The Great Big Crunch - FoodShare...one to choose the filler words that best fit into the Apple Rap blanks. It may take a couple of goes and some swapping around to get it sounding

FoodShare’s Great Big Crunch invites students, teachers, educators and all good food enthusiasts to learn about healthy eating through the apple’s journey from seed, to harvest, to market, to table (and around again)!

What:A special day, class, assembly, lunch hour or 5 minutes dedicated to locally grown apples and ending with a synchronized “crunch” to celebrate! 

When:The 2015 Great Big Crunch is Thursday, March 12 at 2:30pm E.S.T - but you can crunch anytime! Don't forget to register with us and share details about your event; we want to count your crunches towards the grand total no matter when you do it, how you do it, or what you crunch (yep, carrots count too!)

Who & Where:Anyone can participate, from students, teachers and individuals in classrooms, gymnasiums, recreational facilities, to homes, work places and communities across Ontario...and beyond!

The Great Big Crunch 2015 Activity Guide

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

2014 Crunchy Bunch

Thanks to the 100,097 who crunched down last year!

How to Take the 2015 Great Big Crunch:Registration is important! We want to count your crunches towards the grand total no matter when you do it, or what you crunch.

Register by filling out the online form available on our website, www.foodshare.net/great-big-crunch, or download the paper copy from the same page and fax it to us.

Download FoodShare’s Great Big Crunch activities from previous years (to accompany this one), or develop your own.

Spread the word by emailing your friends, colleagues and networks.

Like FoodShare Toronto on Facebook, follow @FoodShareTO on Twitter and use #greatbigcrunch to gain momentum for the event.

Purchase locally grown apples (or other crunchy vegetables or fruits) from your local green grocer, farmer’s market or supermarket.  

At 2:30pm E.S.T on Thursday, March 12 2015, run the Great Big Crunch in your school or classroom and enhance your students' understanding of our food system while having fun at the same time!

Share, share, share! You could see your Great Big Crunch photos, activities or stories on our website by emailing them to [email protected] or using the #greatbigcrunch hashtag.

In your email, please indicate that you've read and agree with the conditions outlined in our FoodShare Media Release Form, available: www.foodshare.net/great-big-crunch (all social media posts will be assumed safe to share).

Now read on for some new apple-themedactivities!

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

Why Participate in the Great Big Crunch?The Great Big Crunch is a great way to get your students excited about Nutrition Month. Knowing they are a part of a cross-Canadian crunch adds even more ‘a peel’.

Whether your class participates in a day’s worth of activities, an afternoon, or just one Great Big Crunch we hope your students come away from the experience with an enhanced interest and understanding of local produce, from seed to table. Your participation will:

Promote and celebrate healthy snacking. 

Highlight availability of locally grown apples all year round.

Use apples as the centerpiece for activities on cooking and tasting, nutrition, soil and composting, sustainability, community development and more! 

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

How to Keep Your Apples from Turning Brown - A Science Experiment

Images and Lesson Plan Adapted from www.coffeecupsandcrayons.com.

1. Choose a selection of non-toxic acids (pH less than 7) and bases (pH more than 7) for your experiment. Here are some suggestions:•Acids: Vinegar (2.2), Lemon Juice (2.0), Orange Juice (3.0), Black Coffee (5.0),

Milk (6.6)•Bases: Sea Water (8.0), Baking Soda (8.3), Milk of Magnesia (10.5)•Neutral: Water (7) - important for your “placebo”!

2. Cut up some apple (either the same apple, or at least the same kind of apple - to keep things consistent) and place in small jars, ready to be topped up with your chosen liquids...

3. Create a hypothesis. This simply means, take an educated guess about what you think might happen to the colour of your cut up apples after 1 hour, 1 day, 2 days… etc. Write it down.

4. Perform your experiment! You can create simple tracking sheets for your students to fill out during the experiment and depending on their age, create tables or graphs to demonstrate the results.

5. Compare and contrast your results with your original hypothesis.

How might these results help you when using apples in the kitchen?

Learn These Key Words:

Acid | Base | Placebo | Hypothesis

Apple-Themed Colour By Number - An Exercise in Art, Math & Life Science

Inspired by www.notimeforflashcards.com.

Use the colouring sheet on the following page, download one, or create your own for this art activity. Depending on the age of your students, you can adapt it in different ways to transform it into a challenging math quiz followed by a lesson in life sciences!Here’s how to do it:

Younger Students:

Add in the corresponding numbers directly onto the page like this (you can then photo copy enough for the whole group).

Older Students:

Instead of adding in numbers, challenge students with math questions instead!

1

1

66

6 61

71

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

3+1

2x1

8-6

4+250% of 6

A Lesson in Life Cycles:

Now that your students have de-puzzled and coloured their sheets, each square can be cut out and used for a variety of life cycle activities, for example:

•Labeling each one

•Sorting into chronological order

• Adding any “missing” pictures (e.g. )

•Creating a story board and using them for storytelling

You could also try:

•Forming groups and playing a game of “memory” or “snap”

•Using the cards to help further animate a favourite story book about apples (i.e. matching the cards to the words)

1 = PINK2 = RED

5 = ORANGE6 = DARK GREEN

7 = LIGHT GREEN8 = PURPLE

3 = BROWN4 = YELLOW

Colour By Number

Personal Apple π - A Delicious Approach to Circle Geometry

Images & Recipe Adapted from www.freutcake.com

Using apple pies to teach is a sure-fire way to get students engaged! Try this simple recipe and activity idea to demonstrate the basics of circle geometry… yes, we mean π.

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

Ingredients to make 10-12 pies, or π’s:• 1 box store-bought pie crust (2 rolls), or your favourite recipe• 2 cups washed, cored and diced Granny Smith apples (about

3 apples)• 2 Tablespoons of all purpose flour• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon & ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg • ¼ cup sugar• The juice of ½ a lemon (why? see activity 1!)• Egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon of water)

Method:1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF and line a baking sheet with

parchment paper. Set aside.2. In a bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, cinnamon,

nutmeg, sugar and flour. Mix until apples are well coated.3. Unroll the pie dough onto a clean, well-floured surface. Using a

circular cookie cutter, glass or jar, cut out as many circles as you can. Using a rolling pin, roll out the scraps of your dough and repeat the process, until you run out.

4. Spoon 1 Tablespoon of the apple filling into the centre of half of the dough circles, remember to leave space around the edge.

5. Brush around the edge of each circle with the egg wash (the “glue”) and top with one of the remaining dough circles. Use a fork to press around the edge, “crimping” the two pieces together.

6. Brush each pie with the remaining egg wash and cut “vents” into the top of each pie (you could make the π shape!)

7. Place each pie onto the lined baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30mins.

8. Bake at 425ºF for 15mins, or until golden brown. Enjoy!

While your mini pies are in the fridge, oven and then cooling rack (roughly 50mins total), try some of these geometry activities with your students!

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

Test the Theory!

1. Using a piece of yarn or string, measure the circumference of your cookie cutter, glass or jar and translate into centimeters, millimeters or inches by lining up against a ruler.

2. Now measure the diameter using a ruler. Remember to use the same value as the circumference (i.e. cm, mm, inches).

3. Substitute your values into the equation to (hopefully) arrive at “pi” - roughly 3.14!

Question: If you had a ruler, but no string or yarn, how could you find out what the circumference of your cookie cutter is?

Question: Will the circumference of the cookie cutter be the same as the pies that come out of the oven? Why or why not? What about the diameter? (Find out when your pies are ready!)

Inspired by: http://bedtimemath.org/apple-pi/

circumference (C)

diameter (D)

radius (R)

area (A)π = circumference (C) diameter (D)

and therefore,

π x D = C

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

Macky Mac & The Crunchy Bunch - A Literary Exercise in Rapping

You might want to put your cap on backwards for this one... Although students may not get the 90’s hip hop reference, they’ll love being able to demonstrate the use of verbs, adjectives and nouns in such a cool and fun way!

What You Need:

•The Apple Rap written onto poster board or chart paper with blanks left for words to be inserted

•Filler words written onto pieces of paper with tape on the back

•Poster board with a 3-columned T Chart for verbs, adjectives and nouns

•Fun rapping props (e.g. ghetto blaster, microphones, caps, or sunglasses...)

