2. Welcome!
Experience the Earth to Table program
Touch, Taste, Smell, See, Hear and Feel what its
like to be part of Earth to Table
Follow the blue line- follow your curiosity
3. Sensory Stations – The Five Senses
These were stations that were set up for participant interaction prior
to beginning lecture portion of presentation
4. Manipulative Stations – “Give to the
Hand”
These were stations that were set up for participant interaction prior
to beginning lecture portion of presentation
5. Who We Are
The Children’s House, an independent Montessori
• Celebrating 27 years
• Current facility built in 2003 to house all age groups
– Built on grounds of former nursery
– Building won and award for architectural design
• 8 acres with four theme gardens, greenhouse, individual
classroom raised beds, and all-school food production
gardens
– Year-round school programs (summer camps for elementary)
6. Who We Are
• Certified State of Michigan Green School
since 2009
• Currently recycle almost all of our waste and
compost almost all food product
• Use green cleaning products and cloth
napkins and rags
• Earth to Table Program encompassing
Physical Education, Kitchen Classroom and
Della Terra began in 2009
– ‘Edible Schoolyard’ curriculum through Della
Terra Program and Kitchen Classroom began
2005
• Use organic and sustainable gardening
practices
• Use organic and artisanal food in school
lunch program
COMPOST
7. Who Are You?
• Parents?
• Teachers?
• Montessorians?
• Children’s Garden?
• Environmental Education?
What are your interests in this lecture?
8. What is Montessori?
• An educational
pedagogy developed
102 years ago by Dr.
Maria Montessori in
Rome
• Formulated by
observing how
children learn in slums
of Rome
• Her observations
about brain
development
validated by modern
pediatric neuroscience
9. What is Montessori?
The short version
• “Give to the Hand” or learning by doing
• Prepared learning environment
• Individualized learning plan to meet needs and potential of
each student (students not all at same “place”)
• Engaging ALL the senses to learn
• Movement is necessary for learning
• Tolerance for failure (learn from mistakes)
• Purposeful work that supports the community
• Alice Waters inspiration for The Edible Schoolyard
– Alice began her career as an AMI certified Montessori Guide in
the Berkley Public School Montessori before she started Chez
Panisse
10. Redrawing the body
what you would look like if redrawn according to brain area allotted to senses
From a lecture by Dr. Stephen Hughes, Pediatric Neuropsychologist, University if Minnesota
11. Earth to Table Program
• 2009 Core committee formulated a wellness
policy to promote healthy and sustainable living
– Purpose: To encourage The Children’s House
community to move, grow and eat well
– Brought current initiatives and programs under the
umbrella of ‘Earth to Table’ program
• 2010 Expanded committee to representatives
from all levels (villages) and planned new
initiatives and growth of program
12. Move – Steve Maas, Physical Education
– All students have 30 minutes of PE each day plus recess
– Community service projects throughout school community
– Composting and Recycling
– Nutrition education
Earth to Table Instructors
Eat – Kristina Weidenfeller, Kitchen Classroom
– Six mixed-age elementary students (grades 1-6), one week rotation (7.5 hrs)
twice a year
– Create fee-based school lunch for 100-200 students and staff each week
– Provide complimentary morning and afternoon snack for entire school
– Harvesting garden, making food for special events
– Food of the Month program
Grow – Michele Worden, Della Terra
– Six to eight mixed-age elementary students (grades 1-6), one week
rotation (7.5 hrs) twice a year
– Purposeful work in greenhouse and production gardens
– Experiments, special projects
– Annual Plant Sale, produce sales
– Community service to beautify grounds
– Food of Month program
13. Primary ‘Earth to Table’ Instructors
• Each Primary Guide (3-5 years)
has a raised bed outside their
classroom
– Children plan, plant ,tend,
harvest, sell
• Melissa runs a year-round
classroom
– Ducks and chickens
– Sunflower house
– Three sisters garden
– Bean teepee and tunnel
– “Farm market”
• Toddler classrooms experience
“Earth to Table” through garden
exploration and food prep
14. Where we fit in academic learning
Della Terra
Kitchen
Classroom
Classroom Guides
15. Project-based Learning
“Life is not divided into neat little text books.
Math, language, botany, zoology, culture,
history, chemistry happen at the same time.
Experience them and learn about them at the
same time.” –Kristina
Why do certain cultures use certain foods for
staples or celebrations? Climate, soil, history...
16. Let’s Move!
• Site is designed
for movement
– Labyrinth
garden
– Zen Garden
– Strolling garden
– Rose garden
• Garden chores 8 acre campus in 2003. Lots of exercise moving
from one end to the other!
17. Movement in the Garden
Movement and gross
motor development is
part of cognitive
development. Walking
the Labyrinth can also
be a form of meditation
Raking patterns in the
Zen garden channels
energy and calms and
focuses children. Zen
gardens are also used
for meditation.
