Students discover that topsoil is a nonrenewable resource and use an apple to represent how Earth’s land resources are used. Through critical thinking, students study agricultural land use and consider the sustainability of current land use practices including the use of land to feed and graze livestock animals. Grades 9-12
Students use the story of The Empty Pot to explore literature and science, practicing story mapping and examining the needs of plants and the importance of soil and water. Like the characters in the story, students plant and observe the growth of seeds. Grades 3-5
Students use the story of The Empty Pot to explore literature and science, practicing story mapping and examining the needs of plants and the importance of soil and water. Like the characters in the story, students plant and observe the growth of seeds. Grades K-2
Students synthesize what they know about soils, plants, and the environment to plan a garden, present their plans, and explain why they made the decisions that they did. Grades 3-5
Students will learn about two types of plant propagation – seed planting (sexual) and stem cuttings (asexual) and recognize the genetic differences in these processes, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Grades 6-8
Students categorize plants into groups, describe what plants need for healthy growth, and start their own garden by planting seeds inside a cup. Grades 3-5
Students determine that topsoil is a limited resource with economic value and use an apple to represent how Earth’s land resources are used. Grades 3-5
In this game, students determine how much money to invest in their bean crop and then roll dice to determine what happens to their crop during the planting, growing, harvesting, and marketing phases. Will their farms make money this year?
Farmers work with nature. Soil nutrients, planting, weed and insect control, machinery work, crop records and harvest are things farmers can control and manage. Farmers cannot control the weather. Crops may need to be planted more than once in the spring. Most crops are ready for harvest in late summer and fall but may be wiped out by a single weather event. Play the weather harvest game to see if you will be able to bring in your crop. Order this game online from agclassroomstore.com.
Little Critter learns that planting his own garden is a lot of fun and a lot of work. But the result—a green, green garden—is something he can cherish and enjoy.
Meet Jake and his loyal farm dog, Max. They live on a Georgia peanut farm and are excited to show you around. Grab a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and explore the farm through the changing seasons. Along the way, you will discover how farmers take care of their farm machinery, plant seeds, tend the crops, harvest the peanuts, and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Plus, you'll see how Jake applies lessons learned on the farm into other areas of his life—studying for tests at school, overcoming obstacles, and practicing baseball. Associated activities are available from the Georgia Peanut Commission.
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.
Gram and Joe love to spend time together taking care of the vegetable patch, but it takes a lot of patience. There's digging time, planting time, weeding time, watering time, even thinking time. Meanwhile, the seasons change, and while Gram does things her way, Joe does things his way. But come harvest, each will find wondrous surprises, thanks to the benevolence of the good brown earth.
Big Book of Big Tractors is a large, full color book that gets even bigger with it's fold out pages. Students will learn the names of many machines and implements used on the farms that grow and harvest their food. How do machines dig in the soil and plant seeds? What kind of tools make physical labor on a farm easier by lifting heavy objects or performing the work of many people? How do machines harvest grains, hay, cotton, and other agricultural products? How are tractors and large machines used off the farm? These questions and more are answered and can serve as a companion to lessons about machines, harvesting, and engineering (STEM).
A tractor is more than a piece of farm machinery. It's farmer's partner that helps him get the hard work done. This dynamic picture book shows a big tractor from spring to harvest—planting, cultivating, harvesting, and doing other important tasks on a busy farm.
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.
This 32 page book includes pictures and text to describe and illustrate life on a 100 year old farm. "Century Farm" is the story of the Peterson farm as it was and how it has changed through the years.
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.
"Dad says we are going to grow vegetable soup." So begins Lois Ehlert’s bright, bold picture book about vegetable gardening for the very young. The necessary tools are pictured and labeled, as are the seeds (green bean, pea, corn, zucchini squash, and carrot). Then the real gardening happens... planting, weeding, harvesting, washing, chopping, and cooking! In the end? "It was the best soup ever." Ehlert’s simple, colorful cut-paper-style illustrations are child-friendly, as is the big black type. A recipe for vegetable soup tops it all off!
One of the best parts of a young child's day is opening a lunchbox and diving in. But how did that delicious food get there? From planting wheat to mixing dough, climbing trees to machine-squeezing fruit, picking cocoa pods to stirring a vat of melted bliss, here is a clear, engaging look at the steps involve in producing some common foods. Health tips and a peek at basic food groups complete the menu.
