Course Title: Hungry Planet Café

Grade Level: 6th

Instructor: Lynne Valiquette

Required Book List (provided):

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman (1997)

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You

Eat by Michael Pollen (Young Reader’s Edition, 2009)

Extended Reading/Viewing:

The Earth Charter (2009): www.earthcharterinaction.org

Fresh: New Thinking about What We’re Eating:

Documentary by ana Sofia joanes (2010)

“Teach Every Child About Food,” by Jaime Oliver (TED

Talks, 2009): www.ted.com/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html

“Waiting for Supper,” short story by Lynne Burgess from

For Truly to See Your Face 1996

Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary

Taubes (2011)

Targeted Learning Goals (Benchmarks)

Behavior: 74 – Set and achieved learning goals, and

contributed positively to group

Reading: 43 – Employed high level reading strategies

Writing: 71 – Incorporated advanced uses of language and

sentence structure in a variety of formats. Writing is error free

Concept Development 50 - Demonstrated understanding

of the complex relationships between individuals and society

around the issue of food

Application 45 – Analyzed how multiple models impact each

other (posts, research, interviews, fiction)

Project Descriptions

Students will gather, analyze, and organize information into an essay about a given food : history, production, and uses. A minimum

of three sources will be cited and annotated.

Students will write, illustrate, and present a short short story (“flash fiction”) based on their food research, interviews, experiences,

and on-line discussion. These will be bound and published.

Students will write an “Eater’s Manifesto” which reflects a personal philosophy about food consumption.

Course Description

Food is what sustains us as human beings, physically and

culturally. This fourth quarter class is designed to help sixth

graders explore the complex relationships between food

production, sustainability, health, and social connections.

The language arts will be developed as students engage in

research, reading, writing, discussion, and community

service.

“Hungry Planet Café” is a collaboration between WCATY and

The School District of La Crosse. On-line interactions

enhance students’ ability to learn from, challenge, and

inspire each other. The course will culminate with a picnic of

locally produced food and student “reader’s theater”

performances of food related flash fiction.

Course Guidelines and Evaluation Plan

There will be a minimum of two on-line assignments each week. Students are expected to respond by the due date as well as to give

detailed, in-depth feedback to the others in their group (Forum Response Rubric): 8 points each

Food Research Project (Essay Rubric): 24 points (includes four points for annotated bibliography)

Friendly Thank You Letter (Quality On-line Assignment Rubric): 24 points

Eater’s Manifesto (Quality On-line Assignment Rubric): 24 points

Short Story (Flash Fiction Elements Rubric): 25 points (includes 5 points for no mechanical errors)

Reader’s Theater Performance (Oral Presentation Rubric): 20 points

Group Work, online and in face-to-face meetings (Group Work Rubric): 16 points

Instructor’s Bio

I taught for the School District of La Crosse for 25 years, the last 9 working to integrate language arts and social studies at

Longfellow Middle School.. This is my eighth year teaching WCATY on-line language arts classes for La Crosse middle school

students. My class for 7th graders is “Small Planet Café.” This is the first time I have taught a 6th grade class around the issue

of Food. I have published fiction, poetry, illustrations, and am co-author of “The Wolf Pack: Power Shared and Power

Earned – Building a Middle School Nation” (Middle School Journal, 2000).

.

Online Philosophy

I believe that everyone should love to learn and be empowered to access knowledge in all its forms. Talented learners

should be challenged to engage the “habits of mind” at a high level: seeking to understand the importance of information,

to make connections, to provide evidence, explore the implications of change, and understand the perspectives of others.

This is best done using a multi-disciplinary approach that emphasizes communication: oral, written, and artistic. Further, I

believe that learning within a social network such as that provided by on-line communities, allows students to learn from

and encourage each other. Feedback is the most powerful tool in promoting growth and high quality work.

Target Audience

This course is designed for high performing sixth grade students.

First Face-to-Face Meeting: March 31, Logan Middle, Computer Lab, 9-2

Theme: Food and You

Introductions, Course Outline, and Expectations

Learning to use Moodle (WCATY’s on-line platform)

Sack Lunch

Selecting and Writing about a Food: A quality essay

Creative Dramatics: How we Eat

Third Face-to-Face Meeting: May 13, People’s Food Co-op, 8:30 – 12:00

Theme: Food and Community

Due: Flash Fiction and connected image

Prepare (in groups) Reader’s Theater Performances for final picnic at Valiquette Farm (May 26, 11:00 – 1:30)

Learn about local food , feeding a hungry community, and prepare lunch

$5 for lunch

Second Face-to-Face Meeting: April 20, Myrick Hixon Ecopark and Hillview Greenhouse Life

Center, 11-2

Theme: Food for the Planet

Due: Food Essay with annotated bibliography

Sack Lunch

Interview Seniors about their food histories; Tour and Plant at Hillview

Prepare and interview Elderly Volunteers about their food histories

Fourth Face-to-Face Meeting: May 26, Valiquette Farm, 11:00 – 1:30

Theme: Celebrating Food

Bring: Local food to share at Picnic (optional)

Present: Reader’s Theater Performances of selected short stories

Go-around: Evaluate Total Experience

HUNGRY PLANET CAFÉ: How is Food Central to Individual and Planetary Health?

