Grade 3
Roosevelt Elementary School
Santa Monica, CA
Valerie Roach (Room 23)

Room 23 at Roosevelt Elementary School in Santa Monica, California, became involved in the Fair Trade Campaign in the fall of 2002. One of the third grade students in the class brought in an article about the child slaves working in cocoa bean fields in the Ivory Coast. My students and I decided that it would be a good class project.

The students wrote letters to Mr. Michaels, the President of M&M/Mars, encouraging his company to use only certified fair trade chocolate/cocoa beans. (Some of these are on the Fair Trade chocolate campaign letters page.) The students also brought in their Halloween candies manufactured by M&M/Mars and sent it to Mr. Michaels.

In January of 2003, the class received a letter of response from Masterfoods USA. The letter, which was not written to a third grade audience, mentioned that the students could go to www.chocolateandcocoa.org for the company's progress regarding this issue.

Grades 3-4
Santa Rosa Charter School
Santa Rosa, CA
Bill Singer

My 3rd-4th grade class did a unit called "Made In...", that examines where things we use come from, and what life is like for the people who make those things for us. We started out with a big world map and we all looked at our t-shirt labels. We then found out where our shirts were made, and what the average salary was in that country. We found the countries on the map and put a pin in the map at that country with a string attached to a little paper t-shirt that listed the country and the average salary (the kids looked this up on the internet).

We then took a closer look at the countries where their shirts came from. Most of our shirts came from South East Asia or Central America.

Next we listened to and read the song "Are My Hands Clean?" by Sweet Honey in the Rock. It tells the story of a shirt from cotton in El Salvador to being on the shelf in Sears. We followed along with a map to show were every stage takes place. The kids really liked the song.

Your Chocolate workbooks were the final project. The materials were great. They were one of the few things that were on a level my 3rd graders could easily read. Our class used them for independent reading and small group guided reading with discussion. We went through the workbook in small groups, working with an atlas. After discussing what they thought about the reading, they wrote persuasive essays to Mars asking them to switch to Fair Trade chocolate. We also visited the Mars web site to try to hear their side of the story.

The students wrote about 20 letters to M&M/Mars. (Some of these are on the Fair Trade chocolate campaign letters page.) We are interested in working on converting our school fundraiser to Fair Trade. The students talked to the parents who are in charge of the chocolate fund raising. It's hard to find fair trade chocolate!

Grade 3-4
Cultus Lake Elementary School
Chilliwack, B.C.
Clay McLeod, LL.B., B.Ed.

(worked with Meaghan Walls, Grades 4-5, Cheam Elementary)

Along with another teacher, Meaghan Walls (Grade 4-5), I created a "lesson aid" curriculum project (download here!) entitled "Ethical Consumer Choices in the Global Village," and we have been working on it with our classes all year long. A large part of it has involved looking at the question of conditions on cocoa plantations and what we can do about it. There are 24 Grade 3/4 students in my class and 29 Grade 4/5 students in my colleague's class. Their reaction to the Global Exchange materials was good - we used them as resources in a unit of study about children and child labour in other countries.

My students have sent the President of M&M/Mars 18 postcards that Global Exchange sent to the president of M&M/Mars. As part of the project, our buddy class and my class worked together to write some letters encouraging people to buy chocolate made with Fair Trade cocoa (e.g., to stores asking them to stock fair trade, to principals asking them to use it for fund raisers, and to M&M's asking them to use it in their chocolate products), and we have mailed those letters. One even got published in our local newspaper.

I used the Global Exchange fundraising campaign information to help plan my own consumer information and advocacy campaign with the students. I handed out the stickers (with the M&M holding the placard - clever) for Fair Trade week here in Canada (see http://www.transfair.ca for more information about this). We even recorded a radio-style ad for Fair Trade chocolate that we played over the school P.A. system. Our lesson aid will be published on the British Columbia Teachers' Federation website soon.

I offer a global education workshop to teachers and other educators. I am available to offer similarly themed workshops/sessions for children/youth based on the activities and approaches described in our lesson aid. I also operate a social justice and educational consulting business and can be reached at claymcleod@hotmail.com.

Thanks for all the materials that you provided!

Grade 6
Johnathan Eaton Elementary
Washington, DC
Sue Eastman

During Black History Month, my students were mapping the countries of Africa in the computer lab. I wanted to integrate what they were learning about African geography with the history of slavery. Using the Internet, particularly Google, I found many web sites, but it was the ones on the chocolate industry and child labor that I knew would hook my students' attention. Indeed, they were outraged.

