Inquiry Lesson Plan Template (with Four Ways of Thinking

connection)
Teacher: Tori Serrano
Content & Title:
Grade Level: 4th
How far does your Grade
food travel?
Standards:
Science Strand 4, Concept 3 PO1: Describe ways various resources
(e.g., air, water, plants, animals, soil) are utilized to meet the needs of
a population.
Objectives (Explicit & Measurable):
The students will be able to measure the amount of different food
miles it takes for there meals to get to their plate by using
foodmiles.com, then brainstorm ideas of how to reduce foo miles to
help our environment.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
(formative) Observations of food miles: The students will pick different
types of food tht they eat in their favorite meals (3-5). Then, go on to
foodmiles.com to calculate how many miles it take for their favorite
dish to get to their plate. The teacher will walk around and make sure
students are on task, along with asking questions to get the students
minds working.
(summative) Essay: The stuents will write an essay on the food miles
that they have calculated along with ideas that they brainstormed with
their table groups to reduce the amount of food miles on our food.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from
simple to more complex):

SWBAT make observations and inferences from the video in the

engage.
SWBAT list the different foods that they enjoy to eat and calculate it
the different food miles on Foodmiles.com.
SWBAT brainstorm with their table groups different ways to improve
the ways that we get our food.
Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what
students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)
The students will learn about what food miles are by watching a short video. The students
will take notes in their book, then be asked the question, where does our food come from?
The students will be taught how to use the website, foodmiles.com, to calculate how many
miles it takes for their food to get from where it grows to your plate. The teacher will hold a
class discussion and cover any misconceptions that the students may have and cover the
full idea of what exactly is a food system. Then, the teacher will help the students identify
any problems that can be created by our food systems. Then, the students will be asked to
research how can we improve our food systems. The students will research ideas on how we
can improve our food systems to help our environment, then when they are done the
teacher will hold a class discussion. The teacher will have the students write and essay on
what they have learned and to turn it in at the end of class. After all the students have
turned in their essays, the teacher will have the students sign a pledge to take action in
improving our food systems to make a better environment. This lesson is great for students
because they will understand the process that it takes for food to get from where they are
produced to our plates. A lot of students dont understand this process and how damaging
it can be to Earth, so it is a beneficial lesson about sustainability and how we can improve
the various systems.

Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing this

lesson)

The previous knowledge that the students will know will be the difference between over and
under nutrition. The students will know about food security and how every country has
different levels of food security. For each different level of food security results in the
difference between the citizens being over or undernutrition.
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)

When students are being introduced to food miles, they may think of
the amount of miles it takes for them to drive to the grocery store.
Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)
Observation-reinforcing
Inference- reinforcing
Classification- reinforcing
Applying- reinforcing
Four Ways of Thinking connection: (Provide a complete explanation of how your
lesson plan connects to futures, system, strategic, or values thinking. Define the way of
thinking you selected and used in this lesson plan. Remember, this should be included
meaningfully in the lesson plan.)
Systems Thinking- The students will think about all of the different ways that our food get to
our plate. For example how food can travel by truck, plane, or even by a ship. Future
Thinking- The students will haveto think and brainstorm improvements that we can do
inorder to prevent less damage to our environment by reducing food miles. Finding the
different ways to conserve the amount of miles to the traveling of food is also apart of,
Strategic Thinking. Lastly, Values Thinking will be used as well. The students will put into
perspective how damaging all of these food miles are and how their results can benefit their
home town communities.
Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)
We are using technology, so please stay on the sites that you are suppose to be using
to find research.
If the teacher finds any students misbehaving, then they are no longer allowed to use
the laptops.
No horseplaying, since there is expensive equipment out.
Include everyone, give everyone a chance to speak out and share their opinions.
Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)
1. (to explore) Where does our food come from?
2. (to elaborate) How can we improve our food systems?
Key vocabulary: (list and define)
Materials: (list item and possible
1. Food system- is the path that food travels
quantity)
from field to fork. It includes the growing,
1. Teachers laptop
harvesting, processing, packaging,
2. Class seat of laptops
transporting, marketing, consuming, and
3. Pencils (students provide)
disposing of food.
4. Paper (students provide, teacher has
2. Agriculture- the science or practice of
extra materials)
farming, including cultivation of the soil for
5. Wifi
the growing of crops and the rearing of
6. Projector
animals to provide food, wool, and other
products.
3. Food Miles- a mile over which a food item is
transported from producer to consumer, as a
unit of measurement of the fuel used to do
this.

Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student
attention, pose a question (IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students
will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will: (hook)
Students Will:
The teacher will clap a pattern to
The students will clap the
get the students attention and
same pattern back to the
the students will clap clap the
teacher.

same pattern back.

When the teacher has everyones
attention she will have everyone
take out their notebook, title it
food miles and have them put the
date and time next to eat.
The teacher will ask the students
to take notes on what the word
food miles mean, while they are
watching the video.
The teacher will play the video,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=b7rn5hH5XN8
After the video, the class will
discuss what food miles are and
how the food that they eat have
food miles too. Have the students
discuss in table groups, then hold
a class discussion.
Once the discussion is over it is
time to move on to the next
activity.

The students will title their

notebook and put the
date/time on it to make sure
that they are ready for the
video.

Students will participate and

try their best to answer what
a food mile means.

The students will watch the

video and take notes on the
definition of a food mile.

The students will dicuss their

findings with their group, then
participate in a full class
discussion.

