Home » Teachers

Youth and Local Food Teachers

Youth and Local Food Classroom Workshops

 

EcoSource has been providing environmental education programs to schools since 1986. Our interactive workshops are led by certified teachers or others experienced in the field of environmental education.  Our Local Food workshops are suitable for various grade levels and are designed to support content and skill expectations in various subject areas of the Ontario Curriculum.

 

Youth and Local Food Program: Overview

 

"The average pound of food travels over 4000 kilometers to reach our plates and approximately 1/3 of greenhouse gases come directly from the food system"

 

The youth and local food workshops are designed to raise awareness on the issue of food security and help students identify areas where they can make a difference in how food is grown, sourced, bought, transported, and sold. Using a variety of hands on activities, students explore the distance food travels from field to table and the various environmental, social, political and economic factors that affect food production and distribution. The program consists of several workshop activities that are tailored for grade specific, curriculum linked expectations.

 

Student Voice, Student Choice

Grades 9-12 (60 - 80 minutes)


This workshop is designed to help students understand the journey that their food takes to reach their plates and the power that they have to effect positive change through their consumer choices.  This workshop will utilize systems mapping tools to help students understand large-scale food distribution systems and to explore the environmental, economic and social benefits of local food systems.  Students will explore the range of factors that determine what food they have access to in their daily lives, including what is available to them in their school cafeteria.  The workshop will present students with a range of activities that they can engage in to express their opinions about incorporating local food options into their school cafeteria.  Many of these activities are suitable for assessment or evaluation, and may be incorporated into a culminating assignment. 

 

Take a Bite Out of Climate Change!

Grades 1 - 8 (30 - 60 minutes)

 

For the younger grades, students will explore environmental issues and personal actions they can take to reduce their ecological footprint. Using hands-on activities, students will compare local and imported apples and investigate the concept of ‘eating locally’ as a means of reducing fossil fuel emissions and pollution. The connection between where food is grown, distributed and sold is demonstrated through an interactive Great Transportation game. Finally, students brainstorm where they can buy more local food and how to make it a priority in their everyday lives.

For the older grades, students will explore in greater detail the difference between local and imported food and the distance the food product traveled to reach our plate. Students will explore food facts about transportation related greenhouse gas emissions (1/3 of GHGs come directly from our food system) and understand food related terminology, such as food miles and their connection to climate change. This workshop is designed to meet certain expectations in the following courses: Social science, math, literacy and geography.

*Please contact us to receive a list of curriculum links.

*All Elementary workshop classes will receive a Grown in Peel map and grade specific Food Fun Booklets

 

For further information or to book a workshop, please contact:                                                    

Elisabeth Schieck, Youth and Local Food Educator     eschieck@ecosource.ca