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Oklahoma Agriculture in the Classroom

lessons

Lessons for Grades 6-8

3-D Dairy: Graphing Dairy Production Statistics
Grades 6-8: Math
Students will graph Oklahoma dairy statistics
Agriculture—It Doesn't Just Happen: The Work of the Ag Research Service
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts
Students use research skills to find information about agriculture research projects and use gathered information in a variety of presentations.
Agriculture in Poetry
Grades 6-12, English Language Arts
Students will read and discuss a variety of poems with agricultural themes and write their own poems based on food and agriculture.
Are You Thirsty? The Effects of Pollution on Drinking Water
Grades 6-8: Science, Math, Social Studies
Various activities for helping students visualize the effects of pollution on drinking water.
At the Sale Barn
Grades 6-8: Math
Through classroom experiences, students will read about cattle auctions and solve math word problems related to buying cattle.
At Your Fingertips
Grades 6-7: Social Studies
On a world map, students will locate countries from which we import foods that climatic conditions prevent us from growing locally.
Beef is Good for You
Grades 6-7: Math, Health, English Language Arts
Students calculate the content of nutrients in beef from percentages andchart nutritional information about beef.
Biomass: The Energy of the Future
Grades 6-7: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Students will use research skills to gather information on renewable fuels. Students will compile information on a graph and compare and contrast the pros and cons for developing the fuels for use.
Black Mesa: Where the Rocky Mountains Meet the Short Grass Prairie
Grades 3-8: Science, Social Studies
Students read about the history, topography and environment of Black Mesa, develop experiments to demonstrate erosion and formation of a mesa, find land features on maps and research related topics.
Bovine Oversteps Boundaries: Newspaper Headlines, Captions and Stories
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts
Students will read a true story about Grady, the Silo Cow, from Yukon, Oklahoma. They will create newspaper headlines, captions, and stories.
Bubbles in the Cabbage Juice
Grades 6-8: Science
Students will conduct experiments with cabbage juice as an indicator to identify carbon in a variety of substances.
Buried Treasure: Oklahoma's Aquifers
Grades 3-6: Social Studies, Science, Math
Students will read about the hydrologic cycle, groundwater and aquifers, locate aquifers in Oklahoma and build models to show the permeability of different earth materials.
Busting the Prairie: Planning a Homestead Community
Grades 8-12: Social Studies, English Language Arts
Students learn about the Homestead Act of 1862 and the importance of agriculture in the settling of the West by planning and designing homestead communities and designing handbills inviting others to join them.
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Case of the Missing Pumpkin
Grades 3, 5-6: Science
Student observe decomposition of a pumpkin.
The Chemistry of Butter
Grades 5-7: Science, English Language Arts
Students will read about butter and conduct experiments to observe chemical reactions and changes in properties in milk.
Circles in the Landscape: Irrigating Oklahoma Crops
Grades 6-12: Math, Science, Social Studies
Students examine transpiration, evapotranspiration and water balance, learn the reasons for irrigation, analyze Oklahoma weather information and use geometry and other math skills to design an irrigation system.
Coats and Genes: Genetic Traits in Cattle
Grades 6-8: Science
The student will read about heredity and explore genetic traits in cattle.
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  • Colorful Cattle
  • Beef Lessons and Resources
Corn Field Math and Science
Grades 6-8: Math, Science, Social Studies, English Language Arts, Plant Science, Food Science and Technology
Students will learn about corn's place in the history of the Americas. Students will solve real life math problems using corn production. Students will classify Newtonian and Non Newtonian substances and create polymers using cornstarch and corn syrup.
Corn: Then and Now
Grades 4-6: English Language Arts
Students will read about the importance of corn in our lives and in the lives of ancient people. Students will research to learn about corn traditions and growing practices, then and now. Students will research some corn myths and legends and act them out.
Cotton Pickin': Before and After the Civil War
Grades 6-8: Social Studies, English Language Arts
Students examine the importance of cotton to the economy of the South before and after the Civil War.
Crickets on the Hearth
Grades 8-12: Life Science, Pre Algebra
Students design and conduct investigations with crickets.
Dear George: George Washington and the First Census of Agriculture
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Math
Students will translate excerpts from letters by George Washington into modern English; Read excerpts from letters by George Washington about the United States in its infancy and compare conditions Washington describes with recent conditions, based on current census data (provided); Compose a modern-day reply to one of Washington's letters, based on current census data (provided). Design brochures to promote selected agriculture commodities. Design surveys and use US Postal Service, email and social media to correspond with students in other parts of the country and compare modes of modern communication; Graph census data and find measures of central tendency.
