In This Binder

Section Weekly Theme Supporting Materials Page

Intro Calendar 0 Lesson Planning Template(s) 00 Intro to the Model 2 Goals and Measurements 4

1 Knowing Each Other and Working Together Week 1 Overview 5 Community Building Activities 6 Chair for Bear Activity 8 Engineering and Design Resources 9

2 Ground Rules and Skill Building: Measuring Week 2 Overview 12 Dough Making Activity 13 Community Contracts Resources 14 Dough Recipes 16

3 Our Role and Our Tastes Week 3 Overview 19 Life of Our Tomato Sauce 20 Resources on Tomatoes 22 Life of a Tomato Activity 25

4 Doing Science with Milk Week 4 Overview 27 Making Butter as Science 28 Resources on Milk and Consumers 30

5 Making Decisions Together Week 5 Overview 32 Activity Explanation 33 Sauce Recipes 34

6 Skill Building: Knife Skills Week 6 Overview 36 Knowledge Building: Producers Activity Explanation 37 Knife Skills Guidelines 38 Yeast Experiment 39 Photosynthesis Teaching Resources 40 Background on Producers 42

7 Skill Building: Attending to Precision Week 7 Overview 44 Knowledge Building: Consumers General Resources 45 Cheese Recipe 46 Pickling Instructions 47

8 Reflection: Autonomy/Celebration Week 8 Overview 49 Pizza Making Tips 50

9 Reflection: Communication Week 9 Overview 52 Activity Explanation 53

1 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

Introduction to the Model Overview This curriculum is designed to engage Cambridge and Boston middle schoolers in an afterschool setting over 10 once-weekly sessions. Participating youth come from public schools and are diverse in culture, physical ability, socioeconomic background, interests, and conventional measures of academic achievement. Instructors are CitySprouts’ FoodCorps Service Members (FCSMs), who also bring diverse strengths, interests, and backgrounds. The curriculum aims to address goals for students fitting into three main categories: STEM Learning and Engagement, Healthy Eating, and Social-Emotional Skill Building. Within those categories our view-- what we’re thinking about and how we contextualize the work-- is wide. The focus-- what we hope to achieve and where we put the bulk of our energy-- is narrow.

STEM Learning and Engagement Our broad goal is that youth come out more excited about the STEM subjects. The narrow academic focus of the curriculum is on giving students opportunities to practice and apply measuring, engineering, modeling, and observation skills in tangible, relevant contexts. The frame for building these skills is examination of Three Systems: ecosystems, food systems, and community. By the end of a ten-week session, students will have: 1. Had multiple opportunities to make qualitative and quantitative observations, take measurements, and/or engage in aspects of the engineering/design process. 2. Produced a product, through use of some or all of the above skills, that they are excited about and proud of. 3. Consistently heard language that parallels what they hear during school, in hopes of highlighting connections between in school and afterschool learning. 4. Contributed to a detailed visual model of the ecosystem, food system, and community in which they participate.

Healthy Eating Our broad goal in that youth eventually make more healthful choices about what they eat. Changing health-related behaviors is a large process that works on the personal, interpersonal, community, environmental, and policy levels. In this setting we cannot address all of the interconnected factors that influence behavior and health. Our narrow focus is on increasing behavioral capability-- the knowledge and skills necessary to make a change-- and self-efficacy-- confidence in one’s ability to act (National Cancer Institute 2005, 20). By the end of a session, students will have: 1. Tasted 5-8 different vegetables in raw or lightly processed form 2. Learned to recognize 5-8 different vegetables 3. Practiced skills that contribute to growing and/or preparing vegetables (e.g. seeding, knife skills, weeding, etc) 4. Examined, via their visual model, where they have power to make decisions and how those decisions affect the Three Systems in which they participate.

Social-Emotional Skill Building The social-emotional foci fall on building community and autonomy. While these two words have disparate definitions, the ideas behind them are complimentary when it comes to middle school youth. This curriculum aims to provide opportunities to build community through group problem solving and explicit examination of community as a system. Within that context, it leaves room for students to build autonomy by learning cooking and gardening skills, expressing opinions and creativity, and making decisions. The Three Systems frame brings community and autonomy together by providing a way for youth and instructors to examine the role of the individual their 2 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

context. As the group builds a visual model over ten weeks, the constant questions to return to are “what decisions do we have the power to make?” and “who do those decisions affect and how?”

Behind the Design Creating this curriculum represented a design challenge. Through research and interviews, the following constraints emerged: 1. Temporal o Fits into 9 sessions (leaving 1 buffer week) o Includes time for start and end routines o Has flexibility for different seasons o Activities can be expanded and contracted for varied session lengths • Activity Type o Uses the garden o Incorporates cooking, but not too much o Doesn’t feel too much like school o Activities build and feel like parts of a whole (not one-off lessons) • Population o Middle school appropriate o Designed with consciousness of the diverse interests and strengths of youth and instructors o One student could participate for multiple years/seasons, including summer • Learning Goals o Focuses on Three Systems (eco, food, community) o Opportunities to practice STEM skills and build excitement about science o Builds autonomy and community o Provides opportunities and motivation to try new fruits and vegetables

The design process will continue with prototyping, testing, and revision. Systems for collecting and assimilating feedback are built into the structure of the program. As we work through the curriculum together and with youth, everyone’s voices will be part of adapting and refining it.

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Goals and Measurements

We want students to... So that... How we’ll know it happened:

Have multiple opportunities to make qualitative and Youth deepen skills related to Students and staff will quantitative observations, take measurements, scientific practice, and become collaborate to record and/or engage in aspects of the engineering/design more engaged in the STEM measurements and observations process. subjects. via written and video journaling

Produce a product, through use of some or all of the Youth see real world applications Students will make and eat a above skills, that they are excited about and proud of STEM skills, build confidence, pizza. of. and experience the feeling of seeing a project through to completion

Consistently hear language that parallels what they Youth see connections between in Written/Video Journaling; hear during school school and afterschool learning. Conversations with youth

Contribute to a detailed visual model of the Youth get to practice the skill of Students will produce a visual ecosystem, food system, and community in which modeling, so that they come to see model of the systems on a they participate. themselves as part of a greater poster as a group. system.

Taste 5-8 different vegetables in raw or lightly Youth are familiar with more Students will rate their processed form vegetables, a step on the way to preferences each week via a choosing to eat more fruits and sticker system, creating a vegetables. cumulative graph.

Recognize 5-8 different vegetables Youth are familiar with more Students will complete a survey vegetables, a step on the way to at the end of the 10 week choosing to eat more fruits and course vegetables.

Practice skills that contribute to growing and/or Youth increase behavioral capability-- Students will make preparing vegetables (e.g. seeding, knife skills, the knowledge and skills necessary presentations to guests about weeding, etc) to make a change, a step on the what they have learned at the way to behavior change. end of the 10-week session.

Examine, via the visual models they create, where Youth increase self-efficacy-- Science notebook they have power to make decisions and how those confidence in their ability to act. prompts/video journaling decisions affect the Three Systems in which they This is a step on the way to prompts related to these topics. participate (food system, ecosystem, and behavior change. community).

Build community through group problem solving Youth feel comfortable taking risks Written and video journaling and explicit examination of community as a system and build collaborative work skills. prompts.

Build autonomy by learning cooking and gardening Youth increase behavioral capability, Conversations with youth, skills, expressing opinions and creativity, and self-efficacy, confidence, and positive written and video journaling making decisions self-image. prompts.

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Week 1: Knowing Each Other and Working Together

Primary Goals: • Get to know each other/build community. Youth will walk out knowing: • Everyone’s names (mostly) • That they’re going to get to participate in a super sweet project • You will walk out knowing: o Everyone’s names (mostly) o A sense of what brought youth to the club o A sense of group dynamics

Essential Question(s): • What does it mean to be part of this community and work in a team? • What does designing something with a team look and feel like?

Journaling Question(s): • What brought you here? • What do you want to know? • What is important for someone to know about you?

Map The map will not be introduced this week

Closing Activity Should elicit feedback on why youth came, what they thought.

Agenda Item Why Notes

Framing of the To give youth a sense of Very quick, introduce yourselves, the main idea, vital expectations, Club where we’re going then jump in

Name Game(s) To get to know each other Start with a lower-risk game (both names and who they Second, do one that’s more aimed at getting to know each other are) Choose quick ones! Make use of the garden space so they start to get to know it

Overview of the To orient everyone and Very quick, noting that you will always do this day and questions allow time for questions

Small Group To practice working in - In Fall: Use natural materials from the garden if possible so that Activity: small groups there’s a reason you’re out there A Chair for Bear or To get them excited about - Make it clear that this is a warm up project, and we’re going to another designing something be working on a longer term project (pizza) all together, both in engineering together small groups and in a big group challenge To observe how they work in groups

Closing To gauge why they came You can use this as an opportunity for them to say what they liked, and how they’re feeling what was hard, what they’re looking forward to, etc

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Community Building Activities Decorate Your Pizza • Distribute circular pieces of construction paper and markers or colored pencils • Ask youth “if you were making a pizza that absolutely represented you, what would it look like?” o Clarify that they can draw and/or write words depending on what they’re best at or like best o Push them a little bit to be creative, including the crust, cheese, sauce, as well as toppings. • Have youth glue their pizzas onto the cover or first page of their journals and write their names.

Learning Names:

Ball Toss (From CitySprouts Summer Program Binder) 1. Gather group in a circle 2. Explain that the point of this game is to learn people’s names, as well as work on team communication 3. The first person starts with the ball. S/he looks at the person s/he’s throwing to and says “ Here ______” and tosses the ball. The person catches, thanks the thrower by name, and throws to the next person (looking, using their name). The play continues until everyone has had the ball. 4. Do the same thing, but in reverse order (saying names, making eye contact) 5. All players should have a good sense of the order of the ball toss, so it is time to speed up. If possible, time the first speed round, and ask players what their goal time is. Keep using names and eye contact. Try a few times to achieve goal. What strategies work to speed the toss up? 6. Try the ball toss without using names. Do they speed up or slow down? 7. For more challenging, start the ball toss and as the first ball is going around, bring in a second ball, third, and fourth. 8. As interns how the task has changed. Was it easier to toss multiple balls with verbal communication?

The Great Wall of Friendships 1. Go around and have everyone say their name slowly once. 2. Divide into two teams. Each team stands on one side of a sheet or other large opaque barrier being held up by the teachers. 3. Each team selects one person at a time to crouch behind the sheet. At the count of three, the teachers drop the sheet. 4. As soon as the youth see each other, they race to shout the other person’s name. The winner (person who correctly says the other person’s name first) stays with their team. The loser joins the other team. 5. Repeat, making sure everyone on a given team has a turn at least once before someone goes twice. 6. Game ends when one team has everyone on it, or when you run out of time.

Learning about Each Other: This, That, Neither, Both (From Responsive Classroom) Put a long strip of tape or yarn down the center of your meeting area. Pose a question with two possible answers, ("Do you like to cook or garden?" "Do you like dogs or cats?" "Do you like to go to the library or the park?") Ask the question and have students think about their answer: would they choose one, both, or neither of the answers? Then, everyone moves to show their preference, 6 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

standing on one side of the line to show what they prefer, on the line if they like both options equally, or staying in their spot if they like neither. To wrap up, you might have them briefly chat with someone who made the same choice—or, just take a few seconds to notice where everyone ended up and suggest times to talk about shared interests later.

