Teachers and Administrators

Teachers and administrators can help make the connection between the garden, cafeteria, and the classroom. Listed below are databases for units, lesson plans, and resources, and other educational resources by grade level that teachers and administrators are encouraged to use in order to help engage school children in making the connection of Farm to School.

Curriculum Databases

USDA Resources for Educators: Team Nutrition

http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/educators.html

An initiative of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service to support the Child Nutrition Programs through training and technical assistance for foodservice, nutrition education for children and their caregivers, and school and community support for healthy eating and physical activity.

The University of Maryland Food Supplement Nutrition Education Program (FSNE)

http://fsnetoolkit.com/farm-to-school/nutrition-ed/
http://fsnetoolkit.com/

A wide variety of curricula used for Farm to School and nutrition education including: Growing Healthy Habits, ReFresh, Read for Health, Dig In, Market to Mealtime, Nutrition to Go.

Nutrition Nuggets (FSNE)

https://extension.umd.edu/fsne/fsne-youth-programs/nutrition-nuggets

A curriculum designed for low-income youth in a variety of settings. It is especially appropriate for after-school settings and helps youth develop cooking skills, and try and enjoy a wider variety of healthy foods. Nutrition Nuggets provides a flexible lesson design that can be delivered in 12 sessions or 23 shorter sessions, presented in an easy-to-follow script format. Lessons include: MyPlate food groups, handwashing, healthy celebrations, breakfast, extra sugar in foods, veggies and vitamins, grains and fiber.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation (MAEF)

http://www.maefonline.com/index.html

MAEF offers many resources for teachers included Ag in the Classroom workshops, Mobile Science Labs, Farm-based curriculum, and Maryland Agriculture Showcase.

National Agriculture in the Classroom

http://www.agclassroom.org/index.cfm

The National Agriculture in the Classroom offers an online searchable curriculum matrix designed to help educators locate high quality classroom materials and information to increase agricultural literacy for Pre-K -12th grade students.

The Edible Schoolyard Network

http://edibleschoolyard.org/resources-tools

Connects educators around the world to build and share a K-12 edible education curriculum.

Growing Minds

http://growing-minds.org/lesson-plans-landing-page/

Farm to school activities that incorporate both National and North Carolina State curriculum standards.

Knowledge Base

https://food-hub.org/knowledgebase/browse/24

Farm to School- Lessons for All Ages

Food for Thought

http://www.healthypreschoolers.com/?page_id=12

A nutrition education curriculum for preschoolers. The curriculum is structured around five units, namely, Fall Fruits and Vegetables, Winter Fruits and Vegetables, Go-Grains, Power up with Proteins, and Spring Snacking. There are 32 lessons in the curriculum and each lesson features a nutrition activity and integrates educational domains such as language arts, mathematics and science concepts.

Martha's Vineyard Island Grown Schools Curriculum Toolkit

http://www.islandgrownschools.org/curriculum-toolkit

A searchable database of lessons for grades pre-K through 12. Lessons are sortable by grade, season, unit, and learning standards.

Center for Ecoliteracy

https://www.ecoliteracy.org/resources

A collection of books, lessons, guides, recipes, videos, and other tools to support ecological education.

CropLife Ambassador Network

http://ambassador.maca.org/teachers/
http://ambassador.maca.org/teachers/coloring-pages-k-3/

CropLife Ambassador Network’s mission is to provide scientifically based, accurate information to the public regarding the safety and value of American agricultural food production. Their website has teaching resources, lesson plans, and provides guest speakers for grades 4-6 and coloring pages for K-3.

Bay BackPack

http://baybackpack.com/
http://baybackpack.com/topics/agriculture

Bay Backpack is an online resource that supports hands-on environmental learning. By providing educators with information about funding opportunities, field studies, and curriculum guides and lesson plans related to the Chesapeake Bay, Bay Backpack helps educators find the tools they need to give their students Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences, or MWEEs. Agriculture-related lessons can be found under “Land use and Agriculture” and emphasize the relationship between agriculture and the environment.

Multimedia Resources and Apps

Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips: Food and Agriculture

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/Events/virtual-field-trips/explore/by-theme/food-and-agriculture.cfm

Take your students beyond the classroom walls and into some of the world's most iconic locations for rich and immersive learning experiences — no permission slips required, Tour the National Archives, see how an egg farm works, explore NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, or hear from the President of the United States. Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips are fun, educational, and free!

Center for Ecoliteracy: Starting With Soil App

https://www.ecoliteracy.org/download/starting-soil

A new app from the Center for Ecoliteracy and Whole Kids Foundation offers a playful, visually rich way to help kids understand that soil is a living system full of fascinating relationships.

America’s Heartland

http://www.americasheartland.org/video/video_segments.htm

America’s Heartland provides short, educational video segments and worksheets for students to follow along in their Educational Teachers section. Teachers can use these videos and worksheets to explore food and agriculture subjects further.

Harvesting Knowledge: For video segments about fruits and vegetables as raw products
Off the Shelf: For video segments about foods that require some type of processing
Working the Land: For video segments about agriculture, food, and environment careers
Fast Facts about Food: For video segments about nutrition topics

Field Trip Resources for Farmers

Food Safety in Your School Garden or Greenhouse Resources

Educational Resources by Grade Levels

Pre-K and Kindergarten

Elementary School (grades 1-5)

Middle School (grades 6-8)

High School (grades 9-12)

​​Schools

Teachers and Administrators

Curriculum Databases​

Multimedia Resources and Apps

Educational Resources by Grade Levels

Schools

Curriculum Databases