Agriculture

Awareness Kentucky 4-H State Teen Council

2014-2015

Created by:

Mark Mains, Extension Specialist for 4-H Youth Development

Kentucky 4-H State Teen Council Agriculture Awareness Program

Committee

Revised 11/02/2014

Overview

"My grandfather used to say that once in

your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a

policeman and a preacher but every day,

three times a day, you need a farmer." --

Brenda Schoepp

Purpose

The 2014-2015 State 4-H Teen Council voted to make this

year’s civic engagement project topic revolve around

Agriculture Literacy.

How did Children become so unaware of how food is

produced? What makes them think the meat, dairy and

produce they consume on a daily basis comes from the

grocery store? Is there any way we can change this outlook

now that is so widespread?

The mission of this workshop is to help improve “AG-

Literacy” among middle school children and younger. The

goal is to teach children where their food commodities come

from, help them understand that Farmers work hard to feed

the world, and clear up common misconceptions about

agriculture.

Facts About Agriculture

•It takes 12 busy bees to make 1 tablespoon of honey!

•The most common pizza topping in the U.S. is pepperoni, while in Japan it is Squid!

•Alfalfa is the oldest plant used for livestock feed.

•One dairy cow can produce 46,000 glasses of milk a year!

•The Average American eats 4lbs of broccoli a year.

•Like snowflakes, no two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.

•There are 47 different breeds of sheep in the U.S.

•Pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world. >> Farm Facts: Pork

•Elevators in the Statue of Liberty use a soybean-based hydraulic fluid.

•The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds. >> Farm Facts: Eggs

•The average dairy cow produces seven gallons of milk a day, 2,100 pounds of milk a

Month and 46,000 glasses of milk a year.

•Raising beef cattle is the single largest segment of American agriculture. >> Farm Facts:

Beef

•One pound of wool can make 10 miles of yarn. There are 150 yards (450 feet) of wool yarn

in a baseball.

•Soybeans are an important ingredient for the production of crayons. In fact, one acre of

soybeans can produce 82,368 crayons. Farm Facts: Soybeans

•The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed 86 pounds, about the size of an average third-

grader.

•Cows are herbivores, so they only have teeth on the bottom.

•Cows must give birth to a calf in order to produce milk.

** The above Farm Facts were provided by the National Farm-City Council through the

USDA website.

Lesson Plan The following activities and information have been selected with the goal of creating a

greater awareness about agriculture, food production and farming. The goal is to help the

participants understand the role of farming in ensuring adequate groceries, clothes and

raw materials. The following lesson plan is an example of how this program can be

presented. You are encouraged to adapt the lessons, order or activities to best fit your

audience. This workshop has been designed for middle school youth but can easily be

adapted to younger or older audiences. The important thing is to keep your audience

engaged and interacting with each other. These activities are designed using an

experiential learning approach. To learn more about this method of teaching, see the

appendices in at the end.

Activity 1: Animal Noise Activity Resources Needed: tape, small pieces of paper, note cards, or post-its

Activity 2: Make your own Terrarium Resources Needed: Water bottle, seeds, Potting soil, Knife or other cutting

utensil, and Popsicle Stick (optional)

Activity 3: Relay Race Resources Needed: Source Search Pictures, Glue, Poster board, and four

boxes

Activity 4: Butter Activity Resources Needed: Heavy Whipping cream, Salt, Jars or containers with

lids (used to shake), Fast fun music, Marbles (optional),

Toast (optional), and Plastic Knives (optional)

Activity 5: Online Ag Games Resources Needed: Computer with internet access

Activity 6: Grain ID Touch Activity Resources Needed: 4 types of grain, colored balloons, funnel, and s

snack sized zip-lock bags

Activity 7: Pizza Farm Resources Needed: none needed

Additional Icebreaker Activities

M&M Questionnaire

Get one or more, depending on size of group, big bags of M&M's. You open them up

and pass the bag around. Each person pulls out 1 M&M and passes the bad to the next

person. You continue this cycle until you run out. When all M&M's are passed out,

you begin to ask questions in a circle. Each M&M represents a question. (Red could

be "Name one hobby" and blue could be "Name one of your favorite bands".) You

pick which M&M to answer for; when you answer, you can eat the M&M. You must

say your name before you answer a question.