Commonalities (From Responsive Classroom) Place students in pairs, trying to pair up students who do not know each other well. Give each pair a sheet of paper. Students have 2 minutes to write down as many things they have in common as possible. When pairs have finished, combine them into groups of 4 and give two minutes again, to find commonalities shared by all four people. Repeat until you find at least one thing that the whole group has in common.

Two Truths and Lie (From Everyone Ever) In circle, first student offers two facts and one piece of fiction about themselves. Others raise hand or are called on to identify which were facts, and which were fiction. The correct guesser goes next. Play is completed when all students have gone.

Ice-Breakers/ Getting Comfortable: Zip, Zap, Zoom (From CitySprouts Summer Program Binder) 1. The goal of this game to pass an imaginary relay baton around the group for as long as possible without letting it drop. To make things difficult, the relay baton can only be passed using the instructions "Zip", "Zap" or "Zoom". Zip = pass the relay baton in the same direction of travel. Zap = change the direction of travel of the relay baton. Zoom = jump the relay baton to anybody by keeping eye contact. 2. The group stands in a circle and the relay baton is passed around using the "Zip", "Zap" or "Zoom" instructions. Failing to do so, and the relay baton would fall. The stopwatch would start from zero, and so on.... 3. Passing the relay baton must be with lots of body movement and hand gestures. Obviously the relay baton could travel indefinitely if each person only said, "Zip", however that would be no fun! To prevent this, the facilitator must join in and use the trickier "Zap" and "Zoom" instructions to mix things up and keep energy levels buzzing.

Pterodactyl This game is played in a circle with everyone using their lips to cover their teeth. Play starts clockwise. When it is your turn you have three options: • Say “pterodactyl”, which passes the turn to the next person. • Say “tyrannosaurus rex,” which skips one person (but play passes in the same direction). • Make a “pterodactyl noise” (open to interpretation), which switches the direction of play. If you show your teeth (by laughing too hard), go out of turn, or don’t realize it’s your turn, you’re out.

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A Chair for Bear

Small Groups: Mini Design Challenge • Divide youth into three or four groups. Each group will complete the same challenge • Before breaking up, introduce the word “constraint”. o In designing/creating something, a constraint is something that limits your options. o This is not necessarily a bad thing. Has anyone ever told you “write about anything?” That’s a situation in which you have no constraints-- it can be overwhelming. In design/engineering/cooking, constraints help us define or narrow the challenge. Sometimes this makes it easier to think about and sometimes it makes it more difficult. o For this challenge, we’re giving you some constraints (record these). . Time: you have (probably 5-10) minutes . Materials: whatever you choose to give them

• The challenge: build a chair for your bear. The bear is like your customer, so s/he might have other constraints to add (ask for or give examples of what a customer buying a chair might want or not want).

• Come back together: each group briefly shares what they created, why it’s the best chair ever, and why every bear would want to buy it. o Point out and/or ask youth to point out other constraints that emerged. Record them as you go. . Examples: we wanted to make sure the bear didn’t flop over, we wanted armrests, our bear said it has a bad back

• Connect it to pizza (IF TIME). Next week we’re going to start tasting and choosing recipes for our pizza. We have a list of things that kind of answer “what makes for the best chair we can make for bear?” Now let’s start to brainstorm what will make the best pizza we can make for ourselves? o Include real constraints imposed from your setting (time, budget, etc) o Include tastes and desires of youth (thin crust, deep dish) o Stress that it’s okay for some to contradict each other right now, but we’ll have to agree/compromise eventually • However far you get, keep your list for next week.

• Other design challenges can be found at: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/

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Why Teach Engineering and Design?

From Engineering is Elementary (a program of the Museum of Science, Boston) If you’ve ever watched children at play, you know they’re fascinated with building things—and with taking things apart to see how they work. In other words, children are natural-born engineers. When children engineer in a school setting, research suggests several positive results:

Building Science and Math Skills Engineering calls for children to apply what they know about science and math—and their learning is enhanced as a result. At the same time, because engineering activities are based on real-world technologies and problems, they help children see how disciplines like math and science are relevant to their lives.

Classroom Equity-- Research suggests engineering activities help build classroom equity. The engineering design process removes the stigma from failure; instead, failure is an important part of the problem-solving process and a positive way to learn. Equally important, in engineering there’s no single “right” answer; one problem can have many solutions. When classroom instruction includes engineering, all students can see themselves as successful.

21st Century Skills-- Hands-on, project-based learning is the essence of engineering. As groups of students work together to answer questions like “How large should I make the canopy of this parachute?” or “What material should I use for the blades of my windmill?” they collaborate, think critically and creatively, and communicate with one another.

Career Success-- Classroom engineering activities often require students to work in teams where they must collaborate and communicate effectively. In the 21st century, these skills will be critical for career success in any field. Research also shows that when engineering is part of elementary instruction, students become more aware of the diverse opportunities for engineering, science, and technical careers—and they are more likely to see these careers as options they could choose. This finding is important at a time when the number of American college students pursuing engineering education is decreasing. Early introduction to engineering can encourage many capable students—but especially girls and minorities—to consider engineering as a career and take the necessary science and math courses in high school.

Engaged Citizens-- Finally, consider some of our nation’s most pressing policy issues—energy, healthcare, the environment. Engineering and technological literacy will be critical for all American citizens to make informed decisions in the 21st century.

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What Does the Engineering Design Process Look Like?

It looks messy! There are lots of nice diagrams out there, but if you’re really doing what engineers and scientists do, it won’t follow a neat path.

From Engineering Buddies This process is different from the Steps of the Scientific Method, which you may be more familiar with and is more linear. If your project involves designing, building, and testing something, you should probably follow the Engineering Design Process.

The steps of the engineering design process are to: • Define the Problem: The engineering design process starts when you ask the following questions about problems that you observe: o What is the problem or need? o Who has the problem or need? o Why is it important to solve? o [Who] need(s) [what] because [why]. • Do Background Research: Learn from the experiences of others — this can help you find out about existing solutions to similar problems, and avoid mistakes that were made in the past. So, for an engineering design project, do background research in two major areas: Users or customers and Existing solutions • Specify Requirements: Design requirements state the important characteristics that your solution must meet to succeed. • Brainstorm Solutions: There are always many good possibilities for solving design problems. Good designers try to generate as many possible solutions as they can. • Choose the Best Solution: Look at whether each possible solution meets your design requirements. Some solutions probably meet more requirements than others. Reject solutions that do not meet the requirements. • Do Development Work: Development involves the refinement and improvement of a solution, and it continues throughout the design process, often even after a product ships to customers. • Build a Prototype: A prototype is an operating version of a solution. Often it is made with different materials than the final version, and generally it is not as polished. Prototypes are a key step in the development of a final solution, allowing the designer to test how the solution will work. • Test and Redesign: The design process involves multiple iterations and redesigns of your final solution. You will likely test your solution, find new problems, make changes, and test new solutions before settling on a final design. • Communicate Results: To complete your project, communicate your results to others in a final report and/or a display board. Professional engineers always document their solutions so that they can be manufactured and supported.

• Engineers do not always follow the engineering design process steps in order, one after another. It is very common to design something, test it, find a problem, and then go back to an earlier step to make a modification or change to your design. This way of working is called iteration, and it is likely that your process will do the same!

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What is the challenge? What are the limits? How can you solve it? Think up lots of ideas. Pick one and make a plan. Make a drawing or a model.

Explore

Find out what others have done. Gather materials and play with them.

Try It Out

!

www.theworks.org 11 CitySprouts Middle School OST!"#$%%"&'(")*+,- Curriculum

Week 2: Ground Rules and Skill Building: Measuring

Primary Goals: • Youth will use measuring skills to make enough dough for the whole group • Youth will see an example of the plant that wheat comes from • Establish rules and expectations

Essential Question(s): • What agreements do we need to come to in order to be successful together in our project, to be safe, etc?

Journaling Question(s): • What do you need in order to be successful/feel safe doing ______?

Map: The map should be a station/activity today, and decomposers should be on it by the end.

Closing Activity: Review agreements and sign them

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Snack time and snack So we can try multiple Have snack out when they arrive rating explanation veggies and decide which As youth enter, have them taste we like best for our pizza the snack and use the rating chart topping

Overview of the day and To orient everyone and questions allow time for questions

Stations: To make the dough! These three activities could be set • Examine and To practice measuring up/divided in several ways. grind wheat To give some youth an Things to think about: • Brainstorm opportunity to be leaders • Should every group make Agreements its own dough or should • Make Dough each group add something to the dough? • Are youth multiplying the dough recipe or will you do that ahead of time?

Closing- Review your For buy in and getting Hang them in a visible place and agreements and sign everyone on the same page refer back to them often them about expectations

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Week 2 Activity

Two Stations (15 minutes each)

Grind Wheat/ Brainstorm Expectations Show youth what wheat plant looks like, maybe where it is in the garden if it’s there. Have them harvest some wheat berries and grind them into flour, cool, flour!! With a small group, brainstorm agreements based on the prompt “we’re going to be using cooking tools and heat, working on a project together, and having group conversations. What do we need to agree on together to make this a safe and productive and fun experience?”

Making Dough Decide ahead of time which recipe you will use and read it thoroughly Divide up the recipe task: Do you want each group to do the whole thing or do you want each group to do part of it as they rotate through? Kneading could be left for you to do afterwards, or for a few youth to do while you’re closing (maybe they need more movement) Try to get everyone a chance to measure something If you feel comfortable, this could be the station that does not have an adult-- one or two youth could be the captains of the recipe.

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Community Contracts Resource Guide

When setting ground rules for discussion you can choose to start with some and have youth add, or build them all as a community.

General Tips for Rule Creation/Limit Setting (Adapted From Scholastic): • Offer reasons for rules. • Keep it short! • Be very clear. Most of the time having some limits makes people feel safer. Shying away from setting limits or setting them but not following up will erode trust much more than setting a limit that might make a young person feel upset at you in the moment. • Brainstorm! As problems arise, ask youth to look at possible solutions, and vote to create and try out a new rule. Revisit the rules from time to time. Rules do not have to be fixed forever. • Acknowledge youth’s feelings. • Frame rules in positive ways. Instead of saying, "Do not run inside," say, "Walk inside." Be respectful of behaviors and abilities. Assume they will do something (clean up after themselves) before you create a lot of rules about tasks. • Be consistent. If you set a rule, enforce it in a logical and fair way but always enforce it. If you don’t think you’ll want/be able to enforce something maybe it shouldn’t be a rule

Setting Rules/Limits Together (Adapted from McGraw Hill) Decide whether you want to have this whole conversation as a large group, or start in smaller groups or individually. Keep in mind that some students will feel more comfortable being honest if they can respond anonymously. At the same time part of the goal of this activity is to build trust. Some prompting questions that can be helpful in getting youth to think about both why limits are helpful and what they should be include: • Describe an environment or setting in which you can feel comfortable and take risks. • What are you hoping to get out of this club? • What are some goals you would like to set for yourself in this club? • What kinds of rules or limitations would you need in this club to be able to accomplish your goals, feel safe, learn what you’re hoping to learn, etc?