18. Strolling in the Garden for Discovery
Sandra’s Garden
is a strolling
perennial
garden for
exploration and
discovery for all
ages
The Rose
Garden is a
place of beauty.
“Beauty is a
language” (Alice
Waters)
19. Movement Sustains the Program
• During PE, Della
Terra or daily
community service
students…
– Turn the compost
– Add compost and
mulch to garden
beds
– Organize recycling
– Till the soil with
broadfork
20. Let’s Grow – Della Terra
• Total of 1800 sq. ft.
– “Triangle area” raised
beds
• Espalied apple trees
with strawberries, Kale,
Raspberries
– Main “Production”
garden
• Crops chosen to
– Support the kitchen
– Delight children
– Requested by children
– For market sale
21. Grow – Starting Seeds
In Della Terra, start
vegetables, herbs
and flowers plants
from seeds
• for Annual Plant
Sale
• Production
gardens
22. Grow –Planting Four Seasons
• Planting the garden
– During Della Terra
– Spring All-school
Workbee
– Fall All-school
Workbee
• Maintained
– During Della Terra
– Summer program
– Staff hours in summer
– Volunteers
Planting lettuce starts
Spring All-School Workbee
Planting celeryPlanting onion starts
23. Grow - Harvesting
• During Della Terra
and summer
program
– For Kitchen
• Produce is
weighed and
defrayed cost
calculated
– For Sale
• Track in
accounting
• Sold in car line
– For snacking!!
24. Grow – Cash Crops
Annual Seedling Sale
Forced Bulb Pots Sale Tulip Bouquet Sale
Produce and Flower Sales
25. Grow Financials
Della Terra
School Year 2009-10 2010-2011
Curricular Budget $ 1,500.00 $ 2,500.00
Actual Expenses $ 4,586.00 $ 3,663.00
Grant (Karen Circle) $ 852.00 $ 1,300.00
$ 5,438.00 $ 4,963.00
Booked Revenue $ 2,804.00 $ 2,993.00
Estimated Breakdown
Annual Seedling Plant Sale $ 1,800.00 $ 1,600.00
Forced bulb Pot sale $ 300.00 $ 400.00
Produce for Sale $ 150.00 $ 150.00
Bouquet sales $ 400.00 $ 500.00
Hanging baskets $ 180.00 $ -
$ 2,830.00 $ 2,650.00
Goal is to make program cost neutral and sustainable
26. Let’s Eat! - Kitchen Classroom
• The Kitchen is the heart of
the house
• All members of the
community are welcome to
frequent the kitchen
• Safe, inviting, feast for the
senses
• Kid sized professional
kitchen
• Conveniently located near
compost, herbs,
greenhouse, and recycling
28. Teach Basic Skills
• Sanitation
– Clean hands, secure hair,
don apron
– Clean and sanitize
yourself and your area
between tasks
– End of class clean up
• Prep skills
– Organizing your station
– Knife skills
– Use of other kitchen
tools and equipment
29. Teach basic nutrition
• Plan a balanced plate
• Discuss healthy portion sizes
• Benefits of different nutrients
• Raw whole foods versus
processed foods
• Organic and natural foods
• Preservatives and added sugar
• Moderation!
30. Teach the culture of food
• Prepare and share
• Eat together, family
style service, practice
grace and courtesy
• Explore global
celebrations and the
traditional foods served
• Choose a specific
country or culture to
study
31. Team work
Della Terra
• Lettuce- plant, tend, sell
• Flowers- plant, force, sell
• Herb Blends- plant, tend, sell
• Plant sale- plant, sell
Kitchen Classroom/PE
• Harvest, wash and bag
• Harvest, store
• Dry, blend, bag
• Benefit from extras!
32. Classroom Structure
• Tasks of varying abilities
and levels of development
• A place for everything and
everything in it’s place
• Pairing of more
experienced chefs with
beginners
33. Kitchen Classroom by the numbers
• Served 11,441 lunches (roughly a third of
school daily)
• Served over 400 snacks per day
(Approx. 72,000 snacks)
• “Profit” from school lunch was $7,209.73
– Price of lunch $3.25
– Average cost of lunch was $2.48
• Contributed nearly $1,000 from our own
harvest in 2010
34. Academic Curriculum
• Where did you find math?
• Where did you find language?
• Where did you find science?
• Where did you find humanities?
35. Let us sum up…
• We learn how to grow it
• We learn how to eat it
• We learn how to move to grow and eat it
• We learn math, science, language, humanities
through moving, growing and eating
• We learn how it all fits together to sustain life
and make the world go round
From earth to table and back again!
36. Next Steps
• Add Low Tunnels for season extension with cold
season crops 2011-2012
• Add more fruit to campus
– Blueberries, Saskatoon berries?
• Add perennial vegetables like asparagus, rhubarb
• Produce value-added products for sale
• Fall Harvest Festival
• Free samples of new lunches
• Expanded student progress reports
• Root cellar
37. “A child is both a hope and a promise for mankind”
- Dr. Maria Montessori
