R1:
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; site specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

American Farmers Count! Census 2020: Students compare and contrast the differences between the Census of Agriculture and the decennial census.

Animal or Plant?: Students investigate the sources of different foods and examine the importance of eating a variety of nutritious foods.

A “Sour” Subject: Students will learn about the growth and production of citrus fruits and participate in an activity where they use skills of observation and mathematical computation to compare and contrast grapefruits and lemons.

A Rafter of Turkeys: Students will learn about the domestication and life cycle of the turkey, recognize how turkeys are raised on farms, and identify turkey products.

Abraham Lincoln Clears a Path: His Agricultural Legacy: Students diagram the life of President Abraham Lincoln, including his childhood, presidency, and role during the Civil War, and describe his agricultural legacy and impact on agriculture today.

Backpack Garden: Through project-based learning, students use school resources to construct and grow a school garden to supplement the school Backpack Program with fresh fruits and vegetables.

Bartering Through the Seasons: Students will learn about the seasons, become familiar with the process of wool production, and explore how trade and barter have historically allowed people to satisfy their needs and wants.

Beef Basics: Students will explain the importance of the beef cattle industry, including the products cattle produce, the production process from farm to plate, and how cattle can utilize and obtain energy from grass and other forage.

Bunches of Berries: Students investigate a variety of berries, discover how and where they are grown, and explore their nutritional benefits.

By Land, Air, or Sea: Students will discover how agricultural commodities are transported from producers to consumers.

Caring for the Land: Students will explain why people have different opinions regarding soil management and identify cause and effect relationships relating to agriculture and the environment.

Cracking Open the Story of Nuts: Students investigate a variety of nuts, discover how and where they are grown, and explore their nutritional benefits.

Cultures, Food, and Communities Around the World: Students explore different cultures around the world, compare worldwide communities with local communities, and explain the interrelationship between the environment and community development. 

Dark Days: Students will examine the modern and historical importance of soil erosion in Utah and on the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl.

Desktop Greenhouses: Students will investigate the importance of light to plants by creating a desktop greenhouse investigation and exploring the process of photosynthesis.

Drone in High-Tech Farming: Students will discover the science behind how a drone works, explore how drones are used in agriculture, and program and operate a drone for the purpose of surveying a field.

Eggs: From Hen to Home: Students will trace the production path of eggs—beginning on the farm and ending in their home. Students will identify the culinary uses and nutritional benefits of eggs.

Eggs: Protein MVP: Students will explore the importance of protein to a healthy diet and discover that eggs are a nutritious protein source.

Enjoying the Harvest: Students will identify the parts of a wheat plant and wheat kernel and investigate the process of milling wheat kernels into flour.

Exploring Aquaponics: Students will identify the basic needs of plants and fish and engineer, assemble, maintain and observe a small-scale aquaponics system that meets plant and fish needs.

Farmers Market Finds: Students explore the value of farmers markets to local communities and discover the benefits of locally-grown food.

Farming for Energy: Students identify renewable and nonrenewable energy sources and investigate how farms can produce renewable energy.

Find Your Future Career: Students discover the variety of agricultural careers available and consider their career paths in terms of economics, interests, and suitability to their personal talents and characteristics.

FoodMASTER: Meal Management: Students will choose foods from each of the five food groups to create a meal and calculate the cost of serving the meal to five people and to one person. Students will then be challenged to plan a meal that costs less than $1.50 per person. Students will prepare, evaluate and eat a lunch meal.

Fortified for Health: Students will learn about the process of fortification where vitamins and minerals are added to food to make it more healthful and to help people meet their recommended daily intake of different nutrients. With this activity, students will reenact an experiment to discover food fortification.

From Chicken Little to Chicken Big: Students will identify different breeds of chickens, examine physical characteristics and determine the stages of a chicken's life cycle.

Full of Beans: Henry Ford Grows a Car: Students will identify the variety of soybeans used for human consumption, livestock feed, and industrial products; explain how key historical events affected soybean production in the United States; and create a bioplastic made from soybeans.

Growing Grains: Students investigate a variety of grains, discover how and where they are grown, and explore their nutritional benefits.

High-Tech Farming: Students will discover technologies that are used on farms to increase efficiency and yields and decrease costs and environmental impact.

