Healthy Living
The Co-operative’s Green Schools Revolution
From Farm to Fork
LESSON PLAN – 7 TO 11 YEARS: Let’s go where the food
grows: what you need to know before your farm visit!
SUGGESTED TIME: 50-60 MINS
Age group
No. of pupils in cohort
Classroom support
(to be completed by teachers)
In this lesson, your pupils will be learning about arable and fruit farms. They’ll find out
about cereals and all the things we use them for plus, if you’re planning a visit to
Tillington Farm, they’ll learn about growing apples too.
Learning
objectives
To know what to expect on a visit to a Co-operative Farm, to learn how arable and fruit farms work and
how our food is grown.
To be prepared for the farm visit, including all health and safety aspects and sensible dress (make sure
your pupils wear wellies or trainers and warm clothes, if necessary).
Success
criteria
Children will be able to:
Describe the difference between an arable or fruit farm and a pastoral farm, and name some crops
grown on an arable farm.
Describe how to keep safe on a farm visit.
Curriculum links
England
Science
Sc2 life processes and living things - Humans and other animals
2 – pupils should be taught: Nutrition.
b – about the need for food for activity and growth, and about the importance of an adequate and
varied diet for health.
Geography
7b – study a range of places and environments in different parts of the world to show where our food
comes from.
Citizenship and PSHE
3a – Learn about what makes a healthy, safer lifestyle including the
benefits of exercise and healthy eating.
5d – How to make informed choices about food and farming by visiting
a supermarket or a farm shop.
www.greenschools.coop
Healthy Living
The Co-operative’s Green Schools Revolution
From Farm to Fork
LESSON PLAN – 7 TO 11 YEARS: Let’s go where the food
grows: what you need to know before your farm visit!
Curriculum links
continued
Wales
PSE
Promote health and emotional well-being and moral and spiritual development; become active citizens
and promote sustainable development and global citizenship; prepare for lifelong learning.
Scotland
Sciences: Biodiversity and interdependence
Learners explore the rich and changing diversity of living things and develop their understanding of how
organisms are interrelated at local and global levels. Learners investigate the factors affecting plant
growth and develop their understanding of the positive and negative impact of the human population on
the environment.
Northern Ireland
The world around us – interdependence and place
Explore how people interact in the world.
Explore how living things rely on each other within the natural world.
Explore ways in which people, plants and animals depend on the features and materials in places and
how they adapt to their environment.
Explore features of, and variations in places, including physical, human, climatic, vegetation and
animal life.
Personal development and mutual understanding
Teachers should enable pupils to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in personal
understanding and health. How to sustain their health, growth and well-being and coping safely and
efficiently with their environment.
Resources
Farming PowerPoint (supplied).
Balloon sheet (supplied).
www.greenschools.coop
Healthy Living
The Co-operative’s Green Schools Revolution
From Farm to Fork
LESSON PLAN – 7 TO 11 YEARS: Let’s go where the food
grows: what you need to know before your farm visit!
Teaching activities
Introduction (WALT) using
appropriate pupil language.
Whole-class focus,
teacher led.
Development
Independent, paired
and group activity
Differentiated
activities
SEN/G&T
Plenary
Brainstorm to find as many words as possible to do with farms and farming, writing them up on the board.
Introduce the definitions of arable, fruit and pastoral farming.
What do we get from farms? Ask children to list some crops, fruits and other farm products such as meat
and dairy.
Introduce the PowerPoint, showing the concept of an arable and fruit farm and what they might grow.
Explain the difference between an arable farm (where vegetables and cereals are grown), a fruit farm and
a pastoral farm (where animals are raised).
Discuss the farmer’s year. When is sowing/planting/harvesting done?
Introduce cereal crops. Discuss what we use them for. If you’re visiting Tillington, look at the PowerPoint
with the description of fruits and the dissection of an apple.
Introduce the crops and fruit that are grown on the farm you will visit. The children should trace the
journey of these crops and list where they might end up, for example the cider from apples may end up
in a pub or supermarket; wheat may end up in a bakery; oil-seed rape in a shop or restaurant. Ask the
children to draw a diagram showing how the crops or fruit could be used.
Differentiated by outcome, with children working to their own abilities.
G&T: Encourage the children to follow up their class work by doing further research on the internet or
in the library.
In preparation for their farm visit, ask the children to complete the balloon sheet. Using one colour,
they should fill in the balloons with statements beginning with: I know this already; I’d like to learn
more about; I’d like to ask; these are the new skills I learnt; I’d like to understand. Following the visit,
they can revisit the balloons and, using another colour, answer their own questions. Display the
balloon pictures in class so the children can evaluate their own learning.
Introduce the safety rules for visiting a farm: keep to the group; wash hands before and after the walk;
keep to the paths etc.
www.greenschools.coop
Healthy Living
The Co-operative’s Green Schools Revolution
From Farm to Fork
LESSON PLAN – 7 TO 11 YEARS: Let’s go where the food
grows: what you need to know before your farm visit!
AfL assessment
opportunities
(WILF)
Check pupils understand the word arable and can give more than one example of an arable crop.
Check they understand what is grown on a fruit farm and can give some examples.
Pupils should be able to describe at least two ways of keeping safe on a farm visit.
Extension/
homework
Ask the children to search at home for some examples of cereals. They can list them and share their
findings with the class or stick labels onto a sheet of paper to share.
The children take home their balloon sheets and share their before-and-after experiences of the
farm visit.
Ask your pupils to compile a list of fruits grown in the UK and another of those grown in other
countries. Ask them to explain their findings, e.g. oranges are grown in Spain because they need lots
of sun.
Pupils can visit www.co-operative.coop/farms/where-we-farm/map and
www.co-operative.coop/farms/what-we-grow/product to see where we farm and what
we grow.
Follow-up lessons
Whole-school
activity
The follow-up to this lesson is a Co-operative Farm visit.
Ask your caterers or school cook to label any lunchtime foods that are made from cereals, e.g. flour to
make pastry; corn; bread.
Set up an apple-tasting session at break time and encourage children to try the different varieties
of apples.
Develop an assembly piece about how bread is made, demonstrating the flour and bread and inviting
children to describe how they eat cereals. Ask the children if they use cereal-based items in their
religious lives.
www.greenschools.coop
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