W.6

GQ: How does food affect health?

Weeks 1-3 Food and You Weeks 4-6 Food for the Planet

Weeks 7-9 Food and Community

W.7

GQ? How can issues of food

production and consumption be

incorporated into fiction?

W.4

GQ: How had food production changed

over the years?

W.1

GQ: What is the role of food in my

life?

GQ:

W.5

GQ: What are modern alternatives to

standard industrial food production?

W.2

GQ: How does the production and

distribution of one food affect me?

W.8

GQ: What are the importance of and

connection between global and local

efforts to insure healthy and

sustainable food for us all

W.3

GQ: What does the way a food item is

prepared and consumed teach me

about the way my culture connects to

others?

W.9.

GQ: How can healthy food be

incorporated into celebrations/events?

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Project Goals:

Write an essay about history, production,

and consumption of a single food. Include

annotated bibliography.

Provide a recipe that demonstrates

consumption pattern of that given food.

Project Goals:

Compare and contrast different approaches

to food production.

Develop a personal “Eater’s Manifesto”

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Project Goals: Summarize and analyze

interviews as to the role of food in

culture

Create and present food related fiction

Create a “food” action plan for this

community

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Week Three: Consumption

Week Two:

Production/Distribution

Week One: Food and Me

Overview of Weeks One Through Three

Guiding Question: What is the role of food in my life?

Explanation of Goals and Learning Model: By researching the history, production, distribution, and

consumption of one food, the student will understand and communicate his/her connection to larger

questions that affect us all.

Week One: Food and Me

Guiding Question: What is the role of food in my life (50)?

Reading and Research:

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman (pre-requisite) (43)

Concept Development: Food is a way to understand ourselves and how we connect to others (50)

Activity One: Write an introductory paragraph about yourself and the food you eat on-line – respond to

others in “group.”

Activity Two: (Creative Dramatics) Line Up and Role Play eating favorite food

Activity Three: Read Seedfolks by Paul Fleishman (pre-requisite)

Show What You Know –

Use Moodle effectively to introduce yourself and respond to others (74)

Write a quality paragraph that connects you to one of characters in Seedfolks (43, 71)

Essential Resources

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman (provided

WCATY Academy: Moodle : http://www.wcatyweb.org/academy/

Week Two: Food Production and Distribution

Guiding Question: How does the way one food is produced and distributed affect me?

Reading and Research:

Jamie Oliver, “Teach Every Child About Food” (TED Talks, 2010) – view on-line (50)

Independent research: encyclopedia, website, print source (45)

Concept Development: The many ways food is produced and distributed affects us all (50)

Activity One: Respond to Jamie Oliver – what is the importance of learning about food production and

distribution?

Activity Two: Research the origin and production of “your” food – respond to others’: compare, contrast,

connect

Activity Three: Research the uses of “your” food and respond to others

Show What You Know -Applied Learning:

Write three quality paragraphs that lay out the importance, production, and distribution of one food (50,71)

Essential Resources:

Jamie Oliver, “Teach Every Child About Food,” (TED Talks, 2009): Wikipedia

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html

Wikipedia: http://www.wikipedia.org/

Additional website related to researched food

Book, magazine, or newspaper source related to researched food

Week Three: Food Consumption

Guiding Question: What does the way one food is prepared and consumed teach me about the way my culture

connects to others (45)

Reading and Research:

Independent research: encyclopedia, website, print source (45)

Cookbook or recipe on-line (43)

Concept Development: There are many culturally connected ways to prepare food (50)

Activity One: Research how your food is prepared and consumed

Activity Two: Complete a polished essay about production, distribution, and consumption of “your” food

Activity Three: Find and follow a recipe to prepare a food researched by yourself or a classmate

Show What You Know:

Write a well-organized food essay that includes information about history, production, uses of a food. Conclude

with an analysis of what this teaches you about the way your culture connects to others (71)

Create an annotated bibliography of the three sources you used (71)

Find and prepare a recipe for one of the foods researched by the class (45) – share your personal

response/connection (50)

Essential Resources:

Binder with model for constructing a well-organized essay

Binder with model for constructing annotated bibliography

Cookbook or on-line recipe website

Week Six: Local Sustainable

Farming

Week Five: Organic Farming

F arming

Week Four: Industrial Farming

Overview of Weeks Four through Six

Guiding Question: How do different approaches to food production and distribution affect the ecosystem,

both biological and cultural?