Examples of Ground Rules for Discussion From Straightlaced • Be an active and respectful listener • Assume the best intentions of everyone • Disagree respectfully • Use “I” statements, not generalizations • Keep it confidential and in the room • Everyone has the right to pass or not answer a particular question • Share the air— or Step Up, Step Back

From Advocates for Youth • Respect—Give undivided attention to the person who has the floor (permission to speak). • Confidentiality—What we share in this group will remain in this group. • Openness—We will be as open and honest as possible without disclosing others' (family, neighbors, or friends) personal or private issues. It is okay to discuss situations, but we won't use names or other ID. For example, we won't say, "My older brother …" Instead we will say, "I know someone who …" 14 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

• Right to pass—It is always okay to pass (meaning "I'd rather not" or "I don't want to answer"). • Nonjudgmental approach—We can disagree with another person's point of view without putting that person down. • Taking care to claim our opinions—We will speak our opinions using the first person and avoid using 'you'. For example, " I think that kindness is important." Not, " You are just mean." • Sensitivity to diversity—We will remember that people in the group may differ in cultural background, sexual orientation, and/or gender identity or gender expression and will be careful about making insensitive or careless remarks. • Anonymity—It is okay to ask any question by using the suggestion box. • Acceptance—It is okay to feel uncomfortable; adults feel uncomfortable, too, when they talk about sensitive and personal topics, such as sexuality. • Have a good time—It is okay to have a good time. Creating a safe space is about coming together as a community, being mutually supportive, and enjoying each other's qualities.

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Dough Recipes

Deep Dish (From Sally’s Baking Addiction: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/12/31/how-to-make-chicago-style-deep-dish-pizza/)

Ingredients (Makes 2 9inch Pizzas): • 3 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour • ½ cup yellow cornmeal • 1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt • 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar • 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Red Star Platinum yeast (1 standard packet) • 1 and 1/4 cups slightly warm water • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided (1/4 cup melted, 1/4 cup softened) • Olive oil for coating

Directions: 1. Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, and yeast in a very large bowl. 2. Give those ingredients a quick toss with a large wooden spoon. Add the warm water and 1/4 cup of melted butter. The warm water should be around 90F degrees. Make sure it is not very, very hot or it will kill the yeast. Likewise, make sure the butter isn't boiling hot. If you melt it in the microwave, let it sit for 5 minutes before adding. 3. Stir the dough ingredients until everything begins to be moistened. Continuing kneading by hand until it is soft and supple and gently pulls away from the sides of the bowl about 4-5 minutes. If the dough is too hard (it will be textured from the cornmeal), but if it feels too tough, beat in a teaspoon of warm water. Alternatively, if it feels too soft, beat in a Tablespoon of flour. 4. Remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball. Lightly grease a large mixing bowl with olive oil and place the dough inside, turning it around so that all sides of the dough are coated in the oil. Cover the bowl tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rise in a warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size. For this warm environment, here is what I do: Preheat oven to 250F degrees. Once 250F degrees, turn oven off. Place bowl inside. Close the oven. The lingering heat will help your dough rise. This is especially ideal on cold winter days.

FREEZING AND MAKE AHEAD: Dough may be prepared through this step. In the last part of this step, the dough needs to rise in the refrigerator for 1 hour. You may freeze the pizza doughs after preparing them through step 4, and instead of allowing to rise in the refrigerator, simply freeze for up to 2 months. Then, allow the doughs to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to rise at room temperature for 1 hour before continuing with the next step. • Once the dough is ready, lightly flour a large work surface. Remove dough from the bowl, set the bowl and aluminum foil aside (to use later). Gently punch down the dough to remove any air bubbles and roll the dough into a large 15x12 rectangle. Spread 1/4 cup of softened butter on top of the dough. Roll it up lengthwise per the photos below. Cut the dough log in half. Form the two pieces of dough into balls and place back into your greased bowl. Cover with aluminum foil and allow to rise in the refrigerator (not in a warm place) for 1 hour until they are puffy as you make the sauce.

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Thin Crust (Makes 2 12-inch pizzas) (http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-homemade-thin-crust-pizza-recipes-from-the-kitchn-45499)

Ingredients: • 3/4 cups (6 ounces) lukewarm water • 1 teaspoon active-dry or instant yeast • 2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions: • Combine the water and yeast in a mixing bowl, and stir to dissolve the yeast. The mixture should look like thin miso soup. Add the flour and salt to the bowl and mix until you've formed shaggy dough. • Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface along with any loose flour still in the bowl. Knead until all the flour is incorporated, and the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. The dough should still feel moist and slightly tacky. If it's sticking to your hands and counter-top like bubble gum, work in more flour one tablespoon at a time until it is smooth. • If you have time at this point, you can let the dough rise until you need it or until doubled in bulk (about an hour and a half). After rising, you can use the dough, refrigerate it for up to three days, or freeze it. • When ready to make the pizza, tear off two pieces of parchment paper roughly 12-inches wide. Divide the dough in two with a bench scraper. Working with one piece of the dough at a time, form it into a large disk with your hands and lay it on the parchment paper. • Work from the middle of the dough outwards, using the heel of your hand to gently press and stretch the dough until it's about 1/4 of an inch thick or less. For an extra-thin crust, roll it with a rolling pin. If the dough starts to shrink back, let it rest for five minutes and then continue rolling. • The dough will stick to the parchment paper, making it easier for you to roll out, and the pizza is baked while still on the parchment. As it cooks, the dough will release from the parchment, and you can slide the paper out midway through cooking.

Whole Wheat (Makes 2 12-inch pizzas) From http://cookingmatters.org/recipes/whole-wheat-pizza-dough Ingredients 1 cup warm water 1 package active dry yeast (2½ teaspoons) 1½ cups whole wheat flour 2 Tablespoons canola or olive oil ½ teaspoon salt 1¼ to 1½ cups all-purpose flour Non-stick cooking spray

In a large bowl, add water, yeast, and whole wheat flour. Mix well. Add oil, salt, and 1¼ cups all-purpose flour. Mix well. If dough is very sticky, add remaining ¼ cup all-purpose flour. Blend until dough holds its shape. Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Knead by pushing down and forward on the dough with the palms of your hands. Fold dough over onto itself. Push down and forward again.

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Spray large bowl with non-stick cooking spray. Add dough. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature to rest and soften, about 30–60 minutes. When dough is soft and supple, remove from bowl. Knead again for 1–2 minutes. Divide evenly into 2 balls. If you only want to make one pizza, or if you plan to make the pizza another time, save one or both dough balls for later use. Store dough in a lightly oiled zip-top plastic bag for up to 2 days in the refrigerator or 1 month in the freezer. Defrost frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight. Let refrigerated dough come to room temperature on the counter before using.

Regular Old White Pizza Dough (Makes 2 12-inch pizzas) from NYTimes.com

Ingredients 1. 306 grams flour (2 cups plus 2 tablespoons) 2. 8 grams sea salt (1 teaspoon) 3. 2 grams active dry yeast (¾ teaspoon) 4. 4 grams olive oil (1 teaspoon) Directions 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt 2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together 200 grams (about 1 cup) lukewarm tap water, yeast, and olive oil, then pour it into the flour mixture. 3. Knead with your hands until well combined, approximately 3 minutes, then let the mixture rest for 15 minutes 4. Knead the dough for 3 more minutes. 5. Cut into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on a heavily floured surface, cover with dampened cloth, and let rise for 3-4 hours at room temperature or for 8-24 hours in the refrigerator. 6. If you are not using it right away, you can freeze the dough in a sealed plastic bag for up to a month. 7. When you are ready to make the pizza let it get back to room temperature and sit for 30- 45 minutes. 8. Place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds or squares. Top and bake.

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Week 3: Our Role and Our Tastes

Primary Goals: 1. Youth taste tomatoes that come from the garden and from far away 2. Youth leave thinking about the source of their tomatoes

Essential Question(s): 1. Where do we get our tomatoes? 2. How do humans play a role growing them?

Map • Map (either on paper or just physically using youth) the source of your tomatoes today

Closing Activity • Watch a video clip about tomato growers in the U.S. and ask for some kind of response as an exit ticket (a question, something that’s sticking with them, etc). • Or, play a more active game • Or, do a quick go around about their thoughts on tomatoes

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Snack time and snack So we can try multiple veggies Use the same poster as last rating explanation and decide which we like best for week, building each week. our pizza topping Remind youth of the expectations

Overview of the day To orient everyone and allow and questions time for questions

Intro activity (game) To keep getting comfortable with -Do something more active, each other and to move around since not everyone will move around a lot during the Life of a Tomato.

Main Activity: Life of To practice the skill of modeling -Choose your most energetic kid a Tomato, Map, and and create opportunities for to be the jumper Taste Test youth to see week to week - Choose a kid who might need connections some extra focus to record To get youth thinking about how their choices affect themselves and others

Closing: Video Clip Closure and Exit Ticket To zoom in on the real people involved in this process

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Modifications on Life of a Tomato

The main activity this week is a modified version of The Life of a Tomato, originally created by Vermont FEED. The original version is attached for reference. We’re adding a mapping element and a taste testing element. We’re also replacing ketchup with tomato sauce to make it more pizza-related.

Topics: Just and sustainable food system, local and nonlocal food systems Grade Level: upper elementary to high school Time: 30-45 minutes

Objectives: Students will be able to: • Define a food system • Identify one difference between local and nonlocal food systems

Materials • Cards labeled farmer, trucker, tomato, consumer, grocer, factory worker, and packager • Garden tomatoes (enough for everyone to taste. If they get to pick them, even better) • Store bought tomatoes, preferably from far away (enough for everyone to taste) • Tomato Sauce and something to dip in it • Poster Paper • Markers • 10 dimes

Procedure:

Intro (3-5 minutes) • Shout out a brainstorm: What is a food system? If that’s not getting anywhere start with what might be part of the food system. Who/what are all the people and other living things involved in getting our food to us? • Have a youth (or leader) record responses on a piece of chart paper • Acknowledge that the food system is complicated. When we want to get a better understanding of a complicated system and can’t really get outside of it, we sometimes model it. Scientists use models to make predictions, test theories, see how things might change, etc E.g.: Computer models to predict the weather.

Part 1 1. Choose volunteers to be a tomato, a farmer, and a consumer. Give each the card with their roles on it

2. Line them up and tell them that the consumer is buying tomatoes at the downtown farmers market. 3. The consumer gives the farmer 10 dimes for the “direct market transaction.” 4. The tomato does two jumping jacks to represent the energy it takes for the farmer to grow the food and bring it to the farmers market. 5. Everyone gets to taste the local (our garden) tomatoes.

