Food+and+Shelter+Unit

Pre-ReVision House Field Trip
Read [|Home] and [|The Teddy Bear]. Talk about homes and where people live. Connect homelessness to farm workers (especially __Lights on the River__.) What are the farm owners' houses like compared to the farm workers? What are homeless people's homes like?

Dramatic play with puppets of a family losing their home.

Preview ReVision House trip: Connect to activists -- some freedom fighters are famous (Dr. King, Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta); others do things like help people get places to live and food; we are going to visit a shelter where people can go to get shelter and food

Present learning targets for ReVision House.
 * 1) I can explain how people get what they need to live at ReVision House.
 * 2) I know why it is important for people (at ReVision House) to grow their own food and/or understand where their food comes from. (Start this learning target now but continue to add to it throughout the spring.)

Post-ReVision House

 * 1) Written reflection about ReVision House visit. [[file:revision house reflection.doc]]
 * 2) Fill in learning targets as a class (on a chart).
 * 3) [**optional, if time permits**] Small groups build models of different parts of ReVision House (half the class works on this while the other half begins the Growing Things science unit) [weeks of 3/24 and 3/31, continue if necessary)
 * aquaculture tank system (model with shoe boxes)

materials: shoe boxes, fake plants, foam, pipe cleaners, construction paper, cotton, yarn, paper towel tubes, markers, index cards, tape, stapler materials: no-ends, blocks, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, tape, trash bag to be compost, construction paper, toothpicks
 * greenhouse / compost (build with No-ends)
 * build the shelter and do dramatic play with it (out of blocks)
 * dioramas of different parts of ReVision House (administration, day care, fields, farm, aquaculture)

Food Agency Study Group Projects
Teachers break students into 5-6 study groups focused on one community agency that helps people get access to healthy food. Students from both first grade classrooms are combined into one study group, to become an expert on that specific agency in our community. Study groups are lead by teachers, community teachers, and parents or community members.

Food agencies learning targets:
 * 1) I can explain how this agency helps people get healthy food.
 * 2) I know some reasons why some people don't have enough food. (interview question for people at the agency)
 * 3) I have some ideas of how we can help people get access to food (and shelter). (interview question for people at the agency)

Potential food (and shelter) agencies for study groups //(field trips are scheduled for the first 2 weeks of April)//:
 * Haley House- both the cafe and South End soup kitchen and shelter
 * Boston Nature Center community gardens
 * City Fresh
 * Farm at Long Island Shelter
 * Greater Boston Food Bank + nearby shelter or pantry?
 * Food Project
 * Soujourner House
 * WIC
 * Women's Lunch Place

Field trip interviews
Questions to ask:
 * 1) Why do you think some people don't have enough food?
 * 2) What do you think should happen to make this better? (What could the government do? What could individuals do? What does your agency do?)

Logistics:
 * Students ask questions
 * The adults take notes on interview responses; break study group into 2 groups and each group goes with one adult to do the interviews
 * Back at school, children try to remember the answers to the interview questions and record them on chart paper; adult prompts and reminds from their notes of what people responded in the interview

Week One: [Week of 3/24]
 * study groups meet to get an overview of their agency and plan questions they want to ask on the field trip
 * learn how to interview people and practice (can go into the next week for some groups)

Weeks Two and Three: [Week of 3/31 and 4/7]
 * field trips occur
 * reflections of field trips
 * fill in learning targets
 * start compiling interview results

Week Four: (Week of 4/14)
 * brainstorm solutions to hunger as a whole class
 * finish thank you cards and reflections from field trips
 * start clearing the garden out

Week Five: (Week of 4/28)
 * planting in garden
 * vote on top 12 solutions for calendar
 * divide into calendar pages (4 per page) and start drafts

Finish final project by early June