Stage 1: Investigating the issue

Prior to starting this project, one of my students said to me, "Ms. Stewart when the weather gets nice out are we going to plant stuff? I really want to." Her classmates overheard her statement and began to frantically yell out, "Yeah, Ms. Stewart can we please plant stuff we did it in Kindergarten!" At that moment it was as if a light bulb went off! I thought this would be the perfect way to begin investigating social action topics. Now that I knew my students were all interested in planting and had prior knowledge of the topic from Kindergarten, I decided to plan three lessons around the idea of plants. Working with first graders has taught me the importance of breaking down material in the smallest way possible. I knew that before I could ask them "What do you want to change in your city", I had to build them up!

Lesson 1: Parts of a Plant

On Monday, March 12th my students and I began learning about the parts of a plant. I purposely did a plant as opposed to a flower, because I liked the idea of getting them to think about fruits and vegetables. The lesson was introduced through a message during Message Time Plus, followed by a read aloud by Dr. Seuss, "Oh Say Can You Seed" and completed with this diagram. By the end of the lesson students were asking questions such as "How does the plant makes its own food", "Can we grow our own foods" and "Do all fruits come from plants?" I was so excited to hear all of their questions; it made me feel like I was doing something right and that they wanted to learn more!

This was the chart I designed to help my students visualize and understand the parts of a plant.

This is an example of the worksheet I had students fill out to show me they could label the parts of a plant.

Lesson 2: Photosynthesis

On Tuesday, March 13th my students and I continued to read "Oh Say Can You Seed" by Dr. Seuss, but this time we focused on how a plant makes its food, as opposed to the parts of a plant. I began my lesson with an informative message on photosynthesis using Message Time Plus and then went into the read aloud. We then utilized the smart board and did an interactive lesson around photosynthesis. Again, the students were really engaged and were asking some great questions! A lot of them continued to ask me if we could plant and grow our own foods. My favorite part of the day was when Isaiah mumbled "Plants are so lucky they can make their own food, they don't have to worry about ever being hungry." I found myself becoming extremely anxious and just wanted to yell out "We are going to do a unit on healthy foods and help Newark residents gain better access to healthy foods", but I knew I needed to keep quiet and let the students come up with that idea on their own. However, I felt that the preparation with plants was gearing their minds in that direction.

Lesson 3: The Curious Garden

I was so excited going into today's lesson, because I knew my students and I were finally going to have a discussion around changes they would like to bring to Newark. I began my lesson with a story using Message Time Plus to help give my students an idea of what our read aloud was going to be about. The message stirred up good conversation and caused the students to make a lot of connections, which is a skill we have recently started working on. Liam, who is the character in "The Curious Garden", decides we wants to make his dreary city shine! He decides to take action by planting flowers all over the city. My students were able to really relate to Liam, because they too lived in a "dreary city" and wanted to make it better. After our read aloud, I started a concept map with the question, "How can I make Newark better?" I reiterated the fact that Liam was a young boy who took big actions to make his city better and asked my students if there was something they wanted to change in their city. The conversation led to this concept map below.

This is the chart we put together after discussing the ways we can make Newark better.

As you can see, the most comments were listed in orange, which were related to health food initiatives. In green were comments related to helping people who needed it, particularly people without homes, and in blue were comments related to brightening up Newark and making it "prettier". I was extremely thrilled with their ideas and loved the fact that so many of them were taking what we knew about plants and applying it to the bigger picture. We took a break and went to lunch and picked back up with the conversation in the afternoon. During lunch I created a second chart, which grouped these ideas into categories. When my students returned, we reviewed the ideas we talked about and I explained to them that now we are going to take a vote on which topic is the most important to us. One by one, each student came up and put a tally mark next to the topic of their choice. The chart below explains our results.