Part 2 1. Now explain it is the middle of winter and the consumer wants to buy tomatoes. 2. He/she goes to the grocery store to buy them. 3. The farmer now becomes a farmer from South America. 20 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

4. Ask for more volunteers to be a trucker and a grocer. 5. Have them get in a line of the order that the food travels. 6. Consumer gives grocer 10 dimes, tomato does 5 jumping jacks. 7. Grocer gives trucker 50 cents, tomato does 25 jumping jacks to get South America to here. 8. Trucker gives farmer 30 cents, tomato does 2 jumping jacks. 9. Have each person tell the group how much money they have. Let responses flow. You might prompt them by asking if they think it’s fair, how they feel, etc. Or you might wait until the end. 10. Everyone tastes the not local tomato. How is it? Any differences?

Part 3 1. Now the consumer wants tomato sauce for our pizza and goes to the grocery store to buy it. 2. Get more volunteers to be packager, factory worker, and second trucker. 3. Ask students to once again line up in the order the tomato would travel. 4. Consumer gives grocer ten dimes, tomato does 5 jumping jacks. 5. Grocer gives trucker 60 cents, 10 jumping jacks. 6. Trucker gives packager 40 cents, 15 jumping jacks. 7. Packager gives factory 30 cents, 20 jumping jacks. 8. Factory gives other trucker 20 cents, 15 jumping jacks. 9. Trucker gives farmer 10 cents, 2 jumping jacks. 10. Have each person tell the group how much money they have.

Start a discussion with students about the food system and the different scenarios presented.

• What did it feel like to be the farmer, the grocer, etc in each situation? • Do we need to add anything else to our food system map? • Models are never perfect. Was anything or anyone missing from our model? • Once you and the youth are satisfied that your poster paper lists everyone involved in getting the sauce to us, open up and taste the sauce! While snacking, poll them informally about how the different tomatoes and the sauce compared

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Week 3 Resources

Introducing Systems The following tools can help introduce the idea of a system. Use the word “system” as much as possible.

1. Moving Parts (From CitySprouts Summer Program Binder) • This is a good game to do as you begin to introduce the concept of a system and how the numerous components that make up a system affect one another. • Have everyone stand within a given area and remain stationary until you say, “go.” Prior to saying, “go”, each person selects two people to remain equidistant from (without telling anyone). Once you say, “go”, each person will begin to move their position as they attempt to stay equidistant from the two people they have selected. Note: you do not have to be between your two people, just the same distance away from both of them. • Use your best judgment on how long to let this activity go for. It is usually best to allow for at least 1 or 2 minutes (as long as it’s not complete chaos), and on rare occasions the “system” can stabilize if everyone becomes equidistant from the two people they selected.

• Follow-up this activity with a discussion about how a change to one piece of a system can affect the entire system. What happens when one person moves? Who is affected? In the ecosystem, what happens if one thing goes away (mosquitoes are a good example because everyone thinks they want them to go away)? What happens if we suddenly have way less land for growing food?

2. Film Clips (From Children’s Aide Society Food Justice Curriculum) • One option for introducing the idea of systems is to show one or more of these videos, which help illustrate how different people within the food system are connected to each other. • The Harvest Film Trailer (about 2 minutes, http://theharvestfilm.com) o Trailer for a documentary about children who are farm laborers in the U.S. o Kids featured are around middle school age • A Tale of Two Thanksgivings (2 minutes, http://ciw-online.org/media) o Would require a brief intro o Touches on multiple groups of people in the food system o You could talk over it if necessary. It moves fast • One Penny More (2 minutes, http://ciw-online.org/media ) o Also would need a slight intro o Shows multiple people in the food system (farmworkers, companies they work for, grocery stores, grocery store workers) Using Tomatoes as a Launching Point for Food Justice

The word “producer” has multiple definitions in the context of our food and ecosystems. In the ecosystem, it has a scientific definition. In the food system, we also use the word “producer” to talk about the people who grow our produce.

Tomato plants are our way into talking about ecological “producers”. They gather energy from the sun and convert it into something delicious. Tomatoes have also become a powerful symbol in our nation’s conversation about the people who produce our food. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has made amazing strides in organizing farm workers and pressuring powerful forces within the food system to compensate human “producers” more fairly for their work. Their Campaign for Fair Food asks food retailers such as grocery stores and fast food chains to pay an 22 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

extra penny per pound of tomatoes to go directly to farm workers. Their website provides a wealth of information, resources, and film clips of middle-school attention span length about food worker justice, and the organization was recently featured in a documentary called Food Chains.

Background about CIW (Slightly adapted from their website, www.ciw-online.org): The CIW began organizing in 1993 as a small group of workers meeting weekly in a local church to discuss how to better their community and their lives. Combining three community-wide work stoppages with intense public pressure – including an unprecedented month-long hunger strike by six members in 1998 and an historic 234-mile march from Ft. Myers to Orlando in 2000 – the CIW’s early organizing ended over twenty years of declining wages in the tomato industry.

By 1998, farmworkers had won industry-wide raises of 13-25% (translating into several million dollars annually for the community in increased wages) and a new-found political and social respect from the outside world. Those raises brought the tomato picking piece rate back to pre- 1980 levels (the piece rate had fallen below those levels over the course of the intervening two decades), but wages remained below poverty level and continuing improvement was slow in coming.

While continuing to organize for fairer wages, the CIW also turned its attention to attacking involuntary servitude. Over the past 15 years, 9 major investigations and federal prosecutions have freed over 1,200 Florida farmworkers from captivity and forced labor, leading one US Attorney to call these fields “ground zero for modern slavery.” The CIW was key in the discovery, investigation, and prosecution of seven of those operations. Through these efforts, they helped pioneer anti-trafficking work in the US, contributing to the formation of the Department of Justice Anti-Trafficking Unit and the passage of the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000.

In 2001, having won some wage increases for Florida tomato pickers and investigated some of the country’s earliest cases of modern-day slavery, the CIW did a deep analysis of the industry to understand where the power to make true systemic change resided. It became clear that the corporate food industry as a whole – companies such as current campaign targets Kroger, Publix, and Ahold USA – purchased a tremendous volume of fruits and vegetables, leveraging its buying power to demand the lowest possible prices from its suppliers, in turn exerting a powerful downward pressure on wages and working conditions in these suppliers’ operations.

With this realization, the Coalition turned a new page in their organizing, launching the first-ever farmworker boycott of a major fast-food company – the national boycott of Taco Bell – calling on the fast-food giant to take responsibility for human rights abuses in the fields where its produce is grown and picked. In March 2005 Taco Bell agreed to meet all of the CIW’s demands to improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers in its supply chain.

Following the successful conclusion of the Taco Bell boycott, the national network of allies that had helped carry that campaign to victory consolidated into key allies organizations, the Student/Farmworker Alliance and Interfaith Action. The Fair Food ally organizations became a powerful new voice for the respect of human rights in this country’s food industry and for an end to the relentless exploitation of Florida’s farmworkers. In April of 2007 the Campaign for Fair Food took an important new step forward. McDonald’s and the CIW reached a landmark accord that met and expanded the standards set in the Taco Bell agreement. Over the next seven years and through many long conversations, protests, boycotts, and collaborations with other ally organizations, the following companies signed onto Fair Food Agreements: 23 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

• Burger King • Aramark Sodexo • Whole Foods • Trader Joe’s • Subway • Chipotle Mexican Grill. • Bon Appétit Management Co. • Walmart • Compass Group • The Fresh Market

Amidst the growing power of the Campaign for Fair Food, the CIW also continued the fight against modern-day slavery. One of the most recent prosecuted slavery cases to date was U.S. vs. Navarrete (2008), involving dozens of tomato pickers from Florida up to South Carolina. The case, a stark reminder of the work left to be done, was centered around the abuses of the Navarrete family, who “plead guilty to beating, threatening, restraining, and locking workers in trucks to force them to work as agricultural laborers.” Just two years later in 2010, the CIW’s extraordinary work in this case as well as the many others in agriculture; the U.S. Department of State awarded the CIW’s Laura Germino with the Trafficking in Persons Hero award. Ambassador Lou CdeBaca cited the CIW as the “pioneer” of the unique multi-sectoral approach to fighting modern-day slavery, “tapping NGO’s, law enforcement, labor inspectors, and the survivors themselves” to address the issue.

In late 2010, the CIW signed a groundbreaking agreement with the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange to extend the CIW’s Fair Food principles – including a strict code of conduct, a cooperative complaint resolution system, a participatory health and safety program, and a worker-to-worker education process – to over 90% of the Florida tomato industry. This watershed moment ended a 15-year impasse and was hailed in the New York Times as “possibly the most successful labor action in the US in 20 years.” With that agreement, the Fair Food Program was born. Today, bolstered by the independent auditing and oversight of the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC), the Fair Food Program – which emerged from the successful Campaign for Fair Food and seeks to affirm the human rights of tomato workers and improve the conditions under which they labor – has begun an unprecedented transformation of farm labor conditions in Florida’s fields.

Millions of additional dollars are flowing into the industry each year from participating buyers, to be passed on by the growers to their workers to increase wages, with $10 million paid into the Program in the first three seasons alone. Audits are revealing and addressing systemic weaknesses that in the past led to worker abuse. Workers receive ongoing education from the CIW – on the farm and on the clock – about their new-found rights and responsibilities under the Program. And complaints from the fields are investigated and resolved by the FFSC. In January 2014, Wal-Mart and the CIW signed a historic agreement for the world’s largest retailer to join the Fair Food Program.

As part of the agreement, Wal-Mart will work with the CIW to expand the Fair Food Program beyond Florida and into “other crops beyond tomatoes in its produce supply chain.” But the pace, depth, and sustainability of this transformation will ultimately depend on the participation of all the major purchasers of Florida’s tomatoes. Despite widespread support for the innovative, collaborative solution at the heart of the Fair Food Program, the supermarket industry (with the notable exceptions of Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s) has yet to do its part, and is thus the one remaining obstacle in the way of long-awaited, sustainable change in the fields.

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The Life of a Tomato Lesson

Topics: Just and sustainable food system, local and nonlocal food systems

Grade Level: upper elementary to high school

Time: 30-45 minutes

Objectives: Students will be able to: -Define a food system -Describe a just and sustainable food system -Identify one difference between local and nonlocal food systems

Materials • Ten dimes • Cards labeled farmer, trucker, tomato, consumer, grocer, factory worker, and packager • 8+ participants • A real or plastic tomato • White board • Dry erase marker

Procedure Brainstorm about the PFP purpose: What is a just and sustainable food system? Write words on board/flip chart, have students brainstorm the meanings

• Food System: the system in which our food is produced, processed, distributed, and purchased; the steps and people involved with growing, transporting, selling, and obtaining food; includes farmers, farm workers, distributors, packers, truckers, sellers, and eaters

• Just: access for all regardless of income level, race, location; safe working conditions, healthy and fair working conditions

• Sustainable: healthy for people and the planet now and in the future, healthy for workers and eaters and the environment

Part One • Choose volunteers to be a tomato, a farmer, and a consumer. Give each the card with their roles on it. • Line them up and tell them that the consumer is buying tomatoes at the downtown farmers market. • The consumer gives the farmer 10 dimes for the “direct market transaction.” • The tomato does two jumping jacks to represent the energy it takes for the farmer to grow the food and bring it to the farmers market.

