Nutrition in the Curriculum

In order to think about what the role of nutrition in the ideal school’s curriculum should be I interviewed Shira Hordes, Nutritional Educator and maker of the film Food Stamped. She described her experience working in the Hayward school district where everyday for lunch they serve either a frozen and reheated peanut butter and jelly sandwich, pizza or a hotdog. With this there is iceberg lettuce, carrots and ranch dressing. Everything is individually packaged and on a disposable Styrofoam tray. The students throw everything away after they are finished. Shira told me that, “there is no cooking, and no one washes dishes. Kids are totally removed from the making of food and from feeding themselves. There is no concept of healthy eating or the link between our practices and their affects on the environment.” Besides a lack of nutrition in school lunch food Shira talked about how stressful eating in the cafeteria is. “They have to rush or they won’t get any recess. I tried to eat in the cafeteria and I couldn’t do it. It was so noisy. Instead kids need to take time with their food and slow down the eating process in order to appreciate where their food comes from.” Shira believes that so many of the health problems in our society result from poor diet or obesity, “which is rooted in the distance we have from our food.”

In contrast to the problems of many public school districts Shira told me about how the Berkeley public schools reformed their school lunch program with the help of Anne Cooper author of Lunch Lessons. “She got them cooking again and integrated the kids cooking program with the school lunch service.” First the students learn about and cook something in their gardening and nutrition classes then later in the week the same thing is served at lunch. This gives the students ownership of what they are eating and they are then more open to and excited about trying new and healthy food. In the cafeteria there is a salad bar with multiple choices and each day the kids have to eat three different things from it. The program tries to include the parents and community as well by give out a calendar each month with a featured recipe.

When I asked Shira to describe how nutrition would be integrated into curriculum at her ideal school she said, “It would be best to have a school built around a garden both physically and in its philosophy and curriculum design. The garden can be the focal point of an integrated curriculum. Garden based lessons can include math, science, history or life skills. We could also teach kids etiquette; what it means to share time and resources to others, the importance of community support.” In order to get kids closer to their food and help resolve the dietary problems in our society, we need to involve them in all aspects from food production, to cooking, to sharing a meal. When we give students a chance to grow food it is very empowering, they have the productive power to sustain life. An ideal school would also use the food from the gardens in the cafeteria or sell it at farmers markets to raise money and to build bridges between the curriculum, school life and community.
Two programs that model the kind of lessons and curriculum that would best suit the ideal school are The Berkeley Botanical Garden and The Edible School Yard.

The Berkeley Botanical Garden
The Berkeley Botanical Garden has two garden based integrated curricular units for schools or parents. Both units are designed to be used by schools and therefore meet many statewide standards, which may not be of concern in the Ideal school. Nevertheless their integrated, cross-disciplinary approach mirrors what we should be working towards and the lessons are very engaging.
Botany on Your Plate is a life science unit for grades K-4 that gets kids interested and makes them want to learn more about the plants we eat. The lessons integrate nutrition, math, language arts, social studies and science through an inquiry approach. The central theme involves exploring and tasting fresh produce.
Like Botany on Your Plate, Math in the Garden integrates math, language arts and nutrition again through an inquiry approach. Its hands on activities promote leaning and using math in real world contexts.

The Edible Schoolyard
Started by Chez Panisse Foundation, the Edible School Yard is an organic garden and kitchen classrooms at MLK Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, where students participate in all aspects of food production and preparation including sustainable growing methods. The emphasis is on how the natural world is connected to our wellbeing and that of our communities. Teachers integrate the garden lessons with science as well as “culture, history, language, ecology, and mathematics through the preparation of food.” An example of one of their lessons is about the Amaranth grain. Students learn about its history with the Aztecs and its nutritional value. They then learn how to harvest it for later use in the kitchen classroom while learning relevant garden vocabulary. They make dye from it (as people would have in the past) and as a follow up, they write poetry which incorporates the information learned at the beginning of the lesson.


Shelby