December Primary Newsletter
Welcome to the December issue of the primary newsletter intended especially
for teachers and pupils. Please pass on any ideas or information that you find
useful to parents and carers too.
Special reminder to all registered schools! Have you updated your Space on
our website recently? Please let us know everything you are doing for the Year
of Food and Farming by sharing news on your Space. Don’t forget you can
inspire other schools to get involved too.
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Seasonal news and activities:
What’s in season in December?
Vegetables: Brussels sprouts, curly kale, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, garlic,
pumpkin, swedes and chard
Fruit and nuts: Apples, pears, quinces, medlars, hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds
Fish: Turbot, sea bass, carp, conger eel, Dover sole, mussels, oysters and skate
Game: Goose
Cheese: Stilton, Montd’Or, Vacherin, Tomme de Savoie and Brie de Melun
Dairy farms are busy places in December. Herds will now all be housed indoors
and will need to be kept fed and clean in their winter homes. Straw bedding
is changed regularly to maintain the animals’ comfort but also to ensure
cleanliness. This is essential to stop the spread of bacteria and to prevent
nursing cows from becoming infected with mastitis. Most beef cattle are still
kept outdoors during December.
Meanwhile sheep farmers will be supplementing their animals' feed with hay and cereal now that the grass has stopped growing. Pig farmers need to ensure that their sows and piglets get extra feed and bedding as the weather is turning colder.
Winter wheat, barley and oats are growing in the fields. Wheat is the main
arable crop in this country. Red cabbages and Brussels sprouts are in the shops,
reminding us that Christmas is just around the corner.
Source: www.caterersearch.com
If you use this information in the classroom you can cover the following curriculum
links:
Geography: 1a; 2a, d, f; 3a, e, f, g; 4a; 5a, b. PSHE: 1e; 2j; 3a, b.
For more information on the importance of farming today go to the Resources
area and visit Why Farming Matters.
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Further areas to explore
December brings to mind spices, pickles and seasonal treats. Christmas can take
over the classroom so use it to your advantage. Investigate why certain seasonal
foods have become traditional. Ask pupils why they think people eat red cabbage
and brussels sprouts with their Christmas dinner. You will instantly open up
the opportunity to investigate seasonality of vegetables and what is growing
in local farms. You could also bring in the concept of historical tradition.
What do your pupils think people ate many hundreds of years ago when there were
no supermarkets bringing exotic foods from other countries? Could this be one of the
reasons some eating traditions such as brussels sprouts and cabbage have
stayed with us?
Don’t miss the wonderful still life drawing opportunities provided by
the humble red cabbage. Lots of lovely, careful pattern work that can also be
interpreted in print, paint or textiles.
Bring seasonal foods into a cookery lesson: Pickle some November and December
vegetables such as red cabbage, onions, cauliflower and beetroot. Bake spicy
biscuits to hang on the tree. Make mincemeat and talk about which ingredients
can be obtained locally. Why do some ingredients such as raisins and currants
come from abroad? Talk about food miles. Can pupils think of alternative fillings
available closer to home?
Track down the origins of cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Why have these
spices become traditional Christmas smells? Where do all these spices come from?
Can anyone find out when we first started importing some of these spices? Who
wanted them? What are they used for? Write poems about the smells of Christmas.
Make the smells come alive with words.
Fruit and... nuts! Yes, Christmas is a time for nuts. Which ones can we
find locally? Which come from further afield? Who else eats nuts? How do they
grow? Where would we find them growing? Here are some fun ideas with nuts but
first of all:
Make sure no-one in the class has a nut allergy
Check your school’s rules on having nuts on school premises
Have a nut-cracking session for fun, then compose “nutty” rap songs
with background “music” made from clapping, stamping, voices, tapping
nutcrackers etc.
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An easy recipe for Nutty Cabbage
You will need: 1 small cabbage, finely shredded
1 onion, chopped
75g dry-roasted peanuts, coarsely ground
A good sprinkle of sesame seeds
Salt and pepper
Mix the cabbage, nuts and seeds together and stir fry for about 5 minutes.
Season to taste.
With thanks to Tina Deubert for this recipe. Tina has run a local Farmers’
Market for four years and has written “The Friendly Vegetable Book”
which aims to introduce families to eating more seasonal vegetables on a daily
basis.