This is a chart listing the 3 main ideas discussed among my students. As you can see, bringing healthier foods and places to Newark was the most popular topic

Most of the students were ecstatic to find out that healthy foods had won, but two students, who voted for topic number 1, were so upset that they cried. When I asked them why they were crying they said, "I really wanted to the help people with no homes, because I want them to come be a part of my family." I was honestly very moved by the empathy displayed by each of my students and explained to the class that all three of these topics are extremely important but voting was the fairest way to decide on a topic. I promised them that as our project continues we will do our best to help as many people as we can in our community. As our investigation came to an end, one of my students asked, "Ms. Stewart I think its important to help people get healthy stuff, but who are we going to ask to help us build a new supermarket or restaurant?" Before I could answer, another student yelled out, "We can ask our families to help us. I know my Grandpa can build us a new building." Another student then replied, "Let's ask the president cause he is in charge of the world!" I couldn't have asked for a better question or response! Its the perfect beginning to stage 2: Learning and Planning and stage 3: Action!

If I Had A Garden...

During today's final lesson in our investigation stage of our unit, I revealed to my students that next Thursday they were going to have the opportunity to work with the farmers next door and help them plant their spring fruits and vegetables. The students were thrilled! In preparation for their visit and as a wrap up to our investigation, I did a read aloud using this book, "Our Community Garden". I had no idea that this book was going to stir up such rich conversation between my students. They were making a lot of connections to their own lives and to other books, which as I mentioned was a skill we started working on, and started developing ideas about the community garden they were going to be working on, on Thursday. As an extension activity to the read aloud, the students and I created a chart called "My Community Garden". We wrote down all the fruits and vegetables that we would like to grow. Upon completion of the chart, students were to go to their seats and begin writing about the things that they would personally like to grow and why. Below is a picture of the chart we put together.

This was a chart my class and I put together based around the foods they would grow in their community garden.

Here is an example of what one of my students said they would grow in their community garden and why.

Over the next two weeks we are going to focus on learning about what a "food desert" is, why Newark has received that label, what it means to be "healthy" and why it's important and what the underlying effects of a "food desert" can have on the community.

Stage 2: Learning and Planning

My students showed a great interest in wanting to get healthy and plant their own foods so as our first lesson in the learning stage, we met with our school nutritionist, Ms. Rossi, and she reviewed the food pyramid with my students and taught them how to start growing our own food. My students had already had prior knowledge on the food groups due to a lesson I did with them in the fall, so the review was very quick! She then asked them questions pertaining to planting, such as what do plants need to grow and how do they get their food. This was the work I did with them the entire week before, so thankfully we did not have to spend a lot of time on review and were able to get right to planting. Below are pictures of some of my students planting lettuce seeds. These are seeds that we are going to grow in the classroom!

Two of my students making the hole for the seed.

Two of my students burying their seed.

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Two of my students planting the seed.

When we got back to our classroom we took a class vote on which we thought would grow faster, the plants that we were growing inside or the plants that we are going to grow outside. We then did an interactive smartboard lesson where the students had the opportunity to group foods into their proper food groups and answer questions pertaining to healthy eating. Below is a picture of our class chart and a picture of our class poem, which I designed to help my students remember what each food group did for their body!

One of my students casting her vote on which plants she thought would grow faster.

The poem I designed to help my students remember the food groups and their functions.

Our Trip to The Famers Market

My students had the opportunity to split up into two groups and go to the Farmers Market to begin growing plants outside. They planted sunflower seeds and radish seeds and were able to bring onion seeds home with them to share with their families. Prior to planting, they took a tour of the garden and experienced the greenhouse and different herbs such as spearmint and oregano. My students absolutely loved having the hands-on experience at the farm, watching all that they have learned about plants come to life! It made me feel good when one of the farmers, Ms. Lorraine, complimented how "smart" my students were for knowing the parts of the plant and how plants get their food. Below are a few pictures of my students touring the garden and planting and watering their seeds.

Here are my students and Mr. Steve in the greenhouse.

