LESSON PLAN: Who Grows There?

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LESSON PLAN: My Human Geography students are extremely fortunate to go on three field trips already. One that is NOT included is one to a variety of local food markets. We have a bunch of different ethnic groups represented in our area all with their respective food stores. So, the next best thing I can do is bring the market to them.

After covering intensive/extensive, subsistence/commercial farming types in class lecture, we need to start placing these agricultural activities on the map. I plan on having kids walk around the room looking at different crops and telling me where on the map it is found (and countries), how it grows, and what type of commercial agriculture it likely is: extensive grain cropping, intensive grain cropping, market gardening, mixed crop livestock, plantation (LDC), speciality crop (MDC), Aquaculture, Ranching, and Dairying (I think I hit them all).

Ball Jar Labeler

I picked up about 15-20 items from the store that will work well in class (no dairy/meat/fish) and placed them in ball jars and plastic bags. I think I will have two items per station and have small groups of 2-3 walk around the room after about 5 minutes time.They are armed with iPads so Google and Wikipedia will be their phone-a-friend. I suspect they will be able to tell me the commercial type simply by looking at their

previous class notes.  In this worksheet I did not include whether it is intensive/extensive, but you can very well add that component in the doc.  My students have interactive notebooks and I would love to have them sketch the crop (it sticks in their head better), but time will most likely be limited. It would be fun to have them guess the crop, but once again, I don’t think we will have time. Here is a list of the items that I have planned so far. Can you believe I don’t have cacao? When I find it in whole food format, I will add.

Ball Jars of Crops

  • Buddha’s Hand
  • Lychee
  • Brazilian Nuts
  • Almonds
  • Cranberries
  • Coffee
  • Macadamia Nuts
  • Peanuts
  • Bulgar Wheat
  • White Rice
  • Pistachios
  • Soy nuts
  • Sun flower seeds
  • Black eyed peas
  • Coconut
  • Vanilla Bean
  • Turmeric
  • Walnuts
  • Can Sugar
  • Lentils

What are some other things you would add to the list?

Download the student worksheet here: Who Grows There Wkst.

Who Grows There Thumb

 

 

 

Enduring Understanding: Major agricultural regions reflect physical geography and economic forces

Learning Objective: Identify agricultural production regions associated with major bioclimatic zones. Analyze the economic forces that influence agricultural practices.

Essential Knowledge: Some agricultural regions are associated with particular bioclimatic zones (e.g.,  Mediterranean, shifting agriculture, pastoral nomadism). Agricultural production regions are defined by the extent to which they reflect subsistence or commercial practices, or intensive or extensive use of land; Intensive farming practices include market gardening, plantation agriculture, mixed crop/livestock systems, etc.; Extensive farming practices include shifting cultivation, nomadic herding, ranching, etc.

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