Growing Together: Open Forum

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  • 1.  Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 02-05-2025 11:44:00 AM

    Hello friends!

    I am seeking recommendations for children's books (for 1st-4th graders) that have a focus on food seasonality. We're having difficulty cultivating student understanding that every kind of produce does not grow all year long. Do you know of any books that would help support us in this?

    Context: We teach culinary and nutrition education classes in schools and community centers. For six weeks, students prepare healthy snacks and learn basic culinary skills. Then, they visit our learning garden where they harvest ingredients and prepare a dish together. We would use the book in the classroom portion of the program, prior to their garden visit.

    Many thanks,

    Julie



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    Julie Cerny
    The Sylvia Center
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  • 2.  RE: Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 02-06-2025 11:10:00 AM

    Hi. There is a series of 4 picture books called Seasons in Mr. Green's Garden by Ruth Owen: It's Winter, It's Spring, It's Summer, and It's Autumn. Perhaps those would be helpful.



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    Karen Stuppi
    Children's Librarian
    New Brunswick Free Public Library
    60 Livingston Avenue
    New Brunswick, NJ 08901
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  • 3.  RE: Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 02-10-2025 11:40:00 AM

    Thank you so much Karen. I will look for these. Much appreciated, Julie



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    Julie Cerny
    The Sylvia Center
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  • 4.  RE: Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 02-06-2025 11:37:00 AM
    Hi Julie!

    Have you checked out the resources on 
    • National Agriculture in the Classroom website https://agclassroom.org/? They regularly feature books on the Facebook page too.
    • Maine Agriculture in the Classroom has a ReadME Agriculture program and features a different book each year for PH-4th grade.   This year's book is "Farmer Eva's Green Garden Life," written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Christy Hale. 
    • MSGN Teaching in Your School Garden Resource page: https://msgn.org/resources/teaching/
    Good luck!

    Susan

    Susan Joy Sager
    Coordinator
    Maine School Garden Network
    28 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333


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  • 5.  RE: Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 02-10-2025 11:49:00 AM

    Thank you so much Susan. Looking forward to exploring these resources. Much appreciated, Julie



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    Julie Cerny
    The Sylvia Center
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  • 6.  RE: Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 02-20-2025 10:02:00 PM

    That sounds like such an awesome program! A few great books that could help with food seasonality are "Right This Very Minute" by Lisl H. Detlefsen (which connects meals to farms and seasons), "What's in Season?" by Shelly Rotner (simple and visual for younger kids), and "Before We Eat: From Farm to Table" by Pat Brisson. "Our School Garden!" by Rick Swann also ties in gardening and seasonal eating. These could be great conversation starters before their garden visit.



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    Kate Brownell
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  • 7.  RE: Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 02-26-2025 04:10:00 PM

    First Peas to the Table by Susan Grigsby connects growing peas to the springtime. Sylvia's Spinach by Katherine Pryor mentions starting spinach seeds on a drizzly grey day in March. There is also a section in the beginning of Little House In the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder that has rich descriptions of food and saving food for the winter. Some of Laura Ingalls' books have sections that are problematic and reinforce stereotypes but this section is wonderful and one that I have used in the past. 



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    [Lara] [Guerra]
    [Science Teacher]
    [The Hockaday School]
    [Dallas] [Texas]
    [lguerra@hockaday.org]
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  • 8.  RE: Seeking recommendations: Children's books w/ food seasonality focus

    Posted 03-02-2025 02:57:00 PM
      |   view attached

    We just put together an activity book to supplement our puppet show on vegetables and the last page of the book is the Delaware Availability of Fresh vegetables. I have uploaded a copy. Perhaps something like this is available from your state Ag department or Farm Bureau.



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    Judy Pfister
    Delaware Master Gardener
    Millsboro, DE
    Judy
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    Attachment(s)

    pdf
    Fresh Market Availability.pdf   1.69 MB 1 version