Adams County Ag Awareness Programs

All programs are interactive and incorporate reading, discussion and a hands-on activity. Lessons include at least one of the following components in math, science, language arts, social studies and nutrition. For more information or to schedule a program, please contact Sharon Knorr at 217-223-8380 or email knorr@illinois.edu.

Or please fill out the Ag Awareness School Program Form and send in. The form can be found on the Ag Awareness webpage under Forms and Downloads.

• Topics listed followed by activities

Adams County Programs for 2008-2009

Coming in October: Seasons on the Farm Kit and Adventures on the Farm Kit. Lessons will be listed here online and ready to come to your classroom. Both kits have lessons for PreK through 4th grades. If your school would like to host a demonstration of either/both kits, then please call to have these kits presented at a staff meeting or training! CPDUs can be offered for educator trainings.

NEW - Scientific Inquiry with Butterflies. Recommended for grades 3-5, this curriculum can be adapted for other levels. Lessons include: insect anatomy, life cycle stages, survival mechanisms, and butterfly interaction with the environment. If your school is interested in a training on this curriculum, then please call to set up a training at your school. CPDUs can be offered for educator trainings.

Trees - lessons on life cycle, uses, environmental stewardship. The Department of Natural Resources Tree Kit is available with lessons and supplies ready to go.

Pre-School and Kindergarten Programs

• Introduction to Illinois Agriculture: Study the relationships between geographic, nutrition and society using The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• Barnyard Buddies: Explore livestock found on the farm.
• Pumpkin or Apple Life Cycle: Literature and an activity will focus on the life cycle and needs of living things.
• Popcorn and the 5 Senses: Literature and an activity will incorporate math and scientific inquiry.
• Beanie Baby Seed Germination: Students use scientific inquiry with observation and comparison of natural phenomena.
• Incubation and Embryology: Poultry life cycle, egg nutrition and poultry characteristics are studied.
• Insects: build an insect emphasizing insect characteristics.
• Nutrition: handwashing and food groups are interactive lessons.

Grades 1-3

• Water Cycle: Analyze and explain characteristics and interactions of the Earth's physical systems. Water cycle components depend upon grade level.

1. Water Cycle Paper Chain
2. Water Cycle Beaded Bracelet

• Soils: Know and apply concepts that describe the features and processes of the Earth and its resources.

1. Edible Soil (soil horizons)
2. Soil Perculation (soil particles)
3. Soil Sams
4. Worms
5. Composting

• Livestock: Understanding economic (food and fiber) systems through livestock including supply and demand. Activities will vary with different specie.

1. Barnyard Buddies: explore livestock on the farm
2. Beef: build a cheeseburger, nutrition or products
3. Dairy: cottage cheese, yogurt
4. Poultry: Embryology and Incubation. Literature and activities will compare needs of living things, describecharacteristics, observe changes, and explore natural phenomena. There will be 2 class programs: incubation of poultry and the characteristics of poultry/eggs.
5. Sheep: wool, raising sheep andproducts
6. Swine: raising swine, ear notching and products

• Seed Germination: Know and apply concepts that explain how living things function, adapt, change and interact with their environment.

1. Garden in a Glove
2. Beanie Baby

• Corn or Soybeans: The study of how living things function, adapt, and change. Also, we'll focus on recycling, nutrition, and consumer education.

1. Corn Stations: popcorn, sweet corn, field corn and making corn plastic
2. Soybean Stations: edible and non-edible products

• Insects: Identify functionality and interaction of insects to the environment.

1. Monarch migration
2. Insect physical characteristics
3. Bees
4. Insect mouth functions

• Horticulture: What parts of the plant we eat, ingredient origin and consumer choices.

1. Pizza
2. Source Search – Farm, Factory, Store or Natural World

• Machines in Agriculture: Know and apply concepts that describe the interaction between science, technology and society.

1. Simple and complex machines

• Pumpkin or Apple Life Cycle: Students will learn about plant life cycle and sequencing.

1. Pumpkin: paper component orbooklet
2. Pumpkin: pumpkin pie in a bag
3. Apple: paper component or booklet
4. Apple: tasting and graphing

• Fiber: Students will identify fiber origin.

1. Clothesline Sleuth

Grades 4-8 and High School

The following lessons are found in mAGic (multidisciplinary agricultural integrated curriculum) kits. The kits are available for loan or an Ag Awareness representative will present the lesson to your class. The mAGic kits are multidisciplinary, all inclusive curricula that are designed to teach students about agriculture through active discovery. Kits include lesson plans and supplies for activities and exercises. Educators using the kits on loan will replace the supplies. Otherwise, the supplies are provided if the coordinator presents the lesson.

• Dairy mAGic Kit– Hands-on exercises let students explore the processes of using milk, acids, enzymes, and bacteria to make cottage cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. Students will find out how much milk one cow produces in its lifetime. They'll also dive into history and learn about issues of supply and demand in the dairy industry.

1. Math: Dairy Computations,Production per Cow, Cheese Logic Puzzle
2. Language Arts: Show What You Know, Extra Cheese, Please
3. Social Studies: Supply and Demand, Milk, Milk Comes from Where? Moo-ving Through the Ages
4. Science: Yogurt, Rennin – an Enzyme, Cottage Cheese

• Insect mAGic Kit– Students will learn about the impact of insects on crop production through a variety of lessons and activities. Mapping exercises let students follow butterflies on migration patterns. Students track a day in the life of an insect and learn about wingspan, life cycles, anatomy, and social hierarchy patterns of common insects.