DNA Blueprint for Life
Grades 6-8: Science
Students conduct an experiment with fruit to isolate DNA and research online to learn more about the reasons for isolating DNA.
The Eastern Redcedar
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science
Students read three articles about Oklahoma's eastern redcedar and find the central idea and supporting facts and author's point of view. Students conduct scientific investigations with eastern redcedar samples. Students identify the range of the eastern redcedar.
Eat Your Flowers: Testing the Effects of Soil Types on Edible Flowers
Grades 6-8: Science
Students grow flowers in different soil types to determine the effect on flavor.
Exploring Honey: Viscosity and Crystallization
Grades 5-7: Science
Students will conduct experiments to explore the viscosity and crystallization of honey.
Fit with Fiber
Grade 6-8: Math, Health
Students will read and discuss background and vocabulary, then will use cereal boxes to graph and calculate the mean, median and mode for data collection. Graphs will be utilized to plot data. Students will analyze cereal box labels to determine the nutrient content, they then will list each ingredient and cereal in a health category based on the profile of the cereal. Students will use recommendations from My Plate to demonstrate an understanding of the functions of fiber in the body and make suggestions for increasing fiber in the diet.
Food for Keeps
Grades 6-8: Science, English Language Arts, Math
Student explore food preservation methods from early American history through today. Includes beef jerky recipe.
Fruit or Vegetable?
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Health
Students explore the difference between fruits and vegetables from different perspectives and develop their own definitions. Students discuss and research the role of government in assignment of food categories and import/export of produce.
Got Gluten?
Grades 7-8: Science
Students will conduct scientific demonstratons to compare the presence of gluten in different kinds of flour. Students will read two articles about gluten and answer comprehension questions, including a comparison of the two readings.
Great Balls of Fire
Grades 6-8: Science
Students investigate the flammability of natural and synthetic fabrics while practicing safe procedures.
Grow a Living Pantry: Growing Food without Soil
Grades 5-8: English Language Arts, Science
Students will read about various ways to grow plants without soil, design and conduct experiments and explore root words and affixes related to the different growing methods.
A Growing Market
Grades 6-7: Science
The student will research and grow a plant and present findings orally.  They will determine space and resources needed for the plant to survive, as well as how the plant will pollinate.
The History of Ethanol in America
Grades 6-7: Social Studies, English Language Arts
Students will explore the production of biofuels from the 1850s to the present.
Hoboes on Harvest
Grades 6-12: Social Studies, English Language Arts
Students read about the role Oklahoma's wheat fields played in the history of labor movements in the US.
Hot off the Grill
Grade 6: Science
Students measure temperatures of hamburger patties both before and after cooking.
How Far Does It Travel? Exploring the Geography of Food
Grades 6-12: Social Studies, Math
Students compare the distances food travels from farm to table.
How Germs Spread
Grades 6-8: Health, Math, English Language Arts, Science
Students will identify behaviors that avoid or reduce health risks to self and others. Students will conduct scientific experiments to learn how germs are spread. Students will research diseases and identify the classification, transmission, symptoms and prevention or control and write a research paper. Students will collect and analyze data and make statistical calculations.
If Not for the Pollinators: Matching Flowers with Pollinators
Grades 4-7: Science
Students match flowers to pollinators and construct models of flowers to demonstrate why different kinds of flowers need different kinds of pollinators.
In Strawberry Fields
Grades 6-8: Math, Science
Students learn about strawberry production and compute wages of strawberry workers.
Just Lookin' for a Home
Grades 3-6: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Music. Visual Arts
Students will learn a song about the boll weevil and use it to understand the impact agriculture has on a community and its economy.
Just Peachy
Grades 3-7: Social Studies, English Language Arts, Math, Science
Students trace the migration of peaches from China to Oklahoma and learn about the history of peach production in Oklahoma.
A Lending Hand
Grades 6-7: English Language Arts, Math
Students will read a story about Adam and how he earned money to buy a skateboard by selling vegetables he sold at the farmer's market. Students will learn how farmers finance their operations through the farm credit system.
Let's Get Together: Grafting Fruit and Pecan Trees
Grade 7: English Language Arts, Science; Grades 9-12: English Language Arts, Biology I
Students will read about the practice of grafting trees and plants and learn how it benefits production. Students will conduct a grafting experiment with tomato plants.
Look! Up in the Sky! Agricultural Aviation
Grades 6-8: Social Studies, Math, Science, English Language Arts
Students read about the agricultural aviation industry and its history and answer comprehension questions. Students read about the division of land by townships and sections and use legal land descriptions to identify parcels of land in a map of a land section. Students answer math word problems related to agricultural aviation. Students conduct experiments with paper airplanes and O-Wings.