Part Two • Now explain it is the middle of winter and the consumer wants to buy tomatoes. • He/she goes to the grocery store to buy them. • The farmer now becomes a farmer from South America. • Ask for more volunteers to be a trucker and a grocer. • Have them get in a line of the order that the food travels. 25 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

• Consumer gives grocer 10 dimes, tomato does 5 jumping jacks. • Grocer gives trucker 50 cents, tomato does 25 jumping jacks to get South America to here. • Trucker gives farmer 30 cents, tomato does 2 jumping jacks. • Have each person tell the group how much money they have.

Part Three • Now the consumer wants ketchup and goes to the grocery store to buy it. • Get more volunteers to be packager, factory worker, and second trucker. • Ask students to once again line up in the order the tomato would travel. • Consumer gives grocer ten dimes, tomato does 5 jumping jacks. • Grocer gives trucker 60 cents, 10 jumping jacks. • Trucker gives packager 40 cents, 15 jumping jacks. • Packager gives factory 30 cents, 20 jumping jacks. • Factory gives other trucker 20 cents, 15 jumping jacks. • Trucker gives farmer 10 cents, 2 jumping jacks. • Have each person tell the group how much money they have.

Discussion Start a discussion with students about the food system and the different scenarios presented. • How did it feel to be the farmer in each situation? • What was the difference between buying the local versus buying the South American tomato for the consumer, the farmer, the tomato? • Which scenario was more sustainable? Which was more just? • What does this say about eating from a local food source/local food system? • What about a global food system? • What does this say about eating seasonally? • Describe the difference in energy use between the first and last scenarios. • What are other issues to consider in local vs. global?

Evaluation: Have each participant respond to at least one question based on one of the objectives. Record the number of participants who were able to respond accurately and the number of participants who were not able to respond accurately.

Adapted from Vermont FEED workshop at National Farm to Cafeteria Conference, May 2010

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Week 4: Doing Science with Milk

Primary Goals: • Youth taste milk and/or cheese that comes from grass fed and conventional cows. • Youth leave thinking about the source of their dairy

Essential Question(s): • Where do we get our milk? • How is butter made?

Map 1. Map the source of your milk today

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Snack time and So we can try multiple veggies snack rating and decide which we like best for explanation our pizza topping

Overview of the day To orient everyone and allow and questions time for questions

Intro activity: Milk To give youth a chance to make Set it up like a fancy wine and and Cheese Tasting close observations and cheese tasting. comparisons Get in character! Because tasting cheese and milk is fun

Main Activity: To do some science that you can Making Butter as eat Science To make predictions and comparisons To get youth thinking about where milk products come from

Closing: Quick go- Closure and/or reflection on the Examples: What’s your favorite around day’s activities dairy product? What would your next experiment be if you wanted to figure out more about butter? What’s a question you’re leaving with?

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Week 4 Activity

Adapted from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-shaking-butter/

Background on Butter Butter is an ancient prepared food, having been made by people at least 4,000 years ago. Some of the earliest known recipes for making butter call for the use of a container made from animal skin. The skin would be sewed together tightly, leaving a small opening through which to add fatty milk or cream. The vessel would then be suspended, such as from wooden poles, and swung until butter formed. For the last century, however, most butter has been produced in factories.

One traditional butter-making process begins with making cream. When whole milk sits out, tiny fat molecules float to the top, forming a layer of cream that can be skimmed and collected. To make butter, the cream is agitated (stirred up) so that the fat molecules get shaken out of position and clump together. Eventually, after enough agitation, the fat molecules clump so much that butter forms. When this happens, the fat molecules have clearly separated from the liquid in the cream, and this liquid can be removed and made into buttermilk.

More Background on Cheese and Dairy • http://www.examiner.com/article/cheese-101-who-invented-cheese • http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/0/20695015

Making Butter as Science • Start by asking if anyone knows how butter is made or has tried making it before. • Explain that you have some cream that has been sitting out for about 5 hours and some that is cold, just out of the fridge. We’re going to shake both up, mimicking a butter churn, and see what happens. • Ask youth to make predictions (you could do this out loud, write them on the board, have youth pair share, have them journal, etc) about what will happen and/or how they might be different. • Take volunteers to shake the two jars. Maybe start a timer when you start shaking, so you can see how long it takes to make cream. You will probably need to pass the jars around because youth will get tired. As they shake do some combination of the following: o Continue making observations, comparisons, and predictions about what’s going on in the jars: . Do they feel different? . What do you think is happening at the molecular level? . What do you think is in the liquid that’s forming, versus in the solid? . Why do you think the two temperatures are different? . You might have youth draw or represent what they think is happening in some other way. o Lightly facilitate a conversation about dairy history/culture: . How do you think people figured out how to make butter? . What about cheese? Do you know how it’s made? . What’s the difference between milk and cream? . Do you do anything like this at home? . Do you know anyone who’s lactose intolerant? Most people in the world lose the ability to process lactose after they stop getting milk from their mothers. How/why do you think some cultures evolved the ability to keep drinking milk? Why would they keep drinking it if it made them sick? 28 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

. Different cultures around the world do all kinds of things to make milk last longer (cheese, yogurt, kefir, etc). Do you know of any cool ones either from your own family or something else? o Add milk and/or cheese to your tomato map . How does the cheese for our pizza get to use? Who are all the people/ living things involved? . What do cows eat? How do they make milk? . Watch one or more video clips if they’re relevant • Shaking could take 5-20 minutes. Once you have shaken the jar enough, the liquid (buttermilk) will separate from the butter. The butter will be a pale yellow lump. You'll probably hear the lump hitting the sides of the jar as you shake it. When the butter and liquid separate, stop shaking the jar and stop the stopwatch. Note: the cold cream may just turn to whipped cream. • Carefully pour the liquid out of the jar. You can store the liquid and use it as buttermilk for other recipes. • Remove the lump of butter from the jar and place it in a bowl of cold water. Gently knead the butter to remove any extra liquid. Use your fingers to drain the liquid from the bowl. Rinse the butter two more times in this way. (If the liquid is not removed, the butter will go rancid faster). • Taste the butter (you may want to add a bit of salt) and the buttermilk with youth. You could plan to send a bit home with each of them (if you want to do this, bring containers). • As you eat, look back at your predictions and at the two products (butter and buttermilk). Pair share or discuss in small groups or a whole group: o What do you think happened to the cream? o How did shaking turn it into butter? o Why do you think it took longer for the cold cream to separate?

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Resources for Week 4

Food Justice

Similarly to with producers, the word “consumer” has multiple meanings. In the context of the ecosystem it has a very specific scientific definition. In the context of the food system, it gets at the people who eat, but do not necessarily have a hand in making/growing, the food. On our theme of autonomy and power, we as consumers have some power to make choices about what we consumer. In other senses/settings we have less power, or more restricted choices. This can be a result of income, of position in the family (as young people we might not do the shopping), or of what is available where we live.

You can use these dual definitions of “consumer” to launch a conversation about decision making. And/or you can ground this conversation in cows and milk to make it more concrete. Below are some resources about how cows turn grass into milk, and what happens when they’re forced to eat something other than grass.

Videos about Cows • 1.5 minutes on grass fed beef from the Food Network o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oV4LYdZPog • How does Cows Eat (1.5 minutes) o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QreiLGm89Qc o Focused on how rumination work o A little bit of a commercial for Organic Valley • How do cows turn grass to milk? o 2:03 (British narrator) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGnTJQed1t0 o 1:35 (New Zealand Cow Narrator) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQh- J3QbJnQ • Comparison of corn and grass fed cows (3:29) o Shows images of both o Talks about the money behind it o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_pLy7Gjlww • 15 minute clip from Food Inc about E. Coli and factory farming o Shows actual stomachs, wouldn’t show the whole thing o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3L7lcMTELg

Background Information on Consumers and Cows (From: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/ecology-consumer-definition-lesson-quiz.html)

What are Consumers? The dictionary defines a consumer as 'one who acquires goods and services.' While this explanation is more of a description for how people buy and use products, it also relates to the animal kingdom. Consumers are those organisms that eat other things. They may eat plants or they may eat animals. Either way, consumers get their energy not from making it themselves, but from eating other organisms.

Primary Consumers In a food chain, the first step after the producers are the primary consumers. Also called herbivores, these are the animals that eat producers. They range in size from the smallest of insects, such as the leaf beetle to the largest land mammal, the elephant. Cows are an example of a primary consumer. They are evolved to eat grass (though we often feed them other things). 30 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

They convert the energy in the grass into forms that humans, who cannot easily digest grass, can access. We get this energy in two ways: from their meat and from their milk. See below for more detail on how cows digest grass.

What They Eat Primary consumers get their energy from eating plants and algae directly. Some of them have large, dull, flat teeth to help them grind and chew plant matter. Many also have special bacteria living within their intestines to help them break down cellulose.

Insects are the most numerous primary consumers on Earth. They are well adapted for getting their energy from the parts of the plant they eat. Some, like the grasshopper, eat the entire plant. Caterpillars, on the other hand, eat just the leaves. There are also certain beetles that bore into the stem of the plant and just eat the fibers that make it up. There are other insects that eat just the roots.

Key Items about Consumers • Consumers differ from producers in that they cannot create their own energy • They depend on producers for energy • Consumers can be herbivores, omnivores, or carnivores. • Herbivores are also known as “primary consumers”

More on Cows (From: https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/400/400-010/400-010_pdf.pdf) The four compartments of the cattle stomach are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. The rumen is the largest compartment, and it contains billions of bacteria, protozoa, molds, and yeasts (decomposers!). These microorganisms live in a symbiotic manner with the cow, and they are the reason cattle can eat and digest large amounts of roughage. The rumen microorganisms are adaptable enough that cattle can digest a large variety of feeds from grass, hay, and corn to brewer’s grains, corn stalks, silage, and even urea.

The bacteria and protozoa do most of the digestion of feeds for the cow. This is a tremendous factory. There are 25 to 50 billion bacteria and 200 to 500 thousand protozoa in every milliliter of rumen fluid (about 0.06 ounces). The microorganisms digest the plant fiber and produce volatile fatty acids. These fatty acids are absorbed directly through the rumen wall and supply 60 to 80 % of the energy needed by the cow. In addition to energy, the microorganisms produce protein including essential amino acids from the protein and nitrogen the cow ingests. Because the microbes can use nitrogen to make protein, cows can eat urea and other sources of non-protein nitrogen that would kill non-ruminants. The microbes also make vitamins B and C.

Converting Grass to Milk http://www.mofga.org/Publications/MaineOrganicFarmerGardener/Winter20052006/FamilyCow/tabid/1116/Default.aspx In essence, the cow’s specially adapted digestive system allows it to turn the starches in grass into fats and proteins, which are stored in its body as meat and converted into milk for its young. Humans can digest these fats and proteins and we tend to find them delicious.

On average, cows need to eat 2-2.5 lbs of hay/grass per day per 100 lbs of body weight, and they can produce anywhere from 1.5-6 gallons of milk per day depending on breed. Taking Jersey cows as an example, they average about 900 lbs and produce about 6 gallons of milk per day. • 9 (hundred lbs) x 2.5 (lbs of grass/day)= 22.5 lbs of grass per day • 6 gallons of milk weigh about 8.5 lbs according to the Penn State Creamery • So, it takes a Jersey cow about 22.5 lbs of grass to make about 8.5 lbs of milk, and they’re considered some of the most efficient.