Name Train

One person walks around the group and picks one person. That person then puts their

hands on the leader's shoulders and yells their name in whatever tone they want, and

everyone else has to mimic it. The leader keeps dragging the train around while the

last person to join picks someone else.

Three Words

Tell the group to think of three words to describe themselves. You give everyone 2

minutes to think. Once you've given them time, the introductions will go around the

room and the people will introduce themselves and say the three words they chose. I

would say something like, "I am Jimmy Stark. I'm 17. I'd describe myself as fun,

happy, and outgoing."

Names & Actions

Ask each person in the group to identify themselves and pairing each syllable of their

name with a unique and fun movement. For example, you might say “My name is

Mark” while clapping your hands. Someone with a longer name would have more

movements. The group responds by repeating the name and the motions along with it.

You then repeat each previous person’s name and action. For example, you say “Hi

Mark” (motion) and then “Hi Justin” (motion) for every person who’s already been

introduced.

Name Pulse

Form the group in a circle. Pick a player to start and have them say their name. The

person to the left has to say their name as quickly as possible followed by the next

person and so on. See how fast they can go around the circle.

Hog Call

In this activity, the participants create index cards that contain half of a word pair

(peanut & butter, ice & cream, rock & star, etc). After they print one of the words of

the pair on each card, the facilitator collects the cards and then redistributes them.

The individuals must find their “partner” they should stand next to them and share

some information about themselves with the new person. This activity helps people to

mix up and work together.

Personality Sketches

In this activity, each participant draws a picture of a pig on a piece of paper. Using a

list of “personality assessments”, the facilitator indicates the personality of the person

based on how and where they drew the animal. This is a fun activity that can lead into

a discussion on how people perceive things (and whether or not that is accurate).

Tiny Teach

In this activity, you ask each person to pair off with someone they don’t know. They

are then given 2-3 minutes to teach the other person to do something that they don’t

already know how to do. This might be something physical, intellectual/mental or

artistic. The goal of this activity is to show that everyone has their own uniqueness!

The Human Knot

In this activity, you have everyone stand in a close circle. They should reach out with

their left hand and take the hand of a person across from them. Then should then

reach out with their other hand and take the hand of a different person. When the

facilitator indicates they should start, they will work together to untangle the human

knot that has been created.

All My Neighbors

You will need one chair per person minus a chair (i.e. one person will not have a seat).

Arrange the chairs in a circle and sit down. The person without a chair stands in the

middle. When ready, the person in the middle says something like, “All my

neighbors…(pick something shared by multiple people)”. Everyone whom this

applies gets up and changes to a seat (they can’t move to a seat on either side of them.

The person in the middle also tries to find a seat. The odd person out is the new

“caller”. This is a fun energetic game that gets people up and moving.

Human Taco

In this activity, participants are each given a card that has a component of a taco on it

(taco shell, meat, cheese, lettuce…etc). They individuals should then, without talking

or showing their card, find others to make a complete taco. Once a group has come

together, they can compare their cards to see if they have made a complete taco. The

ingredients should be selected to divide everyone up into even teams and the cards are

distributed randomly.

Airplane Relay

In this activity, the group is told not to talk. They are each given a sheet of paper and

challenged to make a paper airplane that will travel the furthest distance. Each person

on the team has to touch the paper (to contribute to the airplane construction) and only

one person can touch the paper at a time. Allow the teams four minutes to complete.

When they are finished, have the team “pilots” launch the paper planes from a

selected starting point. After determining the winner, give the teams a minute to

adjust their designs. They are allowed to talk on this go around. Re-launch the planes

and see whose plane travels the furthest this time.

