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Colorado Agriculture in the Classroom

Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix

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Lesson Plans (41)

A Garden Plot: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Students identify foods grown in a garden, observe various types of seed, and grow their own "milk jug" garden. Students listen to the Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter and investigate produce that is grown in gardens or on farms. Grades K-2

Aeroponic Engineering and Vertical Farming (Grades 6-8)

Students will use the Engineering Design Process to develop and construct an aeroponic garden to grow a food crop. Students will develop and apply an understanding of plant anatomy and physiology related to plant growth and ultimately discuss the possibilities and limitations of using vertical farming to produce our food. Grades 6-8

Aeroponic Engineering and Vertical Farming (Grades 9-12)

Students will use the Engineering Design Process to develop and construct an aeroponic garden to grow a food crop. Students will develop and apply an understanding of plant anatomy and physiology related to plant growth and ultimately discuss the possibilities and limitations of using vertical farming to produce our food. Grades 9-12

Agriculture Pays

Students discover that agricultural careers are interconnected and that agriculture influences many parts of their daily lives. Grades K-2

Animals on the Farm

Students discover that farm animals produce different types of products. Grades PreK-K

Applying Heredity Concepts

In this lesson, students will complete monohybrid and dihybrid Punnett squares in preparation for taking on a challenge to breed cotton plants that produce naturally blue colored cotton. Grades 6-8

Beef Basics

Students explain the value of the beef cattle industry, including the products cattle produce, the production process from farm to plate, and how cattle can utilize and obtain energy from grass and other forage. Grades 3-5

By Land, Air, or Sea

Students discover how agricultural commodities are transported from producers to consumers. Grades 3-5

Climate Change Phenomena: Bananas in Our Breadbasket?

Students will explore the carbon cycle and evaluate associated phenomena of climate as they discover the impact climate change could have on the farms that produce our food. Grades 6-8

Energy's Journey from Farm to You

Students discover how plants use energy from the sun to change air and water into matter needed for growth. Using dairy cows as an example, students investigate how animals obtain energy from the plants they eat to produce milk for human consumption. Further exploration is facilitated by a live virtual visit to a dairy farm or the option of viewing a pre-recorded virtual dairy farm tour. Grades 3-5

Farm Animal Life Cycles

Students investigate six major livestock species, discover that animals need air, space, food, water, and shelter to survive, explore the life cycle of a farm animal, and identify the products each farm animal produces. Grades K-2

Farmers Market Finds

Students explore the value of farmers markets to local communities and discover the benefits of locally-grown food. Grades 3-5

Farming for Energy

Students identify renewable and nonrenewable energy sources and investigate how farms can produce renewable energy. Grades 3-5

Fertilizers and the Environment (Grades 6-8)

In this lesson students will recognize that fertile soil is a limited resource to produce food for a growing population, describe the role fertilizer plays to increase food productivity, distinguish between organic and commercial fertilizers, and recognize how excess nutrients are harmful to the environment. Grades 6-8

Filling the Global Grocery Bag

Students learn what factors affect a country's ability to produce their own food and how food expenses differ throughout the world. Grades 9-12

From Sap to Syrup

Students recognize how geography and climate allow for the growth of maple trees and the process of making syrup, identify the characteristics of maple trees that produce the best sap for making maple syrup, and name the steps in the process of creating syrup from sap. Grades K-2

Fueling Up for a Career in Biofuel

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

Grocery Store Problem Solving (Grades 3-5)

Students use basic mathematical skills to solve problems related to the cost of food while integrating geography and nutrition to enhance learning. Students analyze grocery ads, assess the nutrition and cost of meals, and explore diets around the world. Grades 3-5

Grocery Store Problem Solving (Grades 6-8)

Students will use basic mathematical skills to solve problems related to the cost of food while integrating geography and nutrition to enhance learning. Activities include analyzing grocery ads, assessing the nutrition and cost of meals, and exploring diets around the world. Grades 6-8

How to Grow a Monster: The Needs of a Zucchini Plant

Students read How to Grow a Monster, describe the needs of a zucchini plant, identify the structure and function of zucchini plant parts, grow classroom zucchini plants, and experiment with different environments and growing conditions. Grades K-2

John Deere, That's Who!

