Vision

In the fall, Grade 6/7 students at James Morden Public School sought to develop a Healthy Schools Project addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Students first started with what they noticed happening in our school with food. We partnered with our Niagara Region school nurse and youth engagement coordinator to plan. Using the Vireo Education Platform, students accessed library articles and also completed the Entrepreneurial Project Planning lessons to develop their mission. After noticing a lot of food waste in our whole school composting system, students wondered if there was something they could do with this food. They wondered: how could we divert or prevent food waste that isn’t quite ready to be composted (i.e., browning bananas, turning/bruised apples)? As well, students were interested in how our class hydroponics system could be used to promote healthy eating and sustainable practices. All year, students have been using the Vireo Education portal to conduct virtual hydroponics maintenance checks and ensure the healthy growth of our indoor garden! Groups of students proposed their ideas, and we democratically voted. The NutriBuddies Cooking Show was born!

Action

We used our Learning for Sustainable Future’s Grant to purchase cooking equipment (i.e., an induction cooktop and a small Click & Grow hydroponics). Focused on sustainable cooking practices, students used their school survey data to develop an action plan, decide on our videos, and assign roles/responsibilities. Our cooking videos were connected to the Ontario Health Curriculum, Science & Technology Curriculum, and Media Literacy Curriculum. Every student in grade 6/7 participated in some capacity. The different roles included: Recipe Development, Video Script Writing, Video Production/Taping, On-Camera Crew, Video Editing, and Media Promoting. Every student was involved during one of these stages! In iMovie, the video editing crew and on-camera crew learned how to crop, transition, and add voice-over/music. Through our actions, we were able to develop 3, soon to be 4, cooking shows! Check out our YouTube Channel for the full NutriBuddies Cooking Show videos! We submitted this project as our OPHEA Healthy Schools Project, and we are now a certified Gold Healthy School!

Reflection & Celebration

Our NutriBuddies Cooking Show was shared with all staff and students! As well, it is included in our newsletters for parents to access! Many of the preserved foods, such as apple butter and tomato sauce, were offered to classes so that they could get cooking! As a class, we consolidated our learning by discussing the strengths, challenges, and next steps for this action project. Many showed interest in continuing our cooking shows next year! We came up with some reflections and celebrations to share with my class next year as they embark on a new action project. As a teacher, I look forward to continuing projects that are student-led and make a difference in our school community. We also hosted a big pasta day in our class to really reflect on and celebrate all our successes.

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