Lessons

Students define nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium as soil nutrients, explain that plants use soil nutrients as they grow, discover that fertilizer replaces depleted nutrients, and analyze information on seed packets to determine the needs different plants have for growth.

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

Students choose foods from each of the five food groups to create a meal and calculate the cost of serving the meal to five people and to one person. Students are challenged to plan, prepare, evaluate, and eat a lunch meal that costs less than $1.50 per person.

Students create, read, and interpret graphs relating to the economic importance of the dairy industry and are challenged to understand the economic consequences of a day without dairy.

Students explore heredity concepts by comparing observable traits of apples and onions, collecting data on the traits of different apple varieties, and investigating apple production. Additional activities include hands-on methods for testing apple ripeness.

Students determine that agriculture provides nearly all of the products we rely on in any given day by participating in a relay where they match an everyday item with its "source."

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.

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.