Then, later, when I was asked to represent the African continent during our annual International Week, I recognized that this was a great opportunity to educate our diverse student population. Six fifth grade students turned their concerns and activism into a skit. I gave them a starting point--a cocoa tree is on strike in the Ivory Coast and from this, these students developed the play involving two investigative journalists (Emma Forrights and Elijah Dark Chocolate, a tearful cocoa tree (MS. Theobroma Cocoa), two enslaved children (Machel Melancholy and Melanie Misery. The real M&M's) and a protester in the background. These six students rehearsed daily, making props such as machetes, cocoa pods, a large floor map of Africa, and a poster, along with a brochure, highlighting key points of the performance. Their presentation ends with them all reciting their jingle: "Do you know where your chocolate is made? DO you know if it's fair trade? The kids who work there all day, get little food and little pay. If you agree with what I say, come with me and you will see, that we can help the cocoa tree."

Grade 7
Clyde Hill, WA
Chinook Middle School
Christina Todd

Since learning about forced child labor on cocoa farms in West Africa, the students in Todd's world-cultures classes have snapped into action. They wrote nearly 80 letters to Mars Inc., one of the largest chocolate makers in America, asking the company to sell products certified under the "Fair Trade" international system of monitoring and certification that's intended to guarantee farmers are paid a fair price for their product. Liliana Esposito, head of Mars' public relations, said she was impressed by the quality and quantity of the letters she received. In the spirit of educating young consumers, she set up two conference calls — the first to discuss the company's position, the second to allow the children to make recommendations. See media coverage of the student's conference call and their campaign!
Seattle Times Article (
Settle Times article in .doc format)
Education Week Article
Chinook Middle School Newsletter

Materials to download (all are in .doc format):
Cocoa lesson plan
Cocoa Consumer Role Play
Cocoa Chain Role Play
Students' questions for conference call
Christina Todd's statement to Mars

Grade 7
Hampton Academy Junior High School
Hampton, NH
Lisa Wenger and Linda Trofatter

I'm delighted to share what we did as a class and as a grade. We presented a Fair Trade lesson during the week leading up to Valentine's Day I thought that the materials that we received were wonderful. Activities that we created with our kids included having them bring in a wrapper from their favorite chocolate bars. These were lined up next to the names of the manufacturers and formed a "Chocolate Bar Graph". Based on this information and the data you shared They wrote letters and created beautiful Valentines and we mailed them to the company presidents of Mars, and Hersey's. Mrs. Trofatter classes received a response, my classes did not. The activity was scored by the students and rated as their favorite for the term. All and all it was a great unit/lesson. Here is the complete lesson plan:

Day 1- We read a Junior Scholastic magazine article (Nov. 1, Vol.105, No.6) about Child Labor in Kenya, discussed the details of the article and whether they knew of any other situation of child labor in other African countries. Challenged them to find out about other situations of child labor in other African countries for homework.

Day 2- Students arrived with information from their web searches and whole class shared the facts and since it was the week leading up to Valentine's Day we focused on the chocolate piece for our investigation. THe question of the day was What Can We Do To Stop Child Labor? Students brainstormed and we discussed ideas of: Boycotting, Letter writing, Posters, Displays in the cafeteria, and I shared the Global Exchange idea of the Valentines send to corporate preseidents "To Have A Heart"and consider using Fair Trade cocoa. Homework: Bring in a chocolate Bar Wrapper of their favorite chocolate candy bar.

Day 3- Students brought in chocolate bar wrappers. I had created a large paper bulletin board with the heading: Chocolate Bar Graph-Our Purchasing Power. Students were given a questionnaire that I had developed that led them through a process of discovery. They were asked to name the compny that manufactured the bar and how frequently they purchased it, how much they paid per bar, the size and weight of the bar. Ultimately they were asked where the cocoa used in the chocolate was grown? This was not a question that they could find an answer for on the bar wrapper since the majority of American, Swiss, and French companies do not list this information. We then put all the wrappers up on the Bar Graph and saw immediately that the majority of their purchasing power was invested in Mars and Hersey's followed by Nestle and Lindt (a local favorite).

Then we discussed their answers to the questionnaire questions. They used this information to calulate the amount of chocolate the consume and money they spend on it per month and year. We talked about what it means to be an educated consumer. We discussed the difficulty they had in determining if the chocolate that they consumed was from a child-labor/slave labor source. I shared the Fair Trade logo and explained the guarantee that it provides athat does not yet exist in the produsts that they were evaluating. They realized that as consumers their money was contributing to a system (child labor and slavery ) that they disagreed with and wanted to stop. They began to talk about wanting to do something to change this situation and voted to create special "Have a Heart" Valentines to send on Valentine's Day to corporate presidents.

Day 4- Students created individual valentines and letters and posters expressing their concern about child labor in the cocoa industry and desire for their consumer dollars to be invested in fair trade cocoa. Valentines and letters were sent for our classes by Mrs. Trofatter and myself seperately. (Some of these are on the Fair Trade chocolate campaign letters page.) She received a response, my class did not.

Posters were put up throughout our building. Some are still up. Here is a photo of some of them.

