The pupils at Dungannon Primary School are engaging in a farm-to-fork project. The aim of the project is to connect our children with where our food comes from and the process it goes through to end up on our plate. This will give the children opportunities to connect with nature, learn about the vital role of farmers, develop healthy eating habits, explore sustainability, grow food, experiment with cooking and much much more.
This page on our website will keep you up-to-date on this fantastic and exciting project.
Primary 6 had a visit from Ben who is a farmer. Ben talked to the class about life on the farm, how he looks after his cattle and sheep as well as the different jobs on the farm throughout the different seasons. Thank you Ben for this informative visit.
All the pupils in our school visited the pumpkin patch at the end of October. Pumpkins are mostly used for carving at Halloween but we wanted to teach our pupils that they are a valuable food source. Primary 6 made pumpkin soup and Primary 7 made pumpkin bread. The two classes opened a farm shop and invited the rest of the pupils to come and have a taste of both. They went down a treat!
The boys and girls voted on a name for our calf. Primary 6 children counted the votes and we are delighted to announce that our calf is named Betsy.
The children in P6 were learning about persuasive writing in literacy. They put their skills to the test and wrote their own persuasive letters which were sent to animal feed companies to persuade them to sponsor Betsy’s feed. The persuasion technique worked and Fane Valley in Dungannon kindly replied and agreed to feed Betsy until she is sold. Every month animal feed is delivered to Aughafad Farm where Betsy lives and she is thriving on Fane Valley produce. Thank you Fane Valley Stores, Dungannon.
We all have been learning about the journey of milk from farm-to-fork. The boys and girls learned about how cows are milked, the milk is then brought to a dairy to be pasteurised and bottled before going to the shops. We have also explored different recipes that contain milk. Primary 6 then opened a farm shop that sold smoothies made with fresh fruit. They worked out the costings in a numeracy lesson, designed advertisements in art before making and selling them to pupils in all the other classes. Pupils who purchased a smoothie fed back to P6 that they were delicious.
The pupils in Primary 7 worked with local artist Stephen Johnston to create fabulous pieces of art. The theme was Farm-to-Fork and the children's final pieces were put together to form the shape of a cow. Amazing talent P7.
After planting tomato seeds with Ms Hull, the children in Primary 6 researched recipes that include tomatoes. They then had a practical activity making tomato and cheese wraps that could be made as a healthy snack. In numeracy, the children worked out the costing and discovered that these wraps cost only 38p each. Choosing healthy is not only a better option for our bodies but for our purses.
Sandra from the Livestock & Meat Commission held a live cookery demonstration for the pupils in Primary 6. The children learnt how to make Chilli Pasta Beef, and it was absolutely delicious. Each pupil received a recipe book to make their own meat dishes at home. Thank you, Sandra, for this fantastic session.