1. Math: Butterfly Wingspan Graphing, Logic Puzzle, Beekeeper Economics
2. Language Arts: A Day in the Life, Insect Riddles, A Career "IST" Search, Show What You Know
3. Social Studies: Boll Weevil, Butterfly Migration, Honey Bee Society
4. Science: Insect Life Cycles, Examine the Body of a Grasshopper, What's for Lunch, Integrated Pest Management

• Machines mAGic Kit– Students will learn about the history of farm machinery and the impact of modern farming techniques on families and communities. They'll also learn how inventors John Deere and Cyrus McCormick helped shape modern agriculture. Hands-on exercises let students identify machinery parts and estimate farm machinery costs.

1. Math: Changes in Farming, Logic Puzzle, Estimating Farm Machinery Costs, Precision Farming
2. Language Arts: Technology's Tangled Word Web, Poetic Motion, Simple Machines Complex Inventions, Tinkering Outside the Box, Show What You Know, Machine Safety Specialists
3. Social Studies: John Deere and Cyrus McCormick, Timeline of Farm Machinery and Technology, Modern Marvels: Farming Technology, Patents, Mystery Tools
4. Science: Identify Simple and Complex Machines, Compelling Careers in Agriculture, Lubricants and Viscosity and Machines, Tinkering Out of the Box

• Poultry mAGic Kit– Students will uncover interesting facts about U.S. Poultry production through exercises and hands-on experiments. They'll learn about the anatomy and nutritional value of an egg. They'll also learn about the history of egg production and find out how poultry dishes are prepared around the world.

1. Math: Egg Logic Puzzle, Graphing, Chicken Riddle
2. Language Arts: Poultry Jeopardy, Show What You Know, The Nutritious Egg, Egg Hunt Embryology
3. Social Studies: Poultry Dishes Around the World, History of Egg Production
4. Science: Chicken Wings, Egg Anatomy, Shell Porosity

• Plant mAGic Kit– This kit offers problem-solving activities in plant propagation, production, and processing. Students will conduct experiments to learn about plant differences and plant ecosystems. They'll also sequence plant products, research the discoveries of George Washington Carver, and look at the impact of crops on the national economy.

1. Math: Illinois Cash Income, Farm Crops and Animals Logic Puzzle, USA Exports in Billions, American Ag Share of the World Production, Percent Germination for a Soybean Sample
2. Language Arts: Show What You Know – Plant Growth, E.C. Cobb and the Cornstalk Riddles, Show What You Know – Water
3. Social Studies: Peanut Production, George Washington Carver, Moving Illinois Agriculture by Road and Rail and River, Tassel to Table, Crop Rotation
4. Science: Exploring Monocots and Dicots, Terrariums, Plant Experiments

• Soils mAGic Kit- Soils are alive, as students will discover through the lessons in this kit. Students will learn to conduct experiments in soil pH, create soil profiles, and understand the components of soils. They will also unveil the history of crop rotation and dig into the Dust Bowl.

1. Math: Logic Puzzle, Geometric Shapes, Soil Erosion, A Slice of Planet Earth, Agriculture Measures Up
2. Language Arts: Show What You Know, Soil Quotes
3. Social Studies: Dust Bowl, Soil Nutrients, Crop Rotation, Wealth of Illinois (Political systems)
4. Science: What is Soil?, Soil Slurry, Edible Soil Profile, Soil pH

• Additional Resources

1. Composting and Worms
2. Fiber: plant, animal or man-made
3. How Far Does Your Food Travel?

• Illinois mAGic Kit- The Illinois lessons allow students to see the 7 wonders of Illinois, watch prairie plants adapt right before their eyes and tour Illinois Indian cultures. Students will experience the Lincoln-Douglas debates, investigate Illinois sites, meet famous Illinoisans, stop at McDonald's for a bit of history and discover all the great things that come from Illinois including: waterways, coalmines, trees, plant products, settlements and soil.

High School - More Programs

• GPS – Global Positioning Systems
• Ag Careers
• How Far Does Your Food Travel?

• Careers in Horticulture

1. Growing Opportunities in Horticulture
2. Selling Landscape Horticultural Services
3. Landscape Design
4. Applying Art to Plant Design
5. Careers in Turf Management & Maintenance
6. Maintaining a Competitive Advantage through Plant Patents
7. Garden Center Plant Product Placement
8. Marketing Horticulture Products
9. Careers in Research and Development

• Horticulture Science

1. Plant Taxonomy
2. Using Growing Media in Horticulture
3. Controlling Horticulture Plant Pests
4. Plant Breeding and Genetics
5. Impact of Biotechnology on Ornamental Horticulture

• History CD - for upper elementary through high school. Each cd requires classroom internet connections.

1. Illinois Agriculture: Students take an interactive journey through Illinois history using multimedia and multidisciplinary lessons.
2. Growing a Nation: The Story of American Agriculture: Students will journey from 1600 AD to present using interactive activities related to specific events in history.