Students examine the growth, composition, history, and uses of corn through a close reading activity, discussion of renewable and non-renewable resources, and hands-on exploration of bioplastics made from corn. Grades 3-5
Students explore the Census of 2020 by making a connection between shepherds counting their sheep and counting the population of the United States. Grades K-2
Through a series of activities, students explore fermentation and ethanol production, observe the role of enzymes in fermentation, analyze nutrient values of dent corn, and discover how biofuels are made from plant oils. Grades 9-12
While many view bioengineered crops (GMOs) as a promising innovation, there is controversy about their use. This lesson provides students with a brief overview of the technology, equipping them with the ability to evaluate the social, environmental, and economic arguments for and against bioengineered crops (GMOs). This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view. Grades 9-12
Students will view the documentary Food Evolution to evaluate the polarized debate surrounding bioengineering (GMOs). In this film director, Scott Hamilton Kennedy travels from Hawaiian papaya groves to Ugandan banana farms, to cornfields in Iowa to document how agricultural technology can be used in such varied crop settings. This lesson covers a socioscientific issue and aims to provide students with tools to evaluate science within the context of social and economic points of view. Grades 9-12
Students will recognize the importance of fuel energy and the fact that agriculture can produce biofuel; students will identify career opportunities in the biofuel industry. Grades 6-8
Students determine corn anatomy and function of plant parts, identify stages of plant development in corn, and research how temperature plays a role in corn growth as they calculate growing degree units (GDUs) for a region. Grades 6-8
In this lesson students will recognize the difference between a spice and herb, learn how herbs and spices are grown on farms around the world, and participate in a culinary challenge to season popcorn for various cultural cuisines. Grades 9-12
Students observe the growth of Indian corn and popcorn seeds, observe similarities and differences between the two varieties, and discuss heredity. Grades 3-5
Students will observe the growth of Indian corn and popcorn seeds, observe similarities and differences between the two varieties, and discuss heredity. Grades 6-8
Students identify categories of pests including vertebrates, invertebrates, weeds, or disease and discover how pests affect the growth of crops and how integrated pest management (IPM) is used to control pests. Grades 3-5
Students discuss the definition of “fertilizer” and relate it to plant nutrition and the need to restore nutrient balance in agricultural soils. They discuss how people and crops can suffer from nutrient deficiencies. Students assume the roles of plant doctors and diagnose nutrient deficiencies in corn plants. Grades 6-8
Students will develop an appreciation for the extensive materials and career fields provided by agriculture, specifically as related to cereal grain production, processing, and consumption. Activities include playing a game in which students become agronomy specialists, mapping the top grain-producing states, and watching videos about careers related to grain production. Grades 6-8
Students observe soil ecosystems to investigate how human impact affects the biodiversity of soils using the Simpson's Index of Diversity. Then, students conduct an investigation using field corn to determine how the introduction of nitrogen fertilizers impact soil microorganisms and biodiversity. Grades 9-12
This lesson utilizes a process learning model to recognize how the Columbian Exchange and early Spanish explorers impacted the culture and cuisine of the Southwest United States. Students will participate in a food lab to make enchiladas and learn about the production of each ingredient. Grades 6-8
Students will explore the importance of wheat in the development of culture by learning about the advent of agriculture, discussing wheat cultivation in ancient Egypt, threshing a head of wheat with their hands, and making a corn dolly out of wheat stems. Grades 6-8
Students explore the connection between geography, climate, and the type of agriculture in an area by reading background information and census data about the agricultural commodities beef, potatoes, apples, wheat, corn, and milk. Grades 3-5
These fact sheets provide information on the history, production, top-producing regions and economic values of various agricultural products and natural resources. The activity sheets provide specific lesson ideas and fun facts for each topic. Commodities include agricultural water, alfalfa, almonds, artichokes, asparagus, avocados, beef, cantaloupes, carrots, citrus fruits, cling peaches, corn, cotton, cut flowers, dairy, dried plums, dry beans, forest resources, mushroom, pears, pistachios, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, processing tomato, rice, strawberries, table grapes, walnuts.
Tailored to inspire curiosity, engage young minds, and foster a genuine connection to where our food come from, these farm to school resources bridge the gap between the classroom and the farm. Resources include posters, lessons, mini books, and videos investigating tomatoes, grapes, apples, citrus, carrots, herbs, leafy greens, asparagus, berries, and corn.
This book takes a thorough look at corn, providing high quality information in both text and image. It provides a comprehensive overview of types of corn and their uses, how and where corn grows, the history of corn, and the uses of corn for food and more. The text and photos describe how corn is used in both food and non-food items. A section on corn breeding and the use of corn in creating renewable fuels and biodegradable plastics is also included. The book ends with a useful glossary.
