Mr. Bonn Visits Our 3rd Grade Classroom

Check out all the crops he brought for us to see. Thank you, Mr. Bonn!

7 Continents

Students will be creating a power point slide show of the "7 Continents."  The first continent will be South America. One paragraph is required for a satisfactory grade, and two paragraphs minimum are required for an S+ grade.  Include the location, (hemisphere) of the continent, bodies of water around or within the continent, number of countries, languages and cultures, mountains, rivers, or other prevalent aspects such as rain forests, canyons,  deserts, etc...

The second paragraph should include crops raised and transported to other countries. 
Have any of these crops been a part of our "mystery fruit and vegetable" examples?  Think about its length and width, its weight...ounces or pounds, the circumference.  Pay attention to their price in the grocery store. How much would it cost if  if you got half a pound? How about two or three pounds?  Always make "math happenings" a part of your life and learning.

 Students should hyperlink at least one site to their slide that would allow them to read and gain future knowledge about the country they choose.  Students may add another slide if we have a class song regarding that continent, to type the song onto that slide.  Students may either record themselves singing the song on this slide, or we will sing as a class.  This will be an electronic library of the world we live in and study.  Students can expand on these slides, and document as much as they'd like about the countries they learn.  Many students need this opportunity to expand their knowledge, challenge their abilities, and reach for the stars.
All about South America:

http://www.shelburnefilms.com/T_video1.htm
Organic Farming:
http://www.kww-southamerica.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=142
Banana Farming
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/profiles/documents/FavoritaProfilewithhorizon.pdf

Sunflowers and Sunshine

Sunflowers are not only beautiful to look at, but they have so many uses. We can use sunflowers to create many wonderful things.  We also can use sunflowers to make our day a little brighter.  What a gift from God the  sunflower is!
http://namisunflowers.org/index.html   Seeds Of Hope~ contests, fun, and information
http://www.burpee.com/product/id/103380.do?KickerID=100175&KICKER  10 varieties in 1 pack
http://www.sunflower-guide.netfirms.com/fact.htm   Fun facts!

Want To Learn More About Ag In The Education World?

You are going to want to check out these sites. They're awesome!
http://www.ndfb.org/promotion/ 
North Dakota Farm Bureau
http://www.agclassroom.org/
Ag In The Classroom
http://www.ageducate.org/
Educating About Agriculture
http://www.foodlandpeople.org/
Food, Land, and People

Art and Ag

Fun Art Projects For Your Ag Classroom

1. Sunflower Hands With Real Sunflowers: 10 yellow hands on a paper plate foundation. Circle inside is filled with real sunflower seeds. Our arms and hands connected together to make the stem is our final personal touch.
2. Jack-o-lantern Candle Holders for our pumpkin unit. We're making pumpkin votive candle holders: with orange tissue paper in tiny pieces, attached with a 3-1 ratio of water and glue to the glass baby food jars, and black eyes and crazy smile with fun foam or black tissue paper. Add a candle for a special Halloween gift.

3. Pumpkin Pop Bottles: with 2 liter clear bottles, pour in orange paint with water....cap on and shake, rattle, and roll to get the paint every where inside the bottle. Add fun foam eyes and smile. A green ribbon for the stem tied around the cap would be a great bottle top!

Biographies

George Washington Carver begins our biography slide show that students will create and then hyperlink to their "electronic student portfolio."

At: http://www.mrnussbaum.com/gwcarver.htm you will find many facts about his life and contributions to the world of botany.

The following link is another site for teachers, parents, and students to learn more about this great person in history.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=George+Washington+Carver&FORM=BIFD#focal=981c1fc1559213cae3cee31c9868248d&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.teachnet-lab.org%2Fmiami%2F2005%2Flinero3%2Fpictures%2Fgeorge_washington_carver.gif

The following facts are from this site:

Carver developed an interest in helping poor African-American farmers. Farmers in the south worked on poor soil, depleted of nitrogen by the annual cotton crops. Carver and his colleagues taught the farmers how to retain nutrients in the soil by using a crop rotation, a system in which the cotton crop was alternated with other crops such as soybeans, sweet potatoes, and peanuts. Carver's crop rotation improved cotton yields and gave farmers additional crops from which they could earn money. In addition, Carver conducted numerous experiments on peanuts, soybeans, cowbeans and pecans, finding hundreds of practical uses for them including dyes, cosmetics, paints, plastics, and even gasoline.

Requirements:
When students create each weekly slide show presentation, they are to find 5 interesting facts about the person and place them on a slide either as bullets or in paragraph form. A photo of the person that they are learning about is also required.


