February, 2009
Food Checkout Week is February 15-21.
This year it will take the average American five weeks to earn enough disposable income to pay for all the food he or she will eat in 2009.Americans work much longer to earn enough disposable income to pay for health and medical care (50 days), housing and household operation (60 days) and federal taxes (74 days) for the entire year.
Americans enjoy a food supply that is among the safest, most abundant
and most
affordable in the world.
American farmers are committed to providing consumers with the highest quality, healthiest food possible. Farmers continue to look for every opportunity to improve quality and safety.
- The Japanese pay 15 percent.
- People in France pay 14 percent.
- People in China pay 35 percent.
- People living in the Phillipines pay 37 percent.
- Indonesians pay 46 percent.
ACTIVITY: Use the figures above to practice percentages and other math facts. Provide 100 pennies to represent per capta income. Discuss the meaning of per capita (the average income per person).
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Students round off percentages to the nearest whole number.
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Students take out the correct number of pennies from the 100 for each country listed above. How much is left?
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Students create bar graphs to illustrate the numbers.
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Students locate the countries listed above on a world map.
- Students brainstorm and list factors that might affect the percentage of income spent on food in these countries (average per capita income, agriculture, climate, politics, government policy, trade, etc.)
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Divide the class into research groups to learn what they can about the factors they have listed for each country.
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Groups report their findings to the class.
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Brainstorm factors that allow people in the US to spend less on food than other people in the world.
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Divide into groups to research the factors listed.
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Groups report findings to the class.
Try these lessons to celebrate Food Checkout Week.
Students learn where their food dollars go while getting practice recognizing coins and making change. (2nd-3rd grade language arts and math)
Farmer's Share of Retail Food Dollar (National Farmer's Union)
Students read about the invention of the shopping cart and identify major elements of the story’s structure. (3rd-6th grade math, language arts and social studies)
Student estimate the weight and cost of produce and calculate the actual price. (1st-5th grade math)
Agriculture: It Doesn't Just Happen
Students use research skills to find information about agriculture research projects and use gathered information in a variety of presentations. (6th-8th grade language arts and social studies)
How Far Does It Travel? Exploring the Geography of Food
Students compare the distances food travels from farm to table. (6th-8th grade social studies, language arts, and math)
Where Has All the Farm Land Gone?
Students look at issues related to land use worldwide (6th-8th grade social studies and language arts)
Black History Month
Bill Pickett, Bulldoggin' Cowboy
Students are introduced to Pill Pickett, An Oklahoma rodeo personality, who pioneered the rodeo act of bulldogging. (4th-5th grade language arts, social studies and visual arts)
Students read about George Washington Carver and outline the information. (3rd-5th grade science and language arts)
Cotton Pickin': Before and After the Civil War
Students examine the importance of cotton to the economy of the South before and after the Civil War. (6th-8th grade social studies and language arts)
National Potato Lover's Month/ National Sweet Potato Month
Potatoes and sweet potatoes both originated in the New World, though they are not related. The leaves of sweet potatoes can be eaten by animals. The leaves of potatoes are poisonous. The earliest use of the word "potato" in English actually referred to sweet potatoes. That changed in the middle of the 18th Century. Sweet potatoes are often confused with yams, but they are not the same.
ACTIVITY: Bring potatoes and sweet potatoes.
- Younger students separate the sweet potatoes from the potatoes then arrange them according to size and count them.
- How are the two vegetables similar and different? Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast.
- Older students estimate which weighs more, the sweet potatoes or potatoes, then weigh them, using standard and nonstandard measuring tools.
- Use the potatoes to construct addition and subtraction facts and to write addition and subtracton number sentences..
- Use potatoes to measure perimeter and area of students' desks or a work table.
- Go to the library to research the Irish potato famine.
