It seems like Fair Trade Chocolate will never leave our classroom and I’m quite happy about that!
Recently, we received a letter back from World’s Finest Chocolate. The letter acknowledged our “interest” in their farming practices and informed us about what the company was doing to help it’s farmers and did not mention Fair Trade. As I finished reading the letter aloud to the class, a student bluntly said, “So they aren’t going to do Fair Trade?”
To which another responded, “Well, I’m not eating their chocolate ever again.”
Whether or not the student keeps her word, I’m impressed that they still retained the concept and interest in the subject.
Fair Trade came up again while we were teaching reading workshop. Our lesson had to do with making connections from text to the world. We decided to use the book Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull as a read aloud and let the students make connections as we read. We used this book for a few reasons: 1) It was topical- Cesar Chavez Day was coming up and the kids had been curious about it for weeks. 2)There were many ways students could relate the book to themselves, their world, and other texts.The students immediately related the plight of the farm workers to those they had learned about when studying cocoa farming. One student even suggested that cocoa farmers who were not being treated fairly read the book and have a protest of their own, to help better themselves.
