Activity 1: Sugar Snow

1. Read the book Sugar Snow by Laura Ingalls Wilder to the class.
2. Ask the following questions to help students recall Pa’s information about how the maple syrup was made.
   • In what season did the story take place? (Winter turning into spring.)
   • What was the weather like the morning Pa left for Grandpa's house? (snowy)
   • Why did Pa call it a sugar snow? (Snow at the beginning of spring helps the maple trees make more sap that can be made into syrup.)
   • How is sap made into syrup? (Grandpa boiled the sap in a big iron kettle.)
   • Where did the sap come from? (From small holes that Grandpa drilled into the maple trees.)
3. Show the students the soil samples—sandy or clayey soil; dark, wet soil; and rocky soil. Have the students feel and observe the different soil samples and predict which soil they think would be best for growing maple trees by placing a sticky note with their initials on the tub they choose. Clarify that maple trees grow best in sandy or clayey soil that is well-drained and loose. Compare the sandy or clayey soil to the soil in your area. Is it similar or different?
4. Using the information from the Background Agricultural Connections, discuss what kind of climate and temperatures are best for collecting sap for maple syrup. Ask the students if the climate where they live is similar or different from the climate needed for harvesting sap from maple trees. 
5. Ask the students, "Would our climate and soil be good for making maple syrup? Why or why not?"
6. Review what was learned about maple syrup and have students share their connections and suggest any new ideas they want added to the K-W-L chart from the Interest Approach — Engagement.

 Activity 2: Sugar Maples

1. Using the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service maps, identify where sugar maple, black maple, red maple, silver maple, and box elder trees grow in the United States. Determine which maple trees grow in your state.
2. Organize the class into groups of 2-3 students. Provide each group with leaves from sugar maple, black maple, red maple, silver maple, and box elder trees and the Maple Tree Labels. Use either real leaves that you have collected or the Maple Tree Leaves drawings. Ask the groups to match each leaf with the type of maple tree and review their matches as a class.
3. Ask the students which maple tree they think is most often used for harvesting sap to make maple syrup. Clarify that although maple syrup can be made from the sap of any maple tree species, most maple syrup is made from the sap of sugar maples due to its high sugar content.
4. Project the Sugar Maple Cross Section photo onto a large screen. Ask the students if they know how to tell how old a tree is. Show the tree rings on the photo and explain that one way to tell the age of a tree is to count the tree rings. Each ring shows a years worth of growth. A sugar maple needs to be between 10-20 inches in diameter before it is ready to be tapped. Trees of that size are usually about 30-40 years old.
5. Provide each student with a piece of 12"X18" brown construction paper, a ruler, and a pair of scissors. Have each student create a tree cross section (also known as a cookie) with a 10-12 inch diameter by measuring and marking a horizontal line 12 inches long in the middle of the paper. Find the center mark on their line (6 inches) and measure and mark a vertical 12” line through that mark (forming a +). Connect the outside points of each line by drawing a curved line between them to make a ring. Cut this out. This "tree cookie" shows the diameter of a sugar maple tree that is ready to be tapped.
6. Draw 30-40 tree rings on the tree cookie to represent the age of a tree that is ready to be tapped.
7. Review what was learned about sugar maple trees, and have students share their connections and suggest any new ideas they want added to the K-W-L chart from the Interest Approach — Engagement.

Activity 3: Sap to Syrup

1. Organize the class into groups of 4-5 students. Provide each group with a set of Sap to Syrup Timeline Cards. Have the groups work together to put the cards in the order they think is correct for making syrup from the sap of a sugar maple tree.
2. Show the video How to Make Maple Syrup.
3. After viewing the video, allow time for groups to make any necessary adjustments to their timeline. As a class, review the steps and check that the group timeline cards are in the following order:
   • Tap a sugar maple tree
   • Collect the sap in buckets or in tubes 
   • Store the sap in a storage tank in the sugar house
   • Boil the sap to let the water evaporate and create syrup
   • Filter the syrup
   • Bottle the maple syrup
4. Review what was learned about making maple syrup, and have students share their connections and suggest any new ideas they want added to the K-W-L chart from the Interest Approach — Engagement.