Homes on the Range: Students will design a board game that reinforces how rangelands provide habitat for livestock and wildlife while benefiting humans, animals and plants. Students will also learn about the responsibilities of a range manager.

How Does Your Garden Grow?: Students synthesize what they know about soils, plants and the environment to plan a garden, present their plans and explain why they made the decisions that they did.

How Weather Impacts Farms: Students explore different types of weather and discover how weather conditions can impact farms.

In A Nutshell: Students will explore pecan production from farm to fork, simulate the process of grafting and create a nutritious snack.

Inherited Traits in the Living Corn Necklace: Students will observe the growth of Indian corn and popcorn seeds, observe similarities and differences between the two varieties, and discuss heredity.

Made to Move: Students will use simple machines to examine the relationships between force and motion. Students will complete a science journal and participate in group activities demonstrating the use of simple machines.

Many Types of Farms: Students will explore the sources of a variety of agricultural products and discover that farms can be diverse in size and in products that are grown and raised.

Natural and Managed Ecosystems: Students will compare the differences between natural and managed ecosystems and describe ways in which farmers can protect agricultural ecosystems.

Oilseed Crops: Students investigate a variety of oilseed crops, discover how and where they are grown, and explore their nutritional benefits.

Pizza Time!: This lesson uses pizza as a basis for learning about agriculture, geography and mathematics.

Plant Growth Affects the Soil: Students will recognize nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as soil nutrients, learn that plants use soil nutrients as they grow, and discover that fertilizer replaces depleted nutrients. Students will also analyze information on seed packets to learn more about the needs that different plants have for growth.

Preserving the Powerful Pepper: Students preserve peppers to create their own probiotic food, observe properties of preserved foods and states of matter changes that occur, and discover the health benefits of probiotics.

Pumpkins… Not Just For Halloween: Students will learn a variety of subjects including history, science, nutrition and math through the study of pumpkins. Activities include estimating the size and weight of pumpkins, sprouting pumpkin seeds and making pumpkin pie in a bag.

Right This Very Minute: Students will read “Right This Very Minute”—a table-to-farm book about food production and farming—and diagram the path of production for a processed product. Students will study a map to discover where different commodities are grown and write a thank-you letter to farmers in their local community.

Robots in High-Tech Farming: Students will discover the four main components of robots, explore how robots are used in agriculture, and program and operate a robot to address a farming challenge.

Secrets to Healthy Soils: Students will understand that the diversity of life in soil contributes to soil fertility.

Seeds, Miraculous Seeds: Students will develop an appreciation and understanding of the natural development of seeds, learn the anatomy and function of each seed part through a seed dissection, and classify seeds as monocots or dicots.

Tasty Testing: Students discover the geographic regions where basil, oregano, and cilantro have cultural significance; understand the role of evaporation in herb drying; and recognize the different properties of dried and fresh herbs.

Test Tube Hydroponics: Students will investigate the importance of nutrients for plant growth and discover how plants grow without soil by growing and observing plants in a test tube hydroponic system.

The Rotten Truth: Students will observe and explain the decomposition process and learn the methods and ingredients for making compost.

The TART Cherry on Top: Students will explore tart cherry production in the United States and explain why producers and consumers are needed in the cherry industry.

Think in Pictures: Like Dr. Grandin: Students will compare agricultural inventors and inventions by creating a timeline of important dates, explore cattle flight zones, and work as agricultural engineers to design a corral system that uses the research of Dr. Temple Grandin.

Tropism Twist: Students will investigate how light affects plant growth by observing changes in a plant’s growth and movement as light availability is altered through an experiment.

Walnuts: The Importance of Grafting: The purpose of this unit is for students to understand the science and economic importance of grafting walnut trees.

What’s Bugging You?: Students will learn the definition of a pest, examine how pests affect other living organisms and the environment, and identify how pests are managed in agricultural settings.

What’s in Soil?: Students will identify the components of soil and demonstrate that soil contains air and water.

Wheat Germ DNA: Using wheat as an example, students will explore how DNA determines the genetic traits of a plant and how plant breeders change the DNA of a plant to produce desired characteristics.