This dual-language (Spanish and English) book tells the story of Carlos whose father offers him a little money if he will help plant the family's corn field. Carlos takes a shortcut but feels guilty and learns the meaning of the phrase 'cosechas lo que siembras'--you reap what you sow. This engaging story illustrates the simple life of a farming family and underscores the importance of hard work and honesty.
Perennial nonfiction favorite Gail Gibbons turns her spotlight on corn. Popcorn, corn on the cob, corn dogs, cornflakes - corn is used in many children's favorite foods. This book offers a cornucopia of information about the history of corn as well as details concerning planting, cultivation, harvesting, and its many uses.
Many Native Americans regard corn as a gift, a food with sacred value. The Winnebago, or Hochunk people, tell a story about a clan leader who saw a spirit called Corn Person in a dream. Corn Person showed the man how to plant, grow, and preserve corn so his people would have food to eat all year. In this photographic essay, twelve-year-old Russell learns the traditions of corn from his grandfather, who is from the Winnebago reservation in Nebraska.
This book covers early history, cultivation, processing, and nutritional importance of grains. One chapter is dedicated to each grain, including wheat, rice, corn, millet and barley, and oats and rye. The two-column text reads easily and is full of informative material.
Told through exuberant rhyme, a group of children shows the step-by-step process of how America's favorite snack comes about. Beginning with the planting of seeds, the cycle moves through the caretaking of the plant (watering and weeding), all the way to its harvest. Finally, it's time to shuck, then pop the kernels, and enjoy the finished product! Complete with back matter that includes scientific facts and activities, Let's Pop, Pop, Popcorn! offers a fun introduction to the process of creating popcorn.
There are a lot of jobs to do on the family farm! Presley and her farm family work on planting corn, watching for pests, monitoring rainfall so plants get the right amount of water, harvesting the corn, exploring how corn is used in many products, and learning how to be more sustainable farmers.
Learn through the eyes of young farmers how animals are cared for, crops are raised, and renewable resources are used as they take you for a tour of their family's farm. This digital book series includes titles for beef, corn, soybeans, wind (energy), pigs, and apples.
How does a field of corn become a delicious bowl of popcorn? The story behind the fluffy snack the entire country loves is revealed in this photographic nonfiction picture book. Kids love food—and they especially love to eat popcorn! Author Cris Peterson offers an illuminating step-by-step examination of the history and science behind America's favorite snack. With photographs illustrating every stage, readers get a behind-the-scenes view of how popcorn is planted, grown, harvested, processed, tested, and finally shipped to stores and movie theaters all over the world. Back matter delves into the history of popcorn and how it became so popular in the United States.
Pull up a chair and dig in! Popcorn! is chock-full of tidbits about one of America's favorite snack foods. Learn what makes popcorn pop, how Native Americans liked their popcorn, and how television almost wiped out popcorn's future. Cooking tips, recipes, and resources included.
This book explores the Inca civilization, including information on diet, domestic life, and religious beliefs. Instructions for making crafts that bring the past alive are included throughout. Sections on living on the land, hunting and fishing, food and feasts, and textiles and tunics provide useful information and activities for connecting agriculture and social studies.
This book tells the story of Nobel Laureate, Norman Borlaug. Norman grew up as an average farm boy in Iowa, but later his work as a plant scientist reached far and wide to help improve the growth of wheat, rice, and corn all over the world. This book highlights the benefits of emerging science, but also has an underlying message to teach kids that, "Every choice you make, good or bad, can make a difference."
Brothers Tiny and Tony are hungry for a snack, and their mother allows them to make some popcorn. The two boys learn about the history of popcorn in the Americas, how much popcorn is eaten on an annual basis, and methods of popping corn. Two recipes to pop corn are included in this book.
This glorious visual celebration of food in all its forms reveals the extraordinary cultural impact of the foods we eat, explores the early efforts of humans in their quest for sustenance, and tells the fascinating stories behind individual foods. With profiles of the most culturally and historically interesting foods of all types, from nuts and grains, fruits and vegetables, and meat and fish, to herbs and spices, this fascinating culinary historical reference provides the facts on all aspects of each food's unique story. Feature spreads shine a spotlight on influential international cuisines and the local foods that built them. The Story of Food explains how foods have become the cornerstone of our culture, from their origins to how they are eaten and their place in world cuisine.