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

The teacher will model wait time while the students are discussing in
their groups, before having a full class discussion.
Having the students talk in groups first, will help ELL students have a
better grasp on the concept that is being presented.
The video provides visual representation on what food miles are.
Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials
to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in
Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow, especially for younger students,
but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of the lesson.
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #1)
Students Will: (list all steps)
The teacher will pose the first
inquiry question: Where does
Students will raise their hand
our food come from?
to share their favorite foods
She will ask students to raise
and where they come from.
their hand and share what their
favorite meals are and where
they think it comes from.
Give the students some time to
think and instruct them to write
Students will listen and follow
their answers down in their
along to the directions that
notebook, whether or not if they
the teacher is giving in order
want to share their answers.
to navigate through the
Have the students share their
website.
favorite meals and where they
think the food in their meals
come from.

After the discussion, project on

the screen foodmiles.com.
Tell the students your favorite
meal and list three items from it.
The students will list 3-5 items
Then, use foodmiles.com to
from their favorite food dish
calculate how many miles your
that they can track using the
food travels to get to your plate.
food miles calculator.
Then post the directions on the
board. The students will pick 3-5
items from their favorite dish, to
calculate the amount of food
Students will raise their hands
miles it takes for their favorite
when they have completed the
meals to come together. The
task of writing down all of the
students will write their
informtion that they need to
information and findings in their
receive a stamp from the
notebook.
teacher.
When thestudents are done, they
have to raise their hand to be
chelcked off by reciving a stamp
on their paper/notebook.
Student are allowed to work with
one another, but must have
separate information written
down.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
Give students ample amount of time, because some students may work
slower than others.
Teacher grants permission for the students to work together, as long as
they are not sharing information.
There is a link on the website that could allow you to change the
language format to spanish instead of English.
Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects
student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations, students
articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the lesson sub-objectives
by answering the question from Engage before moving on.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
The teacher will gather the
Students will clap the same
students attention as soon as
pattern back to the teacher.
they are done collecting their
Students will share their
food miles, by clapping a
findings with their partners
pattern.
then choose if they would like
The teacher will ask students to
to share with the class.
share their findings on the
amount of miles that their food
travels to get to their plate with
their partners. Then, have them
share as a class.
The students will take notes
After having a few students
on food systems and the
participate, lead the discussion
negative results of the food
in to what is a food system.
systems that consist of a lot of
food mileage.
Pull up the picture that is on Day

2 of the welikefood website and

share what a food system looks
like.
Food systems are: is the path
that food travels from field to
fork. It includes the growing,
harvesting, processing,
packaging, transporting,
marketing, consuming, and
disposing of food. This is the
step by step process to how the
food gets from the farm to our
mouths.
The teacher will cover any
misconceptions, such as only
The students will be focused
driving a mile to the grocery
and attentative, which will
store, and that it the food
signal the teacher to move on
mileage.
to the next activity.
The teacher will ask, what are
some problems that can occur
from these food systems?
The teacher will list these
problems on the board. Include:
pollution from the traveling and
sickness from preservatives and
pollution.
After listing all the negative to
these food systems, then the
teacher will move on to the next
task.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
The teacher will model wait time and some cold calling to get the
students to be alert during the discussion.
The teacher will provide visuals and write out all of the concepts on the
board to help students have a visual representation.
Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and
clarified in Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of
this learning at a deeper level. Students should be using higher order thinking in this
stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If? question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #2)
Students Will:
The teacher will pose the second
The students will clap the
inquiry question: how can we
same pattern back and write
improve our food systems? The
the inquiry question in their
students will write this question
notes.
down in their book.
The teacher will provide a couple
The students will respectfully
of academic sites that the
students can use to research and
listen to the directions.
find solutions to this question.
The websites will be listed in the
resources tab of the resources
The students will work
tab of the welikefood website. For

example:
individually or in partners to
research different solution to
The students will be asked to find
the inquiry question.
atleast two solutions on how to
make our food systems more ecofriendly, by researching different
scenarios through the sites given.
The students will work and
The students will be given a half
ask/answer questions from the
an hour to forty five minutes to
teacher.
complete this task. The students
can work individually or with
partners.
The teacher will walk around and
The students will clap the
facilitate while the students are
pattern back and give the
working with eachother.
teacher their attention.
After the time is up, the teacher
will clap his or her hands and
gather everyones attention.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
The teacher will facilitate to keep the students on task.
The students will have the choice to either work individually or work
with a partner.
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson
objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also
serves as a closing, students should also have a chance to summarize the big
concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will:
Students Will:
The teacher will gather the
The students will share their
students and have each table
findings with there table and
share their findings. The
choose one or two things to
teacher will lead a group
share.
discussion and have each table
share atleast one thing that
they have found.
The teacher will list all of the
students findings on the board,
The students will write their
so that they can see eceryones
results.
names and get ready to write
their essays.
The teacher will list questions
on the board that the students
will answer in their essay that
they will turn in. The teacher
will pass out lined pieces of
paper, and write on the board,
please answer these questions
in one to two sentences: What
is a food mile? What is a food
system? How are food systems
affecting our environment? How
can we improve these
problems?
The teacher will facilitate as the
students are writing and will

collect them as soon as the

students are done.
Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)
When all the essays are collected the teacher will chose a student to
read the objective out loud for the class.
The teacher will pass out a form to the students and ask them to make
a pledge to start shopping at more local grocery stores and eating
more locally grown food products.
**Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use to enhance
the learning outcomes. In each section where prompted, list the best
practice, how the practices will be used and the purpose.