Lee, Russell. Lunch for schoolchildren, most of whose parents are working in the fields. FSA (Farm Security Administration) farm workers’ camp. Caldwell, Idaho. 1941. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017789350/.
Students will use this resource as a way of comparing school lunches from the time period/setting to current school lunches. Students should be expected to have both intellectual and social context for this, as school lunch programs are an important staple in American education and are often a topic of debate regarding nutritional standards and government guidelines. This source will help students consider how the government creates its guidelines and how extenuating circumstances affect those guidelines.
Due to a recession, subsequent overfarming, and a lack of soil sustainability practices, many farmers lost their farms and had to relocate to Farm Security Administration Farms, which provided jobs and resources to farmers and their families. Children’s education and meals were overseen by the FSA following USDA nutrition guidelines of the time.
- Does the food shown in this photograph seem to be of optimal nutrition value to schoolchildren?
- What do you notice about the variety between each child’s meals?
- Do the children in this photograph seem to be healthy and/or happy with their situation?
ELA Standard
9/10 Research Strand 1: Conduct brief as well as multi-day research projects to take some action or share findings orally or in writing by formulating a research question and considering alternative avenues of inquiry; gathering relevant information from a variety authoritative sources and assessing which provide the most reliable and useful information; and following a standard approved format (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago) for citations and bibliographies
Social Studies Standard
6-12.USH1.1.4.1. Explain the effects of scientific and technological inventions and changes on the social and economic lives of the people in the development of the United States.
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.
- Writer’s Notebooks: For this notebook prompt, the teacher will focus on current school lunch practices as a way of preparing students to compare their current nutrition with past USDA nutrition practices. Students can answer any or all of the following questions:
- What did you have for lunch at school today?
- What is the best/worst school food?
- Do you think school food provides the nutrition you need? Why or why not?
- If you could have anything for school lunch, what would it be?
Students should be given time to share their responses with the class in order to generate a range of ideas about the lesson’s topic.
- Mini-Lesson / Context
- Food rankings activity: Project the primary source or distribute it for students to see individually or in pairs. On paper, have students write down all of the food items they see in the photograph. Students should make two lists, one ranking the foods in order of what they think would taste the best, the other list ranking the foods in order of what they think is the most nutritious. Have students share their lists.
- History: Students should then take notes as the teacher gives the historical background of the Dust Bowl, migrant relocation, Farm Security Administration camps, and the history of USDA nutrition guidelines. (Overview and sources can be found at this website.)
- As the teacher goes through the history of nutritional guidelines, it is important to include how food availability and maximal calorie intake played a major role in previous guidelines as opposed to optimal macronutrient distribution.
- The teacher may want to lead further discussion or debate about the good and bad things related to government lunch guidelines, such as the pros and cons of arranging food by color, the differing portion needs of each student, the ethics of government intervention, etc.
Lee, Russell. Lunch at FSA (Farm Security Administration)'s migratory labor camp, Odell, Oregon. 1941. Photograph. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017744302/.