Teamwork Minefield

Mark off an area outside or in the room about 10x10 feet (or larger). This can be done

using chairs, cones or sticks. This is the minefield. Within this area, place a series of

“obstacles” (they can be of any sort such as cans, cones, chairs etc). These are the

mines. Leave enough room for people to navigate around the mines. Within the

minefield, put several items that will be the “treasures” collected. Example might be

stuffed animals, balls , etc (anything that is not the same as the “mines”). Asking for a

volunteer, have the group navigate that volunteer through the maze of mines to collect

all the treasures. If the volunteer touches a mine, they group has to start over with a

new volunteer.

Perfect Square

Create a circle using a large rope (about 15’). Have each person use one hand to hold

onto the circle and close their eyes. Challenge the group to come up with a perfect

square in 10 minutes. They are not able to talk and must keep one hand on the rope at

all times. Select person to be the “instructor” who will stand outside the area and give

instructions. When they believe they have created the perfect square, have the group

drop the rope to the ground and then see how they have done!

Stand Up/Sit Down

Have all members of the group form a circle and link arms. Working together, they

must sit as a group and then stand as a group.

Lesson Plan 1

Ice Breakers: Animal Noise Activity

Materials:

- Tape

- Small pieces of paper, notecards, or post-its

Preparation:

Write an animal name on each piece of paper, one for every member of the group. Be sure

to write two of each animal: (ex: two pigs, two cows, two horses, etc.)

Make the group stand in a circle and close their eyes.

Tape a piece of paper to their back

Tell them without speaking to find their partner who is the same animal as they are. The

easiest way is to turn around and allow a friend to make the noise your animal makes then

in turn start making that noise until you find some else making the same noise.

When everyone is paired with someone the game is over.

Lesson Plan 2

Make your own terrarium

Materials

Water bottle

Seeds

Potting soil

Knife or other cutting utensil

Popsicle Stick (optional)

I would advise already have the bottles cut and a hole drilled in the cap before the students

get there.

1. Cut the top off the bottle.

2. Have an adult drill a hole in the cap, and thread a string through it.

3. Fill the top with potting soil around the string.

4. Put water in the bottom half, and invert the top to sit inside of it, with the string in the

water, working as a wick.

5. Cover the soil with wheat berries. At this point, I misted the top of the soil with water,

but we haven't watered it since, except to refill the bottom once.

You can insert a craft/ Popsicle stick to measure growth. This can provide a fun activity for

the kids as the plant grows.

This activity is adapted from Homebody Holly’s blog.

http://www.homebodyholly.com/2010/07/quick-kid-project.html

The take-home lesson from this is that every person is capable of growing their own plant.

It is really quite easy, all you have to do is put a little time and effort into it. Everyone can

get involved in agriculture no matter if they live on a farm or not.

Lesson Plan 3

Relay Race Activity

Estimated Time

▪ 45 Minutes

Purpose

This lesson plan emphasizes the concept that agriculture provides nearly all of the products

we rely on in any given day.

Materials

▪ Source Search Pictures

▪ Glue

▪ Poster board (for mounting product pictures

▪ Four boxes labeled "Store," "Factory," "Farm," and "Natural Resources"

Preparation

Cut out pictures of common items that children use on a regular basis; vegetables, steak,

tee shirts, backpacks, granola bars, cattle, coffee pots, cereal, pet food, French fries,

hamburgers, ice cream, mayonnaise, wooden objects (desks, stairs, etc.), pizza bath tissue,

salad, cookies, leather items (purses, baseball gloves, basketballs, footballs, etc.), shrimp,

coats, blue jeans, watches, cars, you can use https://naitc-

api.usu.edu/media/uploads/2014/06/10/SourceSearch_graphics_1.pdf for more examples.

