• Use the Newsletter sample for each food item to communicate with parents about upcoming local food on the menu.



• Send home a Home Recipe so families can try a home version of food that will be served in the school cafeteria.



• Use the "Fun Facts" and photos of food items to build your own newsletter articles.



• Show the Farm to School video to a parent group.

• Give teachers an announcement to read to their classes about a local food item that will be served at the school.



• Supply teachers with a poster that they can put up in their classroom.



• Invite teachers to check out the classroom enrichment materials that we have on this website for more in-depth activities around each local food item.



• Show teachers the Farm to School video.

More Teacher Resources:

• National Farm to School Website, www.farmtoschool.org



• University of Minnesota Extension Nutrition Program, www.extension.umn.edu/Nutrition



• National Agriculture in the Classroom, www.agclassroom.org



• Minnesota Ag in the Classroom, www.mda.state.mn.us/kids



• USDA Team Nutrition. Elementary school-age classroom nutrition lesson based on the Food Pyramid.



• Books and other nutrition and food resources to order for elementary-age students: www.neatsolutions.com

• Plan a tasting event to introduce students to new foods before these foods appear on the menu.
  
  Tasting Event Resource: For a general tasting event protocol, see this resource from the "Vermont Feeds" Farm-to-School program:
  www.vtfeed.org/tools-resources/pdfs-tool/TasteTestGuide2005.pdf



• Put up posters in the cafeteria or hallways; tape index cards to lunch-line sneeze guards.



• Conduct lunch-line surveys of students to ask about their opinion of a food item.



• Engage students in trivia-type games about a food item during their cafeteria time. Use the "Fun Facts" sections to find trivia questions.