Writing About Need To Know Information

Writing, Writing, Writing!  It's important to keep those students writing ...no matter what age.  I like to have some type of writing assignment going at all times.  Most assignments serve to see if the students are using their skills I've  been working on regarding grammar, punctuation, proper punctuation, correct possessive and plural use ...you name it. 

I always stress to them to use beautiful words... $$ words, not nickel words.  Awesome adjectives, colorful verbs, super sentence starters are a must!  I give my students an abundant amount of adjectives to encourage them to include in their writing.  Encouraging them to use their five senses by including words to help the reader see, hear, smell, feel will allow the reader to better engage in the written word.

This week we're including agriculture into our writing in a couple of ways.  After teaching them a couple songs, "Plant A Seed And Watch It Grow", (to the tune "It's A Small World After all") and Popcorn, (based on the Tomie dePaola Popcorn Book)  my students are writing about planting, germinating, growing and knowing where their food comes from.   When complete, they'll receive a coupon for a kids meal.  (Thank you Granite City)

When done writing about the history of "popcorn",  we'll have a "Popcorn Party"!  

(Remember...songs assist literacy in a variety of ways...the left to right aspect, the tune pulls them through more difficult words, they've got spelling words/vocabulary words right there accessible to them, in addition to providing them with facts and details.)

It's fun to include food that students eat in their daily lives.   Often the educational aspect is just waiting to be brought to the surface to enjoy too.

Quinoa What??

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/how-to-make-quinoa-the-powerhouse-seed-2410950/

Wow! What A Cow

http://www.aipl.arsusda.gov/kc/cowfacts.html

This Site Is Filled With Fun!

http://www.myamericanfarm.org/

How 'Bout That Cow

When putting together a mini-book about cows to include literacy, science, math, and social studies aspects, I ran across this site about farm animals.   You can read about all kinds of them and other amazing animals that live on our planet at this site.

http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/farm/farm.html

The Business of Farming

http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/realworld/business_of_farming/index.php

Tractor Multiplication

http://www.multiplication.com/flashgames/TugTeam.htm

Farmer Fred's Multiplication Tables

http://www.multiplication.com/flashgames/Pumpkin.htm

Hunger Free North Dakota Garden

Thank you to everyone who assisted with our Hunger Free North Dakota garden.  We cleaned the garden out this week and were happy to take our last batch of vegetables to deliver to the Madison Elementary School families.  We delivered two 5 gallon buckets, mainly tomitillos.  I was told there was a child in the hallways eating tomillos like they were candy.

(What does the tomatillo taste like?

Flavor is a distinct lemon-herb grassy tang when the vegetable is dark green in color. If allowed to ripen to a dull yellowish green the flavor is sweeter with just a hint of pineapple overtones. You can eat the tomatillo raw like a tomato or even an apple. You may find the flavor to be too tart when raw but when mixed with avocado into a guacamole or with green chile in a favorite salsa recipe, awesome.Tomatillos are low in saturated fat and very low in cholesterol and sodium. They are also a good source of Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Niacin, Potassium and Manganese.)

Again, thank you all for helping to feed those in our community in need, while assisting students to learn how to garden and the enjoyment of seeing the fruits of our labor.

A special thank you also to Gail Bakko, NDSU Extension, Todd Weinmann, and to Northern Plains Botanical Society for the use of their land, and to Maurie for his assistance.

Check Out Our Students in The News

http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/294762/publisher_ID/1/
(same article)


http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/294762/group/Agriculture/

Story Writing...Plant Style

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/games/story_plant/small_sound/standard.shtml

Learn About Dairy and Cows

This is a fun site that I came across when working on my "cheeseburger unit!"  The unit include puppets, and mobiles, songs galore, a Jeopardy game, plays, etc...all focused on teaching students about cheese and cheeseburgers, while gaining knowledge, and improving improving literacy and math. The students love "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bun."  I enjoy sharing these fun learning tools with other teachers to excite students about learning too!

http://www.aipl.arsusda.gov/kc/dairy.html

August Is Awarded Junior Master Gardener Award

August has be a leader in his assistance and attendance in assisting with the Keep North Dakota Hunger Free Garden for our Class.  He and his sisters have attended every session (except for one) for over a four month period.  He would often talk other classmates into jumping on board and helping with the garden too.  He and his sisters were also awarded meals at Texas Roadhouse for their contributions!  He also spoke to teachers this summer at an Ag In the Classroom conference, telling them about our role in our community to assist others in need while learning gardening skills.

Mr. Todd (NDSU Extension Services)
Miss Gail (ND Farm Bureau)
Mr. Maurie (Northern Plains Botanical Society: former NDSU entomologist)

Little Ren Hen Play

Will you help me plant the seeds?

