One of my favorite activities that we did this evening in class was the "Veggie Plate" activity. In the activity, we were shown a plate full of various veggies and were asked to tell which part of the plant each vegetable came from. It was a thought provoking activity, especially when trying to decide about certain nuts. Are nuts a seed or a fruit? That was the question. An extension activity was to then observe various foods placed before us on the table and decide what part of the plant they came from. This was fun as we discussed what part of the plant that nutmeg, coffee beans, and lentils come from. It was interesting and I was challenged to really think about the parts of a plant.
I can see many ways to utilize this activity in the classroom. We study Medieval history and we do a Medieval feast as a culminating event. All the students dress up and so do the teachers:). I can see using this activity to introduce the idea that a King's plate would look very different than a peasants plate. We could also discuss the origin of each food and how in the Middle Ages, it was very difficult to get foods from other parts of the world and therefore these foods were more expensive. I can see emphasizing how blessed we are to have such a wide variety of food choices. I am excited to utilize this activity next year.
I really liked trying to figure out what "parts" of a plant we are eating! I think all of us get confused over the classifications of food. Labeling the food based on what part of the plant it comes from will make it easier for us to label and classify our food!
ReplyDeleteI never would've thought to integrate a medieval feast with science! This is a great way to cover history, social studies and science in one fell swoop.
ReplyDelete"What Ali said!"
DeleteA great connection to social science... It wasn't long ago (our parents and grandparents) that we didn't have access to grapes in December (Thank you Chile) or bananas (Thank you Guatemala et al.). A lot has happened to allow us to eat a variety of fresh foods throughout the year. My question to the class, however, is at what cost? (Don't get me wrong, I love bananas and PB and enjoy fresh zucchini year around...) But what impact does that have on the environment when we buy Oranges from California instead of eating Apples from Tennessee? Or grapes in December shipped over 5,000 miles...