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A slice of learning: Students learn where their favorite food comes from
SIKESTON - Asked if they liked pizza and every hand shot up in Jenni DeWitt's second grade class at Southeast Elementary School Wednesday afternoon. When queried about where the ingredients for pizza come from, the second graders weren't so sure.
Becky Jennings and Jamie Geske with the Missouri Farm Bureau weren't surprised by the youngsters confusion. They were there to give them some answers, some surprising answers.
According to Southeast Elementary Principal Ashley Tanksley, she requested the Farm Bureau presentation for the students. "I'm hoping they are able to see how crops go from the farm field to their table," she said.
Geske began the presentation with "Pizza Particulars." Students learned that pizza was created by the Greeks sometime between 730 and 130 B.C, that Midwesterners consume pizza an average of 35 times a year and in the U.S. pizza is second only to hamburgers as a favorite food.
As they considered what made up their pizza, the students quickly volunteered that it took the flour to make the dough and tomatoes to make the sauce. Geske then pointed out oil from soybeans just like those grown in nearby fields is also used in making the dough as well.
They worked their way through the origin of the sausage and the beef as well as the vegetables for the toppings and the cheese that tops it all off.
But Geske wasn't through.
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