Big Picture 13: Food Waste

April is here! And Earth Day is right around the corner, which is why I am very excited to share Melissa Coffey and Josh Cleland’s book, Fridge-opolis.

Fridge-opolis is a delightful read-aloud about a city dealing with pollution and overcrowding. If you haven’t already guessed from the title, this city is in the refrigerator and its citizens are food items like salami, tofu, and pickles. Younger readers will have so much fun listening to the alliteration and rhyme and seeing the cranky and fed-up food in the illustrations.

Fridge-opolis also makes a great read for older children. Author Melissa Coffey incorporates high level vocabulary related to food, pollution and urban communities. Teachers could easily pair this book with a social studies unit about communities (rural, urban, suburban) or an earth science unit about pollution, recycling and composting.

All readers will feel the tension in the story, which begins on the first spread and continues to rise until the frustrated citizens turn on each other. Josh Cleland’s illustrations pair perfectly with the text, making readers feel as if they are watching an animated comic book adventure (think Batman or Darkwing Duck–remember that one?).

You can get your copy of Fridge-opolis via Melissa Coffey’s website. While you’re there, check out the Picture Book Look podcast with her and Josh Cleland. And stop by Josh Cleland’s site to find more illustrated books and products.

Essential Questions

• What is food waste?
• How does food waste affect us?
• What can we do with food waste?

Standards

• CCSS RL 1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
• CCSS RL 1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of the central message or lesson.
• CCSS RL 1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
• CCSS RL 1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
• CCSS RL 1.7 Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting or events.
• CCSS W 1.3 Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.
• WIDA ELD 1 English language learners communicate for social and instructional purposes within the school setting.
• WIDA ELD 2 English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of language arts.
• WIDA ELD 4 English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of science.
• WIDA ELD 5 English language learners communicate information, ideas and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of social studies.

Vocabulary

• polluted
• expired
• decay
• compost
• recycle

• citizens
• mayor
• borough
• metropolis
• street

Teaching Resource

Download this FREE teaching resource to use with your students. Designed to practice skills in all four language domains: listening, speaking, reading and writing.