Professional Development Workshop

NYC DOE Professional Development Online Synchronous Course
Farm to School Lunch tray
Thursday June 4, 2026
11AM - 12:30PM EST

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Title: Farm to School Lunch Tray Lesson Workshop
Date: Thursday June 4, 2026 from 11 AM - 12:30 PM EST. This is a 1.5-hour synchronous online course open exclusively to Department of Education teachers, administrators, and staff.
Facilitator: Jill Santopietro, cook, educator, and founder of the Children’s Food Lab
Audience: This workshop is specifically designed for 3-5th grade students, however it works well with 6-8th graders and high schoolers as well. All staff and administrators interested in food systems, food/nutrition literacy, and wellness in the classroom are welcome!
Description: The topic of this workshop is “How did that get on my lunch tray?” Educators will explore this farm-to-table lesson series and learn to bring it into their own classrooms. Students will analyze a typical school lunch and deconstruct it to better understand where each food came from – how each component of a dish moved from farm to table, including the distance it traveled. Through our food system, students learn science and social studies, investigating two questions – 1) what is the system that gets food from our farms to our school lunch tables and 2) how does this system affect our environment, communities, and health?

Course Objectives:

  • Science of food production and processing: Investigate the origins of food and how it’s processed to teach food systems science and convey the importance of consuming whole foods and reducing ultra-processed foods. Students learn to make informed decisions about how they fuel their bodies and how they impact their environment. 

  • Food History & Food Culture: Explore the stories behind ingredients and dishes. Students learn about different cultures, traditions, languages, and histories, which encourage open-mindedness, empathy, and tolerance. They will explore how modern technology altered farming practices, made food production easier and faster, and at times hurt the environment or reduced the nutritional value of foods.

  • Food Literacy: Participants will leave with an understanding of simple strategies for bringing food education into the classroom and practices that can be integrated across content areas. 

    Food Safety: Instill awareness of food safety and proper hygiene while handling, cooking, and storing food in a school classroom and home kitchen.

This course draws from practices utilized in programming for The Children’s Food Lab led by Jill Santopietro, which have been implemented across dozens of youth audiences in school-based and after-school programming. Jill draws from these first-hand experiences, as well as best practices throughout the course.

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JILL SANTOPIETRO is a food and nutrition educator, cooking instructor, food writer, and recipe developer. She is the founder and director of The Children’s FOOD LAB – offering fun, hands-on food arts and sciences discovery labs to New York and Massachusetts school children. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Bloomberg Pursuits, Epicurious.com and The Boston Globe, and she has worked on recipes for writers including Michael Pollan and Alex Guarneschelli. Prior to launching The Children’s FOOD LAB, Jill worked at The New York Times Magazine, where she co-created and hosted The New York Times’ "Kitchen 4B" video series. She is passionate about educating kids, families, and educators on all things food — how it grows, how it's processed, and the effects that has on us, our communities, and our environment. Jill has a master’s degree in food studies from Boston University. She works as a garden educator at the New York Botanical Garden and is on the board of the TaSH (Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow) Farmers Market.