“How does food comfort us and connect us to our family and our community?” by Carrie Holloway
Elementary School Inquiry Lessons
How does food comfort us and connect us to our family and our community? C3 Framework Indicators
D2.Civ.6.K-2. Describe how communities work to accomplish common tasks, establish responsibilities, and fulfill roles of authority. D2.Geo.2.K-2. Use maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations to describe places and the relationships and interactions that shape them D2.Geo.7.K-2. Explain why and how people, goods, and ideas move from place to place D2.Geo.9.K-2. Describe the connections between the physical environment of a place and the economic activities found there. D2.Geo.12.K-2. Identify ways that a catastrophic disaster may affect people living in a place.
Staging the Compelling Question
Supporting Question 1
This inquiry introduces the concept of refugees and migrants to primary-aged elementary students and helps them understand that they most likely have refugees or migrants in their family history. A second goal is to help young children see the importance of food in providing comfort and connection to family and community. Supporting Question 2
Supporting Question 3
Supporting Question 4
Who are refugees and migrants?
Do I have refugees and migrants in my family?
What special foods or food traditions do I have in my family?
How is Über Den Tellerand (Beyond Your Plate) using food to help refugees in Berlin?
Formative Performance Task
Formative Performance Task
Formative Performance Task
Formative Performance Task
The teacher will read the book, Refugees and Migrants by Roberts and Kai to the students.
Students will discuss concepts of family history and then research their own family history
Reading various books will help students understand that the food they eat is often related to where they live and what grows well in that part of the world.
Students will explore Über den Tellerrand, an organization that supports refugees and facilitates intercultural exchange in Germany and beyond.
Featured Sources
Featured Sources
Featured Sources Source A: Refugees and Migrants (Roberts and Kai) Source B: What is a Refugee? (Gravel) Source C: “Kids, Refugees, Questions: ‘What’s it like to have no home?’“ (The Guardian)
Summative Performance Task
Source A: Family Tree and World Map Instructions (Handout 1) Source B: My Family Tree and World Map (Handout 2) Source C: National Geographic Kids Guide to Genealogy (Resler)
Featured Sources
Source A: A Family Food Tradition (Handout 3)
Source A: “Über den Tellerrand”
Source B: This Is How we do It: One day in the Lives of Seven Kids from around the World (Lamothe)
Source B: “Refugees Are Teaching Berliners How to Cook the Food of their Homeland“ (Nair)
Source C: Children Just Like Me: A New Celebration of Children Around the World (DK)
Argument: Students choose a family recipe to share, and write about why this recipe is special to them/their family. The recipes can be collected, copied, and shared so that the whole class has a recipe book. Extension: Students will create a poster sharing what food or food tradition from their home or community they would take with them if they went to a new place.
Taking Informed Action
Understand: With teacher’s help, research another organization that is helping refugees locally. Assess: Examine what this organization is doing. Act: Do extra chores at home to raise money for the organization.
Fall Newsletter | 2020 | 3
