September is Fruits & Veggies Month!

• Watch the complete video reading of "Tomato" narrated by Pat Mora from Yum! MmMm! Qué Rico!: America's Sproutings, then use the idea and list of foods in this teacher guide to guide students to research food origins.

• Write fruit and veggie inspired haikus after listening to the Meet-the-Author Recording for Yum! MmMm! Qué Rico!: America's Sproutings.

• Have fun with rhyme while watching this complete video reading of Counting to Bananas: A Mostly Rhyming Fruit Book, then invite students to draw their own fruit characters with these activity sheets.

• Observe how Saxton Freymann makes edible art in this Meet-the-Author Movie for Food for Thought: The Complete Book of Concepts for Growing Minds. Use real fruit, print images, or find pictures of fruits and veggies and have students cut out and glue facial features on to create their own food art.

• Learn about urban gardens in this Meet-the-Author Recording for Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table then have students research city gardening to find city gardens in or near their community.

• Plan your own dream garden with ideas in this activity kit for The Ugly Vegetables. List what vegetable you want to grow and draw what your dream garden would look like.

• Create a soup collage inspired by Soup Day and ideas in this activity book. Enjoy the Soup Day video book reading, then encourage students to share recipes with vegetables that they like to eat. Students can also research a recipe they would like to try that includes a favorite veggie.