Little Groundhog, in trouble for stealing from his friends' gardens, is taught by Squirrel to grow his very own. From seed-gathering to planting, harvesting, and eating home-grown fruits and vegetables, children join Little Groundhog in learning about the gardening process. At the end, Little Groundhog invites his animal friends to a Thanksgiving harvest feast.
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.
Pumpkins is a picture-book celebration of the edible plant. Full-color photography offers a tour of the life of a pumpkin plant, from planting to flower to fruit to harvest, and finally to being carved into a jack-o-lantern. Large photos and simple language make this book ideal for young students.
After sketching and plotting and planting, Maxine and Leo know they've made The Greatest Garden Ever! But they're not the only ones who think so. Soon, all sorts of animals make their way in, munching on carrots and knocking over pots. When Leo and Maxine can't agree on a way to deter these unwelcome critters, it looks like there's more on the line than saving their garden—they just might need to save their friendship too.
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.
Alexander lives on a soybean farm. What's a soybean farm and what's it like to live there? Join Alexander on his family's farm as he shows us how soybeans grow, are harvested, and are used.
From peanut, grape, and wheat seeds to sandwich, PB&J Hooray! is all about how peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are made. The story begins with the kitchen and works backward to the shopping, delivery, production, harvesting, farming, and planting processes! In fun, rhythmic language, readers discover how peanuts become peanut butter, grapes are made into jelly, and wheat turns into bread.
Planters and Cultivators introduces children to the world of modern farming and the specialized equipment that is used on the farm for cultivating, planting and spraying crops. This book is filled with colorful action photographs, fun illustrations and a cast of cartoon equipment characters. As a companion to lessons about soil composition and soil nutrients, students will learn why and when these tools are used to manage and improve crop health and growth.
Does a towering sunflower fit inside a tiny seed? Where do seeds come from? What makes them grow? Simple text and close-up photographs make this book a great way to introduce young students to the amazing science of seeds.
When a little boy plants a carrot seed, everyone tells him it won't grow. But when you are very young, there are some things that you just know, and the little boy knows that one day a carrot will come up. So he waters his seed and pulls the weeds and he waits... This beautiful simple classic teaches the patience and technique of planting a seed and helping it grow. This story was first published in 1945 and never out of print.
When Ping admits that he is the only child in China unable to grow a flower from the seeds distributed by the Emperor, he is rewarded for his honesty. This simple story with its clear moral is illustrated with beautiful paintings. The story shows how Ping carefully plants his seed in a flowerpot with rich soil and waters it daily, but to his surprise it doesn't grow. The emperor later reveals that the seeds he'd provided had been cooked and could not grow. This book works well as an engagement approach to lessons on seeds for younger students.
Using "The House that Jack Built" rhyme scheme and beginning with the planting of a single seed, the journey of bringing a pumpkin to harvest comes to life for young readers. Under Molly's watchful eye and care, each stage of growth—from the seed to the sprout to the leaves to the final fruit on the vine—is showcased. And at the end, Molly's lovely pumpkin is turned into a delicious pie for one and all to share in a celebration of gratitude. All from the seed that Molly sowed.
Big, small, round, tall—pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes. Here one learns the marvels of the growth cycle of these incredible plants—from flat seeds, to thick vines covered in golden flowers, to brilliant orange pumpkins! Gail Gibbons also relates the special role pumpkins played in the first Thanksgiving. Simple and clear directions for drying seeds, planting and tending pumpkin patches, and carving funny or scary faces are included in the book, along with a fascinating section on pumpkin facts and lore.
A story about the love of farming, along with the challenges and hardships that come with it. Take a look into Trax's world and see what a typical year looks like for a grain farmer in the Midwest.
Up in the garden, the world is full of green—leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt there is a busy world of earthworms digging, snakes hunting, skunks burrowing, and all the other animals that make a garden their home. Discover the wonders that lie hidden between stalks, under the shade of leaves...and down in the dirt.
In this colorful picture book even very young students can follow along with a family as they plant, tend, and harvest a vegetable garden. The sun shines brightly, summer rain falls, and vegetables grow and ripen. For Pre-K through 1st grade this book makes a nice introduction to gardening and related activities or lessons.