Explanation of Goals and Learning Model: The Omnivores’s Dilemma and online discussion will facilitate the

development of an “eater’s manifesto,” a personal philosophy and approach toward food

Week Four: Industrial Farms

Guiding Question: How has food production changed over the years (50)?

Reading and Research (43):

Read Omnivore’s Dilemma, Part I: “The Industrial Meal”

Tour of Hillview Greenhouse and Life Center (local organic vegetable production)

Interview older adult about his/her food memories

Concept Development: Food Production has changed (50)

Activity One: Read Part I of Omnivore’s Dilemma, “The Industrial Meal”

Activity Two: Tour Hillview Greenhouse and Life Center

Activity Three: Interview elderly adult about his/her food memories

Show What You Know -

Define industrial meal and connect to a typical school lunch (online paragraph) (43)

Summarize interview and understanding of how food production has changed in friendly letter (45)

Essential Resources

The Omnivore’s Dilemma (Young Readers Edition by Michael Pollen) (provided)

Week Five: Organic and Local Farming

Guiding Question: What are modern alternatives to standard industrial food production (50)?

Reading and Research:

Omnivore’s Dilemma, Parts II - IV, “The Industrial Organic Meal,” “The Local Sustainable Meal”, and the “Do-

it-yourself Meal” (43)

Concept Development: There are long term implications to how food is produced, both in terms of

sustainable farming and individual health (50 )

Activity One: Read and respond to Part II of Omnivore’s Dilemma

Activity Two: Read and respond to Part III and IV of Omnivore’s Dilemma

Activity Three: Visit Hillview Greenhouse and Life Center

Show What You Know:

Respond to parts II -IV : importance and implications for this community

Plan a breakfast, lunch, or dinner menu that includes only locally produced food – give sources of food

Essential Resources

Omnivore’s Dilemma, Parts II,III, IV: “The Industrial Organic Meal,” “The Local Sustainable Meal,” and “The

Do-it-Yourself Meal”

Week Six: Food and Health

Guiding Question: How does food affect health (50)?

Research (43):

Fresh Food, the Documentary, film by ana Sofia joanes on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4u40S00nOk

Excerpt from Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes (2011)

Concept Development: What you eat affects your health (50)

Activity One: Read and respond one to section of Fresh Food.

Activity Two: Read “The Nature of a Healthy Diet” from Why We Get Fat

Show What You Know:

Write a Personal “Eater’s Manifesto” that reflects an in-depth understanding of the connection

between food production, consumption and individual and planetary health (45)

Essential Resources

Fresh Food, the Documentary, film by ana Sofia joanes on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4u40S00nOk

Excerpt from Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes (2011)

Week Nine: Celebrating Food

Week Eight: Food Community

Week Seven: Food as Theme

Overview of Weeks Seven Through Nine

Guiding Question: What is the connection between food and community?

Explanation of Goals and Learning Model: The students will understand that they are connected to global and local efforts to

insure healthy sustainable food through study of the Earth Charter and tour/work in Hillview Life Center. Fiction and cooperative

group work will used to express these understandings.

Week Seven: Food as Theme

Guiding Question: How can issues of food production and consumption be incorporated into short fiction

(71)?

Reading and Research (43)

Concept Development

Activity One: Read Earth Charter online

Activity Two : Tour People’s Food Co-op

Activity Three: Work in cooperative groups to plan “Reader’s Theater”

Show What You Know - Applied Learning:

Short Story (flash fiction) that incorporates issue of food production and/or consumption (71)

Reader’s Theater performance

Essential Resources

“Waiting for Supper” by Lynne Burgess, from For Truly to See Your Face (1996), 2011 Revision

Week Eight: Food as Community

Guiding Question: What are the importance and connection between global and local efforts to insure healthy

sustainable food for all (50)?

Reading and Research

Earth Charter (2009) (43)

Concept Development: There is a connection between global and local efforts to insure healthy, sustainable

food for all (50)

Activity One : Read and respond to Earth Charter

Activity Two: Prepare lunch from local foods gathered at People’s Food Co-op

Activity Three: Design Community Action project for La Crosse

Show What You Know (45):

Read and respond to Earth Charter on-line: write a paragraph about implications for local action

Create an action plan that will improve access to healthy food in La Crosse

Essential Resources

Earth Charter: Earth Charter (2009): http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html A

document created in response to a call from the United Nations to "to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence

and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community of life, and future generations.”

Week Nine: Celebrating Food

Guiding Question: How can healthy food be incorporated into celebrations/events (50)?

Reading and Research (50):

Interview family members about typical “celebration” food

Concept Development: Healthy food can be part of a celebration (50)

Activity One: Interview family members about food used at typical celebrations/gatherings/events

Activity Two: Propose a alternate food choices for a healthy celebration

Activity Three: Participate in picnic of local healthy food

Show What You Know -Applied Learning:

Compare and contrast a “typical” family celebration with a “proposed” family celebration in terms of food (45)

Essential Resources

Interview information