Vision

My vision is to encourage children from a young age to be sensible about the food they eat and how they can contribute to their daily food by growing their own food at home and at school. It is vital for children to start understanding where their food is coming from and that all foods are not always available but that no matter what, they always have a choice to eat fresh.

I hope that children will start getting involved in growing food at school and realize that they can offer fresh produce to their peers who would not have the financial ability to do so without them. Growing a love for fresh food is important for all aspects of children’s development, and it is my wish to help children be more aware of what they can do to contribute to their health while being sustainable and efficient.

Action

We grow and eat sprouts on a regular basis in our class as a snack or a full lunch in between 2 slices of bread. Most children are not only proud that they helped grow them, but they find it fascinating to be able to see them grow and harvest them right in the class. In collaboration with a high school food class, we hope to produce enough sprouts and enough of a variety so they can design new recipes with them.

Sprouts are just the start of this adventure, we are still waiting to see how our hydroponic equipment will pan out in the class, and if it is successful, I am looking at organizing a salad bar on a regular basis as a lunch option for students.

Reflection & Celebration

I am very proud to see how involved my students are. Every morning they water the sprouts, watch them grow, and ask if they are ready to eat and if we could make some more bread to make sandwiches. We have daily discussions about the contents of the lunch boxes, and it is obvious that they are very interested in what is coming next.

I love seeing my students asking so many questions about food, what we can grow and check the aerogardens daily to see what is growing. Our best celebration to come yet will be when we can start harvesting fresh greens from our hydroponic equipment and when we can start sharing with other classes our produce.