The Potato Eaters, by Vincent Van Gogh
A Priceless Collection
The dramatic story of Russian plant breeder Nikolai I. Vavilov, who
faced starvation during World War II to protect and preserve a valuable
collection of seed potatoes. (5th-8th grade science, social studies,
language arts and math)
Powerful Potato
Students observe the growth process of a potato. (3rd-6th grade language
arts, math, social studies, science and visual arts)
To-may-to, To-mah-to; Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to
All about the Nightshades. (1st-6th grade language arts, math, science,
visual arts, music)
February 16 is President's Day
February 12 is Abraham Lincoln's Birthday.
In 1862 Abraham Lincoln signed into law an act of Congress establishing the US Department of Agriculture
ACTIVITY: Students research online to find more about the establishment of the US Department of Agriculture in 1862.
February 22 is George Washington's Birthday.
George Washington is known as the father of our country, but, like Thomas Jefferson, his great love was agriculture. He was happiest when conducting agricultural experiments on his farm at Mt. Vernon.
ACTIVITY: Students research online to find some of the contributions George Washington made to agriculture through his experiments.
Dear George: Using Census Data to Report on Agriculture
Students use Census of Agriculture information to compose a letter about agriculture in the US and translate correspondence about agriculture from George Washington into modern language. (6th-8th grade language arts and social studies)
George Washington and the First Census of Agriculture
Students will read excerpts from a letter George Washington wrote about agriculture in the US in 1771 and compare his evaluation with agricultural data over time. (8th grade language arts and social studies)
George Washington's Favorite Song: The Darby Ram
George Washington Oklahoma Teaching Ambassador Program
Ag in Art
Chinese Plate with Cherries and Bean Pods, Giovanna Garzoni (1620)
Giovanna Garzoni was one of the first women artists to practice the art of still life painting. Her paintings were so well liked that, according to one writer, she could sell her work "for whatever price she wished." One of Garzoni's earliest works, a 1625 calligraphy book, includes capital letters illuminated with fruits, flowers, birds, and insects. These subjects were to become her specialty, and tempera on vellum was her preferred medium. Garzoni's refined interpretation of plants and animals suited the taste of her aristocratic patrons, like the Medici family, and could be found decorating their villas.
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What shapes do you find in this painting?
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Describe the texture.
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Describe the light and shadow.
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Discuss the depth perception.
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What is the purpose of the beans?
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How is the color of the cherries in this painting similar or different from the cherries you are accustomed to seeing?
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How is the painting realistic or not realistic?
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Make a list of adjectives to describe this painting.
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Write a description of this painting.
PASS for February Activities
Food Checkout Day
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 2.4; 5.1
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 3.1a; 5.1
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1c. Social Studies: 1.1; 4.1,3,4; 5.1,2,3
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1b. Social Studies: 1.1; 2.2; 4.2,4; 5.4
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1,3; 4.4; 5.1,2. Math Content: 2.1d; 5.1ab. Social Studies: 1.1; 7.1,2,5
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 1.3,6; 4.1; 5.1,3,4. Math Content: 5.1. Social Studies: 1.1,2,3; 3.1,2; 4.1,2
- Grade 7 - Social Studies: 1.1; 2.2,4; 3.2,3; 4.2.3,5; 5.1,2
Brushing Teeth
- Pre-K - Math: 5.2,3. Health: 3.3.
- Kindergarten - Math: 5.1,2. Health: 1.3
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1; 2; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1,2
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1; 2; 5.1,2. Math Content: 5.1,2.
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1abc.
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1b.
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1a.
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 4.1; 5.1. Math Concept: 5.1
President's Day
- Grade 3 - Social Studies: 1.1; 3.3
- Grade 4 - Social Studies: 1.1; 4.2
- Grade 5 - Social Studies: 1.1; 4.4
- Grade 8 - Social Studies: 4.6; 6.1
Play With Your Food: Cherries
- Pre-K - Math: 5.2,3; Science Process: 1.1; Physical Science: 2.1; Life Science: 3.1
- Kindergarten - Math: 1.1; 5.1,2. Science: 1.1; Physical Science: 1.1
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.2. Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Physical Science: 1.1,2
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1. Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3.