Follow-up: My students are polled after every major unit of study about what their favorite and least favorite component was, this fair trade cocoa lesson won hands down!

I am presenting it as a sample of a creative lesson to our district, in-service day for other teachers to think about using.

Ways that I would expand on it next year include: creating paper mache or balloon models of cocoa pods and 15 foot cocoa trees and machetes for kids to try and experience what the harvesting might entail. I had my kids stand up and raise their arms over their heads and pretend they were using a machete to cut the pods done from the trees. they did this for 5 minutes and were groaning from the effort. Then we talked about how the handle grip would be hard for a child of 9-12 to hold and not loose their grip and how sharp the blade would have to be, and how dangerous this work would be for anyone, but especially for small children. They really connected with the idea of these children's lives being unhappy when they thought about their not having school and play and family to enjoy. The Lindt company is near us here in NH and I tried to have a rep come and talk to my students about the chocolate process there, they did not return my several messages. I let my kids have chocolate during the unit in class. I could see a Language Arts unit based on describe the taste, texture, and smell of chocolate and reflecting later on the idea of harvesting this cocoa and never enjoying the pleasure of the fruit. I am still envisioning other lessons. Thanks again for sharing.

8th Grade Social Studies
Southern Lehigh, PA
Southern Lehigh Middle School
James Fullerton

For the second year, students discovered a truth about the chocolate that they eat. Child slavery probably contributed to the making of their favorite candy. The webquest project, title, A Taste of Slavery brings eighth graders into a world unlike they have ever imagined existed. Their mouths and emotions usually open wide when the horror begins to unfold.

americancivics.org/chocolate/index.htm

High School
Berkeley, CA
Berkeley High Amnesty International
Dave Aakhus (student)

Since February, when we went around Berkeley High classes (around 600 students) and gave teach-in's about modern day slavery, fair trade, and the chocolate industry, we have been selling fair trade chocolate as a fundraiser with much success. Our funds raised at the end of the year will be split three equal ways between Amnesty International, our AI group's funds, and Global Exchange. We have taken a new direction from this half of the year and bisected our groups goals: one group is working to change our school's P.E. uniforms to fair-trade and the other group, of which I am partaking, is geared to change our school's clubs and sports teams fundraisers to fair trade chocolate. We are trying to find a fundraising chocolate that is somewhat competitive to the deeply institutionalized See's Candy fundraiser. Although I am not completely sure, I believe the See's fundraiser is like this: club pays $0.50 per bar and sells at $1.50 per bar for a bar around 3.5 oz. Since this is who we are trying to beat, we need chocolate fundraisers that are competitively similar to this. The best we have found is Divine, where a bar costs us $0.70 and we sell them at $1 but the bar is only 1.5 oz. So we are writing a letter to the clubs and sports teams advisors and coaches explaining what our group has done, what is unethical about using See's, M&M/Mars, and Hershey's as a fundraiser, and then where they can order Divine chocolate from to use the next time.

High School grades
San Rafael, CA
Steven Friedman

We started out by doing several of the suggested classroom activities from the Fair Trade Federation, as recommended in the GX packet. Then we sent in postcards and letter to M&M Mars. More than a hundred. And we later sent in nearly 100 Valentines to the head of the company, telling him to use Fair Trade and spread the love to the farmers and workers. We also sold 20 boxes of Fair Trade chocolate from Serrv International and donated the extra money to the Coalition for Immokalee Workers (who are boycotting Taco Bell over its exploitation of tomato pickers).

We have a student service and justice team - and justice sub-team of this group - which organize activities for others students (from cooking at a local shelter to Habitat events to working at a Catholic Worker to organizing a campus wide OXFAM Fast.) This year as I worked with the sub team they decided to do an event after one of our regular events. We have a Mass every Thursday Night at 10 pm and have between 100 and 130 students come. The justice sub-team decided to do something after our October 30 Mass. The theme we chose was "Where does your candy come from?" We started to do some research and came across your website. We organized an event for October 30. In our lounge we had six stations set up and everyone was given a "candy passport" with a number of questions about Snickers ingredients. The six stations were
cocoa - Ivory Coast
milk - Wisconsin and California
corn syrup - Iowa!
sugar - Central America
ADM - processing cocoa and high fructose corn syrup (and peanuts!)
Fair Trade

There was information at each table about the sources, etc., together with a student to explain. To make the event fun we had candy at four tables - cocoa; Hershey kisses; corn syrup: candy corn; milk: malted milk balls; sugar: Jolly Ranchers. By chance, an older graduate student who worked with ADM as a trader (and quit on ethical issues) sat at the ADM table. It was great to have her.

After people filled out the passport they went to another room where they got a Snickers bar and were invited to write a postcard to the president of M&M/Mars. We sent 42 postcards. It was a great and fun experience.