“From the food growing in the ground to the food roaming wild in our oceans, the environment we live in and the substance we consume are all interconnected. Life is a biological process where energy is created and transferred. The sun provides energy for plants to grow in nutrient rich soil which feeds people directly and feeds the livestock we consume to produce the energy we need to get through our day. As we humans walk this Earth we affect our surrounding environment that our food and the food for all organisms is source from. Even the energy we use to cook, clean or process our food is sourced from our environment.”
– Stacy Schultz, Director of Marketing & Sustainability Coordinator at Fortune Fish
Expectations
Students who demonstrate understanding can: define seasonality, explain its relation to food and distinguish how natural and built environments can affect the seasonality of foods.
Grade-Specific Competencies
- Explain how seasonality affects the food of a particular culture.
- Distinguish food options by climate and season.
- Distinguish between the natural and built environments.
Real World and Community Experiences
- Germinate seeds under different conditions and analyze the success rate of the seeds.
- Visit a grocery store throughout the year and note changes in produce (produce origins) and compare to anchor text about seasonality
- Visit a farm or have a farmer visit and discuss what is meant by”growing season”
Grade-Specific Competencies
- Define and model a method of sustainability.
- Evaluate the energy used in producing, preserving, and transporting food.
- Evaluate the environmental impact of overproduction and resulting food waste.
- Explain how climate-based food availability and patterns of consumption shape the food of a particular culture.
- Develop a plan to eat seasonally.
Real World and Community Experiences
- Chef visit from a farm-to-table restaurant (perhaps once a season)
- Analyze countries of origin for foods throughout the year, with trips to grocery stores, farmers markets or online retailers.
- Monitor and analyze when change in origin occurs.
- Use school garden to plant seasonal crops, creating meals from produce grown.
Grade-Specific Competencies
- Explain the interdependence of food supply and demand.
- Explain the impact of modern food practices on sustainability.
- Analyze how climate affects availability of food and patterns of consumption.
- Analyze how seasonality affects availability of food and patterns of consumption.
Real World and Community Experiences
- Chef visit from a farm-to-table restaurant (perhaps once a season)
- Analyze countries of origin for foods throughout the year, with trips to grocery stores, farmers markets or online retailers.
- Monitor and analyze when change in origin occurs.
- Use school garden to plant seasonal crops, creating meals from produce grown.
- Work with local officials to create or help maintain and increase awareness of farmers markets and community gardens.
Grade-Specific Competencies
- Evaluate agency within the food chain.
- Assess the environmental impact of the global demand for food regardless of climate and season.
- Assess the impact of climate change on food availability.
- Assess the environmental impact of agricultural practices (e.g. crop rotation, factory farms, overfishing, farmed fishing, hybridization, GMOs, pesticides and other chemicals).
- Evaluate how the food supply responds to shifting demands.
- Analyze how the built environment can be adapted to promote food access and availability (e.g. food deserts).
Real World and Community Experiences
- Interview scientists, especially but not exclusively environmental scientists, about food-related findings within their particular domain.
- Breed plants for a school or community garden.
- Visit a farm and interview farmers about the process and environmental impacts of crop rotation and other farming practices.
- Visit a food conglomerate (e.g. Kraft) and interview executives about how the company responds to shifting demands.
- Work with community members to analyze how the community can increase food access and availability.