This Cotton Education Kit is designed for students, teachers and anyone who is interested in learning about cotton. This kit can be used by educators as a companion to any lesson about cotton in the subjects of science, geography, history, or agriculture science. The kit includes cotton seed with planting instructions, cotton boll from the farm, cottonseed separated from raw cotton, cotton lint separated by removing seeds, cotton bale that is sent to mills, cotton sliver that makes yarn, cotton yarn used to make cloth, denim representing the final product, and the Cotton in the Classroom brochure with lesson plan ideas.
This handy bulletin board planner will help you keep your garden on track all year long. The complete kit contains one full-size bulletin board, 17 crop strips to attach to the bulletin board, 17 corresponding crop cards for planning and classroom activities, and full instructions about how to use the bulletin board. 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: Soil Texture and Water Percolation (Activity 1); Desktop Greenhouses (Activity 1); Seeds, Miraculous Seeds (Activities 1 & 3); Flower Power (Activity 2); Plant Tops and Bottoms (Activity 2). Order this kit online fromagclassroomstore.com.
This kit contains a variety of agronomic or crop seeds for planting in terrariums. Seed varieties include wheat, soybeans, popcorn, and bean seeds. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
This 30-minute video begins with the legend of Johnny Appleseed and then goes on to explore apples in pioneer times with the story of the McIntosh apple. An orchard is visited over the seasons from winter pruning, spring blossoms with bees and pollination, spring planting, summer thinning to fall harvesting. Viewers even get to see apple cells through an electron microscope and learn how to clone an apple tree.
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.
True Food TV's Home Gardening video series provides useful gardening tips. The instructional videos include information about how to start seeds, what to grow when, container growing for small spaces, 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 grow light is easy and affordable to build, allowing teachers to garden in their classroom year round or start plants early for outdoor transplanting. The detailed instructions in this PDF will take you step by step through the process of building this light and includes guidelines for using it in your classroom.
The definitive guide to the best gardening techniques from pruning and propagation and planting to harvesting by the American Horticultural Society. This step-by-step guide contains a vast amount of expert information clearly demonstrating the tried-and-tested techniques honed by the world's leading garden authority. The book covers every aspect of gardening from pruning to sowing, watering to feeding, and propagating to planting. Covering all plants including trees, flowers, shrubs, climbers, lawns, vegetables, fruit and herb, it shows how to create water features and patios, and add lighting. It also includes organic techniques, recycling, and how to treat pests and diseases.
This resource will help you find creative solutions to growing affordable plants in the classroom. You may find it hard to believe, but the makings of a fantastic growing experience are probably in your kitchen right now. Don't put those carrot tops in the compost or throw out the seeds in that apple core—try growing them instead. Turn a peanut into an unusual flower or a beet top into a leafy plant. The step-by-step illustrated instructions in this book make it easy!
This manual was developed by the National Gardening Association to lead teachers through the basics of successful indoor gardening. Step-by-step instructions will guide you through setting up an indoor garden, planning and planting, choosing vegetables, herbs, and flowers to grow indoors, maintaining a healthy growing environment, tackling pests and other problems, and conducting special gardening projects.
With a bit of knowledge and creative thinking, meadowscaping allows us to transform lawns, playgrounds, empty lots, unused paved spaces, and patios into havens for plants and animals. This guide provides information and inspiration for creating meadow plantings anywhere—even in containers—and features six fun, hands-on projects to delight and inform your young gardeners.
Full of how-to projects for any level of gardener, this book includes step-by-step instructions with accompanying full-color photographs. Whether you’re planting flowers outdoors, or indoor vegetables, you’ll find a range of unique gardens you can grow yourself at home or in a classroom. Tips and techniques are included, as well as variations to make each project your own.
This website provides a variety of publications for teaching about cotton, including printable handouts on cotton and the consumer, what can be made with a bale of cotton, and the history of cotton from its first planting in the United States until today. An online presentation provides images and text to show your students how cotton goes from field to fabric.
In Project S.O.W., youth work together to investigate how to grow food, explore their relationship with the land and food system, and practice leadership in their communities. Youth discover the power of food gardening to provide their families and communities with fresh and affordable food, and experience firsthand the resilience, confidence, and connection that this time-honored practice brings. Resources can be paired with school gardening curriculum for ages 13-19.
This web page offers practical information about gardening with children and provides engaging lesson plans and activities that integrate gardening themes into core curriculum. School gardens provide an opportunity to build understanding about the natural world through active investigation and inquiry. Gardens inspire students to use their senses, exercise their imagination, build communication skills, think critically, problem solve, and explore their questions, while providing a meaningful context for multidisciplinary exploration.