Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Teaching about the Geography of Food

Searching for an idea for a final project related to our geography unit, I started brainstorming about things that are global in nature or have a geography component to them. This led me to think about the geography of food. While Farmers' Markets and "Eat Local" campaigns have raised our collective awareness about our food and where it comes from, many students still know very little about this topic, so I designed a research project based on food.


Our project is based upon the How Did That Get Here? series of nonfiction picture books. Each book is titled The Biography of ... and features a different food or agricultural product. One library in our public library system hosts a collection of about 15 different titles for students to choose from. Book selecting day is always highly anticipated, and students gain additional 'buy-in' by selecting their favorite item to study.

I also use this series to reinforce the basics of nonfiction text structure, including modeling about how to use the Table of Contents, Index, and Glossary. The books follow a generally similar format and chapter outline, making it easy for me to help guide students to the necessary chapters.

The series is written at a later elementary school reading level and contains far more information than my students need for this project. We talk about some of the ways that reading nonfiction is different from reading fiction, and students practice skills like skimming and summarizing to find relevant information.

The final product is a short oral presentation to the class. Students use a world map to take notes about where different foods were originally grown and grow today, which helps reinforce the geography connections. The kids enjoy learning cool food facts and history information from each other, and it is a great beginning of the year intro to research.

Do you teach about food or the geography of food with your students? Do you have other favorite resources?


Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday Challenge is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and is a weekly roundup of educator blogs that are sharing nonfiction picture books.

15 comments:

  1. this is really clever and informative

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    1. Thanks! It is a great series to give students some background information about food and how we got the foods we have today.

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  2. Teaching about food is a primary classroom's overall unit of study this year, Katie. This teacher has done it before & has so many wonderful books about food. I'll share this series with her, although they may be too old for her beginning students. We both have favorites & she not only focuses on the fun aspects, but cultural aspects, too, like the important foods for Passover, and so on. One of my favorites is a funny book about gardening titles Tops & Bottoms, by a former parent, Janet Stevens. It's not only about gardening, but about helping each other. Thanks for sharing this group of books.

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    1. Thanks, Linda! Food sounds like a great way to organize a year-long theme, how interesting. Our focus this year is on culture, so food certainly comes into play there as well. I will have to check out Tops & Bottoms - sounds cute!

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    2. Wait a minute ... Janet Stevens is a former parent at your school? How cool is that! My kids love her illustrations for all of Eric Kimmel's Anansi books!

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  3. Thanks for sharing this series. I wasn't familiar with it but will pass it along to my Children's Lit students. One recent book I enjoyed on this topic is Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table.

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    1. Thanks, Elisabeth. I am not familiar that book, but it looks really interesting. Will definitely be requesting it!

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  4. Fun! Have you heard of the book Hungry Planet? I think they have a kids version too and its fascinating what people eat all around the world.

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    1. Thanks, yes I have. I featured the kids' version of that book, What the World Eats, as well as the follow-up, Material World, in my recent 'around the world' series. http://www.thelogonauts.com/2014/09/cultures-around-world.html I generally don't use the Hungry Planet book with my students though, as it is pitched a little older than third grade, but it's a great resource.

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  5. What a fun project! Food has definitely been a hot topic lately, so I think your students can benefit a lot from it. I just picked up a book from the library called PB&J Hooray!: Your Sandwich's Amazing Journey from Farm to Table that I'm looking forward to reading. Good luck with your endeavor!

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    1. Thanks, Holly! My library doesn't seem to have that book yet, so I'll be curious as to what you think of it and whether you'd recommend it.

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  6. There is a cute fiction book that I read earlier this year... EIEIO How Old McDonald Got His Farm With Help From a Hen. It was a cute story about growing an organic farm. Something a little different....

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    1. Neat! Sounds like a cute story and a different way of approaching the food question. I will have to check it out.

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  7. What a wonderful list you have here. Just this year, the Asian Festival of Children's Content and the Singapore National Library Board have come together to e-publish an annotated bibliography of rice-themed tales - I'm part of the committee. Here is the weblink: http://afcc.com.sg/images/uploads/2014/All_About_Rice_06-01.pdf - I hope you find it useful. :)

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    1. Wow, what a great resource, thanks Myra! It's funny how many rice books I use during the year, though I never made that connection. Our first day of school book is always Everybody Cooks Rice, and One Grain of Rice, The Runaway Wok, and several others will make appearances as the year goes on! Maybe I will find some new favorites here.

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