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1ac. Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1b
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.2; 5.1,2. Math Concept: 5.1a
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 1.6; 4.1; 5.1,4. Math Concept: 5.1
Potatoes
- Pre-K - Math: 1.1; 4.2,3
- Kindergarten - Math: 1.1; 4.2,3; Science Process: 1.1. Science: 1.1,2;
- Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 2.2a; 3.1a,2; 5.2. Science Process: 1.1,2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1,2
- Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 3.1a,3; 4.2ab; 5.1ac. Science Process: 1.2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1
- Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 4.21bc,3; 5.1b. Science Process: 1.1,2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1
- Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 4.4b; 5.1b. Science Process: 1.1,2. 2.1,2
- Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.1; 2.1; 3.3; 4.4; 5.1. Math Concept: 4.2,4; 5.1d. Science Process: 1.2; 2.1,2. Physical Science: 1.1,2
- Grade 6 - Math Process: 1.1,3; 2.1; 4.1; 5.1. Math Content: 4.3; 5.1. Social Studies: 1.3; 3.2
- Grade 8 - Social Studies: 9.5
Play With Your Food: Sweet Potatoes
- Pre-K - Science Process: 1.3. Life Science: 3.1,2
- Kindergarten - Science Process: 1.2. Life Science: 2.1,2
- Grade 1 - Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Life Science: 2.1
- Grade 2 - Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Life Science: 2.1
- Grade 3 - Science Process: 3.1,2; 4.3. Life Science: 2.1,2
- Grade 4 - Science Process: 3.1,3; 4.4. Life Science: 3.1
Writing Prompts
- Grade 1 - Writing: 2.1,4,5
- Grade 2 - Writing: 2.2abc,3,5
- Grade 3 - Writing: 2.1,2,3,4,5
- Grade 4 - Writing: 2.2,3
- Grade 5 - Writing: 2.1,2,4,8
- Grade 6 - Writing: 2.1abd,5ab,7,8
- Grade 7 -Writing: 2.3abc,5,8,9
- Grade 8 - Writing: 2.3abc,5a,6,8,9
Ag in Art
- Grade 1 - Writing: 2.5; 3.1e. Visual Art: 1.1,2; 2.1,3
- Grade 2 - Writing: 2.2c; 3.1g. Visual Art: 1.1,2; 2.1,3
- Grade 3 - Writing: 2.3ab; 3.1i. Visual Art: 1.1,2,3; 2.1,3
- Grade 4 - Writing: 2.1; 3.1h. Visual Art: 1.1,2,3; 2.1,3
Eggs
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Pre-Kindergarten - Creative Skills: 1.2,4. Small Motor: 2.1,2. Science Process: 1.3. Life Science: 3.1,2
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Kindergarten - Creative Skills: 1.3. Small Motor: 1.1. Science Process: 1.2. Life Science: 2.1,2
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Grade 1 - Visual Art: 3.2. Science Process: 3.1. Life Science: 1.1
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Grade 2 - Visual Art: 3.2. Science Process: 3.1. Life Science: 2.1
For such a short month, February is full of celebrations:
National Ag Day Essay Contest - Deadline February 9
February 24 is International Pancake Day.
Pancakes,
Please
(onlineAITC lesson including pancake history and activities)
Pancake Race
The small town of Olney, England has been holding a Pancake Race every year since 1445. The tradition began when a housewife was cooking the family's traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes as the church bell summoning the townspeople to the shroving service began to ring. Anxious to get there on time, the woman immediately ran out the door, with her skillet still in her hand. This mistake immediately turned into a beloved tradition. Entrants in the Pancake Race must wait at the starting line, skillet in hand, until the "pancake bell" sounds. Then they must toss their pancake in the air, catch it in their skillet, and run the 400 yards to the church. Once they reach the finish line, they must once more toss their pancake in the air. When the race is finished, everyone attends the shriving service in the church, then the whole town joins together for an enormous pancake party!