One of my students getting ready to water the seeds they just planted.

Here are a group of students picking out onion seeds.

Here are my students working together to plant radish seeds.

Here are two students watering their sunflower seeds.

Here is Mr. Steve and some students looking at different types of herbs.

The farmers asked if we would like to make this a weekly thing and of course we agreed! I'm really so thankful that we have this incredible resource right next door that enjoys having students come be a part of their mission in supplying the city with healthier foods! Ms. Lorraine asked if our students could come spend a day in the garden painting on the flower pots and painting wall canvases to help bring the garden the life. She also asked if we could work on putting together a "spring show", where the students could educate adults on all they know about plants and growing foods. I AM SO EXCITED!

Healthy Snack Friday's!

As part of our learning, I promised my students that if they were good all week we could shut down our Friday afternoons and try healthy snacks and create an on-going graph indicating how many students liked and did not like the new food. I wanted to use this time to show my students all the healthy alternatives out there and that eating healthy can be just as tasty as eating junk food. I also thought that if I introduce new foods to them, they will be more inclined to choose these foods over the junk food. This week we tried watermelon, cantaloupe and honey dew; it was a hit! After we ate our healthy snack, students had to fill out a worksheet naming the food, the food group it belongs to, the color of the food, if they liked it and how it tasted. We then created a graph where students had to plot if they liked it or did not like it. I plan to use this graph as a way to drive math instruction around the standard of interpreting and analyzing data

This is a picture of my class holding up their fruit cups!

This is a picture of the graph we made. Each student signed their initials in either green to indicate that they liked the food, or blue to indicate that they did not like the food.

Here is an example of the worksheet students had to complete after having their healthy snack.

My Friend Joe

This is the diagram I created to help drive my lesson on childhood obesity. I needed my students to have a visual representation of the cause and effects of obesity in a child-friendly manner.

Once we completed our work around the food groups and why eating healthy is so important, I decided to move my students into the effects of unhealthy eating. Before the lesson began I told my students that I had a friend named Joe that was their age and requested their help. I explained to them that Joe had a very serious issue and that only serious students could help Joe. I explained that Joe was too shy to come in to the class so he sent in his picture. I warned the students that if any laughing or poking fun happened that they could not participate in the activity. I then presented my students with this poster and thankfully everyone responded in a mature matter. It's amazing to me how empathetic my students are and how concerned they were about Joe's health. I think the idea that Joe was their age really made them more engaged in the lesson. I know what a sensitive issue weight can be and I was hesitant to present it in this matter, but I felt that because I did not have any obese children in my class I did not have to worry about any of my students feeling uncomfortable. We had a group discussion around what it meant to be obese, how a person may become obese and the ways in which we can fight obesity. After our discussion, students went back to their seats and wrote a narrative about how they would help Joe. Some students provided more details then others, but on the whole, every student included healthy foods Joe could start eating and exercises he could start doing.

A Trip to Big Maple's Food Expo

Maple Avenue's 2012 Healthy Food Expo.

"Get Your Plate In Shape" was the name of the healthy food expo hosted at Big Maple. All students P-8 had the opportunity to attend the food expo and travel through 5 different healthy food stations and build their own healthy snacks. The goal of the expo was to show students that eating healthy can taste good, as well as expose students to new foods they may have never tried before. Ironically, this expo had taken place during our learning process so it was a great way for students to continue learning about the food groups. As students went from station to station I had them identify what foods they were eating and food groups they were a part of! Below are a few pictures of my students at the food expo.

Here is a student at the healthy hang man station.

Here are two students building fishes out of apricots and pretzels.

Here is a student building mice out of strawberries.

How Have Our Plants Changed?