A Lucky Break
Grades 4-6: English Language Arts
Students will read about the ancient Etruscans and the origins of pulling the wishbone of a chicken a part for good luck, identify the main idea and supporting details of the passage, research to learn more about the ancient Etruscans, identify and decipher some common phrases in the English language related to poultry, learn the origins of some other poultry-related idioms, and use the idioms to write stories.
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  • Poultry Lessons and Resources
Making the Most of Milk: Understanding Lactose Intolerance
Grades 8-12: Science
Students will learn what causes lactose intolerance and carry out a laboratory activity to test a treatment for lactose intolerance.
Making Paper
Grades 4-6: Visual Arts, Math, Science, English Language Arts
Students make paper from recycled paper.
Making Sense of Sensors: Sensors and Satellites in Ag Technology
Grades 6-12: Science, Social Studies
Students will read about technology in agriculture and focus on recent technology based on sensors. Students will conduct an experiment with infrared light to see how thermal imaging helps farmers determine the fertilizer needs of plants.
Manure Occurs: Managing Nutrients in Livestock Manure
Grades 6-8: Earth Science and Math
Students use the scientific method to test for the presence of nutrients in garden soil, manure and a mixture of the two. Students will use a table to determine which of three farm animals produces the greatest amount of manure.
A Market for Goats
Grades 6-7: Social Studies, Visual Arts
Students will read about goat production in Oklahoma and learn about the market for goats among various ethnic groups. Students will research ethnic groups and holidays in which goat meat plays an important part. Students will look at several works of art related to goats and make a timeline of the paintings to show the role of goats in history. Students will research to find the origins of the paintings and locate the countries on a map of the world.
Measuring Exponential Growth
Grades 6-8: Math
Students reinforce math skills while learning about best practices for protection of water quality in the management of animal feeding operations.
Melon Meiosis
Grades 6-12: Science
Students will learn how seedless watermelon were developed and model the process of mitosis and meiosis in watermelons, using jelly beans.
Melons in Prose and Poetry
Grades 6-10: English Language Arts
Students will compare and contrast a passage about watermelons written by Mark Twain and a poem about melons by Sylvia Plath.
Mud in the Water
Grades 5, 6, 8: Science
The student will build a soil erosion model and learn the importance of soil conservation.
Norman Borlaug - Hunger Fighter
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Through classroom experiences, students will read about the research of Nobel Prize-winning plant breeder Norman Borlaug and conduct interviews with one another about the reading. Students will describe Norman Borlaug's influence in beginning the Green Revolution, and apply concepts to current local and world events.
Norman Borlaug - Hunger Fighter
Grades 6-8: Math, Science
Through classroom experiences, students will solve math word problems related to the reading. They will conduct an experiment to isolate DNA in wheat germ. They will also describe Norman Borlaug's influence in beginning the Green Revolution and apply concepts to current local and world events.
Oklahoma Soils
Grades 3-8: Science, Social Studies
Students read about Oklahoma soils and how they were formed and answer questions from a chart showing the soils found in Oklahoma's major land resource areas.
Oklahoma's Hydroelectric Power Dams
Grades 9-12: Oklahoma History
Students will read about the hydroelectric power dams in Oklahoma and locate the rivers on which the dams are built.
Oklahoma's Other Oilfields
Grades 6-12: Science
Students learn about oilseed crops - canola, soybeans, cottonseeds and sunflower seeds - and how oil is extracted from them.
Organic or Conventional
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts
Students will break into groups to read information about organic and conventional agriculture and each group will teach its section to the other. Students will distinguish between fact and opinion. Students will identify different kinds of propaganda in reading material. Students will write research papers related to organic and conventional agriculture.
Paper or Plastic? Exploring Rewewable Resources
Grades 6-8: Science, English Language Arts
Students discuss, develop, invent and implement a plan for making informed personal economic decisions about renewable resources.
Pizza Portions
Grades 6-7: Math, English Language Arts
Students read about pizza in groups and answer comprehension questions. Students use math skills to find what percentage of daily caloric intake is consumed when eating pizza.
Playing in the Dirt: Discovering Soil
Grades 7-8: Science
Through classroom experiences, students will compare different types of soil found around their school and home to identify three basic soil components. Students will also develop an experiment to discover the effect of soil types on seed germination.
Pollinator Habitats
Grades 6-12: English Language Arts, Science
Students research, interview experts and design pollinator habitats.
Preparing for Drought
Grades 6-8: World History
Students will explore the effects of drought in a variety of global contexts.