Bes sure you have an even number of pictures, preferably two of each item, and glue them

to some form of colored paper. (Use only two colors and glue one set of items on one color

and another set onto the other.)

Laminate these pictures if you plan to use them in the future.

Activity:

1. Ask students how they got ready for school, how they got to school, what kinds of

things they did at school, etc. and make a list of items they used, what they ate for lunch

(ex. Cereal, blue jeans, bus, car, pencil paper, desk, milk French fries, etc.)

2. Divide the class into two teams. If you’ve used blue and red paper you will have a

blue and a red team. Place the four boxes (labeled “farm,” “Natural Resource,” “Factory,”

and “store” ) on one end of the room and on the other end place two tables with the

pictures flipped upside down.

3. Tell the students they are in a relay race. One student chooses a picture at random

and places the picture in the box where it came from. When all the students have gone then

calculate the results and talk about their perceptions of product origins.

4. Begin with the “Farm” container. If the item contains ingredients or raw products

from a farm, the item is in the correct box. Examples would be any food items such as

cereal, cookies, and milk, or any clothing item made out of a natural fiber such as cotton

(jeans) or wool (coat). Some items from a farm that are not eaten or worn would be paint

(this contains linseed or soybean oil), or fuel such as ethanol. The “Farm” container will

typically have only a few items in it. Next, look at the “Natural Resources” tub; it will only

have a few items in it as well. Items in this tub should be products we get from the ocean,

from plants or animals that occur naturally without management from humans, or from

mining. Examples of items that should be in this box are: fish or shrimp (wild; however,

fish and shrimp are also farmed), cars, salt, water, plastic (starts as oil, which is mined)

synthetic fabrics (polyester, petroleum or oil products), computers, cell phones, any

metallic items. Wood products may be in this box, but many wood products are from

timber grown on farms. Let the class decide how to divide these. You might decide to “split

the difference;” put one (the fish) into the “Farm” box and the wood into the “Natural

Resources.” The “Store” and “Factory” boxes should be empty since potatoes have to be

sent to the factor to make chips, and etc. It is possible to have the conversation that ag

products like meat and plants need natural resources, water, light, minerals, dirt, and air

to grow so all these item could be placed in the Natural resources container.

Discussion Questions:

What are Needs vs. Wants?

Renewable Vs. nonrenewable resources?

Project Adapted from the National Agriculture in the classroom Campaign by Debra

Speilmaker

http://www.agclassroom.org/teacher/matrix/lessonplan.cfm?lpid=5

Lesson 4

Butter Workshop

Materials:

Heavy Whipping cream

Salt

Jars or containers with lids (used to shake)

Fast fun music

Marbles (optional)

Toast (optional)

Plastic Knives (optional)

Directions:

1. Start with clean jars/containers that have a secure fitting lid.

2. Pour heavy whipping cream into the jar, filling it no more than ½ of the way full. (6

cups will make a pound of butter, but you can ration your heavy whipping cream as

needed).

3. Put a marble in jar if desired.

4. Close the lid tightly.

5. Play the music.

6. Begin to shake your container for about 10-15 minutes. (The less heavy whipping

cream you use; the less time it takes).

7. The cream will begin to solidify and turn into butter.

8. When the butter forms a solid ball, you can stop shaking. Along with the butter

there will also be excess liquid in the container.

9. Drain the excess liquid and remove marble from the butter.

10. Salt the butter. This works best by sprinkling table salt on the butter and then

shaking it in the container and few times to mix it in. The salt is used to preserve the

butter.

11. Store your butter in the refrigerator to harden.

12. If you want you can go a step farther and make toast to go along with your butter!

History of churning butter:

Butter-making - home churns and utensils

Home butter-making took time and energy, but only needed simple equipment. Low-tech

methods were still well-known in rural parts of developed countries like the USA in the

mid-20th century. In the UK it became less common for ordinary families to make their

own butter in the course of the 19th century, but the old ways were still used on small

farms and in the dairies belonging to grand houses.