Ag in Poetry: Pancake Poems
National Meat Month
Oklahoma's top three agricultural commodities are meat animals. Number one is cattle and calves; number two is poultry and eggs; and number three is hogs and pigs. In 2007, we ranked fifth nationally in the production of cattle and calves, eighth in the production of hogs and pigs and 10th in the production of chicken broilers. Celebrate National Meat Month with these lessons.
Students explore the components of a hamburger and build models of their own to create a balanced, nutritious meals. (1st-4th grade language arts and math)
Students identify and decipher some common
phrases in the English language that are related to poultry. (4th-6th
grade language arts, science, social studies and visual arts)
Students will work in teams to play a game in which they answer true/false questions about swine and then research and develop questions of their own. (2nd - 5th grade language arts)
Students compare and contrast different energy values of animal feeds by graphing the net energy for maintenance and percentage of fat for a variety of feed types. (6th-8th grade science and math)
Red Dirt Groundbreakers: Roy J. Turner and Hazford Rupert the 81st
Roy Turner was governor of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1951, but he may have been more famous for his prize bull, Hazford Rupert the 81st.
Hazford Rupert 81st was the 1936 international champion, and the nation’s first “million-dollar bull.” Featured in various articles in Time and Life magazines, the bull in its lifetime produced hundreds of descendents valued at well over $1 million.
Turner was born near Kendrick in 1894. He built his ranch near Sulphur with royalties from his oil-rich land. The area where Turner’s ranch was located was called “Hereford Heaven” because some of the most important sires and dams in the national Hereford registry came from ranches located there. In 1963 Turner sold his ranch to Winthrop Rockefeller.
Governor Turner built highways (including Turner Turnpike) and farm-to-market roads, consolidated some small school districts, and secured passage of a common school bill that provided free text books. President Harry Truman asked Turner to become secretary of agriculture in 1949, but Turner declined the offer. While governor of Oklahoma and after leaving office, Turner sponsored livestock exhibitions and judging contests for 4-H Clubs and Future Farmers of America.
Turner ’s hobby was writing and singing country and western songs. One of his songs was named for Hereford Heaven.
National Canned Foods Month
Eating healthy is a matter of choice for most of us today, but it wasn't so simple for early American colonists. We know that a healthy diet includes eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and that we can usually get some variety of these at the grocery store. But early Americans could only get fresh fruits and vegetables during the growing season. For the rest of the year they had to rely on food preservation techniques.
Explore food preservation techniques with Food for Keeps (6th-8th grade science, language arts, math, social studies)
National Snack Food Month.
Look for healthy snack ideas in "Food and Fun," and try this lessons:
Students experience the concepts of ratio and probability, using agricultural products that can be considered snack foods. Students analyze and record information from the class experience. (1st-6th grade math and health)
The Great Backyard Bird Count: February 13-16.
Count the birds at your classroom feeder and record the results on this site.
Forcing Flowering Branches
Get a head start on spring by forcing branches from a spring flowering bush or tree (flowering quince, forsythia, etc.)
- Cut branches from the bush or tree.
- Smash the end of the branch with a hammer.
- Place in water indoors.
- Watch for blooms to form.
- Students predict what will happen and record observations daily.
- Discuss factors that cause the branches to bloom early.
February is National Dental Health Month.
Try these natural tooth cleaners: carrots, apples, pickles, plums, melons, celery, tomatoes. Parsley is a great breath freshener
ACTIVITY: Experiment to find which of the above does the best job making teeth feel clean. Students will vote and graph results. Compare with toothbrush and toothpaste.
Oklahoma Vegetables of the Month: Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family and native to the American tropics. They are a winter crop, so they provide fresh vegetables when many other vegetables are unavailable. A sweet potato is a root tuber, a fleshy root that stores food for a plant.
Play With Your Food: Grow a Sweet Potato Plant
ACTIVITY: Stick toothpicks in a small sweet potato on three sides, and place it in a jar filled water, with the narrow end down and the toothpicks resting on the edges of the jar. After a week or two you will see roots sprouting. A few days later you will see leafy purple sprouts. Soon you will have a beautiful vining plant.