A Priceless Collection
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Science
Students will read a dramatic story about the Russian plant breeder, Nikolai I. Vavilov, who faced starvation during World War II to protect a valuable collection of seed potatoes and other seed crops. Students will learn about present-day seed banks and their importance in maintaining and improving crops. Students will experiment with seed germination and record their observations.
The Role of Fire
Grades 6-8: Math, Science
At the end of this lesson students will be able to identify the roles of fire in the environment. Students will describe the danger of wildfires. Students will create recommendations for prescribed burning.
'Round and 'Round We Go: The Benefits of Crop Rotation
Grades 5-6: Science, Visual Arts, English Language Arts
Students will read about crop rotation methods used on commercial farms in the US. Students will play a game to demonstrate crop rotation. Students will plant a wheat field.
Save Our Soil: Exploring Agricultural Land Use
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Students will learn about the distribution of agricultural land through a demonstration with an apple representing the earth. Students will discuss the impacts of land development. Students will make land use decisions for a variety of situations and justify their decisions. Students will answer questions from a chart showing land use and ecosystem types in select countries from different regions.
The Shape of Things
Grades 6-8: Science, Math
The student will perform an experiment, using eggs, to test the strength of the dome shape.
Snack Sack
Grades 6-8: Math
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.
Sorghum Feeds Oklahoma Cattle
Grades 6-7: English Language Arts, Social Studies
Students read and answer questions about sorghum as a feed crop and as a grain crop in other parts of othe world. Students conduct taste tests and follow directions to make sorghum molasses gingerbread.
Sunny Weather
Grades 3-6: Science
Students will track sunny days and graph data.
Surveying: 19 Chains and 50 Links
Grades 6-8: Math, Social Studies
Students use geometric skills to practice the art of surveying.
Symbiosis in Agriculture
Grade 6: Science
Students compare insect relationships according to their symbiosis class—parasitism, commensalism, mutualism.
Taming the Wild Aurochs
Grades 6-12: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, World History
Students read about the development of animal husbandry, outline the information and arrange steps in sequence.
They Don't Just Eat Grass
Grades 5-8: Science, Math, Health
Students compare and contrast different energy values of feeds by graphing the net energy for maintenance and percentage of fat for a variety of feed types.
Think in Pictures: Like Dr. Grandin (Grades 6-8)
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Science, Fine Arts, STEM
Students will "think in pictures" and become agricultural engineers by designing a corral system that uses the research of Dr. Temple Grandin to move cattle. Students will be challenged to think in pictures as they illustrate agriculture words.
Timing is Everything: The Harvest Depends on the Weather
Grades 6-7: Math, Science, Social Studies
Students will play a game to determine how much wheat a section of land will yield based upon a series of setbacks caused by weather, insects, etc. Students will read about the impacts of weather on wheat production. Students will use online resources to find statistics about wheat production and annual precipitation in Oklahoma. Students will graph the information.
Tortillas in a Bag
Grades 5-8: Science
Students follow instructions to make tortillas in a bag and learn about breads around the world.
A Tough Nut to Crack
Grades 6-8: English Language Arts, Social Studies, Math
Students evaluate the quality of pecans based on a set of criteria.
US Agriculture and the World Market
Grades 6-7: Social Studies
Students interpret agricultural import and export data in tabular form, determine percentages, convert values between measurement systems and graph information from tables.
Weeds on the Windowsill
Grades 5-6: English Language Arts, Science
An examination of the need for pesticides. Students compare the results when they grow plants in two kinds of garden soil, one of which has been treated (by boiling water) to kill weed seeds and one which has not.
What is Drought?
Grades 6-8: Science
Students conduct an experiment to explore the effects of drought.
What is Gluten?
Grades 6-12: English Language Arts
Students will conduct scientific experiments to compare the presence of gluten in different kinds of flour.
Which Little Piggy? Ear Notching
Grades 7-8: Math
Students identify procedures used to ear notch pigs and then read the ear notches to determine the pigs litter number and individual number.
Will Your Car Run on Grass? How Biomass Becomes Alcohol
Grades 6-8: Science
Students conduct experiments with yeast to determine what substances promote fermentation.
Woods, Lake, Rocks: Art of the Wild West at Woolaroc
Grades 6-8 English Language Arts, Visual Arts
Students will learn about the western art on display at Woolaroc museum near Bartlesville, research and write reports on some of the art and artists, and examine the elements of select works of art. Students will study the process for selecting the Pioneer Woman statue.
World Trade
Grades 6-7: Social Studies, English Language Arts
Students use research skills to learn about world trade and the organizations which govern trade.
Your Future in Agriculture
Grades 6-12: English Language Arts
Students will explore and research a variety of careers in agriculture. Students will read about rapid advances in agriculture now and in American history.