SALEM – Kindergarten students at Salem Public School will be taking trips in Elora to learn about food and connect with their local community.
They’re planning to walk to restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses for hands-on learning about local ingredients and how food is made, and to enjoy meals they make together.
They’re also hoping local farmers will visit their classroom to talk to them about growing food and using what’s in season.
Kindergarten teacher Tessa Heffernan described her students as a “group of kids who love to cook,” and said they’ve been very interested in food since the beginning of the school year.
They’ve baked muffins in the classroom and read books about cooking, and are ready to bring their interest outside of the classroom to learn about food in the community.
Heffernan said the project is an opportunity to embrace the students’ interest in food and cooking while helping them connect with community.
She said the project is student-led and evolving as it develops – so far she’s been working on setting up visits to the Geddes Street Market, Scoop Ice Cream and the Elora Mill.
Students are part of the planning process and offer suggestions for places to go and food to prepare.
They asked to learn how to make pumpkin pie, Heffernan said, so they will be preparing pumpkin tarts for Halloween.
And the students were very excited about a book they read together on making donuts, so Heffernan is planning to do that with them too.
Sometimes students share stories about what they’re making at home, and Heffernan plans to incorporate those foods into the classroom too, as another way to increase the community connection.
Arloe Scarrow and Jade McEwan making food in Tessa Heffernan’s kindergarten class at Salem Public School. Submitted photo
A trip to the Geddes Street Market was set for Oct. 29, when students will tour the store, hopefully prepare food in the bakery, and discuss connections to food in the community.
For the students to visit, businesses needs to be within walking distance of Salem Public School, but Heffernan is hoping chefs and farmers from outside of that range will visit the students at school.
She’s particularly interested in having guests visit during the winter months, as it will be more challenging for the students to go out on walking trips in the snowy weather.
The initiative is funded by a $500 experiential learning grant from the Ministry of Education.
Upper Grand District School Board experiential learning lead Adam Barnard said funding such as this offers “opportunities to connect classroom learning to real-world experiences [and] grassroots initiatives led by educators and students that foster hands-on learning, critical thinking, and community connections.
“Whether through local environmental projects, student-led enterprises, or partnerships with community organizations, these initiatives help learners explore pathways, develop transferable skills and see the relevance of their education in everyday life.”
Some of the grant money could be used to purchase ingredients from local farms and greenhouses, she said, as well as kitchen tools for the classroom.
Heffernan said the project will “build gratitude for what we have and taking care of the Earth to foster sustainability.”
Farmers, chefs and restaurant owners and other food experts interested in participating in the project by visiting the Salem classroom or inviting the students to visit their kitchens can contact Heffernan at theffernan@ugcloud.ca.