Be a Food Explorer: Sweet Potato Chips
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Peel sweet potatoes, and slice thin. Cover a baking pan with foil, sprayed lightly with vegetable spray. Lay sweet potato chips on the foil, rubbing each one slightly in the veggie spray. Then lightly spray the tops with veggie spray, sprinkly with salt. Bake for 20 minutes, turn, sprinkle the other side, and bake for another 10 minutes.
Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Cherries
The US leads the world in sweet cherry production, producing about 370 million pounds every year. Sweet cherries are grown commercially in Washington, Oregon, California. and Michigan. Oklahoma is too hot and dry for commercial cherry production, but sour cherries are grown successfully in some home gardens. On large cherry orchards, large machines actually shake the tree to harvest the cherries.
Play With Your Food
ACTIVITY: Students compare sweet and sour cherries and canned, frozen and dried cherries. How are they different? How are they the same? Which do students prefer? Graph the results.
Be a Food Explorer
Try dried or frozen cherries or cherry yogurt on pancakes for Pancake Week
Writing Prompts
- Write the story of a disastrous pancake breakfast.
- Write an acrostic poem using the word "pancake."
- Describe your favorite meat dish.
- Compare and contrast two different kinds of meat.
- Write detailed instructions for making your favorite snack.
- Should Americans pay more or less for their food? Defend your position.
- Is life really like a bowl of cherries? Is so, explain how? If not, what is a better food metaphor?
- Write a story, beginning with this sentence: "George Washington did not chop down the cherry tree."
- Write a letter to President Obama explaining why agriculture is important.
February Books
Carle, Eric, Pancakes, Pancakes, Aladdin, 1998. (Grades PreK-2)
The barnyard rooster crows and Jack wakes up -- hungry, of course! What does he want for breakfast? A big pancake! But first, Jack's mother needs flour from the mill, an egg from the black hen, milk from the spotted cow, butter churned from fresh cream, and firewood for the stove. Will Jack ever get his pancake?
dePaola, Pancakes for Breakfast, Voyager, 1990. (Grades PreK-1)
With visions of pancakes dancing in her head, a little old lady goes to great lengths to procure the necessary ingredients.
Durham, David Anthony, Gabriel's Story, Doubleday, 2001 (Young Adult).
Set in the 1870s, the novel tells the tale of Gabriel Lynch, an African American youth who settles with his family in the plains of Kansas. Dissatisfied with the drudgery of homesteading and growing increasingly disconnected from his family, Gabriel forsakes the farm for a life of higher adventure. Thus begins a forbidding trek into a terrain of austere beauty, a journey begun in hope, but soon laced with danger and propelled by a cast of brutal characters.
Peterson, Cris, Century Farm: One Hundred Years on a Family Farm, Boyd's Mills, 1999. (PreK-2)
A look at a Wisconsin dairy farm owned by the same family for four generations. The current owner tells the story and weaves family history into the descriptions of early day operations. While the author details the many changes that have taken place in the past century, readers are also reminded that many things remain the same. Vintage sepia photos of the farm and Peterson's grandparents as well as good-quality, full-color contemporary photos enhance the text. Interesting captions add even more information.
Pinkney, Andrea D., and Brian Pinkney, Bill Pickett, Rodeo-Ridin' Cowboy, Gulliver, 1996. (Grades K-3)
This storybook biography traces Pickett's early life and eventual rise to the upper ranks of professional rodeo fame and provides historical information about black cowboys.
Woodson, Jacqueline, and Hudson Talbott, Show Way, Putnam, 2005. (Grades K-5)
A Show Way is a quilt with secret meanings, and the image works as both history and metaphor in this picture book. Based on Woodson's own history, the story is of African American women across generations, from slavery and the civil rights movement to the present. Growing up on a plantation in South Carolina, Soonie learns from Big Mama about children "growing up and getting themselves free," and also how to sew quilts with signs that show the way to freedom. (A 2006 Newberry honor book)