Fall Harvest

Great job picking vegetables.  We had a combination of families that helped today...this years 3rd graders and last years third graders...and very helpful sisters and moms.

  Tomillios, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and lots of carrots... lots of food in our Keep North Dakota Hunger Free Garden.  A large portion of this food went directly to the families from Madison School who are in need.  The rest went to the food pantry (which is right on 10th street, directly west of school by the water tower)  Thanks to all who came and worked so hard!

Cass County Extension Agent Visits

Todd Weinmann of the NDSU Extension Service visited our classroom.  He brought plants to show us, a tomato for each student to taste, and beans for us to plant. (pinto) 
We learned about salt building up in the plants if they don't have holes to drain out.  We learned about leaves on some plants that are poisonous. (tomato) We'll be inviting him back again in the spring when we're ready to plant our garden!

Fall Harvest To Help Others

It's great to be back in school.  These students helped pick vegetables for the Hunger Free North Dakota Garden. These vegetables went  to other students in our community who need a helping hand.  It's nice to help others in need.   We picked zucchini, pattypan squash, carrots, corn, and tons of tomatoes.

Harvesting For The Food Pantry

"Patty pan squash, tomatoes, yard long beans, purple beans, burgandy beans, and green beans" were all harvested on Aug. 8!  Good job, guys!  Linda and her team are always so helpful at the food pantry.  Miss B.'s had two families who were recipients of our vegetables also.

Seed Savers

http://www.seedsavers.org/
Check out this site!  I find their goals very admirable.
Since 1975, Seed Savers Exchange members have passed on approximately one million samples of rare garden seeds to other gardeners. They are a non-profit organization of gardeners dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds.

Applesauce

With apples ready (and others almost ready, depending on your tree) here's a recipe for you to try.  I thought about it as I was writing a  new set of "ag related" nursery rhymes.. I recently picked lots of apples for my mom to take home to Dickinson and make applesauce.  She shared them with friends and relatives who are the masters of making apple pie.

Nursery Rhyme: Hush A Bye Baby

Hush a bye baby, on the tree top

Look at those apples

It’s quite a good crop
They’ll grow each day, like you
They’ll get red and round
The sauce, good and tasty
With apples all around.

Homemade Applesauce
Ingredients
4 apples - peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions:
1.In a saucepan, combine apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until apples are soft. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.

We met some kids down the block when they stopped by to ask for some apples. I can tell they must be raised by good parents if they were willing to ring the door bell and ask.  Nice to meet you Gunnar and Benson.

A Trip To The Food Pantry

A trip to the food pantry was made on both August 4th and 5th.  As you can see in the newpaper above, beans, squash, and cucumbers were donated. (some big ones too).

Try this recipe for Cucumber Soup....  If you have cucumbers that have gotten a little too big (or a lot too big) for salads or slices to eat, this will be perfect for you to use up your cucumbers.
Cucumber Soup
Ingredients
5 cucumbers, peeled and seeded
4 scallions
1 cup fresh cilantro
8 ounces sour cream
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 12-ounce jar store-bought salsa verde
Directions
1.Roughly chop the cucumbers and scallions, then place in the bowl of a food processor.
2.Add the cilantro, sour cream, buttermilk, cayenne, and salt. Purée until smooth.
3.Serve the soup chilled, with a bowl of the salsa verde on the side to spoon on top.

Garden Tips

Gardening Tips...check out this site. This will be helpful for my students.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/firstgarden/index.cfm

Lettuce Picking: July 20

13 families were the lucky ones who will be eating fresh cut lettuce today from the Hunger Free North Dakota Garden.  The students had lots of fun, and got a little muddy. We also discussed different types of vegetables, including tubers and root vegetables.  A tuber is a potato and an example of a root vegetable is a carrot, radish, or beat.   The tomatillos are looking good too!

Check out our garden at the Northern Plains Botanic Garden Society...http://npbgs.tripod.com/        (they have a beautiful site they are developing which includes the A-B-C Garden within the 52 acres)...Check out Mrs. B.'s letter "V" also when you visit the garden.  http://npbgs.tripod.com/otherplaces.htm   Look for our class site here. Our site is to what most know as Yunker Farm, though it's in the NPBG Society area.

Food Land and People: Teachers Tour Garden

Area teachers listen to the students talk about planting their garden, what they planted, and what was the most fun!  The Hunger Free ND Garden is within the 52 acres at the Northern Plains Botanical Society, which is across the bike path from Yunker Farm. (I specify the Children's Museum to give you a landmark that you might be aware of so that you too can come out and enjoy the gardens.)
Don't forget http://www.freerice.com/ . This will help all students to polish up your vocabulary, math, etc... and donate rice to those who are hungry!