“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”
George Washington Carver

We have 2 songs that help us with our biographies. One is a wrap that we insert the person's name and details. "Good ol' George! Good ol' George! Good ol' George we salute you!" starts off the first song.
The second song teaches students how to look for a biography in the library. (It helps to have been a librarian for many years.)

CROP-tacular!

Students will be creating a 'Crop Page' that they'll hyperlink to their individual "electronic student portfolio." This will be an extension to their "Student Power Point Portfolio.

On this page they will:

1. Name the crop (title)
2. List 5 facts about the crop (List as bullets, numbered, or in a paragraph)
   

Possible items to include within these facts:

• foods or items that this crop is used for
• where this crop is grown (you might also include a map)
  
• whether this crop is grown in our area
• a picture off the web (label: Soybeans)
  
• facts about the crop
• stories that may help you understand about the crop better (Little Red Hen)

Extended Possibilities For Extra Credit:

• Include a photo with you and the "crop" that you have chosen
• Bring this "crop" to school to show the class

Here's A List of Field Crops If you need some suggestions: (many I have never heard of...does anyone know of any ag experts from the area that would like to speak to our class)

Fiber, Fuel, Edible and Industrial Oils...

• Borage
• Broomcorn
• Canola
• Castor beans
• Comfrey
• Corn (for oil)
• Crambe
• Cuphea
• Flax
• Guayule
• Jojoba
• Kenaf
• Lesquerella
• Lupine
• Meadowfoam
• Milkweed
• Perilla
• Safflower
• Sesame
• Sunflowers
• Vernonia

Food Grains, Pseudocereals, Legumes, etc....

• Adzuki beans
• Amaranth (food and feed)
• Barley
• Buckwheat
• Dry edible beans (fieldbeans)
• Einkorn
• Emmer
• Field peas (food and feed)
• Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
• Hops
• Indian corn
• Jerusalem artichokes (food and feed)
• Kamut
• Lentils
• Malting barley
• Mung beans
• Organically grown grains of all types
• Peanuts
• Pearl millet
• Popcorn, white and colored
• Psyllium (medicinal)
• Quinoa
• Seed production - registered and certified seed, turfgrass, etc.
• Sesame (seeds)
• Sorghum (syrup)
• Soybeans, incl. natto soybeans for tofu, tempeh; and Edible soybeans (edamame)
• Spelt
• Triticale
• Wheatgrass
• Wild rice

Mystery Fruit or Vegetable

"Mystery and Vegetable Time" is a great way to focus on a variety of state standards in a variety of areas. Students who give the presentation need to find a fruit or vegetable and prepare a list of hints, and use their speaking skills to play their guessing game with their classmates.

Students begin by putting their fruit or vegetable in an opaque container. It is labeled Mystery Fruit or Mystery Vegetables on all four sides. The student may start off by asking for guesses before they give the first hint, (which is whether it's a fruit of vegetable.) They then face the label toward the class so they know the first clue. Only two students guess each time between clues.

Students are encouraged to use their math skills to share additional clues. They are to measure their produce, length, width, and height.. They can give clues as to comparing it to something else. (it's the size of a grape) They can weigh it and become familiar with terminology like pounds, ounces, grams, etc... If it's round they can measure the circumference of it.

They can give the color, information regarding the smell, what dishes it may be used in, and how it grows. When Yuki brought "kale," she shared that it was not a root vegetable. It is a leaf vegetable. I also added that Olive Garden has a wonderful soup that has kale in it called zoupa toskana. Students who guess the Mystery Fruit of Vegetable get to bring the mystery item the next day.

Look at all the way we described characteristics and used our predicting skills. They will learn to use descriptive words also.

This is the song we sing to add to our lesson:

It's a m-y-s-t-e-r-y
It's a mystery
I don't know what the veggie is (fruit)
I guess I'll have to see!
It's a m-y-s-t-e-r-y
It's a mystery
With the size, and weight, and shape

I'll guess what it could be!

You can also have students dress up and give them a musical entrance as they present their mystery item.

Isabel brought another vegetable we could not guess. It was "ginger root." The spice ginger, comes from the plant's rhizome, which is an underground stem.
Check out this link on all the wonderful ways you might assist your health by using this vegetable in your diet.http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/ginger-000246.htm

We're reading about Gail Gibbon's books of vegetables and pumpkins .http://www.gailgibbons.com/index.htm Ask your child if vegetables are usually annuals or perennials. http://www.gailgibbons.com/the_vegetables_we_eat.html