After the cow(s) were milked, the milk was left to settle in a cool place, in shallow dishes,

also called setting dishes, so the cream would rise to the top. (Unless the butter was to be

made from whole milk: less common than making it from cream.) Brass and earthenware

dishes were used in the UK in the 17th and 18th centuries, with earthenware becoming

gradually more popular, as brass sometimes tainted the flavor.

After half a day or so, the cream was skimmed off and put ready for the churn. Small home

producers would want to collect a few days of milking to have enough cream to be worth

churning, and a little fermentation would "ripen" the flavor. But the cream couldn't be left

waiting too long in summer-time.

Cream-skimmers were used to lift off the cream. These worked well if they were shallow

with a thin, almost sharp, edge. Skimmers from the last couple of centuries were often

saucer-shaped with perforations to catch the cream while letting milk drip back into the

pan, just like those used to remove surface "scum" from stock. Brass cream-skimmers on

long or short handles are decorative antiques now, but some were much simpler. Anything

the right shape would serve the purpose, like this wooden skimmer made to an older

design. Other names for these were fleeter, skimmer, skimming spoon, skimming ladle.

Churning should take place at least twice a week in summer.

Esther Copley, Cottage Comforts, England 1825

Churning

Moving the cream constantly is the churning that actually produces butter by separating

out the yellow fat from the buttermilk. Simply shaking it in a closed jam jar for an hour or

so will work, or you can swing un-separated milk in an animal skin hung on sticks, an

ancient method still used in some parts of the world.

Sources:

- http://www.brighthubeducation.com/elementary-school-activities/4629-making-

butter-in-the-classroom/

http://www.oldandinteresting.com/history-butter-churns.aspx

Lesson Plan 5

A fun way to get your kids involved and excited about learning about the agriculture

industry is by using this website. http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agripedia/Agmania/ has lots of

fun and educational games that enable kids to learn more about many aspects of the

agruculture industry. If there is not sufficient time to get to this, you can encourage the

youth to visit this site later with their parents. It is fun, educational, and easy to use. It is

a website that the University of Kentucky supports. I suggest using the Kids column. The

“Visit a Farm”, “Sounds on the Farm”, and “What is it?” sections are all interactive and

good for this age group. Of course, if your group of students is bored with this you can

always challenge them with a more difficult level. If you have access to a computer lab, you

can also let the students move at their own pace.

Share: Which game or activity did you like best and why?

Process: What were some tasks that you realized farmers do?

Generalize: What other tasks do you know that farmers also do?

Apply: As you worked with the activities, what parts of farming do you think you would

enjoy?

What is the main goal of farmers?

To feed the world

Lesson Plan 6

Materials:

4 different types of grain (beans, rice, popcorn, and oatmeal, flour, cornmeal)

Funnel (can be made out of a coke bottle)

1 package colored balloons

Snack size zip lock bags

Fill four different balloons with one type of grain each. Tie the top of every balloon(do not

blow up balloon). Fill up a four zip lock bags with the same four types of grains used in the

balloons. Have your students pass around the balloons and make a prediction of what food

is inside each balloon. Ask for supporting evidence for their ideas. Show the zip lock bags

and identify if their predictions were accurate.

Share: What senses were used in deciding what was inside each balloon?

Process: Without cutting the balloons open, what would have helped in making the

decision about what was inside the balloon?

Generalize: How do you use your sence of touch when you eat food?

Apply: How does your sense of touch help you in every day life?

What are each of these grains used for?

Activity adapted from Acres of Agriculture National 4-H Curriculum.

Lesson Plan 7

Did you know that pizza grows on a farm? Learn how a pizza “grows” while consider one

of America’s favorite foods.

Teams What Grows on the

Farm

Crust Wheat

Sauce Tomatoes, garlic, herbs

(basil, oregano)

Cheese Dairy: Mozzarella and

parmesan cheese

Toppings Peppers, onions,

mushrooms,

pepperonni, sausage,

etc.