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Week 5: Making Decisions Together Primary Goals: 1) Youth will practice coming to consensus as a group and enacting their decision 2) Youth will examine their own role in the food system

Essential Question(s): • Whom do our decisions affect and how are they affected?

Map: The map can serve as a jumping off point for conversation and decisions this week.

Closing Activity: Ask a question such as What was most difficult about the grocery store challenge? What surprised you at the grocery store?

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Snack time and So we can try multiple veggies This may be a week when the snack rating and decide which we like best for snack time needs to be cut out explanation our pizza topping

Overview of the day To orient everyone and allow Be specific about your and questions time for questions expectations for their behavior in the grocery store

Main Activity: To make choices as a group or Grocery Store Trip small groups. To see another part of the food system in action

Closing To reflect back on the ways their decisions affect others

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Week 5 Activity

Introduction (5 minutes): Start with the map of tomato sauce from Week 3. Explain that we’ll be walking to the grocery store and buying our own ingredients for our sauce, which we’ll make next week. Point out some of the things they said/noticed about who is involved in the tomato supply chain if it feels relevant and helpful. Ask them to reflect (in pairs, small groups, or a big group) on what they would like to know about their tomatoes before buying them and why (ie price, source, organic or not, etc). Do a quick brainstorm. Depending on the group dynamics, you might consider having everyone share their top priority so that you make sure all voices come through.

Preparing (5-10 minutes) Lay out your specific expectations, timeline, and budget for the trip. Give each group a copy of the recipe they’ll be using and give them 5 minutes to read it and make a shopping list. Encourage them not to choose the very ripest tomatoes, as you won’t use them until next week. Questions to consider: • Will they need to multiply the recipe? Do you have time for that? • Are you giving all groups the same recipe? • What units does the recipe use? Do you know how to find 5 lb of tomatoes? • Do you have any ingredients available from the garden? • Do youth need to buy all ingredients or do you have some things (oil, salt, pepper) already? On the way, have youth discuss their choices and priorities with their groups so they’re ready to roll as soon as you arrive.

At the Store Quickly review expectations again. Give each a set amount of time to decide what to buy, collect ingredients, and pay. It may be very short! Feel free to introduce an element of competition, or different constraints for different groups (one trying to be cheapest, one most sustainable, etc). If possible, send one adult with each group. If not, circulate strategically and/or leave on person near checkout to pay.

On the Way Back For the sake of time, you may need to do your processing as you walk back. Lightly facilitate a conversation about what they noticed, were surprised by, were challenged by, etc. If there is time upon arrival back at school, share out.

Save the ingredients to use next week in cooking the sauce.

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Sauce Recipes

Chunky Sauce with Canned Tomatoes (Makes 7 cups) From: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/classic-tomato-sauce-369172

Ingredients: • 1/4 cup olive oil • 1 onion, finely diced • 1 bay leaf • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dried • 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped • 2 teaspoons salt or to taste • 2 tablespoons tomato paste • Two 26-ounce boxes Pomi Chopped Tomatoes or two 28-ounce cans whole plum tomatoes, chopped with their liquid

Directions: • Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. • Add the onions, bay leaf, oregano, garlic, and salt and cook, stirring often, until the onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. • Add the tomato paste and continue cooking for 5 minutes. • Add the tomatoes and stir constantly until the sauce begins to boil. • Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring every 5 minutes or so to prevent the sauce on the bottom of the pot from burning. • Taste and season with additional salt, if desired. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

Chunky Sauce With Fresh Tomatoes and Optional Basil (Makes 2.5 cups) From:http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipes/easy/tomato-sauce-recipe

Ingredients: • 2 tablespoon(s) olive oil • 2 clove(s) garlic, crushed with press • 1 onion, diced • ¼ cup loosely packed basil leaves, chopped • 2 pound(s) ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped • 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt • 1/8 teaspoon(s) coarsely ground black pepper

Directions: • In 12-inch skillet, heat oil on medium-high until hot. • Add onion, cook 5 minutes or until translucent. • Add garlic; cook 1 minute or until golden, stirring. • Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes or until slightly thickened. • Remove skillet from heat. Add basil and stir.

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Smooth Sauce with Canned or Fresh Tomatoes (Makes 4 Cups) From: http://www.kitchentreaty.com/our-very-favorite-homemade-pizza-sauce/

Ingredients: • 1 tablespoon olive oil • 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about two or three large cloves) • 1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh chopped oregano (if using fresh, add at the end of the cooking time) • 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes (un-drained) or 2 pounds diced fresh tomatoes • 1 teaspoon sugar • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (this makes for a lot of heat, which we love, but I recommend you start out with 1/4 teaspoon or even just a generous pinch if you're unsure) • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt • Black pepper to taste

Directions: • In a medium saucepan over low heat, warm the olive oil. • Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for about a minute. If you're using dried oregano, add that along with the garlic. If you're using fresh, add it to the sauce at the end of the cooking time. • Increase the heat to medium. Add the tomatoes, sugar, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. • Leave over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling. Reduce heat to low for a nice simmer. • Simmer uncovered for 90 minutes. • Stir in fresh oregano, if using. • Allow the sauce to cool to a safe temperature and then, using an immersion blender or working in batches with a blender, • If using fresh oregano, stir that in after the hour and a half cooking time.

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Week 6: Skill Building- Knife Skills; Knowledge Building- Producers

Primary Goals: • Youth will learn/practice chopping (knife skills) • Youth will see a visual example of photosynthesis • Youth will see a visual example of fermentation/decomposition

Essential Question(s): • What is photosynthesis? • How does bread rise?

Closing Activity: It’s unlikely that there will be enough time to share back about all three stations, so choose one to focus on for the closing. It could be a One Word Poem about producers, a moment of appreciating (even tasting a tiny bit of) the sauce.

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Snack time and snack So we can try multiple Next week will be the last taste and the vote rating explanation veggies and decide which we like best for our pizza topping

Overview of the day and To orient everyone and questions allow time for questions

Stations: To make the sauce! These three activities could be set up/divided • Knife skills To practice knife skills in several ways. Things to think about: (contributing to To connect • How far into the sauce making sauce) tomatoes/veggies to process do you want to be by the end? • Elodea producers/ It doesn’t have to be finished. • Yeast experiment photosynthesis • In what ways will youth have ownership over these activities?

Closing To draw connections among the three stations and answer the question “why did we do this?”

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Week 6 Activity

An inspirational poem about photosynthesis that you don’t have to read to youth:

The Sun Never Says Hafiz

Even After All this time The sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me.” Look What happens With a love like that, It lights up the whole sky.

With the big group, explain that you’ll split in half with one group doing some science experiments and the other making sauce, then switch. Do not go into detail about each station. Get into groups as quickly as possible and give more detailed instructions there.

Two Stations (About 15 minutes each)

Photosynthesis Activity/Adding Producers to the Map Experiments Select your preferred activity for demonstrating what photosynthesis is and set up the yeast experiment Use science journals at this station to record observations, questions, etc Scaffold or scale the activity to your time constraints and your youth. Adding Producers to the Map (optional) Read the resources on producers ahead of time to give you background Zero in on a few key facts that you find most exciting/interesting. Have the map and any other materials (collage pieces, markers, etc) at one station. You might have one adult there to facilitate or have launching questions written down, depending on your youth.

Making Sauce Decide ahead of time which recipe you will use and read it thoroughly. Also decide if there is anything you need to do ahead (heat oil, start chopping onions, etc) Once youth are at the sauce station, give a brief but firm knife skills demo. Be clear about your expectations for safe knife handling. Divide up the recipe task: Do you want each group to do the whole thing or do you want each group to do part of it as they rotate through? Simmering/cooking down could be left for you to do afterwards, and/or for one or two youth to oversee while the rest of you are closing Try to get everyone a chance to cut something, even if it’s just a part of an onion or a clove of garlic. It’s more of a priority that they all get to use a knife a little bit and get basic knife safety/skills than that they all chop a ton of produce.

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Knife Skills Guidelines

From “What’s Cooking with Kids” http://whatscookingwithkids.com/2010/08/18/teaching-knife-skills-to-kids-and-suggestions-for- cutting-tools/

1) Use a larger cutting board than seems necessary for the ingredients you are using. It is harder to cut items if you feel crowded. 2) Wear closed toed shoes when you are handling knives. 3) This isn’t the circus – don’t try to catch falling knives! 4) If anyone has to carry a knife, be sure to point the tip towards the floor. 5) Always hold the food you are cutting with one hand, while the other hand uses the knife. 6) The holding hand should always be shaped like a claw, with the fingers tucked under in a “C” shape (the claw!). I always joke with my students that fingers aren’t on the ingredients list – so they have to keep them out of the way of the knife! 7) The tip of the knife should always remain on the cutting board, and the cutting can be done by carefully lifting and lowering the handle. 8) The shape of the chef’s knife might be more comfortable for your child – it may prevent her from rapping her knuckles on the cutting board every time she lowers the handle to cut the food. 9) If you are working with round or wobbly objects, slice them in half (or cut off a thin piece) so that you can put the object on its flattened side. In the image here, we cut our cucumbers in half so they wouldn’t roll around while the kids practiced cutting. 10) Be sure your knives are sharp. Yes, that sounds counter-intuitive for working in the kitchen with newbies. But when you use dull knives, you have to push much harder. And if you miss…Yikes!

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Yeast Experiment Adapted from: Kitchen Science Investigators Leavening Curriculum http://home.cc.gatech.edu/KSI

Materials: • 2-1/4 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast or 1 (0.25 oz) Package of Dry Active Yeast • 1 Cup Warm Water (105 - 115 degrees F) • 2 Tablespoons Sugar • 1 Large Rubber Balloon • 1 Empty Water Bottle (at least 1 liter bottle) • 1 spoon • 1 small cereal bowl • 1 ruler • 1 funnel • 1 water pitcher

Note: Ahead of time, stretch out the balloon by blowing it up and releasing the air repeatedly, and then lay it aside. You could have a youth do this when they come it. Do it ahead to save time.

Note: Choose whether to have three separate setups, or whether to have one (perhaps with a timer, maybe that you set up as a whole group) that youth simply make quick observations about as they pass through this station.

Directions: • Read the experiment steps, what do you think will happen? • At the same time: o One person/pair should: run the faucet on hot until the water becomes warm. Measure the temperature of the water. When it gets to 105 – 115 degrees Fahrenheit, catch it in a pitcher, then measure 1 cup of water using the liquid measuring cup o Another person/pair should: measure the yeast and sugar, and put them together in a small bowl. • Add the 1 cup of warm water to the yeast and sugar mixture in the bowl. Stir until the yeast dissolves into the water. What do you observe? • Once the yeast and sugar have dissolved, pour the mixture into the bottle using a funnel. • Make sure all the air is out of the balloon. Then attach the balloon to the mouth of the bottle, and set both aside. • Check back in on the balloon, or look at a prior group’s balloon. What do you observe? Use all of your senses. Record observations in your science journal. Use the ruler to record how tall the balloon is at various times. What evidence do you see that the yeast is causing a reaction?