We took a second trip over to the Farmers Market to see how our plants had started to grow and change. This was a good opportunity for students to see everything they learned about plant growth come to life, as well as witness that some plants don't always grow and need replanting. They engaged in conversation with Ms. Lorraine, Mr. Tony, Mr. Steve and Ms. Rossi about the change in their plants and were able to address any questions and concerns that they had. They also had the opportunity to plant more lettuce seeds. Below are a few pictures of my students observing the change in their plants.

Here is a picture of Ms. Rossi explaining why the plants were growing towards the windows.

Here are three students trying to find their sunflower seeds.

Here is my class at the Farmers Market discussing how the farmers are going to take care of their plants while we are away on Spring Break.

What's in a Healthy Body?

I really needed to continue to reinforce the importance of healthy eating to my students. I put together a hands-on project that enabled all of my students to participate and work together, as well as demonstrate their understanding of healthy vs. unhealthy foods. I did a read aloud using a book called, "My Amazing Body". The book was extremely child-friendly and went over all the parts of the body and how important it is to keep them healthy. From there, I traced two of my student's bodies and labeled one as the healthy body and one as the unhealthy body. Each student received two pictures of two different foods and needed to decided which body that food belonged to. By the end of the project we had two bodies composed of a variety of foods and helped my students further visualize and understand which foods are best for us.

Here is a student and I putting her food onto our unhealthy body.

Here is a student and I putting his food on the unhealthy body.

After all students had put their foods onto the correct body, this was our finished product!

Students were then to make their own healthy body diagrams, here is an example.

Here is another example of a student's healthy body diagram.

Wait...Newark is a food what?!

I finally felt like my students truly understood the importance and benefits to healthy eating and the scary effects of childhood obesity. I felt ready to introduce them to the idea of a "food desert" and began discussing the effects of living in one. I couldn't decide how to introduce this concept to a group of 6 and 7 year old kids, but my professor, Dr. Picower, gave me the idea to draw a map of the area in which they live and label all of the healthy and unhealthy places to purchase food. I thought this was a really good idea and would serve as a good visual for my students. I began the lesson by explaining to my students that Newark had a problem and it was up to us to figure out what it is.

This is a picture of the map I designed of the area around our school to help my students visualize that there aren't a lot of healthy places to eat or purchase food.

The map sparked some good conversation. One student said, "I don't get it. How come there aren't more green buildings? Doesn't Newark want us to eat healthy?" Another student said, "Ms. Stewart if we eat at all those red places then we might get obese; I don't want to get sick!" There was a lot of conversation around what happens to us if we live in a food desert. By the end of the lesson, students were able to reiterate the problem in Newark, what a food desert is, why Newark is a food desert and what can happen to us if we live in a food desert.

Here is an example of a student's understanding of food deserts.

Here is an example of a student's understanding of food deserts.

Here is an example of a student's understanding of food deserts.

How Do We Help Fight Food Deserts?

Here is chart I created based off of my student's answers to their food desert worksheets from the previous day.

After my lesson on food deserts, I took home all of my student's work and looked for patterns in their answers. From there I generated this chart to put together a visual aid for my students describing the problem we found in Newark. This chart led to a conversation describing the ways that we can help fight food deserts in our city.

Here is a picture of the list of ways my students thought we could help fix the food desert in Newark.

I then had my students go back to their seats and write in their journals about what they thought was the most important way to help our city.

Here is an example of a student's response to what they would do to help fight the food desert.

Here is another example of a student's work describing the ways she can help fight the food desert. You'll notice she phonetically sounded out "Newark" as "New York".

Here is another example of a student's writing.

Time to Take Action!

Here is a picture of our class action plan to fight food deserts. These were the 3 best ways my students felt we could make a change. For every student that wanted to help bring change, they signed their name at the bottom

As our closing to our learning and planning stage, my students and I revisited the chart we made from the previous day about all the ways that they felt they could help fight food deserts. From there, I explained that we needed to come up with the 3 most important ways to take action. After an informal group discussion, I took what I was hearing from my students and asked them if they agreed that these were the best ways for us to spread the word about healthy eating and food deserts, as well as create a change to getting healthier foods into our city. All of my students agreed! I told them how proud I was of them for doing such "big kid" type of work. I told my students, "If you are super serious about wanting to help make our city better and help our city get healthier then you may sign your name at the bottom of this action plan. If you don't want to help that's okay too. I only want the kids who really want to help sign their name." With that being said, every student wanted to sign their name. So here we are, at the action stage of our social action project!

