Langley Elementary School 5th Graders Discover Black Youth Excellence in Food and Agriculture
In celebration of Black History Month and in alignment with Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action, fifth graders at Langley Elementary explored Black excellence in food and agriculture during their FoodPrints class with Mr. Jamie Phillips.
FRESHFARM FoodPrints is the hands-on food education program of FRESHFARM, the D.C. area food systems nonprofit that works to create a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable food future. FoodPrints embeds food and garden education in 21 D.C. public schools, serving 8,000 PreK - 5th grade students across Washington, D.C., with the goal of improving health outcomes for children and families. The FoodPrints program has been a highly valued part of Langley Elementary School for five years, fostering positive and joyful cooking and gardening experiences for students, staff, and families.
The FoodPrints curriculum has 63 interdisciplinary hands-on, flexible PK-5th grade lessons tied to academic and food education standards, sequenced according to seasonal topics and adaptable for a range of uses, including embedded programming, extensions for classroom teachers, enrichment programming, and garden-based or culinary-based learning. The full curriculum includes planning guides and instructional videos.
In February, FoodPrints participated in Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action by empowering students to make connections between food and critical issues of social justice, past and present, based in several FoodPrints lessons:
Fractions and Fairness – with an emphasis on social justice. For example, students are learning the concept of “what is equal may not always be fair” through hands-on activities in the kitchen and garden.
Exploring Food Traditions – by focusing on food as an important part of culture and identity, and learning about food traditions of the African diaspora, including rice, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes, greens, yams, peanuts, and okra.
Classes also read books that center a Black food tradition or culture, including Soul Food Sunday by Winsome Bingham, Granny’s Kitchen: A Jamaican Story of Food and Family by Sadé Smith, and The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi. (Look for these at your local library.)
The fifth graders at Langley Elementary studied Garden and Kitchen Inventions in their FoodPrints class, exploring the role of inventions and innovations in the garden and kitchen focused on Black inventors and entrepreneurs for Black History Month. In this adapted lesson, students rotated through three interactive stations, described below:
To ground students in the theme, Mr. Phillips read a few pages of The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver, ending the storytime with this quote from the book,
“Regard Nature, Revere Nature, Respect Nature.”
In groups of six, students then rotated through three interactive stations, each lasting 18 minutes.
Station 1: George Washington Carver
Students read excerpts from the book George Washington Carver, An Innovative Life and engaged in a discussion by responding to thought-provoking questions:
Would you patent your invention?
What is success to you?
What are things you care about? Responses included "Art" and "Getting credit for things I do."
Students also explored Carver’s innovations, identifying peanut-based products, such as peanut butter, glue, and shampoo. They learned why the U.S. Department of Agriculture invited him to Washington, D.C., during World War I — his work developing alternatives to almond flour played a critical role during wartime food shortages.
Station 2: Mikaila Ulmer and Me & the Bees Lemonade
Students learned about Mikaila Ulmer, a young entrepreneur and advocate for bee conservation. They watched a video introducing Mikaila and her business venture and discussed key themes, including perseverance and community support. They answered questions:
What or who has impacted her journey?
Where does she find support?
How did she develop her idea?
Students then participated in a taste test of three Me & the Bees lemonade flavors — Regular, Prickly Pear, and Black Cherry Lemonade. The class voted Prickly Pear as their favorite, leading to a discussion on how cacti, native to D.C., contribute to biodiversity.
Me & the Bees lemonade with Makaila Ulmer’s Bee Fearless
The session concluded with a reflection on conservation: “No flowers, no fruits,” and they read quotes from Mikaila's story discovering how they relate to their own lives.
Station 3: Domoda – Gambian Groundnut Stew
In Station 3, students prepared Domoda, a traditional Gambian groundnut stew (substituting sunflower butter instead of peanut butter). This dish connects to Carver’s research on sweet potatoes and peanuts, reinforcing the importance of African culinary traditions in modern food systems.
Students worked together to:
Wash hands before and after handling ingredients.
Chop vegetables, such as onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes.
Take turns sautéing and seasoning the stew, filling the classroom with delicious aromas. At different moments in the process, school administrators opened the classroom door to breathe in the smell.
Before eating, students practiced respectful dining etiquette:
Washing hands before eating.
Waiting until everyone was served before starting their meal.
Respecting different taste preferences, with some students saying, “My taste buds aren’t ready for that yet.”
Final product of the co-created meal domoda served over white rice.
As they enjoyed their meal and marveled at what they had created, students reflected on the significance of their learning experience:
“George Washington Carver and Mikaila Ulmer were both inventors.”
“Some people didn’t believe in them, but they persevered.”
“We can learn from our elders like George Washington Carver and be inspired by youth like Mikaila.”
FRESHFARM FoodPrints
FRESHFARM FoodPrints
Mr. Phillips’ unit integrated the BLM at School Week of Action Intergenerational principle, one of the thirteen guiding principles and the 2025 Year of Purpose theme. The Intergenerational principle emphasizes the commitment to fostering an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism.
He emphasized that just as Mikaila Ulmer found inspiration in her great-grandmother’s flaxseed lemonade recipe, students, too, could look to their own family traditions for creative ideas. Similarly, George Washington Carver built upon agricultural knowledge passed down from his elders, using his expertise to pioneer sustainable farming techniques. Students explored how both Carver and Ulmer faced challenges but remained resilient in their pursuits. Through their stories, Mr. Phillips encouraged students to embrace perseverance, community, and ingenuity.
See Mr. Phillips’ Lesson Plan to adapt for your classes.
FRESHFARM is also an organizational endorser of Black Lives Matter at School activities here in the D.C. metro area.