Food safety and science come together with these virtual labs. Students can see and practice some of the laboratory techniques used by researchers and food scientists. Visit the website to see eight virtual labs including Testing for Corn Mold, Bacteria Sampling, Gram Staining, Using the Microscope, The pH Scale and Meter Calibration, Testing and Adjusting pH, Understanding Water Activity, and Controlling Water Activity in Food.
A 4-minute video clip teaching that everything, including plants and animals is made of chemical elements. See how chemistry relates to agriculture to balance feed rations, calculate fertilizer application rates, and digestion.
This teacher's manual provides a road map to successful school gardening and curriculum integration, including hands-on strategies for planning a garden laboratory, facilitating investigative lessons on ecology and nutrition, and involving the community in learning activities.
This curriculum unit is designed to teach science through study of the food system. It investigates two questions—what is the system that gets food from farm to table, and how does this system affect the environment? Students will learn about our complex and highly technological global food system and how the parts of this system interact and influence each other. Lesson plans include a number of hands-on investigations, helpful background information, practical teaching tips, and tools for assessment.
This printable four-page reader is packed with information about chickens, turkeys, and other poultry. Use this reader to share information about the parts of an egg, poultry-related careers, the diets of chickens, and more.
This playlist from Utah Agriculture in the Classroom was developed as a resource for teachers using chick development as a way to explore life science concepts. Videos explore the development of the chick inside of the egg, agricultural production, and the hatching process.
In just two minutes this video gives a stunning animation of the 21-day development of a chicken embryo in the egg.
A little band of bakers is busy turning out 32 hundred apple pies a day. But the Kroitzsh (pronounced “Kroich”) family doesn’t mind. These sweet treats have been the salvation for their Valley View Apple orchard in south central Maine for the past 15 years.
This book provides a fun-filled exploration of the history and field-to-table processes of onions, garlic, leeks, celery, asparagus, and rhubarb. Examine the discovery and migration of these vegetables as well as their roles in cooking, technology, and world cultures.
In this autobiographical novel set in the 1940s, the author tells of her childhood in China and her dream to buy a special gift for her grandmother's birthday--an apple, a fruit that is precious and rare in her part of mainland China. The child's voice and the intensity of her desire to do something for her grandmother, who has raised her from early childhood, are very real. This first novel by a Chinese immigrant is poignant, memorable, and presented in a format that is accessible to readers at the chapter book level and beyond.
In this activity, students will explore how evergreen trees grow from cone to maturity by reading Where Would I Be in an Evergreen Tree? by Jennifer Blomgren and by making a bird feeder from a pine cone.
In this activity, students will learn how to add value to Christmas trees by making scented pillows from balsam fir needles which can be used for gifts or potentially as a fundraiser for your classroom. Older students can also calculate the potential income from selling their value-added projects.