Curricular Resources

For educators interested in developing more lessons or curriculum units around food, farming, and nutrition, we recommend reviewing the links below to some excellent examples of Farm to School curriculum from our partners in education. 

Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools Lessons + Curricula:

Food Foundations Unit - a kindergarten lesson sequence to develop the scientific and culinary curiosity of young learners

Cycles in the Garden - a K-4 hands-on unit of study that builds scientific habits of mind and celebrates the cycles found in a garden community

Sustainable Economics: The Triple Bottom Line - a unit looking at the decisions consumers and producers make through the triples lens of the environment, the economy, and from an equity perspective

Additional Farm to School Lessons + Curricula: 

City Blossoms Cultivating Young Leaders: A Workbook for Growing a Youth-led Cooperative Garden Business - an innovative resource, informed by the work of City Blossoms' Youth Entrepreneurship Cooperative (YEC) program, is complete with templates and tools to support anyone interested in connecting high school youth with gardens and entrepreneurship skill-building. 

Life Lab Curriculum & Online Lessons - Life Lab's Curriculum resources includes, among many others, The Growing Classroom, a wonderful resource book for educators with science, math, language arts, and nutrition activities that you can do with your students in the garden

The Center for Ecoliteracy Food & Sustainability Resources has a number of guides and model activities for schools, including:

  • Lessons from The Center for Ecoliteracy to take home and/or virtual friendly
    • Food & Culture Project - examine the food traditions of the world’s five major continents
    • Nourishing Students: Enrichment Activities Grade K-5 - enrichment activities engage students in exploring the bounty of fruits and vegetables in after-school, out-of-school, and summer programs. Some of these activities are ready to use right at home with little need for additional materials, using food you have or are receiving through a school meals program. 
    • Understanding Food and Climate Change: An Interactive Guide - uses video, photography, text, and interactive experiences to help educators, students, and advocates learn how food and climate systems interact and how personal choices can make a difference. Ideal for grades 6–12 and general audiences, with connections to Next Generation Science Standards and the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies themes, the guide offers activities for student research and resources for further investigation. This guide is also designed to support self-guided and independent study, and is a boon for advocates seeking hopeful strategies and creative responses. This publication is part of a suite of resources from the Center for Ecoliteracy that explore the connections between food systems and climate change. Check out their Understanding Food and Climate Change: A Systems Perspective, which explores the links between food systems and our changing climate with an emphasis on systems thinking.
    • Starting with Soil - an iPad app from the Center for Ecoliteracy and Whole Kids Foundation that offers a playful, visually rich way to help kids understand that soil is a living system full of fascinating relationships.  Designed for students ages 7-9 and their families, Starting with Soil allows users to plant seeds, build a compost pile, drag a microscope over different organisms in soil to get a better look, and view the symbiosis at work when corn, beans, and squash are planted together, as Native Americans have done for centuries. This requires you to download an app from the Apple Store or Google Play

Growing Minds Farm to School - a host of materials on supporting Farm to School and Farm to Preschool/Early Care from ASAP, the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project. Materials include:

The Edible Schoolyard Project Resources Database - a searchable database of PreK-12 lessons and activities on food, farming, nutrition and more 

Georgia Organics Farm to School - Links to nation-wide FTS curricula organized by grade: Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and High School

Learning Lab - a searchable database K-12 lessons in sustainability from US Green Building Council 

Vermont Harvest of the Month - connecting the classroom and the cafeteria through Farm to School lessons and recipes from Green Mountain Farm to School 

Food Systems Lessons + Curricula:

Principles of Garden-Based Education - a philosophy of teaching in the garden, based on research the author presents fifteen guiding principles of garden-based education illustrated through stories from Teaching in Nature's Classroom

Nourish Food Systems Curriculum - an educational initiative that combines PBS television, curriculum resources, web content, short films, and professional learning

FoodSpan - a free high school curriculum to empower students to make healthy & responsible food choices through deep exploration of the food system from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future

Discovering Our Food System - an experiential learning curriculum from Cornell University Cooperative Extension

French Fries and The Food System (a curriculum of The Food Project) - a 9-12, year-round curriculum designed to teach youth how to develop a deep understanding of and appreciation for the land and local food systems

Linking Food and the Environment (LiFE) - a series of farm to school curriculum books created as a collaboration of the Science Education and Nutrition Education programs at Teachers College, Columbia University

Food Day - a upper elementary and middle school curriculum designed to teach children the importance of eating real, fresh food, cutting back on processed foods, and advocating for a healthier community

Dig, Plant, Grow! - a guide to planning your gardening curriculum from the Rodale Institute and Organic Gardening Magazine

Advancing Racial + Social Justice in the Food System Resources:

National Farm to School lists these helpful resources. If you haven't already, read their statement about racial justice by Executive Director Helen Dombalis. 

Watch and read the keynote presenation and group Q+A from our 2020 Northeast Farm to School Virtual Institute from Jamese Kwele, Director of Food Equity at Ecotrust entitled Advancing Equity in Farm to School. Jamese recommends checking out this article on Linkedin: White-Led Organizations: Actions Speak Louder Than Words by Krystal Oriadha, Senior Director of Programs & Policy and Helen Dombalis, Executive Director, National Farm to School Network.

Additional resources suggested by the Vermont Farm to School & Early Childhood Network: