Heading Back to the Classroom

We have two more collections in our ‘KGP at home’ series being distributed to educators soon. We hope they have been informative and useful in whatever context you are in. These resources will continue to be useful in transitioning back to school and are not limited to learning at home.

As we adjust our sails and head back to the classroom, many of our schools and centres are faced with a new set of challenges. How do we run kitchen and garden classes in the face of social distancing and strict hygiene? This will be an exercise in risk management and a decision that all schools and centres will undertake with their leadership teams and communities.

While new regulations may make it difficult to continue traditional kitchen and garden classes, we have the capacity to adapt.
As we experienced with our ‘KGP at home’ collections, the Shared Table is rich with resources and activities to assist educators to continue delivering classes in a modified format if needed, as well as connect with the broader kitchen garden community.

The garden offers endless opportunities to enhance learning and there is no better place for your students to be right now.

Now is also the perfect time to utilise kitchen classes to reinforce technical skills. Educators can break down knife skills and equipment use in small groups, undertake theory-based lessons incorporating other learning areas, or demonstrate cooking techniques. Many of our Shared Table resources and learning prompts included in the ‘KGP at home’ collections can be turned into lessons of their own.

Don’t forget we can still share. Even if it’s not a meal together, it’s the perfect time to share stories. Talk about where food comes from, explore different cultural practices and investigate what food systems look like. Ask family members and friends about times they’ve experienced food and travel restrictions, and what they did to cope. Plan a menu for home, or what you’ll order when your favourite café or restaurant is back open for business. If you’re harvesting certain crops, send home associated recipes for students to try with their families.

Over the coming weeks we’ll be suggesting appropriate resources and approaches to assist all educators to continue delivering pleasurable food education. (Teachers: keep an eye on the Shared Table and your inbox for updates!)

Please contact our Support Team on 13000 SAKGF (13000 72543) if you need any assistance.

Happy kitchen gardening!