Just Food?

Investigating Food Justice and Culture

The Unit Scope and Sequence

Purpose of
the Unit

Time and
Context

In this investigation of food justice and culture, students will learn

about the food industry, food access, and the role of food in our
cultures and families. This unit goes beyond the traditional
neighborhood study of food and restaurants to investigate food
production and injustices related to the food system. This unit is an
important experience for students to develop their understanding
of, and appreciation for, food that has been ethically produced and
accessed by all members of a local community.
This unit is designed for a third or fourth grade classroom of up to
30 students in a public school in New York City. Ideally, this unit
would take place towards the end of the school year for students to
be able to draw upon a years worth of participation structures and
routines. The components of the unit that are community-specific
(for example, the farmers market trip) could be adapted to fit
many communities across New York City.
Students do not need to have an understanding of food justice to
be successful in the unit. However, students will have
demonstrated prior academic content knowledge in the following
areas:

Students
Prior
Knowledge

The Science of Planting

Writing Workshop
Conventions
Students are familiar with
classroom procedures that
will enable them to be
successful in this unit, such
as:
Homework Menus
Participating in a Book Club
Field Trip Expectations
Project Presentations

Standards
Addressed
in the Unit:
Common
Core ELA
and Math

Technology (Video
Creation)
Collective Rubric Creation

Film-watching expectations
Participating in a Gallery Walk
Expectations for Guest Speaker
Days

Reading: Literature
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL3.1: Ask and answer questions to
demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the
text as the basis for the answers.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL3.7: Explain how specific aspects of a
texts illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words

Standards
for Third
Grade

Standards
Addressed
in the Unit:
Common
Core ELA
and Math
Standards
for Third
Grade

in a story (e.g., crate mood, emphasize aspects of a character or

setting).
Reading: Informational Text
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.1: Ask and answer questions to
demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the
text as the basis for the answers.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.3: Describe the relationship between a
series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps
in technical procedure in a text, using language that pertains to
time, sequence, and cause/effect.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.7: Use information gained from
illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to
demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why,
and how key events occur).
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.10: By the end of the year, read and
comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies,
science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2-3
text complexity band independently and proficiently.
Writing
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to
examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.6: With guidance and support from
adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using
keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with
others.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.7: Conduct short research projects that
build knowledge about a topic.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.8: Recall information from experiences
or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief
notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.10: Write routinely over extended time
frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter
time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of
discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Speaking and Listening
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1: Engage effectively in a range of
collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building
on others ideas and expressing their own creatively.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.3: Ask and answer questions about
information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and
detail.
o CCSS.ELA-Litercy.SL.3.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story,
recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant,
descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

Writing
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1: Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English grammar and when writing or
speaking.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2: Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
o CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.3: Use knowledge of language and its
conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Essential What is food justice?

Questions What is the role of food in our lives?

How do we participate in the food system?

Students will understand that to study the food system is to study a

variety of cultural ideas, priorities, and perspectives.
Enduring
Understand Students will appreciate how food is connected to our cultural
identities.
ings
Students will begin to develop their political beliefs about food
labor and production.
Students will begin to develop their own definition of food justice.

Assessmen
t
Strategies

In this unit, student progress is assessed in a variety of ways, and

their progress is used to direct future learning investigations. Some
strategies used in this lesson for formal and informal assessment
include but are not limited to:

Entrance and Exit Questions

Parallel Tasks
Student Journaling
Presentation Skills (with
Rubric)

Show What You Know

Quizzes
End of the Unit Project
(using student and
teacher created rubrics)

It
is

important to note that in this point of the year, the classroom

culture has been established as a community of learners; since all
students are working and progressing at different rates in different
areas, students are aware that a variety of strategies are in place.
Students practice behaviors that are encouraging and supportive of
others in the community so that all students feel confident to ask
questions, participate in group discussions, and complete oral
presentations. Students will also be assessed according to their
ability to work well with others, their attitude towards participation
in the learning experiences, and their commitment to individual
progress. Data for these areas will be collected through teacher
anecdotes, through student self-reflection, and through
photographs.

Home and
School
Connection
s

For learning to be meaningful and exciting it should not be confined

to the classroom walls. Parents will receive a copy of the lessons as
a glance as well as a list of potential family outings that relate to
this unit on Food Justice. For homework, students will receive a TicTac-Toe menu to complete every two weeks. Parents will be invited
to the Taste of Astoria [or whatever city name] and to chaperone
the field trip, as well as to visit the gallery presentations on the
final day of the unit.

