{"id":4216,"date":"2023-08-08T12:03:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T16:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/foodrescuemaine\/?p=4216"},"modified":"2023-09-20T11:07:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T15:07:44","slug":"pilot-4-school-food-waste-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/foodrescuemaine\/2023\/08\/08\/pilot-4-school-food-waste-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilot 3: School Food Waste Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

Food Rescue MAINE has collaborated with teachers across Maine both to create and compile educational material for young students. We currently have material available for preschool and ages k-5. We will soon add the high school food system curriculum to our website as well.<\/h4>\n

Goals<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. To create a fun and engaging elementary curriculum vetted by Maine teachers.<\/li>\n
  2. To engage Maine’s youth in food system education, hopefully impacting their lives and the lives of their families and communities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Methodology\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
      \n
    1. In order to bring this curriculum to k-5 programs in Maine, we first had to learn from school teachers about what they needed.<\/li>\n
    2. We worked with EcoMaine to develop lesson plans, worksheets, and take-home materials for the classroom.<\/li>\n
    3. These material were tested in the classroom and eventually added to a curriculum plan.<\/li>\n
    4. The materials were eventually compiled by a student intern, along with other expert materials outside of our organization, such as a slideshow created by World Wildlife Foundations and several other examples.<\/li>\n
    5. We reviewed and revised this material with many educators and students across the state.<\/li>\n
    6. Throughout this process, we worked with amazing teachers like Anna Franceschetti, a garden teacher from the Geral E. Talbot Community School in Portland. Anna has been working with a combination of her own vetted food system lessons, along with the special program curriculum that we created based on her ideas.<\/li>\n
    7. This process of improving our curriculum for Maine students is ongoing, and we look forward to working with more schools in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Results\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

      Anna Franceschetti and her garden classroom students collected 1,452 pounds\u00a0<\/strong>of food waste in their first year of food waste collection.<\/p>\n

      With the help of Franceschetti and her students, we were able to finalize the first edition of three different elementary curriculums:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Traditional In-Class Curriculum<\/li>\n
      2. Special Program Currciulum<\/li>\n
      3. Cafeteria Guide<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        “We sat together in a circle and listened to the fifth-grade students’ amazing understanding of food waste- They could fully explain the steps of the food recovery hierarchy, and even how the decomposition process in composting works. The students have even created their own ‘garbage to garden-esque’ composting operation where they pick up food scraps from classrooms around the school and measure how much food they rescue from the trash each week. The day that I was there, they actually reached their 1,000 lb. benchmark” – Hannah Mathieu, Student Intern<\/h4>\n

        \"picture<\/p>\n

        A fifth-grade student weighing food waste collected from classrooms.<\/p>\n

        Resources\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n