Subject: Design and Technologies 
Year Level: 3-4 (can be used across all year levels)
Strand: Design and Technologies knowledge and understanding
Sub Strand: Food and Fibre Production
4.3 Recognise the contribution food and fibre production and food technologies make to modern and traditional societies
Link to Resource: www.frompaddocktoplate.com.au
Description: Founded by Louise Fitzroy, From Paddock to Plate Schools Program was created to give children the opportunity to make more informed and healthy food choices. In this program students learn about the origins of the food they eat and the importance of supporting those who produce it. The program is an easy-to-use multi-media resource that focuses on a variety of foods, producers and agricultural hubs, each accompanied by corresponding worksheets and follow on activities for your students.
Click on the link below to hear Louise Fitzroy tell us more about the Schools Programs
//soundcloud.com/fitzroyl8b/from-paddock-to-plate-schools
Cross Curricular Priorities and General Capabilities: Literacy; Numeracy; Intercultural Understanding; Ethical Understanding; Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
Links to other learning areas: Mathematics, Science, English, Health and Physical Education
Suggested Classroom Activity for Resource:
This resource enables teachers to adapt the program to cater for differing year levels and abilities. A suggested activity could be focusing on one product per week of the eight part series (honey; eggs; wheat; cherries; fish; vegetables; milk; grass-fed beef). For example, the students watch the video about honey; learn about where it comes from and why it is important. After a class discussion they can complete the corresponding activities from the Paddock to Plate program. An extension of this would be using the featured product to make food for students to sell to the rest of the school. At the end of each week the students could create a stall to sell their produce and also provide information about the process it went through to become said product. Students can be broken into groups; taking turns each week to be in charge of a certain product. This resource allows for many cross-curricular links including Mathematics as the students learn to buy and sell with real money.
Watch the YouTube Video below:
A great resource to get adults and children thinking about the produce they buy at the supermarket and how it got there; an insight into the journey of from paddock to plate.
Educating students on the origin of their food and the importance of supporting local producers is essential and will impact their lives well into the future. This is a fantastic resource because students form an understanding of the working involved in food production.
Recipes are also included in the resource and would provide students with an opportunity to make more nutritional and healthy food choices, which is crucial especially given the rate of obesity in Australias’ children.
Hi Rwindle8 – this is a perfect resource to teach students where their food comes from! I love that there is an online resource available to teach students about this subject. As an adult who grew up on a farm I appreciate any assistance in educating my metro students about the realities of paddock-to-plate systems.
Educating students on the origins of where their food comes from and the process it has to go through before it gets to their plate is something they will need to know throughout their lives. This learning experience will hopefully encourage students to ask more questions about where their food actually comes from. As well as making them more aware of the food they are eating and making healthier decisions about what they are eating.
I think overall this is a great resource and is targeted at the right age to get the students thinking from a young age.