Share: Where do toppings grow?

Process: Where does each ingredient come from and how does it grow?

Generalize: How is the box that pizza comes in an agricultural product?

Apply: How does pizza “grow”?

Adapted from Acres of Adventures National 4-H curriculum.

Post Test

1. I can identify the types of work a farmer does to produce food.

Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree

2. I know that farmers use resources to plant, tend, and harvest my food.

Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree

3. I know Kentucky Farmers feed more more that just Kentuckians.

Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree

4. I can grow a plant.

Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Strongly Agree

Choose the best answer

5. Farmers

a. Make lots of money

b. Feed the world

c. Like to eat pizza

d. Only feed their families

Agriculture Quotes

"My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a

lawyer, a policeman and a preacher but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer." Brenda Schoepp

"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.” Thomas Jefferson

"Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and most noble employment of mankind." George Washington

"The United States produces 20% of the world's beef with just 7% of the

world's cattle." Unknown "One out of every 12 jobs in the economy is connected in some way, shape,

or form, to what happens on the farm." Tom Vilsack

"Advances in medicine and agriculture have saved vastly more lives than have been lost in all the world wars in history." Carl Sagan

"Agriculture for any high minded man, is the best of all occupations or arts by which men procure the means of living. " Xenophobia

"Agriculture is the noblest of all alchemy; for it turns earth, and even manure, into gold, conferring upon its cultivator the additional reward of

health." Paul Chatfield

"Teaching kids how to feed themselves and how to live in a community responsibly is the center of an education." Alice Waters

“If you are going to complain about farmers make sure you don't talk with your mouth full." unknown

"I would rather be on my own farm than be emperor of the world." -

George Washington "Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can

call her own." -Samuel Johnson

“We have to bring children into a new relationship to food that connects them to culture and agriculture." - Unknown

Appendix B – Experiential Learning

Model

Appendix C – Why is Experiential

Learning Important?

Experiential learning is a teaching methodology where focus is placed on the

process of learning and not the product of learning. Experiential learning is

learner and activity centered and creates an environment where learners can

reflect and apply their experience to real world situations.

However participating in an experience is not enough, and in order for an

activity to truly be called experiential, it needs to encompass the following

elements:

EXPLORATION: "Do it"

Perform or do an activity with little to no help from the facilitator/teacher.

Examples might include: making products or models; role-playing; giving a

presentation; problem-solving; playing a game.

SHARING: "What Happened"

Publicly share the results, reactions and observations. Get the participants to

talk about their experience. Share reactions and observations. Discuss feelings

generated by the experience. Let the group (or individual) talk freely and

acknowledge the ideas they generate.

PROCESSING: "What's Important?"

Discussing, analyzing, reflecting, and looking at the experience. Discuss how

the experience was carried out. Discuss how themes, problems, and issues are

brought out by the experience. Discuss how specific problems or issues were

addressed. Discuss personal experiences of members. Encourage the group to

look for recurring themes.

GENERALIZING: "So What?"

Connect the experience with real world examples. Find general trends or

common truths in the experience. Identify "real life" principles that surfaced.

List key terms that capture the learning.

APPLICATION: "Now What?"

Apply what was learned to a similar or different situation, learn from past

experiences, practice. Discuss how new learning can be applied to other

situations. Discuss how issues raised can be useful in the future. Discuss how

more effective behaviors can develop from the new information learned. Help

each individual feel a sense of ownership for what was learned.

Experiential learning is a wonderful teaching method for engaging learners

and getting them to think creatively. It requires letting go of "perfect" end

products and embracing the experience of learning. It changes the role of the

teacher to being a facilitator as opposed to the holder of information.

The above information is from the “University of California Science, Technology and

Environmental Literacy (STEL) Workgroup's Experiential Learning Project Group” and can

be found at http://www.experientiallearning.ucdavis.edu/faq.shtml.