 
   TEACHER NOTES & ACTIVITIES
It’s all about us!
Download the Teacher's Notes and take your children
on
a potato discovery adventure with these activity suggestions...
Motivating personal interest
Levels 1 - 4: check out classroom cooking - easy ideas and special teaching tips.
- Children create their own recipe for baked potatoes.
Bake a tray of potatoes and get the children to fill their own with some delicious fillings. Offer grated cheese, baked beans, tuna, etc. (Pre-bake the potatoes, and wrap the whole tray in tin foil and a towel and they will stay warm for ages.)
- Have a barbecue potato sizzle.
Par-cook unpeeled potatoes in either the oven or by boiling. Cut into wedges and barbecue until golden and crunchy, brush or spray lightly with oil as they are cooking. Sprinkle with fresh herbs or Tuscan seasoning.
- Ask the children what they know about potatoes already.
How do they eat them at home? Where and how are they grown? In groups mind map their ideas. Report back to the class. Create a summary of their ideas.
Understanding the bigger picture
Connecting personal experience with the global community
Levels 1 - 4:
- Together, or in groups, use the potato icon posters and ask the children to explore and interpret the slogan and explain in their own words the relevance to themselves and the world.
Level 3 - 4:
- Show the video that was developed to celebrate the United Nations International Year of the Potato - you can download this from www.potato2008.org
Discussion points:
- Focusing on sustainability of water use and efficiency of plant growth, consider why potatoes are a good food choice for all citizens of the globe.
- Focusing on how potatoes grow in diverse environments, from the mountains of South America to the deserts of Africa, discuss how potatoes can offer solutions to poverty.
- Focusing on nutrition, why are potatoes a good food choice?
Assessment activities
Levels 1 - 4:
- Using our artwork as inspiration (download from the list at right), create a new potato image and key message to reflect your new understanding of the potato. Send to potatoes@vegetables.co.nz, the best will be displayed on this website.
- Create a potato meal, or perhaps a potato sizzle for the rest of the school, be able to explain why potatoes are important.
The United Nations honoured the Potato!
In 2008 the United Nations recognised that potatoes had a major role to play in feeding the worlds population. To honour their contribution they named 2008 as International Year of the Potato. Around the world activities were undertaken to highlight the amazing nutritional status, the ability to grow in a variety of conditions, the sustainability and positive impact on environments and communities and the role potatoes can play to alleviate poverty and hunger. An amazing website www.potato2008.org was developed to celebrate the potato. This site is still active and is an incredible source of information - it’s well worth a visit and is bound to impress!
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