Pilot Light

Pilot Light is a free food education curriculum that integrates food-based lessons with traditional classroom education. It includes both activities aimed at parents to do at home with their children and lesson plans for teachers to implement in the classroom. The teacher resources include thorough lesson plans that connect food with different classroom subjects, such as math, reading, writing, and science. Lessons include Common Core and state standards, vocabulary, activities, readings, anchor texts, and step-by-step instructions for the food experience, some with multiple options. The resources also include a printable placemat, lesson templates, and take-home activities.

The family resources include lessons in both English and Spanish, Family Meal videos, vocabulary, readings, and recipes to prepare together. Combine Lentil Soup with Common Core Reading, Granola with Common Core Writing, or Polenta with Mushrooms and Greens with Common Core Math. Parents can mark resources as favorites or share their experiences on social media. They can also go through the Common Core Connections section and learn the vocabulary related to the activity and do the readings together with their children. Then discussion questions and extension activities encourage participants of all ages to get involved. No account is required to access the family resources. The site also includes a section about community advocacy, where students can explore how food issues such as food deserts, food insecurity, childhood obesity, and nutrition affect communities and families.

Pilot Light's materials are an excellent recipe for integrating learning into the everyday activities of preparing and eating food. Students will connect food and nutrition concepts to lessons in reading, writing, math and measurement, science, health and nutrition, history, cultural awareness, and the environment. Since everyone eats, food education easily demonstrates to students how these lessons are useful outside the classroom. From adjusting recipes for different numbers of servings to learning where food comes from to improving student nutrition, Pilot Light can help students develop healthy relationships with food. But the classroom lessons go beyond using pizza for illustrating fraction concepts: They touch on topics like sustainability, the hardiness of crops, farmed vs. wild-caught fish, and more. Plus, the lessons are thoughtfully constructed to get at higher-order thinking skills.

Additionally, parents and families are brought into the activities by preparing meals with the students at home, reinforcing lessons and adding accountability. Students will also learn alongside their parents with the family lessons or take-home activities from school, which allow parents and children to create memories and shared learning experiences together. Additionally, while preparing the recipes with their families, students will learn many food preparation techniques, and possibly expand their taste palate. Because these are just static PDF lessons with links, there's still lots of prep to do. And while there are plenty of interactive, hands-on activities in the lessons, they're just ideas on paper until the teacher makes them happen. So, if you're looking for excellent, free materials that you're ready to execute, Pilot Light is a great find.