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Demonstrating Photosynthesis

Goal: Provide a hands-on demonstration of the idea that plants are actually turning water and CO2 into sugar/food and oxygen.

USEFUL VIDEO DEMONSTRATING OXYGEN PART OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRMKiLlpATk

Option 1: http://www.hometrainingtools.com/a/photosynthesis-newsletter

This is more of a demo than and activity but it sounds really cool. It demonstrates the oxygen part of photosynthesis more clearly than the food part.

What You Need: • Elodea (also called pondweed and available at pet stores) • Glass jar or beaker • Funnel that fits inside the jar • Test tube • Matches and a wooden splint What You Do: • Fill a sink with water and set the beaker in it. Put some elodea in the beaker and cover it with the funnel. • Now submerge the test tube in the water so that there is no air inside it. While holding it under the water, carefully place it over the neck of the funnel. Don't let its mouth break the surface of the water. • Lift the whole apparatus out of the water. You can tip a little water out of the jar so it won't spill. Set the jar on a sunny windowsill. As soon as the elodea begins to photosynthesize, you will see tiny bubbles appearing on its leaves and then floating upwards into the test tube. These bubbles are oxygen produced by photosynthesis! • Leave the jar on the windowsill for several hours. The rate of photosynthesis will vary depending on the intensity of the sunlight and other factors, but slowly the oxygen will collect in the test tube. • When the test tube is about half full of gas, use a match to light the wooden splint. Gently blow it out again and then immediately lift the test tube straight up and insert the splint up into it, without touching it to the sides of the test tube. The splint should glow brightly, or even burst back into flame! This is proof that the gas you collected is oxygen, which is flammable.

Option 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcBGdQtMDg

This activity sadly does not involve plants, but might actually show the process better.

• First watch the YouTube video for background • Ideas to shorten/adapt this activity. o Give youth the CO2 and H2O already assembled. Their challenge is to turn it into glucose and O2. o Skip the glitter. o Use three different kinds/colors of seeds or cereal or something edible. Make piles instead of using pipe cleaners

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More Photosynthesis Resources

A demo that looks promising, with spinach! http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistrydemonstrations/fl/See-Photosynthesis-in-Action- Floating-Spinach-Disks-Demonstration.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw8baZO89oc

3:12 Minute Video-- Song about Photosynthesis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u_hwwztRqI

2:36 Silly song that gets at the basics of photosynthesis (same song in both, different animations) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afFIEyVGnCQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj8TGhcCnxs

Bill Nye • Show the first 5.5 minutes and have the lettuce demo set up ahead of time to observe • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiFA3lRFxjk

A demo we could potentially set up ourselves. Pay attention to light vs. no light http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRMKiLlpATk Elodea can be purchased at pet stores, pretty cheap. This can also be done with pondweed, and maybe lettuce according to Bill Nye?

These are probably too advanced but the fact that they exist is kind of amazing and they might be helpful for background knowledge for you: • High schoolers singing a photosynthesis version of Call Me Maybe and dancing/acting it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GugfL45XHE • I Knew You Were Trouble When You Walked In rewritten to describe photosynthesis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww33L0lD37I • Gangham Style (or Photosynthesis Style) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSrRYr5YXvQ • Why do so many high school students make music videos about this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzmfrs69od8

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Background Information on Producers From: http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/ecology-producer-definition-lesson- quiz.html

What Are Producers? Producers are organisms that can make their own energy through biochemical processes (a process in living things that involves chemical reactions). Also called autotrophs, the usual way producers make energy is through photosynthesis. Here, light energy is converted into sugars, which can then be broken down to release their chemical energy. When light is not present, like at the bottom of the ocean, some producers convert chemicals into energy through a process called chemosynthesis. However they do it, producers make energy for themselves and often provide food for other organisms.

Photosynthesis Most producers use photosynthesis to make energy. They collect light energy from the sun, combine it with carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O), and produce sugars (usually in the form of glucose - C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2). This process can be represented by the following equation: CO2 + H20 ------> C6H12O6 + O2

Light and chlorophyll are also part of this equation (usually represented above and below the arrow, respectively). Without light, this process cannot progress. Chlorophyll is a green pigment found in many land producers that collects the light energy from the sun. Producers living in the water can use chlorophyll or other colored pigments.

The sugars made from photosynthesis have many high-energy bonds holding the atoms together. When these are broken apart during the process of cellular respiration*, energy is released that can be used by the organism. *“Interestingly, respiration is almost exactly the opposite of photosynthesis. The cell uses oxygen and glucose to create water, carbon dioxide, and energy. (Our cells do this too, which is why we breathe in oxygen but breathe out carbon dioxide.) Respiration happens all the time, not just in the daylight. You may be wondering how plants produce oxygen for us to breathe when they have to use it themselves for cellular respiration. Well, the rate of photosynthesis is usually faster than respiration, so a plant produces more oxygen than it needs for itself. It also produces more sugar than it needs right away, which is how it has some left over to store. (Many times this storage becomes food for us - potatoes are made of extra stored starch, for example!)” http://www.hometrainingtools.com/a/photosynthesis-newsletter

Producers on Land The most common forms of producers on land are plants. Plants come in all shapes and sizes. They can range in size from aquatic duckweed, measuring 0.24 inches (0.61 mm) to the Giant Sequoia tree (Figure 1) measuring 383 feet (117 m) tall. There is also great diversity among the plants (Figure 2). There are plants that make flowers and those that make cones. Other plants have woody stems, while others are green and vine-like. No matter what they look like, they all use photosynthesis to make energy for themselves. Some plants are specially adapted to also make energy in other ways, usually decomposition. Carnivorous plants like Venus fly traps and pitcher plants trap insects and break them down to get their nutrients. Other plants, such as some epiphytes, catch water and plant debris in cup shaped leaf node structures, where decomposition makes nutrients available to them that way as well. 42 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

Plants have three main parts: stems, roots, and leaves. The stems hold the leaves up towards the sky so they can collect light. They also serve as a transport mechanism for water and nutrients up and down the plant. Roots anchor the plant into the soil. They also take in the water and nutrients for the plant. The leaves are the sites of photosynthesis. Their wide surface area gives lots of space for light to be collected and processed.

Producers in the Water There are more producers living in the water than there are on land. This is because ¾ of the planet is covered by water and producers live in almost all of it. The most common type of aquatic producer is called algae. Algae range from the microscopic diatoms to the giant kelp. The big difference between algae and plants is that algae do not have roots to anchor them down. Instead, they have a structure called a holdfast that anchors the algae to rocks or the sea floor. Diatoms are part of the plankton (Figure 3). They are free-floating organisms and can live alone or in giant colonies. Through photosynthesis, they contribute 30% of the world's oxygen. Their shells (also known as diatomaceous earth) are also used in products like toothpaste and silver cleaner.

Key Items About Producers: • They make their own energy • They are solely responsible for taking the sun’s energy and making it accessible to other living things on earth. If not for them, we would get no new energy. • Plants are the main thing we think of when we think of producers but they are not the only producers.

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Week 7: Skill Building- Attending to Precision; Knowledge Building- Consumers Primary Goals: • Youth will work together to solve a problem (making cheese) that is new to everyone and requires precision • Youth will add consumers to the 3 Systems Map

Essential Question(s): • Why do we need consumers? What would happen without them?

Journaling Question(s): • How are you feeling about next week? It’s finally almost time to make the pizza! • Do you remember what you said would make a perfect pizza? How do you think we’re doing so far in terms of getting there?

Map: The map should be incorporated during the wait times that are a natural part of cheese- making, and consumers should be on it by the end.

Closing Activity: Closing activity might be just some kind of acknowledgement that we’ve now made all three parts of the pizza. How does it feel to have spent so long working towards something? What are you excited about?

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Snack time and snack So we can try multiple veggies Today we will be voting! rating explanation and decide which we like best for our pizza topping

Overview of the day and To orient everyone and allow Share journal question for the day and step out options questions time for questions

Main Activity: Cheese! To make the cheese! The main structure will be the cheese making. To practice problem solving During this process there are several points at which (doing an activity that is new you will be waiting (for milk to heat, cool, etc). to all of us) Within these times you should: To give some youth an • Choose your favorite veggie opportunity to be leaders • At least informally discuss consumers To help youth understand • If possible, you can go into what is actually what consumers are and what happening to the milk they do • Make pickles To connect cows/milk production to consumers using plants as energy

Closing To build excitement for next Veggie voting/deciding could be the closing. week, keep momentum going. Also could revisit the constraints-- what made for a perfect pizza.

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Tips for Successful Cheese Making with Middle Schoolers

The cheese making is tricky and involves a lot of stops, starts, and pauses. Make sure you practice and have plans and ideas for how to use the gaps. If you’re worried about being short on time, consider starting one batch of the recipe early and having curds that are almost ready to cut when you start. This way you can start a new batch with youth and do the steps up to that point, then immediately start to cut the curds of your first batch while waiting for the other batch to set.

Delegating Jobs It can be tough with this one to make sure everyone has something to do at all times. Some suggestions: 1) If your youth need to be fully occupied at all times, consider having a separate activity going and pulling them a few at a time to do a step in cheese making. 2) One group last year made numbered index cards with every step of the cheese making process and distributed them to youth. This helped youth anticipate when they would get a turn to help, allowing them to be more patient and interested while watching others. 3) Put one or two particularly distractible youth on precision duty. Time and temperature need to be monitored often in this recipe. One youth can be in charge of all timing and/or one can be in charge of all temperature tracking.

Dealing with Wait Times There are several points in this recipe in which you need to wait for things to heat, drain, set, etc. Be prepared with discussion prompts, video clips, riddles, cheese taste tests, or other small activities. Youth could be working on a project or game that they keep returning to at each pause, or you could have something different for each pause. Prepare youth ahead of time by letting them know that the structure will feel a bit weird today, and that everyone will have to be more patient. The trade off is that we get to do something awesome-- making cheese!

Pickling Pickling is a relatively quick activity that also involves catalyzing an interaction between bacteria and sugars (fermentation!). It’s similar to cheese making on a chemical level, even involving a bacterial strain in common-- lactobacillus. Pairing it with cheese making might be a good way to handle all the waiting.

