Dear Parents,

We are beginning a new unit called Field to Table. In this Social

Studies unit we will be looking at where products come from in the
world, how they are made and how they get to our table. (See the end
of this note if youd like more specific standards.) It would enrich your child's
learning greatly if you did the following things:
1. Discuss: What is the difference between a want and a need?
What are our basic needs for survival?
2. Look at the food on the dinner table and track where it came from
and how it was made. EG. pasta - bought it from Giant, packet says
made in Italy so transported from Italy to KL (factory to storage to
airport to storage to supermarket to house), What is it made from?
How is that grown? What processes does it go through before it's
ready to eat? What about the packaging? What about the transport
used to get it from field to table? Who are the people involved and
what are their roles in getting the product from field to table? Which
foods on your table are local? Which are imported? What are the
pros and cons of both? etc. The idea is to get children thinking in a
different way about the things they use - start asking questions, do
some fact finding and evaluate the pros and cons of various products
and processes.
3. Next week please have your child bring in an empty food
package from your house (example: juice box, candy wrapper,
paper label from a can, rice package etc). Please send a package
that shows where in the world the food came from (EG Made in .... or
Imported from...). We will stick these up around our world map and
pin the places they have come from so paper and plastic are practical
choices. Alternatively, if you live a very environmentally friendly
lifestyle and have mostly fresh local produce in your house, have your
child draw on a small piece of paper the item (eg mango) and write
the name of the country from where it came from above it.
4. Let me know if your child has any allergies or cannot eat anything
in particular. We'll be learning about how a simple snack of a
sandwich and glass of milk/juice came from the field to the table and
of course enjoy the snack itself afterwards.
5. After youve begun the wonderings with food, move onto

everything we use. EG what natural resource did this plastic water

bottle, table, fridge, computer, shoe, shirt, car, light, shower water etc
come from? The big ideas are: everything we use comes from natural
resources; the further away from which they come and the more
processed and packaged they are, the more natural resources are
used and more pollution created. By the end of the unit we want
children to be able to say that positive choices for our environment
and health are: buying only what we need; and buying mostly local,
unprocessed and unpackaged goods.
Begin thinking about something you might like to come in and
share during one of our free choice times that demonstrates the
processes a raw ingredient goes through to make a final product. For
example, you might like to make pesto with the students. Bring in a
basil plant and other basic raw ingredients. Also bring in a jar of
ready-made pesto. Show the students how the product is made. If
you let me know what youre interested in doing you can choose just
about any free choice time shown on the November calendar and
well arrange for you to come in and set up a centre.
6.

Thanks for your help with this unit!

In partnership,
Ms. Tindall
School Wide Learning Results
Reason critically: Those who reason critically continuously process and

apply information from a variety of sources in a convergent fashion in order

to develop, modify, reflect on, and evaluate viewpoints and conclusions.

Live ethically: Socially and ethically responsible citizens actively care for
and respect themselves, others, and the environment.

Standards were working towards in this unit.

Students will understand that they impact the environment.

Students will understand physical and human geography and the relationship
between them.
Students will understand that maps and globes represent geographic
information.
Students will understand the ways in which people organize for the
production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Students will understand that people organize systems to satisfy wants and
needs.

Students will understand global connections, interdependence and world

citizenship.
Students will understand that we share one world.

Essential Questions
What are wants and needs and how are they different?
Where do products come from?
What are natural resources?
Why and how do people change/process natural resources?
How is the environment affected by using these natural
resources, processing them and transporting them to us?