Why Food Justice with 3rd Grades?
This unit, ideally intended for third graders, would be positioned after a science unit on nutrition, plants, and gardening practices. Students would have already had experience learning what it means to make healthy choices and why good nutrition is essential through rigorous science content. This social studies unit, entitled Exploring Food Justice, connects to students' acquired science knowledge and extends it by looking at the structural inequalities that exist in our nation’s food system and how those injustices drastically effect communities and their access to nutrition. Through five lessons, students explore where food can be obtained, where food comes from, the distance food travels from the farm to the table, and the accessibility of food based on income and location. Because I believe in equipping students with the skills they need to not only be critical of their world but to change it, we also explores efforts that have already begun to combat these injustices and how we as students can join the movement to create a more equitable and just food system.
I chose to plan a unit around food justice because I believe students need to authentically understand an issue before they can work to change it, and food justice is an issue that many students can see in their world around them. The youngest child is a consumer, and as consumers, we have a responsibility to each other and to our planet that I do not think we recognize nearly enough. I do not believe that health or nutrition should only be for the privileged- I firmly believe access to nutritious, quality food is a human right. Because I have these beliefs, and because I am fortunate to live in a place that also recognizes the injustices in our food system and is working for change, I believe this unit to be extremely pertinent to my students. Through this unit, but also through everything we do in my future classroom, I want to encourage students to question the way things are and wonder if they can be improved. I want students to be able to look around them and recognize injustices and know the possibilities and also how to make them realities. I believe children can be social activists, and I believe that starts in the classroom.
Through this unit, we will hopefully be able to craft thoughtful, in depth responses to the following essential questions:
1. What is the relationship between privilege, poverty, and consumption?
2. What are the implications of access to nutritious food for a community?
3. How do we as students become involved in the food justice movement?
After we complete the unit, we will be engaging in a food justice social action project proposed by and voted on by my students.
This unit, ideally intended for third graders, would be positioned after a science unit on nutrition, plants, and gardening practices. Students would have already had experience learning what it means to make healthy choices and why good nutrition is essential through rigorous science content. This social studies unit, entitled Exploring Food Justice, connects to students' acquired science knowledge and extends it by looking at the structural inequalities that exist in our nation’s food system and how those injustices drastically effect communities and their access to nutrition. Through five lessons, students explore where food can be obtained, where food comes from, the distance food travels from the farm to the table, and the accessibility of food based on income and location. Because I believe in equipping students with the skills they need to not only be critical of their world but to change it, we also explores efforts that have already begun to combat these injustices and how we as students can join the movement to create a more equitable and just food system.
I chose to plan a unit around food justice because I believe students need to authentically understand an issue before they can work to change it, and food justice is an issue that many students can see in their world around them. The youngest child is a consumer, and as consumers, we have a responsibility to each other and to our planet that I do not think we recognize nearly enough. I do not believe that health or nutrition should only be for the privileged- I firmly believe access to nutritious, quality food is a human right. Because I have these beliefs, and because I am fortunate to live in a place that also recognizes the injustices in our food system and is working for change, I believe this unit to be extremely pertinent to my students. Through this unit, but also through everything we do in my future classroom, I want to encourage students to question the way things are and wonder if they can be improved. I want students to be able to look around them and recognize injustices and know the possibilities and also how to make them realities. I believe children can be social activists, and I believe that starts in the classroom.
Through this unit, we will hopefully be able to craft thoughtful, in depth responses to the following essential questions:
1. What is the relationship between privilege, poverty, and consumption?
2. What are the implications of access to nutritious food for a community?
3. How do we as students become involved in the food justice movement?
After we complete the unit, we will be engaging in a food justice social action project proposed by and voted on by my students.