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Cheese Recipe

With Lemon Juice and Cheesecloth From: thewayofcheese.com

Ingredients: . 2 quarts milk . ¼ cup lemon juice . ⅛ tablet of rennet . Salt . Pitcher of water

Directions: 1) Pour cold milk into a pot. Make sure it is cold or it might curdle when you add the rennet. 2) Dilute lemon juice into one cup of water, this will make curdling less likely to occur. 3) Pour diluted lemon juice over the cold milk, stir well. 4) Warm up your milk to about 90 degrees F 5) Dilute your rennet in cold water, then add it to the milk, mixing it only very slightly. 6) Wait 15 minutes for the curds to set. Cover the pot to keep the milk warm so that the rennet sets well. 7) Cut the curds into half-inch cubes, by slicing through the curds in three series of cuts. 8) Stir the curds lightly, over low heat, for five minutes to firm them up. The goal temperature is around 100F, or a temperature that is just barely tolerable to the touch. IF the curds begin to melt, you’ve warmed them too much. 9) Slowly pour the whey (the liquid) off the curds. 10) Strain the curds into a cheesecloth bag. Let the curds drain for 15 minutes. 11) If you submerge the curds in hot water, they stretch! The stretching happens because at the particular acidity that the curds have, as a result of the addition of lemon juice, the proteins lose their calcium and they lose their form when subject to high temperatures. 12) Heat up the leftover whey to 70C or about 170F. Turn off the heat once the whey is hot. If it gets too hot the mozzarella will stretch too much and become too firm. 13) Cut up your curd into one inch thick slices. 14) Place some of the sliced curds into a ladle and submerge them in the whey, stir lightly for one to two minutes. 15) Continue pressing the cheese and folding it over onto itself in the hot whey bath until the curd feels soft and has developed its elasticity. This should not take more than a couple of minutes. 16) Take the curd out of the bath and take it into your hands. Stretch the curds with two hands, pulling the cheese apart. Pull it until the cheese is quite thin. 17) Roll the curd upon itself to form a ball. To seal the ball submerge it back into the bath for a moment, then remove it and press it lightly in your hands. 18) The last step is to cool it. Cool it by submerging the ball in cold, lightly salted water. 19) To preserve them leave them in a salted whey brine in the refrigerator.

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Lacto-fermented Pickling! Ingredients:

1) Cucumbers or green beans 2) Water 3) Salt (1 T per lb or quart jar of veggies) 4) Garlic (optional, 3 cloves per lb or quart jar of veggies) 5) Dill or other herbs (optional, 1-2 sprigs per lb or quart jar) 6) Glass jar(s) with lid(s)

Background info: Lacto-fermentation is a chemical process in which a strain of bacteria called lactobacillus breaks down the carbohydrates (sugars) in vegetables, transforming them into lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The lactic acid both preserves the vegetables and gives them a sour flavor. The C02 we let escape from our pickling jars so they don’t burst open!

To successfully lacto-ferment vegetables, we aim to create an environment in which harmful bacteria do not exist, but lactobacilli do. We also want to ensure that the lactobacilli don’t perform their reaction too fast (resulting in rotten veggies) or too slowly (resulting in just salty veggies). To do this we control, to the extent possible, time, temperature, and salt content. By putting the right ration of salt to vegetable, in the right temperature range, for the right amount of time, we can control (imperfectly, but enough) the reaction rate and get delicious pickles. Don’t worry if you’re not precise to the grain of salt though! This is a process that humans have participated in for a long long long time.

Instructions: • Wash everything. Wash your jar, surfaces, hands! and veggies. Don’t scrub your veggies though, the lactobacilli live on the skin. Just rinse.

• Pack the jars. Cram as many of your vegetable in as you can. The reaction needs to take place without oxygen or in this case, under water. Packing veggies close together means they won’t be able to float up to the top when you add the water. Leave enough room at the top of your container so that you can completely cover all vegetables with water and still put a lid on top.

• Add salt. Use 1 T of salt per pound of veggies, or per quart jar of volume (approximately). Then, fill the jar about halfway, put the lid on, and shake vigorously until the salt is dissolved.

• Add other flavors (optional). Garlic and herbs are for flavor but are not necessary. If you’re using garlic, crush each clove before you add them to release oils. Mincing is unnecessary. Herbs can go directly in.

• Set up for fermentation. Fill the jar the rest of the way with water, making sure all veggies are submerged. Anything exposed to the air will get moldy and gross. Screw the lid on securely, but not all the way. You need to leave room for the C02 to escape, otherwise it will crack open the jar. Place the jar(s) on a plate or other tray to catch the liquid that will leak out with the escaping C02. Put your fermenting jar in a place that will be consistently between 68-75 degrees Fahrenheit, and out of your way throughout fermentation. Record the date, and wait.

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• Stop the fermentation! Cucumbers will be half sours in 3-5 days, full sours in 7-10 days. You can pull one out each day (with very clean hands or a clean fork) and taste as they go through the process! You can let them keep fermenting until they are a mush! You can do what you want, but the reaction will never completely stop. When you have reached your desired amount of fermentation (maybe you like them after 2 or 12 days, they’re your pickles) you can eat all your pickles. Or, you can put them in a refrigerator. This will slow the fermentation process to very very very slow, as close to a stop as possible without killing all the beneficial bacteria in there. If you left them in your fridge for a year though, they would get mushier, so eat them!

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Week 8: Celebrating Autonomy Primary Goals: • Tie this whole process back to the idea of autonomy • Use tools creatively to solve a problem • Share a meal together and celebrate!

Essential Question(s): • What are some decisions related to food that we could make for ourselves? • How do our decisions affect others in the Three Systems?

Journaling Question(s): • What did it feel like to finally take that first bite of your pizza? • What do you know how to do now that you couldn’t do before, or what are you better at now than you were before?

Map: Step back and review/admire the map as a whole. What have we learned? What connections do you see? What kind of influence/affect/power can your decisions have on others?

Closing Activity: Closing will probably happen while eating. Ask a question that invites reflection over the entire process. Examples: • What’s one thing you kept thinking about after you left or brought home to talk to your family about? • What’s something you didn’t think you’d be able to do that you did?

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Overview of the To orient everyone and allow time for Make plans for cleanup very explicit so you don’t end up day and questions questions doing it all.

Pizza Making To have the experience of seeing a Briefly remind youth of allll the steps they took to get here: project through to the end breaking down the project, deciding what makes for a To solve a small problem of not having perfect pizza, testing recipes, making each thing. Lay out enough of the “right” tool (each youth multiple possible tools for stretching the dough and let will have to figure out how to roll out them get to work making individual pizzas quickly so they their dough). have time for baking/cooling.

While the pizza To have the experience of seeing a Pizza doesn’t bake for a super long time. Have a brief, bakes, look back project through to the end informal discussion focused around a central question at your map To explicitly draw out the connections together. among different parts of the Three Systems

While you eat, To keep building community This is a moment to really celebrate what they have keep talking To explicitly connect the skills youth accomplished and explicitly point out to youth (or about power have gained to the concepts of hopefully draw out of them) how much they have done community and autonomy for themselves and how much they’ve accomplished as a group.

Closing To stop and reflect Likely while eating

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Making Pizza Together

Materials • Your dough • Your sauce • Your cheese (you may want to pre grate it) • Your topping • Something to roll out the dough with • An oven • Extra flour • Spoon for spreading sauce • Baking sheet(s)

Things to think about/prepare • Space: do you have space for everyone to roll out their dough at once or will you have to take turns? • Preheat the oven: Pizza can cook quickly if you cook it at a high heat. Professional pizza ovens range between 900-1500F. Preheat your oven to as high as you can (probably more like 500F) • Timing: How many pizzas can you fit in the oven at once? If you can’t bake enough pizza for everyone at the same time, how will you handle eating? Will everyone get a slice of the first one to come out, will you wait until all pizza is cooked before eating it? • Sharing: Logistically, does it make sense for everyone to have their own pizza or for small groups to share in making bigger pizzas? • Is there anything else you can do in terms of preparing your ingredients that will make things go more smoothly? • Conversation and reflection: How will you be intentional about the conversation that is happening during the meal? How can you use this time to start preparing for sharing next week? • Cleanup

Pizza Making Tips • Dough: o Put down ample flour when rolling it out o Use a rolling pin or bottle to get it very thin o Ask Erin for a dough stretching tutorial (did you know she used to manage a pizza restaurant?) o http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips- techniques/cooking/how-roll-out-pizza-dough o Flour the baking sheet, then place the dough on it. o If you want to be fancy, you can use a cast iron skillet as a pizza stone (preheat the skillet in the oven, and place your dough on it hot) • Sauce: o DO NOT start putting sauce on your dough until the dough is on the pan you’re baking it on. Once you start adding sauce and cheese (this is called “decorating” the pizza) you will not be able to move it easily until it’s already baked. o Place sauce in the middle of the dough, then use the back of a spoon to spread it using a circular motion. Remember to leave a crust around the edges. o If you need to add more sauce, start in the middle again. • Cheese: o You don’t need as much cheese as you think, it spread when it melts 50 CitySprouts Middle School OST Curriculum

o Sprinkle it lightly and evenly o You may want to give each pizza or each youth a set amount of cheese to make sure it gets shared evenly. They will probably want to use too much. • Toppings: o Leafy greens should go under the cheese, other toppings usually go on top o Try to spread your toppings so that any bite of pizza will have a bit of topping • Baking: o If you’re baking the pizza at 450 or 500F, bake it for 10-15 minute, or until the crust looks golden brown (you know what pizza crust should look like). o If you can get the oven hotter and the crust thinner, you may only need 5-10 minutes of baking time.

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Week 9: Reflection and Communication Primary Goals: • Youth will reflect on what they have learned • Youth will practice communicating with the broader community • Youth will receive some outside validation

Essential Question(s): • How have we grown over the past 10 weeks?

Journaling Question(s): What surprised you about this club and why?

Map: The map will serve as a supporting resource this week

Closing Activity: The closing will probably be the sharing portion of the day. If you want to do any other type of wrap-up it will probably need to happen earlier.

Agenda

Item Why Notes

Overview of the To orient everyone Share Journal question for the day and step out day and and allow time for options questions questions

Prepping for To give youth an You will need to decide how open ended to Guests opportunity to express make this based on your group and time. The themselves in a way goal is for youth to share one thing they are they choose taking away. It could be that everyone does the To provide a way to same simple thing, that you offer two or three reflect before the club options for youth to work on in groups, or that ends everyone contributes to one large poster/project

Sharing with To practice 2-4 guests (principal, Jane, family members) will Guests and communication skills come for the last 10-15 minutes of the session. snack. To show youth that Youth have an opportunity to share something Could do a the wider community they have learned or done. Remember to keep potluck style values what they have it simple! celebration or been doing just bring a special snack

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Week 9 Activity

Suggested forms of communication: Song/rap Haiku Picture slideshow with captions Talk about Three Systems Map Wordle/Brainstorm on a large poster Each youth responds to the same one-sentence prompt on their own poster (think FoodCorps chalkboard prompt) Video (if you’re really ambitious) Skit Demo/teach back of a skill you learned

Suggested formats for prep time: Agree on a topic/prompt as a group, then give youth time to respond as individuals Agree on a form of expression as a group, then give youth time to create something Give youth two or three options (i.e. “you can go with Amanda to write captions to the this set of photos, get in a group to write a rap with Annabel, or write your own haiku independently”) Have one main option and let youth decide their roles (i.e. “we’re going to share our Three Systems Map. We need four people to write one or two sentences each about the following topics, four people to be the ones who read these out loud to our guests, and two people to by the MCs”).

Questions to guide your planning: How many options do we want to give our group? How are our youth mostly likely to enjoy sharing/expressing themselves? What are their strengths and passions? What materials are we going to need? What parts of the whole process did they seem most excited about? What takeaways do we want to focus on? (i.e. If you want to focus on the power/autonomy, maybe you have youth respond to the prompt “I can choose to ______”)

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