Verbs Nouns Adjectives

decay worms beautiful

grow bacteria smelly

feed moulds nutritious

shrink fungi happy

wait trees angry

watch Farmer Fran chilly

crunch Farmer Frank warmer

buzzing apples

eat blossoms

throw bees

harvests pollen

honey

apple pie

apple juice

apple chips

1. First things first, we need to sort out our adjectives from our nouns from our verbs… What’s what?

•Adjectives: Describing words•Nouns: Person, place or thing •Verbs: Action words

2. Using the list of words you see below, that at this stage will be scattered on pieces of paper, place them in the correct column on your T Chart. You can add your own too!

w w w. f o o d s h a r e . n e t l t h e g r e a t b i g c r u n c h @ f o o d s h a r e . n e t l # g r e a t b i g c r u n c h

Put an apple into the compost, just ______ and it will slowly ______,

As the ______ , ______ and ______ munch and ______ the apple away.

I then take this beautiful compost, a perfect food for hungry ______,

And ______ it to the apple tree, that the farmer ______ with expertise.

The tree is so very happy, well fed, and full of life,

It is blooming with pink and white ______, that smell so very nice.

The ______ are terribly busy, collecting ______ while ______ with glee,

And slurping nectar to make sweet golden ______, and pollinating the tree.

The temperature is getting ______, the summer is nearly past,

The little flowers have turned into ______, so I can ______ one at last!

What can we make with those apples? Have you got a favourite recipe?

You can make ______ or ______, let’s make sure it’s fresh and healthy!

After we made our apple treats, we had a bucket of apple ______,

Don’t you think we should add this to the ______, the worms are asking for

more!

3. Have students come up one by one to choose the filler words that best fit into the Apple Rap blanks. It may take a couple of goes and some swapping around to get it sounding (and rhyming) just right.

4. Now you’re ready to perform your rap as a group! Incorporate some actions for extra effect!

The Apple Rap!

Meredith Hayes Student Nutrition and School Program Senior Manager [email protected], 416-363-6441 ext 248As a founding Field to Table Schools programmer, Meredith is responsible for some of our most well-loved activities and events, including The Great Big Crunch. Bringing a passion for good food and environmental education, Meredith is a major game-changer and one to watch as she collaborates like crazy to change the face of school food through local, provincial and Canada-wide networks.Contact For: FoodShare’s Recipe for Change Initiative, Ontario Edible Education Network, Ontario Farm to School Challenge, Toronto Partners for Student Nutrition Programs

Brooke Ziebell Field to Table Schools Senior [email protected] applies a more formal nutrition science background (from her previous life in Australia) with a love of get-your-hands-dirty education that encourages smell-touch-and-taste-it investigations, out-of-this-world imaginations and wave-your-hands-in-the-air-like-you-just-don’t-care celebrations.On maternity leave February 2015 - 2016

Carolynne Crawley Field to Table Schools [email protected] over 20 years of working with children and youth, Carolynne “fountain-of-youth” Crawley is a master at harbouring deep connections with nature and nutrition principals. A keen forager and mentor, Carolynne talks the talk, walks the walk, and more often than not, gardens the garden too. What ”Miss C” teaches, students remember.Contact For: Volunteer or internship opportunities, student workshops, staff wellness, nature connections

Orlando Lopez Gomez School Grown Educator & Compost [email protected] and worms and bees - oh my! Orlando is our resident agronomist (that means composting, beekeeping and farming expert) hailing all the way from Nicaragua. Sitting on the fence between FoodShare's schools and urban agriculture programs, Orlando + us = a match made in edible and sustainable education heaven. Contact For: Composting in schools, worms, beekeeping, organic gardening techniques

Katie German School Grown Senior [email protected] very own accredited teacher with recent experience working on Canada’s largest (and coolest) urban farm as well as coordinating FoodShare’s very own farming social enterprise - can engage anyone to do just about anything.Contact For: The Great Big Crunch, School Grown projects, youth engagement, crop planning, organic growing techniques

James Davis School Food Innovation [email protected] “buildi#cationator” brings experience in permaculture, holistic design, green building and carpentry. James has successfully tricked hundreds of unsuspecting students into drinking green vegetable smoothies using his bicycle blender-building powers.Contact For: School food garden enquiries, indoor growing innovations, bicycle blenders, school food garden furniture, File-A-Sprout

Meet The Team Behind The Great Big Crunch

Gita Madan Field to Table Schools [email protected] rooted in social justice principles, Gita's mad facilitation skills are both creative and engaging - getting students to think critically about the food system, sometimes without even realizing it! Our newest team member is a keen community organizer, soup-sharer and magical music-maker.Contact For: Student engagement, social justice, equity and arts-based education, educator workshops