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October 27, 2015 | Spotlight on Farm to Preschool
In today's Wisconsin Farm to School newsletter, you will find:
 Children at First Lutheran Church Childcare
plant seeds for their indoor garden.
Excitement and momentum surrounding the farm to preschool movement is
growing in Wisconsin! 'Farm to preschool' includes all early care settings, such as: preschools,
Head Start, center-based programs, programs in K-12 school districts, and
family based programs. The state has a strong history in both farm to school and
the early childhood setting, but that work has been somewhat separated for many
years. The Wisconsin Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Initiative (WECOPI) was
created in 2008 and focuses on supporting healthy eating and physical activity
in child care settings. The Wisconsin Farm to School Leadership group,
comprised of stakeholders from state and local agencies and nonprofit
organizations, began meeting in 2009. A Farm to Preschool subgroup that
includes representation from WECOPI and the Farm to School Leadership Group
formed in 2015 in recognition of the importance of this movement. Members of
the Farm to Preschool subgroup include individuals from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison; UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agriculture Systems;
Winnebago County Health Department; Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade
and Consumer Protection; Wisconsin Department of Health Services; Wisconsin
Department of Public Instruction; Wisconsin Early Childhood Association;
healthTIDE; Community GroundWorks; and independent fundraising and grant
consultants. If you would like to
participate in this group, please contact Beth Hanna at
beth@communitygroundworks.org.
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The National Farm to School Network (NFSN) applauds your
dedication and commitment to engaging and educating our next generation! NFSN would
greatly appreciate your participation in a brief (10-15 minute) research survey
that focuses on farm to preschool/farm to early care activities.
We seek responses from staff in all early care and education
settings (e.g. preschools, Head Start, center-based programs, programs in K-12
school districts, and family based programs). Even if you feel you are not
currently involved in farm to preschool activities, we would value your
feedback.
Follow this link to complete the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NFSNfarmtopreschool
Please complete the survey by Friday, November 20. By
completing the survey, you will qualify for a drawing to win one of 5 framed
prints of artwork created collaboratively by attendees of the 2012 National
Farm to Cafeteria conference and designed by Vermont artist Bonnie Acker. Your involvement
in this national survey is voluntary. Your name, site name or any identifying
information will not be in publications or reports; however, we will be able to
gain valuable knowledge about activities in Wisconsin!
Your feedback and contributions are very important to our future
work! NFSN serves as a hub for information, networking and advocacy for
communities working to bring local food sourcing and food and farm education to
schools and preschools. Learn more at www.farmtoschool.org.
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Outdoor garden
activities at UW-Stout’s Children and Family Study Center in Menomonie, WI
Team Nutrition Garden
Grant Success Stories
In 2014, Wisconsin Team Nutrition at the Department of
Public Instruction offered an indoor garden subgrant to child care centers who
participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Subgrant recipients were
allotted funding to purchase gardening supplies for an indoor classroom garden;
garden-based educational materials, as well as printed lesson handouts and
accompanying materials; and food for classroom tasting and demonstration. Grant
recipients were required to implement lessons from the Team Nutrition gardening
curriculum (Grow It, Try It, Like it!) and completed a
post-program evaluation. The evaluation analyzed the participants’ favorite
lessons to implement and measured if the children benefited from participating
in the educational opportunity.
The following are a sample of comments from child care
centers who participated in the Wisconsin Team Nutrition Indoor Garden Subgrant:
- Do you feel your students benefited
from participating in this educational opportunity?
Yes, it was amazing to
see how much more likely the students were to try a new food if they learned
about it first. Previously, when a new food was presented at snack, most of the
children wouldn’t try it. But after seeing the whole food, touching it,
smelling it, and cooking with it, they were excited to taste it! –Maggie
Keenan, 4K Teacher, and Allison Freeman, Nutritionist, Child and Family Study
Center, University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, WI
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The
Team Nutrition indoor garden sub-grant was successful and very well-received by
the children and adults involved! We've actually gardened for a number of
years, and have had vermicomposting going, too. But this was the first
year with indoor gardening, as well. What a fun learning experience! -Judy Gifford, Director, Child and Family Study
Center, University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, WI
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Children participate in the Sweet Potato lesson from Grow
it, Try it, Like it! in Book 4: Sweet
Potato Hill at UW-Stout’s Child and Family Study Center.
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The Wisconsin Department
of Public Instruction has an updated Farm to Preschool webpage with
many great resources for child care and early care and education (ECE)
settings.
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Michigan Farm to Early Childcare Guide
New! Farm to Early Childhood Programs: A
Step-By-Step Guide is now available! Freely downloadable, this new
guide provides tools and resources to help early childhood program providers of
all types and sizes purchase and use local foods in their meals and snacks.
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The Registry, Wisconsin's
Recognition System for the Childhood Care and Education Profession,
acknowledges and highlights the training, experience and professionalism that
are vital to quality care.
The Registry has options
to help you bring farm to preschool to your center! There are several options, including:
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Grandma's
Garden Return's provides an opportunity for staff, parents and community
members to develop a vision statement about gardening with children in their
outdoor space. The course is set up in three sessions-1st session is vision
work and community building 2nd session focuses the vision work into a project
and 3rd session is an on-site workday. The intent of the course is to establish
a community that can continue to meet on its own and bring their vision to
reality on a time frame suitable to the group.
This training has been approved for continuing education
hours for child care providers, with 1.5 hours of Registry credit awarded for
this training (see final training video for details).
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