How Much of The Earth Is Water

http://www.farmland.org/Flash/appleEarth.html

...and other important facts about the earth and farming!

Good Job Weeding Team

I don't have the video ready to go yet, but I wanted to thank the weeding team, students and parents from Monday night. They did a great job preparing the garden for the people who will be viewing it at the Garden Show on Wednesday! The garden is really looking nice, and growing well.

A special Thank You to August and his family for supplying the Wonderful treats for the evening! Chocolate cookies (I will be posting the recipe), watermelon, and water and Poweraide for all! We did study where chocolate cookies come from in class this last year. Check out the student ag blog to see the students findings. http://www.agkids.blogspot.com/   There are 3 student entries about cookies in the "March" section.   Anyway....This was a special treat and very much appreciated by all the hard workers.

If you're interested in the Tour of Gardens:
You can buy tickets for either one or two days.

Tour includes 8 outstanding area gardens each day.  Wednesday: north Fargo, Thursday, south Fargo
For years now, the local Soroptimists Club has staged an annual garden tour of Fargo's best and brightest gardens.

http://www.areavoices.com/relucgarden/?page=listing&tag=Soroptimist%20Garden%20Tour

The Keep North Dakota Hunger Free "Weeding Team"

Nutrition Fun

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.drpbody.com/images/vegetables.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.drpbody.com/veggies_ex.html&h=585&w=573&sz=48&tbnid=8mwdc-PIffVwIM:&tbnh=227&tbnw=222&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dvegetables&usg=__EM1KA2rgh2a-6lsM8KyKm6_FOXw=&sa=X&ei=GNIoTIqKKMvsnQeQiMyoAQ&ved=0CCoQ9QEwAA

Fact Monster on Vegetables

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0781697.html


Here's a fact:
•Actually a fruit, it took a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1893 to make the tomato a vegetable.

Fruit and Vegetable Worksheets

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:SwbfvDL_hHYJ:www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/downloads/explore_worksheets.pdf+vegables+worksheets&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgA0dgEH1Ldk2I5-G1urNXJoxCouuwmNfxbIOOorMTfF9XMJHmY0OAxhiQAU8BPVMZyngAYKwmbKMltTJFVthl9gNnvZBXT_8QjnBwotqIqsh-JWTp-27EZ_nxdaKw_lhO76Up_&sig=AHIEtbRWYHyNca_SfVXvMgm8NMcLAVTpaQ

Name That Vegetable

http://www.parapal-online.co.uk/picture_dict/vegetables.html

Square of Life Project

Check out this international project...  "Square of Life".

http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/squareproj/index.htm

Including school flower and vegetable gardens would be a great addition when completing this project.  When my students did this, they created their own squares.  They were very creative and very different.  They brought every thing from wood squares, to piping squares, to sticks with strings on the end. 
The students sketch, chart living and non-living items in your square.  Students are given different jobs within their groups as you study your square, and then compare it to other students' work in other parts of the world. 

We also had the opportunity to communicate with other schools.  Some schools found the Ralph Englestad Hockey Arena to be of great interest, home of the Fighting Sioux.  Your letter of introduction will allow you to share information about your school, city, state, tourist industry, high lights, etc...

I like comparing data with the schools with items very different from what we would find.  Deserts areas were very interesting for us to hear about, and finding things like seashells in their square was cool too.


http://education.ed.pacificu.edu/squareoflife/  Here is an example on one in Oregon.

How about some additional projects to check out.http://www.ciese.org/engineeringproj.html

http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/squareproj/asp/schoolslist.asp  Participating schools for Spring 2010.  You can sign up fall and spring.

Watch Us Work at the Garden

Our class will continue to meet this summer to plant and tend our garden for others in need.  We started our planting in May.  We will continue to get together to weed and harvest, have guest speakers to inform us about weeds and insects.  We have a small fence up to keep out the rabbits, and we'll be singing "ag" songs and reading stories about gardening.  We're hoping Bambi finds something else to munch on!

Meet Us At the Garden

Our seeds that we grew in school will be the start of great beginnings. At Yunker Farm, our class garden will be used to assist hungry people in our community.  We will join in with an area school that will assist us from time to time on this project.  These students will also be recipients of our project. We have planted some foods that are commonly eaten within their culture also.

 We are appreciative of the assistance that the Farm Bureau is giving us.  ND Ag in the Classroom has been instrumental in our ability to assist others in need as our students learn about gardening.

Students will be informed  when to"Meet Us At The Garden" and we will plant, dig, weed, and enjoy the day. We're east of the ABC Garden, and north of mini-golf.   Bring your garden gloves, tools, and water.  Those participating will be invited to a lunch at the end of the gardening season.  (5 visits)

Bring a grandma, bring a gardener.   We'll also use our math skills to talk about planting, thinning, yield, etc...  I'll bring my guitar and some gardening books too!  If we have time we'll sing our ag songs or listen to a story.
If you have a preference of times to meet out there, let me know. 