Curriculum links:
Geography: 1a; 2d, f. PSHE: 1a; 2j; 3a, b; 4 b. Art: 1a; 5c.
Design and Technology: 1a, b; 2a; 2f. English: 1a, c; 2a, b, e; 3a, b.
Music: 2a; 3a, b; 5a, b, c.
For more information on sourcing your food locally visit the Growing area of
the site.
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School activities and resources
Turners Hill CE Primary School (West Sussex)
have created an ‘Outside Classroom’ for which the whole school community
is responsible. Class 1 - YR and Y1 are called the 'Womblers', they collect
all the litter and recycle as much as possible. They also shop for seeds and
plants and grow amazing sunflowers. Class 2 - Y1 and Y2 look after the
'Bugs Hotel' and the sensory garden. Class 3 - Y2 and Y3 are Bug Busters
and look after the compost bins. They collect all the leftover fruit and feed
it to the worms. Class 4 - Y4 and Y5 look after the hens and eggs are
incubated annually. Class 5 - Y5 and Y6 are the 'McGregors', they do all
the heavy digging, weeding and planting. The school uses their ‘Outside
Classroom’ as a resource to explore curriculum links and also to promote
healthy eating.
Velmead Junior School (Hampshire) were
the winners of the BPC’s Grow Your Own Potatoes competition in 2007. They
beat 4000 schools nationwide to become the champion potato growers with a crop
of 6.23kg from just three Rocket Seed Potatoes. The school saw how growing activities
can support the teaching of Art and Design, Design and Technology, ICT and Science
particularly when studying how things grow, where food comes from and the importance
of a balanced healthy diet.
Grow Your Own Potatoes 2008 is a unique project, developed for primary schools
by the British Potato Council (BPC). Some 3,000 primary schools have already
registered to take part, but it’s not too late if you haven’t signed
up yet! It’s completely FREE to do so and registration is simple; schools
just need to complete the form on the BPC’s dedicated website.
The BPC will provide each school with a growing
kit, containing potato seeds, planting advice and a £5 garden centre voucher
to purchase a container and compost. Registrations received before the end of
December 2007 will be entered into a Grand Prize Draw for the opportunity to
win £50 of Garden Centre vouchers. The BPC have also created a NEW interactive
height chart to help pupils and teachers track their plant’s progress,
using fun stickers. These will be distributed in every growing kit. Schools
can register here.
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Up for a challenge?
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) School Challenge - Why
not register your school for The Year of Food and Farming School Challenge?
The scheme, which is open to all schools in England, is being run by the Specialist
Schools and Academies Trust. To take part, schools must organise a project,
or projects, which lead to the realisation of one or more of the aims of the
Year of Food and Farming. The closing date for schools to register their projects
is 31 December 2007.
To register a project, download an application form from www.schoolsnetwork.org.uk
by clicking on specialism and then rural. Alternatively email
[email protected] to request a form.
Enrol for an award
Food for Life Partnership - All schools in England are invited to enrol
with the Food for Life Partnership and work towards Bronze, Silver and Gold
Marks for good food culture. The first Marks will be awarded in April 2008 -
schools that enrol now will have the chance to be the first to receive awards!
Six out of 20 Flagship Schools in each region have now been selected. But don't
worry, you haven't missed out completely - a remaining 14 Flagship Schools
in each region still need to be selected! The deadline for schools in the South
West, West Midlands and North East to apply is 14 January 2008. Other regions
to follow later in 2008.
Go to www.foodforlife.org.uk
for more details.
How about going ‘Into the hive’?
Order a copy of this new interactive game which celebrates the release of the
Bee Movie on the 14th December. It covers science, citizenship and art and design.
Learn all about it here.
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Fun facts
Did you know?
- The forerunner of Christmas Pudding is thought to be a spiced porridge
called Frumenty. Legend says it was made by the Celtic god, Dagda, who made
porridge from “all the good things of the earth.”
- The tradition of serving a flaming Christmas pudding began in England
in 1670.
- During the middle ages wealthy people often ate swans and geese for
Christmas dinner.
Source: www.funfacts.com
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