Students explore how producers and consumers work together to meet human needs by using the book John Deere, That’s Who!  Grades K-2

Let's Go Shopping! (Grades 3-5)

Students identify the differences between needs and wants, goods and services, and producers and consumers by participating in a grocery store simulation, exploring the source of grocery store items, and designing their own products to sell. Grades 3-5

Let's Go Shopping! (Grades K-2)

Students identify the differences between needs and wants, goods and services, and producers and consumers by participating in a grocery store simulation, exploring the source of grocery store items, and designing their own products to sell. Grades K-2

Machines and People

Students define the word "machine," explain how machines are used in agriculture to produce food and fiber, and compare and contrast a variety of machines. Grades 3-5

Machines in Agriculture

Students make connections between the six types of simple machines and the complex machinery used to produce food and fiber. Grades 3-5

Companion Resources (33)

Book
Extra Cheese, Please!
When Annabelle gives birth to her calf, she also begins to produce milk. The milk is then processed into cheese, and from the cheese, pizza is made. An excellent nonfiction look at milk production.
Farming
Each season in this book brings to life a new chore or activity on the farm. Farming shows real-life activities and chores on a farm that produces crops and food.
Fresh-Picked Poetry: A Day at the Farmers' Market
This collection of poems takes young readers to a day at an urban farmers' market. Who to see, what to eat, and how produce is grown—it's all so exciting, fresh, and delicious. Readers are invited to peruse the stands and inspect vendors' wares with poems like "Farmer Greg's Free-Range Eggs," "Summer Checklist," and "Necessary Mess."
From Start to Finish Series
Books from this series teach how objects are made, how nature's cycles work, and how food is produced—from start to finish. Suitable for both struggling and on-level readers, these titles teach science concepts as well as sequential thinking. These books are an excellent supplement to lessons teaching elementary students about the importance of agriculture and how food and fiber gets from the farm to their home.
Grow! Raise! Catch!
Who grows our juicy fruit and yummy vegetables? Who raises animals for our tasty eggs, milk, and meat? Who catches fresh fish for our table? Farmers and fishermen show off their bounty in this lively and informative look at the people who produce the food on which we all rely. 
Miss MacDonald has a Farm
"Miss MacDonald has a farm, She loves things that grow!" E-I-E-I-GROW! With a "weed-weed" here and a "pick-pick" there, young readers can follow Miss MacDonald as she tends to her vegetable farm. It's a rollicking, rhyming read-aloud that ends in a community feast and celebrates themes of healthy eating, local produce, gardens, seasons, and female farmers.
On the Farm, at the Market
Take a behind-the-scenes tour of three different farms where food is locally grown, harvested, and sold at the market. This book illustrates the journey of vegetables, cheese, and mushrooms as they travel from the farm to your fork. 
Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant
Know any kids that don't like veggies? Here's a book that's sure to change their hungry minds. Rah, Rah, Radishes! celebrates fresh vegetables, nature's bright colors, and the joy of healthy eating.
Spring is for Strawberries
When a farm family brings their spring crops to a city farmers market, the farmer's daughter befriends the daughter of a neighborhood family doing their weekly shopping. Over the course of a year, the girls explore the bounty of each season. Sweet spring strawberries and crisp, fresh greens make way for corn on the cob, peppers, and a rainbow of tomatoes. Fall brings pumpkin patches and the crunch of apples. The friends part at the final winter market, already looking forward to the sweet red strawberries that will unite them again next spring.
The Cow in Patrick O'Shanahan's Kitchen
When Patrick wakes up for breakfast, he finds an adventure in his kitchen. As his dad cooks him breakfast, he learns where each breakfast food item is produced. The chicken lays the eggs, the cow produces the milk and the maple tree makes the syrup. This book is a great resource for teaching elementary students where their food comes from.
To Market, To Market
Alternating between story and fact, this picture book follows a mother and son to the weekly market. As they check off items on their shopping list, the reader learns how each particular food was grown or produced, from its earliest stages to how it ended up at the market. To Market, To Market is a book that shines awareness on the skill that goes into making good food.
Try It! How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat
Meet fearless Frieda Caplan—the produce pioneer who changed the way Americans eat by introducing exciting new fruits and vegetables, from baby carrots to blood oranges to kiwis. In 1956, Frieda Caplan started working at the Seventh Street Produce Market in Los Angeles. Instead of competing with the men in the business with their apples, potatoes, and tomatoes, Frieda thought, why not try something new? Starting with mushrooms, Frieda began introducing fresh and unusual foods to her customers—snap peas, seedless watermelon, mangos, and more! This groundbreaking woman brought a whole world of delicious foods to the United States, forever changing the way we eat. Frieda Caplan was always willing to try something new—are you?
Where Does Food Come From?
This book is all about making food connections. Each spread introduces a different food. The first spread explains that cocoa beans are seeds that grow on cocoa trees, chocolate is produced by grinding and cooking cocoa beans, and hot chocolate is made from chocolate. Children who have never thought about the origins of maple syrup or salt will have their eyes opened in a way that makes them think about how other products come to their lives.
Booklet/Reader
Farming for Energy e-Magazine
A 5-page interactive magazine to help students study the science of energy and energy conversion. What is energy? Where can we collect energy and how? Can farms produce energy? What is biomass energy? These questions and more are answered.
Sweetpotato Ag Mag
The Sweetpotato Ag Mag is an agricultural magazine written for elementary and middle school students. In this issue, students will learn that North Carolina is the #1 producer of sweetpotatoes in the United States and how the root vegetable was introduced to the nation. They will also explore the life cycle of the sweetpotato plant, its health benefits to humans, the STEM-focused processes for growing, harvesting, and curing sweetpotatoes, visit a fourth-generation sweetpotato farm, and investigate three careers that involve sweetpotato production. The reader can be viewed by students electronically on individual devices, as a class with a projector, or printed.
Kit
Solar Power Kit
Engage students with this engineering design challenge! Students will design and construct a barn and add a solar panel to their barn that produces electricity power a fan. This fun challenge is included in the Farming for Energy lesson plan. This kit contains enough materials for students to work in five small groups. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
Wind Power Kit
Engage students with this engineering design challenge! Students will design and construct a barn and create a wind turbine that produces electricity for the barn (lights up an LED light). This fun challenge is included in the Farming for Energy lesson plan. This kit contains enough materials for students to work in five small groups. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
Map
Crop Intensity Maps
The images on this site show crop intensity data (regions that produce the most crops), followed by the cropland products of 26 countries that produce 82% of the world's food. The final image shows the the population density in 2002 and the projected population in 2050.
Interactive Map Project
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.
Where Does Thanksgiving Dinner Grow?
Visit this website to see maps and graphs to discover where your Thanksgiving dinner foods such as green beans, carrots, celery, sweet corn, cranberries, onions, pecans, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, sweet potatoes, turkey, and wheat were produced. 
Movie/Video
Dairy Tour 360
Milk, leche, lait. No matter what you call it, real milk offers tons of nutrition and is sustainably produced—and we've got the receipts. Come behind the scenes on a few dairy farms: see the cow care and learn the real science. Oh, and did we mention you'll be flying around on a butterfly? Available for desktop or VR headset use.
Food Doesn't Grow in the Supermarket!
This DVD, narrated by children, follows "The City Guy," an adult who thinks he knows where food comes from (the grocery store), as he visits three different farms to learn where food really comes from and what it takes to produce it. Interesting even for those who have experience in farming and food production! This video is available on DVD or YouTube. Order this DVD online from agclassroomstore.com.
From the Field to the Farmers Market
Travel with nine-year-old Mason as he shows what it's like to be a part of a farm family and bring produce to the Farmers Market! Mason and his family are part of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), and they have been selling at the farmers market for over 20 years. See how their produce is grown and sold at the farmers market.
Give it a Minute: Organic & Conventional Farming
Do you know the difference between organic and conventional (non-organic) foods? In one minute this video explains the differences and similarities in how these foods are produced on the farm.
How to Feed the World in 2050: Actions in a Changing Climate video
Learn how climate change has affected agriculture and how steps can be taken to preserve our ability to sustainably produce food for our planet.