lesson 5:  buying local

STANDARDS:

UW Teacher Education Standards

Standard 4:  Demonstrates Pedagogical Knowledge in Specific Domains

Standard 6:  Connects School and Community

MMSD Standards

Geography 2:  Identify locations on simple maps.

Geography 5:  Explain how people’s actions can have an effect on the environment.

Wisconsin DPI Social Studies Standards

Standard D:  Economics:  Production, Distribution, Exchange, Consumption

Standard A:  Geography:  People, Places, and Environments

 

Content Objectives:

Students will learn that:

1.  Human activities can affect the environment in negative ways.
2.  Groceries come from all over the world.
3.  Groceries from around the world need to be transported to the store, and that causes pollution.
4.  Food can also be grown locally.
5.  Local food does not take as much energy to get to our tables.
6.  Human activities can affect the environment in positive ways.
 

Process Objectives:

Students will…
Watch Captain Planet.
Discuss what the Ozone Layer is and why it is important.
Brainstorm other ways we hurt the ozone layer.
Find where products from the grocery store come from.
Locate those places on a map.
Experience how long/how much pollution it takes to get that food to our stores.
Compare the pollution used to get faraway food to our stores compared to local foods.
Visit the Madison Farmer’s Market
Plant own food.

 

Psychomotor Objectives:

Students will:
Locate specific locations on a world map.
Compare quantities of pollution between food products.

 

Affective Objectives:

Students will:
Work together in finding locations on the map and
Care about the earth and how humans affect it.
Want to buy food locally.

 

Materials:

YouTube Video:  Captain Planet, The Ozone Hole Parts 1 and 2
Computer with Internet Access
HUGE map of world
Stickers
Standard distance marker
Classroom with room to run around
Ping-pong balls
Adult Chaperone(s)
Soil
Seeds
Empty Milk Cartons
Popsicle Sticks
Markers

 

Lesson Context: 

Students are in the midst of a “Go Green” unit.  They have learned what ecological footprints are and how we can make our footprints on the earth smaller.  One way to do that is through buying food locally.  We will explore more about how buying local works and why it is important in this lesson.       

 

Procedure:

1.      Watch Captain Planet

2.  Discuss the episode—what is the ozone layer?  Why is it important?  What was ruining the ozone layer in the show?  What other things can hurt the ozone layer?  (exhaust from cars/ships/airplanes)  Do we contribute to these problems? (1)

3.  Have students write/draw ideas on a piece of paper.  When finished, scrunch up the paper into a ball and on the count of 3, everyone throws their balled-up idea into the center of the circle.  Then students grab a paper from the middle and look at that person’s idea.  Continue looking at others’ ideas until desired.

4.  Remember the groceries we bought earlier in the week?  Where do you think those groceries came from before they got to the store?  Let’s find out!

5.  Give small groups (3-4 students) a selection of groceries and have them find where they are made. 

6.  Once they find out the location, have them find the location on the large world map, and put a sticker on the map at that location.  (2)

7.  Put a large sticker on Madison, Wisconsin. 

8.  Have students measure with a Standard unit (created by teacher—maybe 100 miles) the number of units between each of their food locations and Madison, WI

9.  For each Standard Unit, students must move (run, skip, gallop, slide, etc.) around the room—one lap around the room for every Standard unit used (100 miles).  While moving around the room, students make the sound of the transportation they think is used to get the food to Madison (truck, plane, boat, train, etc.)

10.  For each lap made around the room, students must also pick up one ping-pong ball.  This represents the amount of pollution released into the atmosphere that hurts the ozone layer.  (3)

11.  Students continue working together until all groceries are accounted for. 

12.  Look at the map and ping-pong balls accumulated.  Discuss—did you know groceries came from all over the world?  Do you think this is good or bad or both?  Is there a better way to get food/what?

13.  Talk about the Madison Farmer’s Market—has anyone been there before?  What do they sell?  Where is it grown? (4)

14.  Prepare students to visit the Farmer’s Market:  Each student is responsible for finding where one vendor grows/makes their produce. 

15.  Visit the Farmer’s Market!

16.  Once returned to school, have students mark where on the map their produce came from.  Go through the same process (measure, run around room, ping-pong ball)

17.  Could do a blow-up map of Dane County/Wisconsin, and make a new Standard Measurement with very small pieces of ping-pong balls being collected instead of whole ones to keep the correct ratio (4)

18.  Have students compare the pollution created by the Grocery Store’s food vs. Farmer’s Market’s food. 

19.  Discuss which is better for our earth.  Also discuss how lots of foods aren’t available at the Farmer’s Market because they are not in season.  Is that good/bad? (5)

20.  We had to create a little pollution to get to the Farmer’s Market—how can we get food with creating even less pollution?  (grow it ourselves!) (6)

21.  Plant own seeds.  If school has a collaborative garden, use a plot there.  If there are community gardens, go there.  If none are available, have students plant in empty milk cartons. 

22.  Use the compost pile if it’s ready!
 

Closure:

What if we need items necessary that we can’t get at the Farmer’s Market?  Talk about how to read labels—where products are from and making informed choices.  Could transpire into writing letters/talking with grocer to buy more locally grown food. 

 

Assessment:  

            Lots of observation:  Observe how students work together to find places on maps and measure the distance and pollution emitted for each location.  Observe discussion on the ozone layer’s importance and if our groceries can contribute to this.  Observe interest at Farmer’s Market.  Are students understanding the pollution comparison between buying locally and not? 

            Ask students individually if they could choose to buy their food from anywhere in the world, where would they buy it?  Why?  (Hopefully they say Madison!)