. The children
recreated the life of the food project in its entirety through their eyes and words.
Teacher's Concerns
- How could the food project be brought to a close?
- How to share our project with our parents?
- What are some assessment and evaluation strategies to use?
Carmelle Workun Beaumont, Alberta, Canada
To select another project click here
Last revised: March 17, 1996 |