Just Food? Investigating Food Justice and Culture

Assessment Task Blueprint
Understandi
ngs or Goals
to be
Assessed
Through
This Task

The culminating project builds off of various smaller tasks from

the unit and allows diverse learners to demonstrate their learning
in a mode of their preference. Students will have a choice
between two tasks, and one task that is required by all students.
The understandings and goals assessed through this task include:
The student expresses a connection or relationship
between his or her cultural identities and food.
The student articulates how injustices occur in the food
system.
The student creates a visual representation of food
justice that showcases their beliefs and understandings
about food justice.
The student feels excited to share their learning about food

justice with our extended school community.

Task 1,
Option 1: A
Mural

For this option, students will work with their classmates to design,
create, and present a mural that is a visual representation of food
justice. Students will use a large (10 feet or so) piece of butcher
paper to sketch, define, and paint a mural. Students will
collectively decide on a title for the mural and present the mural
to the guests of the Food For Thought gallery and celebration.
This mural will hang at the local farmers market for the summer!
The prompt for students will say:
In the past few weeks, we have investigated how murals can
be important visual representations of an idea or community
value. We visited a mural titled Community Garden and
observed how the artist chose to use bright green leaves and
luscious fruit, and we discussed how the message of this mural
might be that community gardens are beautiful places to grow
and connect with our neighbors. As a team, sketch a plan for a
mural that captures your collective thoughts about food justice.
You should consider how your mural might visually respond to
these questions: what does food justice mean for us? How can
we share our learning about food justice with others? Once you
have your plan, use the butcher paper to create your actual mural
using paint. Finally, decide on a title for the mural as a group. You
and your classmates will present the mural to the guests at our
Food for Thought gallery and celebration. Then, the mural will
hang in our local farmers market this summer.

Task 1,
Option 2:
Photojournal
ism

For this second option, students will take photographs of the food
environment in the community to tell a photojournalistic story
of food justice and/or culture. Students will have the opportunity
to borrow cameras for out-of-school photographs, but students
will also have access to the immediate surrounding area of the
school during a supervised food environment walk. Students will
accompany their photographs with captions. Students may work
individually or in partnerships.

The prompt for students will say:

In the past few weeks, we have analyzed how photojournalism
is a genre of journalism that uses photographs to tell a story and
share information. We read photo-journal articles that showed us
how urban farming is expanding in New York City. We took
pictures of food in our community (at stores, at farmers markets,
and even in our homes) and discussed what we could learn from
those pictures. Your task is to use your camera to capture the
food environment in our community. Questions you should

consider are: what does food justice mean for us? How can we
share our learning about food justice with others? Students who
choose this option will go on a community food environment walk
to collect photographs, or you may choose to take your own
photographs outside of school. Then, you may choose to either
use VoiceThread or write captions for each of your photographs.
These photographs and accompanying descriptions or captions
will be showcased at our Food for Thought celebration.

Assessment
Criteria for
Task 1

As a class, we will discuss both options for the culminating task.

Before students are aware that they will have a choice in the two
tasks, we will collectively create a rubric to assess the tasks.
Students will use the same rubric for both tasks. I will ask
students:
How will I know what you learned about food justice as a
result of this project? [Students may say that I will know
what they learned based on the clarity of their captions or
description in the photojournals, or in the discussion of the
mural title and visual representation.]
What would a successful project look like? What qualities
would describe a successful photo-journal piece? What
qualities would describe a successful mural? [Students may
say that the visuals are clearly connected to food justice, or
aesthetically pleasing, demonstrating significant effort,
etc.]
What would a less successful project look like?
I would use students comments to generate a rubric using a
Google Document projected onto the Smart Board. All students
would have to agree to the rubric, and then I would share more
details about the culminating project plan.

Task 2, All
Students:
Food for
Thought
Reflection

All students will be required to complete a reflection on their

growth. They may choose to video record, audio record, or write
their reflection. They must answer:
What does food justice mean to you? What have you
learned about your role in the food system?
How are you different after studying food justice? How are
you the same?
What are you interested in knowing more about? What
questions do you still have?

Assessment
Criteria for
Task 2

I will be assessing the content of student work for Task 2. I will be

looking for students to attempt to define food justice, but I
understand that there is no single, official definition of food
justice. What is more important to me is that students are
beginning to develop their political beliefs and to grow in their

understanding of systemic injustices. I want students to

reference the food system and the food labor injustices that exist
within the system, and some students may be able to articulate
how their food choices may enforce or challenge that food
system. Students should consider Community Gardens as tools for
mitigating the injustices in the food industry. The reflection gives
students space to elaborate on their lingering questions, which I
believe can be used as evidence of their understanding and
current thinking. When all students reach the end of a unit with
exactly the same results and thinking, then I have not met their
needs and ignited their individual passions or interests. Task 2 will
allow each student to demonstrate his or her own take-away from
this unit of study.