by Heather Barnes
Teachers have some “berry” sweet lesson plans to use in their classrooms, both virtual and in-person, this spring.
The NC Farm to School program worked with NC Ag in the Classroom (AITC) to update lesson plans featuring NC strawberries. AITC works to “improve student understanding by applying authentic agriculture examples for teaching curriculum in science, math, social studies, and language arts,” according to their website.
The new curriculum includes lessons for K-8. Students will learn about monitoring the weather, planning how to plant a field, the cost of planting, health benefits, DNA and more. The lessons were written by an accredited teacher and include everything a teacher needs, including identifying the standards of learning met by the lesson.
In addition, we also have a NC Strawberry Ag Mag. The Ag Mag is four pages full of all things strawberry. It is available in classroom packs of 25 from AITC and is smartboard compatible, bringing the strawberry field into their classroom.
AITC held two virtual teacher trainings in March to introduce the new curriculum and Ag Mag. During the sessions, teachers were shown ways to integrate the lessons into their classroom or through various online platforms. Overall the response was positive, with one teacher saying, “I hadn’t even read the strawberry lesson plans in advance of the webinar…I plan to start integrating the kindergarten lessons into our remining April/May months of school.”
The lessons utilize two other resources available to teachers through the NC Farm to School program, which has been supplying NC fruits and vegetables to school nutrition programs since 1997. The “A Year in the Life of a NC Strawberry poster” was designed for classrooms and cafeterias. “A Visit to the Strawberry Patch” is one of a series of storybooks and activity guides that tells the story of a NC crop from the field to the school lunch tray.
This project was supported by a grant through the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of NC. Strawberries are the most popular crop offered through the NC Farm to School program. We are excited to have these lessons to help teachers connect students to the produce they eat. These lessons are sure to be a “berry” big hit in any classroom!
