Students will learn the physical components and nutritional composition of a grain, understand the function of the protein gluten in the structure of bread products, and investigate how mechanical and chemical digestion begins with salivary amylase in the mouth. Grades 6-8
Students describe the steps of making flour, compare the nutritional value of different cereals, compare cooked and uncooked rice, and identify the parts of a whole grain. Grades 3-5
Students engage with the Growing a Nation timeline to explore the significant historical and agricultural events and inventions from American history during the years 1950-1969. Students examine the cause and effect relationships of many post-war advances that took place in our country and discover how increases in science and technology changed agriculture, leading to fewer farmers being necessary to provide food and fiber. Grades 9-12
Students use the story The Little Red Hen to investigate wheat production and bread making. Students thresh their own wheat and grind it into flour to make bread. Grades K-2
Students describe the physical properties of materials and observe physical and chemical changes as they examine the ingredients in pancakes and how maple syrup is harvested from trees. Grades 3-5
Students describe the physical properties of materials and observe physical and chemical changes as they explore the ingredients in pancakes and how maple syrup is harvested from trees. Grades K-2
Students read Right This Very Minute—a table-to-farm book about food production and farming—and diagram the path of production for a processed product, study a map to discover where different commodities are grown, and write a thank-you letter to farmers in their local community. Grades 3-5
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
Evaluate the agricultural advances of the Green Revolution, discover the contributions of Norman Borlaug, and discuss the impacts of this era from an economic, social, political, and environmental perspective. Grades 9-12
Using wheat as an example, students explore how DNA determines the genetic traits of a plant and how plant breeders change the DNA of a plant to produce desired characteristics. Grades 3-5
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
This activity details the instructions for making bread in a plastic bag. An excellent way to demonstrate bread-making and the properties of yeast within a classroom setting.
Let's Get Growing! tells the story of Iowa native Dr. Norman Borlaug, whose research developed wheat that could grow in harsh conditions and feed hungry people worldwide. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for saving billions of people from starvation. Learn about him, sing some fun songs, and tell the story of his remarkable life in this easy musical. Included are additional resource suggestions and famous Borlaug quotes. Available online from JWPepper.com, materials for purchase and download include score, recordings for rehearsal use, and piano accompaniment tracks for performance.
Based off of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar, this caterpillar takes a journey through the Western United States as he eats some of the most popular agriculture commodities in each state. This book can be made individually by students or used as a classroom copy.
Students will learn about the history of weaving with straw and make their own woven wheat ornaments, traditionally known as "corn dollies." The art of weaving with wheat stems (straw) is practically as old as wheat itself. Traditionally, corn dollies were made using the last stems of harvested grain. Wheat was most common, but oats, rye, barley, and corn were also used. The woven ornaments with the heads of grain still on the stem were hung on inside walls where they made it safely through the winter. These sacred grains were then planted the next season to ensure the fertility of the entire crop.
This book provides an accurate and comprehensive look at wheat. From its early cultivation thousands of years ago through today, the text and photos tell wheat's story. The book covers the planting, harvesting, and milling of wheat and ends with a useful glossary.
This book tells the story and includes photographs depicting the process of planting and growing wheat, processing it into flour, and then baking it into bread.
It's a sleepy Saturday morning for most people, but not for Iris, who has to feed her many pets before Aunt Mary arrives. Iris likes to call Aunt Mary "Plant Mary" because she is a plant scientist. Today Aunt Mary wants to experiment with making whole wheat sourdough bread from scratch! As the family kitchen transforms into a bread lab, Iris is surprised that bread needs only four ingredients—flour, water, salt, and starter. She also learns about the invisible microbes that make the dough rise, and how flour comes from wheat grown by farmers. It all seems magical, but it's really science.
A bilingual, rhythmic celebration of bread, from farmer to baker. This playful, English-Spanish children's book traces the process and production of traditional South American bread making from harvest, to crafting, to packaging, and its sale on the market.
Bread is a food enjoyed by people in all parts of the world. Its many shapes, sizes, textures, and colors are as varied as the people who eat it. This photographic round-the-world tour provides a glimpse into the rich variety of world cultures, as well as an informative look at an important food.
Combines introduces children to the world of modern farm equipment- showing how the most complex machines on the farm work to harvest crops. This book is filled with colorful action photographs, fun illustrations and a cast of cartoon equipment characters. Students can follow the timeline of harvesting equipment from the sickle to the mechanical reaper, international harvester, and eventually the modern-day combine. As a companion to lessons on grain crops such as corn and wheat, students will learn the process of harvesting these crops.
On a rainy Saturday, what is better to do than to bake bread? Carrie and her brother bicker so much that their mother sends Carrie on a fool's errand to borrow a rolling pin. Each house she stops at a new kind of bread is offered to her and by the time she returns home the bread is ready at her house. This tummy warming story is both informational and fun for families to enjoy together as each new kind of bread represents a household of a different culture.
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.
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.
Can a quiet Iowa farm boy grow up to change the world? Norman Ernest Borlaug did. Hero for the Hungry is a moving and informative biography of the 20th-century American agriculture scientist whose innovations in crop varieties founded the Green Revolution and fed hundreds of millions of people around the world.