Meet you at the garden!

Global Grocery List

http://landmark-project.com/ggl/

Be Healthy~ Stay Healthy

Healthy Living Day is part of learning about healthy foods that are grown to nourish our body.  We had speakers for the whole class to hear and presenters that got us movin'!   Our "kick-off" was done by Mr. Patrick Kasper, a recent guest of Oprah and Rachel Ray.  Our healthy snacks were all foods grown, celery, apples, and Sunbutter.  We thank Sunbutter for their donation.

Careers In Ag

Students in our class each gave an oral presentation about an agricultural career.  They dressed up and brought along a prop.  While presenting their information, each member of our 3rd grade class documented the information presented on a powerpoint. Each student has an Electronic Student Portfolio in which they hyperlink each presentation they make to their 3rd grade portfolio.   This is our class slideshow of agricultural careers.

Agricultural Careers

View more presentations from CB .

Oprah and Rachel Ray's Guest Assists To Teach Children To Be Healthy

http://www.positivemotion.net/

Patrick Kasper was part of our "Be Healthy~Stay Healthy Day."

Check out his site!

He was named one of Rachael Ray’s “incredible people”, and a guest on Oprah promoting "Positive Motion"!

Our afternoon,  a high energy, fun filled day with exercise, movement,dance, aerobics, bike safety, Tae Kwon Do, running seminars, and healthy snacks.

Bread Makers

"Will you help me make some bread," said the Little Red Hen.

How Does Your Garden Grow

We've begun our seeds for our "Hunger Free North Dakota Project."

Reading Garden Activities

http://www.rif.org/rifreadinggarden/

Plants and Nutrition: Kids World

http://www.agr.state.nc.us/cyber/kidswrld/plant/index.htm

Write A Story With The Story Plant

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/games/story_plant/small_sound/standard.shtml

How Does A Pizza Grow

Our students created projects, learned a song, and discussed all the aspects of where a pizza comes from.  Notice the cards on our pizza boxes. Each card represents one aspect of the pizza....the crust, the sauce, the cheese, the vegetables, the pepperoni, the beef, the anchovies, the olives, etc... We even learned that the glue can come from corn, trees were grown to make the boxes, and soybeans are used to make the ink on the boxes.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/KidsFarm/PizzaGarden/

Soil Biological Communities

www.blm.gov/nstc/soil/Kids/index.html

What is soil? Soil is made from rocks that are broken up into tiny pieces, as well as dead leaves, roots, twigs, dead bugs, and stuff like that. It also has water and air in it. 

Awesome Ag In the Afternoon at NDSU

NDSU Ag, Food Systems, and Natural Resources Field Trip

Our class hopped on the bus upon arriving at school today to begin a day of fun at North Dakota State University.  We began our learning experience in the Food Science program, engaged in product development tests on new food products, and then moved on to Texas Roadhouse. As part of our studies on food and farming, we learn about farm to table aspects, whether it's to our table at home or at a restaurant.  We had a tour of the restaurant, made our own creation of a doughnut, (flour, water, sugar, and yeast)  They treated us to wonderful lunch of food from the farm, beef hot dogs and  potato wedges, grown from the earth. 

Then back to NDSU for a list of great events to learn about.  Thank you to Dr. Jim Venette setting up the many diversified visits to the ND State Insect Reference Collection, The NDSU Meat Lab, the greenhouse where new crop varieties are being developed, and the NDSU Soil Testing Laboratory.  We also appreciated that you provided us with H20 and treats. Math and the sciences were stressed by the scientists for our future scientists.  Your choices today, effect your future tomorrow.                   It was a great day.

Note: I'm currently having trouble producing the video in its entirety.  Over half of it is cut off.  I will keep trying, but our afternoon at NDSU is omitted due to unexplained circumstances.

Students Write and Illustrate Ag Books

We published our own books.  They're beautiful hard cover books. They're keepsakes to treasure, and we learned a lot about writing and about agriculture.  We shared our books with other students to teach them about agriculture.  We spent an afternoon singing to residents at a nursing home and reading our stories to them.  We also brought an object with to jar a memory, so we could hear some stories about the agricultural world that they lived in long ago.      Other educators who are interested in writing and publishing books with your students, check out the company "Studentreasures."   They are great to work.  Tell them Mrs. B. from Holy Spirit School from Fargo referred you and we'll get $50 for the referral. ...and we thank you.

Students Write About Ag On Their Own Educational Blog

http://agkids.blogspot.com/

Food Pyramid Fun

http://www.abcya.com/trip_food_pyramid.htm