Teachers Resources
Healthy food – healthy planet is a 40-minute program that teaches students about food sustainability; how to make food choices that are healthy for both individuals and the environment. Materials are designed to be delivered in the classroom, with supporting resources for use in the wider school community.
SOSE Essential Learning for Years 2-3:
Place and Space: Students learn sustainable food practices to conserve and protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
Political and Economic Systems: Students learn how and why foods are transported from across the world, the resources involved in the production of food, and the environmental impact that can result from this.
For the classroom
The Healthy food - healthy planet classroom kit includes:
- A set of two classroom activities – Activity A (Map Activity) & Activity B (Shopping Activity) for years 2-3
- PowerPoint presentation for years 2-3 (full version and/or summary version)
- One parent information sheet for years 2-3 students to take home
Students will learn about 'in season' fruits and vegetables and the various transport methods involved in purchasing out of season items, or items that are manufactured a long way away. They are also introduced to 'food miles' – the distance a food travels from where it is produced to where it reaches the consumer. The two classroom activities will assist students in understanding how their food choices play a part in global warming, and what they can do to contribute to a more sustainable food supply for the future.
- The two classroom activity templates outline step-by-step how to run the classroom sessions on food sustainability. The activities are designed to be interactive and fun.
- Activity A and Activity B are intended to be run together in one session, with Activity A run first, followed by Activity B.
- All resources required are listed in each activity template, with additional printouts and materials referred to in the activities available in the appendices of each activity template. These will need to be printed out and prepared prior to running the activities.
Activity A:Where does our food come from? aims to teach students where foods are produced, and consider the environmental issues associated with transporting foods over long distances.
Activity B:Choosing environmentally friendly foods aims to teach students how we can choose foods so that what we eat has less impact on the environment i.e. how we can eat to keep both ourselves and our planet healthy by reducing food miles and eating locally produced, in season foods.
This PowerPoint presentation (full version) is designed to introduce students to the key food sustainability concepts covered in the classroom activities. It is designed to be delivered to students prior to the classroom activities. Each PowerPoint slide includes speaker notes with information necessary to present to adequately cover the different food sustainability concepts.
A second summary version of the PowerPoint presentation is provided. This summary is designed to be used to reinforce the key messages at the end of the classroom activities.
You may present the kit in either format, with the PowerPoint presentation at the beginning of the session to introduce concepts, as originally described, or at the end of the session to reinforce concepts, according to your preference.
For the wider school community:
The following resources are designed to raise awareness and understanding of the topic of food sustainability within the wider school community. They also contain practical suggestions on how to reduce individual impact on the environment through food choices. It is best if these materials are used post delivery of the classroom sessions, to reinforce the concepts children have been exposed to and generate interest and discussion at home.
Parent information sheet It is intended that the information sheet is provided to students to take home to parents following participation in the Healthy food - healthy planet classroom activities.
A set of free newsletter articles highlighting various food sustainability topics are available now.