This wordless picture book follows the trials of a little old lady who attempts to make pancakes for her breakfast. The illustrations walk through the process of procuring the ingredients to make pancakes, including collecting eggs, milking a cow, and churning butter.
Read the fictional story of "Jack" who is gathering the ingredients for his mother to make pancakes. Jack must visit the mill for flour, collect eggs from the hen, and milk from the cow.
Nana is coming to visit! She's going to teach Little Pickle to make her famous "Nana rolls"—a special bread recipe that Nana's nana taught her. Together, they gather ingredients: eggs and milk, flour and oil, sugar and salt, yeast and water. As they mix them together to form the dough, Nana shares stories about how making this treasured family recipe has changed over the years—and how it's sustained their family through good times and hard ones. And through the times when they could be together—and the times when they couldn't. Because sometimes a simple loaf of bread can mean so much more.
Bread, milk, wool, fruits, and vegetables: things that fill our day to day lives. But where, and who, do they come from? Across wheat fields and city rooftop gardens, mushroom beds and maple forests, trace food and clothing back to the people who harvested and created them. Thank a Farmer gently emphasizes the importance of agriculture and reminds readers to give thanks to farmworkers around the world.
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."
This is the classic tale of the little red hen who asked, "Who will help plant this wheat?" "Not I," said the cat. "Not I," said the dog. "Not I," said the mouse. The little red hen does everything by herself including the eating of the entire cake! Use this story to teach young students about wheat and how it is grown, harvested, and turned into food.
The story of the industrious Little Red Hen is not a new one, but when this particular hen spies a can of tomato sauce in her cupboard and decides to make a pizza, the familiar tale takes on a fresh new twist. Kids will love following along as the hen, with no help from her friends the duck, the dog, and the cat, goes through the steps of making a pizza - shopping for supplies, making the dough, and adding the toppings.
Mary Ann lives in the rugged territory of Utah, doing daily chores such as tending the vegetable garden and braiding rags into rugs. Her best friend is her beloved homemade wheat-filled doll, Betty. One day, a severe storm forces Mary Ann's family into their cabin before she can retrieve her doll from the garden. When the wind and rain finally subside, she is heartbroken to find that Betty is gone. When winter turns to spring, Mary Ann makes a surprising discovery, some wheat growing in the shape of her doll! She carefully tends to the wheat through the summer and eventually makes a new doll. An afterword by the author reveals the story of the real-life Mary Ann and her doll, the inspiration for The Wheat Doll.
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 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.
Wheat is the most widely used grain across the globe. Experience threshing and grinding the wheat with your students to accompany any lesson on wheat, flour, or bread. Each wheat bundle has 35 stalks of wheat. Order this wheat bundle online from agclassroomstore.com.
Is there DNA in my food? Absolutely! Each variety of wheat has DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that gives it certain genetic traits or characteristics. Use this kit to extract and observe strands of DNA from wheat germ. Kit includes test tubes, stir sticks, pipettes, microcentrifuge tubes, and yarn with enough supplies for a classroom of students. The Wheat Germ DNA Necklace kit complements the lesson Wheat Germ DNA. Refill kits are also available. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
What is wheat? How is bread made? This kit comes with a bag of wheat seeds, a wheat bundle with 35 stalks of wheat, and a hand-cranked grinder that your students can turn to make flour. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
This kit contains kernels of the six classes of wheat grown in the United States. Samples of Hard Red Winter, Hard Red Spring, Soft Red Winter, Soft White, Hard White, and Durum are included. Use these samples to discuss the different characteristics of wheat. Wheat kernel samples complement the lesson Wheat Germ DNA. Order this kit 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.
Watch how wheat is processed into bread at a factory. Beginning with the harvest of the wheat on a farm and ending with slicing and bagging loaves of bread, see the automated machinery that makes bread processing on a large scale possible.
This award-winning, 22-minute video follows wheat from sowing and growing to kneading and baking. Watch a baker turn a homegrown crop of wheat into a homemade loaf to eat. Then see it all happen again at a wheat farm, a giant mill, and a full-scale commercial bakery. Also available as a hardcover picture book.
Join George the Farmer from Australia in his YouTube video series to discover the paddock to plate or paddock to product journey of some of your favorite products, including apples, wool, dairy, chickpeas, potatoes, chickens, and wheat.
The Lexion 590R is the largest farm combine of its kind. Harvesting exponentially more and faster than hundreds of human laborers, see why this machine is at the top of its class. Use this three-minute video to give students an example of the importance of technology in agriculture.
What is gluten? All wheat flours contain two important proteins, glutenin and gliadin. These proteins bond together to create gluten. It allows breads to rise and cakes to have structure. Can you see gluten? Can you feel gluten. This 4-minute video has these answers and more.
In this 30-minute video, students are guided through farming’s seasonal activities by children who live on a wheat farm. Follow the activities of wheat seed cleaning, planting, and harvesting; visit a modern flour mill and pasta plant; and journey to a pioneer village to see wheat flailing, winnowing, and milling at a grist mill.
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.
Farmers Make Great Pizza! Use this student poster to discover the connections between your favorite pizza ingredients and toppings, and agriculture. These are available to educators free of charge from Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom.