We Need The Mayor's Help!

As the first step of our action plan, my students began to draft letters to Mayor Cory Booker about the issue of Newark being a food desert. I used my morning message to model a letter to Mayor Book addressing the issue.

This is a picture of my morning message. I used this to get my students thinking about how they would start writing their own letters.

My students and I talked for a bit about why it was so important that we reach out to the Mayor. I wanted to make sure my students understood why they were writing letters to him. "The mayor is in charge of all the people", said one student. I asked, "In charge of all the people where?" "In Newark", he responded. I asked, "What else is the Mayor in charge of, the people and...". "Like if we can do stuff! Like if we can build a new place. He's going to say yes or no right", asked another student. "That's right. After we write these letters and he reads them, he can then decide if our idea is good or not", I replied. "Ms. Stewart why would he say no? Don't he want the people healthy. He don't want the people to get obese right", asked another student. The conversation continued on for a few minutes, but by the end my students understood that the Mayor may not approve their idea, but they were very optimistic that he would! I explained to them that when writing a letter it is important to keep the letter short and to the point, so I gave them 5 main points to hit. I was afraid of them going off topic and making their letters too long, so I told them as long as they included everything I asked of them, they only had to write 5 sentences. I also explained that they needed to be 5 perfect sentences because we want to show the Mayor what smart first graders we are!

My students were to use their opening sentence to state the problem. I knew they were all going to write that Newark was a food desert, so in their second sentence they needed to define what a food desert was. Then they had to give a reason why Newark needs to get healthy, followed by what it is that they want the Mayor's help building. I then wanted them to close their letter with "Please help us fight the food desert" and sign their name.

I was pleased with how well they did with the first draft of their letters. Due to the fact that I have some students who breeze through writing and others who struggle, we decided to work on these all week so everyone could go at their own pace. We are going to finalize them in the next day or so. I was encouraged to not only mail them out, but to post the pictures on both Mayor Booker's Facebook and Twitter account. If I individually post all the letters on both accounts, that's 40 posts and he is bound to give some sort of immediate response! I am anxiously awaiting that process.

I apologize for this picture being sideways; I was unable to format it. This is an example of one of my student's letter to Mayor Booker.

We Need Healthier Breakfasts and Lunches in Our School!

As the next step in our action stage, we wrote letters to our school principal asking her to help us bring more fruits and vegetables into our school breakfasts and lunches. We constructed these letters very similar to the way we constructed letters to Mayor Booker. I decided that instead of mailing these letters out, we would invite our principal in and read our letters aloud to her using the "human microphone" format. I knew I couldn't have 20 students read 20 letters, so based off of the trends I found in their letters, I collaborated with my students to generate one letter that we could use. We practiced reading the letter for several days, making it part of our morning routine. I had one of my outspoken students, who loves to talk and goof around, lead the human microphone; it was the perfect role for him and he was so excited! I am excited for my students to present this to our principal and am very eager to see how she will respond to their requests!

Coming to an End.

As my students and I conclude our project we have decided to use our time with our principal to showcase all that they have learned over the last two months. We plan on using our cafeteria as a place to display all of our charts, posters, pictures, videos, books, plants and student work. This will be a time for students to realize all that they have learned, as well as a time for our principal to see what deep, critical thinking type of work Maple Annex's first grade students were able to do. This will also be a good time for our principal to view me as an effective teacher who is able to engage students in material relatable to their lives and can stimulate a critical thinking thought process in early childhood learners.