This excellent book describes how foods from North and South America changed eating around the world. It focuses on corn, beans, peppers, peanuts, potatoes, tomatoes, and chocolate but also includes other foods that originated in the Americas. Can you imagine Italian food without the tomato? Indian curries without the pepper? German or Irish food without the potato? Corn is now the most widely grown grain in the world. This book details the history of those transitions and is illustrated with historic artwork and modern photos. For anyone wishing to understand the real gold found in America, this book is an essential read.
This is a lively, fun-filled elementary education kit, including an educator's guide, activity books, a video, and free songs that will keep students interested while learning about pattern recognition, memory, counting, alphabetizing, geography, agriculture, and elementary scientific concepts. Use these resources to show students how amazing plants can be.
This kit contains instructions and enough materials for a classroom of students to plant five varieties of corn seeds – sweet corn, super sweet corn, popcorn, dent corn (also known as field corn), and flint corn (also known as Indian corn) – in the fingers of a food handler's glove and the cotton necessary to sprout them. Given a few days and some water, the glove will be alive with growing sprouts that your students can observe. An excellent activity for teaching plant growth and genetic differences. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
This kit is designed to support various forms of homeschool, virtual learning, and online classes by providing ready-to-use supplies to facilitate hands-on learning and discovery. The kit contains materials for one student to complete a variety of activities found in the following lessons: What's on MyPlate? (Activity 1); Get Popping! (Interest Approach—Engagement); Cultures, Food, and Communities Around the World (Activity 1); Cheesemaking: From Liquid to Solid (Activity 1); By Land, Air, or Sea (Activities 2 & 3). Order this kit online fromagclassroomstore.com.
How does popcorn pop? Investigate this phenomenon by observing how heat affects the water inside a popcorn kernel. See a demonstration of this investigation by viewing the Get Popping! video. This kit contains safety glasses, test tubes, a test tube clamp, an alcohol lamp, balloons, aluminum foil, vegetable oil, boiling stones, and popcorn kernels. This kit complements the lesson Get Popping!Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
This hands-on activity explores grains and legumes common in global agricultural production—barley, dent corn, popcorn, oats, rice, wheat, soybeans, lentils, and pinto beans. Students create their own journals that include important facts, descriptions, and samples of the seeds of these crops. Teachers can use the information to expand students’ knowledge of agriculture while connecting to lessons in social studies and science. This kit contains enough seeds for a classroom of students. A master copy of the grains and legumes information cards is also included. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
This kit is designed to support various forms of homeschool, virtual learning, and online classes by providing ready-to-use supplies to facilitate hands-on learning and discovery. The kit contains materials for one student to complete a variety of activities found in the following lessons: Apple Science: Comparing Apples to Onions (Activity 2); From Chicken Little to Chicken Big (Activity 2); Sheep See, Sheep Do (Activity 1); Peas in a Pod (Activity 2); Inherited Traits in the Living Corn Necklace (Activity 2). Order this kit online fromagclassroomstore.com.
Grow your own necklace! These kits contains enough materials for a classroom of students to make a living necklace. Plant a seed in a mini Ziploc, and after a few days, and some water, the necklace will be alive with growing sprouts - baby plants for students to observe. Order these kits online from agclassroomstore.com.
Engage students in a quick and simple activity using a product that can be made from either renewable or non-renewable resources—packing peanuts. This kit contains enough petroleum-based, Styrofoam packing peanuts and corn-based, biodegradable packing peanuts to complete five demonstrations showing how one dissolves in water and the other does not. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
Pop popcorn right off the cob! Place the cob in a paper bag, fold the top of the bag down twice to secure the top, place in the center of a microwave, and heat on high power for 1-1/2 to 3-1/2 minutes. Kit includes a popcorn cob and a brown paper bag. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
This kit contains a variety of agronomic or crop seeds. Samples of corn, wheat, rice, and quinoa seeds are included. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
Use this kit to introduce students to careers that keep cereal on grocery store shelves. Just as grains were foundational in the advent of agriculture thousands of years ago, they continue to play a central role in agriculture and food security today. Corn, rice, and wheat provide more than half of the calories consumed by people worldwide. The science of cereal science is serious business! Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
Native Americans relied heavily on corn, squash, and beans, the "three sisters," for their survival. This packet contains organic, heirloom seeds ready to plant in the garden to demonstrate early Native American farming techniques. Order these seeds online from agclassroomstore.com.
Use this interactive map to help students see how geography and climate affects the production of agricultural crops. The map has USDA statistics built in to allow your students to answer questions such as, "Which state(s) produce the most cattle?" "Where does [my state] rank nationally in corn production?" "What region of the United States produces the most cotton?" etc. There are many agricultural maps available including field crops such as corn, wheat, barley, and alfalfa in addition to fruit and vegetable crops, ornamental nursery crops, and livestock.
This five-minute video shows how corn tortillas are mass produced in factories, starting with Grade A corn that is de-husked, removed from the cob, and stored in huge steel silos and ending with tortillas ready to package.
This 3-minute video clip from HowStuffWorks on the Discovery Channel illustrates how corn can be used to make plastic. Students can discuss and compare the use of a renewable resource, such as corn, to make plastic in comparison to petroleum, a non-renewable resource.
From Discovery Channel's How Stuff Works, watch how our favorite movie snack explodes from kernel to white fluffy treat. The shell of a corn kernel can withstand an internal temperature of 450 degrees. After that threshold, the kernel explodes. Find out what it takes to create the perfect popping kernel in this three-minute video.
View this 17-minute video to learn about the origins of corn. Discover how the domestication of corn impacted society and what plant domestic corn originates from. This video supports lessons on the domestication of plants and genetic evolution.
A 13-minute video to answer questions about genetically modified BT corn. Understand questions such as Why is it safe to consume BT corn? What is BT (bacillus thuringiensis) and where does it come from? How is BT corn (and other GMO plants) regulated?
This fast-paced 8-minute DVD will hold the attention of your students as they learn about corn planting and harvesting processes and find out that corn is used to make biodegradable plastics, sweetener, chewing gum, and more. As fewer children live on farms or have relatives who are farmers, it is important that they have the opportunity to learn about America's corn industry. Included with this DVD are two fact sheets on corn. Order this DVD online from agclassroomstore.com.
This three-page informational sheet describes the process of how grains are grown and harvested, how they get from the farm to the store, and nutrition facts. Words and graphics are used to portray this information for barley, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat. Print your own or order a set of 30" x 8" printed charts from agclassroomstore.com.
USDA Agricultural Research Service scientists developed a new starch-based film, or coating, that can make paper and other materials more water resistant and biodegradable. The film can potentially be used in food packaging, plastic bags, and other products, reducing the amount of synthetic products clogging landfills.
Double-sided cards representing ten agricultural crops. Each card shows the plant in each stage of growth, explains how and when it is planted and harvested and describes its use as feed for animals or food for humans. The cards can be printed from the attached PDF or prints can be ordered from the Nebraska Foundation for Agricultural Awareness.
Tired of teaching genetic concepts with the same old pink petunias and Mendel’s peas? With Garden Genetics, you can present core content in ways that are fun for students and fresh for you. This two-part set—a teacher edition and companion student edition—is adaptable to biology students at all levels, including AP. It uses a series of activities and inquiry-based experiments with familiar foods to teach genetics while helping students make connections to ecology, evolution, and plant biology.
Despite the rapid increase in the adoption of genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybean, and cotton varieties by US farmers, questions persist regarding their economic and environmental impacts, the evolution of weed resistance, and consumer acceptance. This report examines issues related to three major stakeholders in agricultural biotechnology: GE seed suppliers and technology providers (biotech firms), farmers, and consumers.
In this Common Roots Guidebook, Sister Corn, Sister Squash, and Sister Bean introduce children to gardening in two distinct year-long adventures that explore the ancient wisdoms of the land. Each is a unique journey through the four seasons, rich with earth-friendly gardening methods, history, hands-on activities, stories, and provocative ideas. The lessons incorporate social studies, literature, and science. Plants can be grown in the garden or classroom to supplement this unit. An easy resource to utilize when teaching early American traditions.
Help students identify the "Corn Belt" region of the United States with an image taken from space which shows the agricultural productivity of the region.
This book provides stories, projects, and recipes that can easily be adapted for use in the classroom. Native American Gardening brings the magical world of stories together with the nurturing experience of gardening. Native stories lay the groundwork for understanding, while hands-on activities show readers how to continue the work of generations of Native farmers.
Farmers are faced with the potential of crop damage each year that stems from migrating insects such as the corn earworm. However, signals taken from the National Weather Service Doppler radar network has the potential for tracking insects that move through the night such as the corn earworm. This resource supports reasons why farmers are concerned with productivity in crops that can be completely devastated by migrating insects.
This website includes a series of interactive online modules with nearly five hours of programming on everything about corn, targeted to high school students.
How did we get the familiar large yellow ear of corn today? Through the study of genetics, we know today that corn's wild ancestor is a grass called teosinte. Teosinte doesn't look much like maize, especially when you compare its kernals to those of corn. But at the DNA level, the two are surprisingly alike.