Where Does It Come From?: Students will explore the connection between geography, climate and the type of agriculture in an area by reading background information and census data about the agricultural commodities beef, potatoes, apples, wheat, corn and milk.

Who Grew My Soup?: Students will identify the source of the food they eat and investigate the processes and people involved in getting food from the farm to their spoon.

R2:
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.

A “Sour” Subject: Students will learn about the growth and production of citrus fruits and participate in an activity where they use skills of observation and mathematical computation to compare and contrast grapefruits and lemons.

Build it Better: Students will investigate animal handling preferences and design a cattle corral system that is durable, efficient and effective. Students will also discover the skills needed to be an agricultural engineer.

Farmer George: The Seeds of a Presidency: Students will read two books and pursue a process of inquiry to profile George Washington, understanding and evaluating the personal characteristics that made him a great leader while also exploring historical and modern food systems.

FoodMASTER: Meal Management: Students will choose foods from each of the five food groups to create a meal and calculate the cost of serving the meal to five people and to one person. Students will then be challenged to plan a meal that costs less than $1.50 per person. Students will prepare, evaluate and eat a lunch meal.

Growing Plants in Science and Literature, More Than an Empty Pot: Students will use the story of “The Empty Pot” to explore literature and science, practicing story mapping and learning about the needs of plants and the importance of soil and water. Like the characters in the story, students will plant and observe the growth of seeds.

In A Nutshell: Students will explore pecan production from farm to fork, simulate the process of grafting and create a nutritious snack.

Let’s Raise a Barn: Students will explore the benefits and functions of different types of barns and use problem-solving skills to build a model of a hay barn that meets specific requirements.

Machines in Agriculture: The purpose of this activity is for students to make connections between the six types of simple machines and the complex machinery used to produce food and fiber.

Nuts About Peanuts!: Students label the parts of a peanut plant on a diagram, follow step-by-step instructions to plant a peanut and use a chart to record the growth of peanut plants.

Plant Growth Affects the Soil: Students will recognize nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as soil nutrients, learn that plants use soil nutrients as they grow, and discover that fertilizer replaces depleted nutrients. Students will also analyze information on seed packets to learn more about the needs that different plants have for growth.

Right This Very Minute: Students will read “Right This Very Minute”—a table-to-farm book about food production and farming—and diagram the path of production for a processed product. Students will study a map to discover where different commodities are grown and write a thank-you letter to farmers in their local community.

Seeds, Miraculous Seeds: Students will develop an appreciation and understanding of the natural development of seeds, learn the anatomy and function of each seed part through a seed dissection, and classify seeds as monocots or dicots.

Three Sisters Garden: Students will investigate the "three sisters" crops (corn, beans and squash) and explore the benefit of planting these crops together. Students will also learn about Native American Legends and plant growth.

Wheat Germ DNA: Using wheat as an example, students will explore how DNA determines the genetic traits of a plant and how plant breeders change the DNA of a plant to produce desired characteristics.

R3:
Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

From Soybeans to Car Parts: Students learn about soybeans and investigate the collaborative work of an agricultural scientist and engineer who found new uses for an agriculture product—soybeans. This lesson can be used as an opportunity to discuss careers in science and engineering, biobased products, and the use of renewable resources.

Let’s Raise a Barn: Students will explore the benefits and functions of different types of barns and use problem-solving skills to build a model of a hay barn that meets specific requirements.

Nuts About Peanuts!: Students label the parts of a peanut plant on a diagram, follow step-by-step instructions to plant a peanut and use a chart to record the growth of peanut plants.

Science and Poetry with Almonds: Students will learn about the almond tree life cycle including tree dormancy, pollination, bloom and kernel development of an almond.

The Ultimate Efficient Recycler: Students will examine how cows help conserve natural resources by identifying the important role dairy cattle have in reducing, reusing and recycling food processing by-products. Students will identify each of the stages in the ecological cycle and the important role of decomposers.

R4:
Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.

A Rafter of Turkeys: Students will learn about the domestication and life cycle of the turkey, recognize how turkeys are raised on farms, and identify turkey products.

Abraham Lincoln Clears a Path: His Agricultural Legacy: Students diagram the life of President Abraham Lincoln, including his childhood, presidency, and role during the Civil War, and describe his agricultural legacy and impact on agriculture today.

Edible Numbers: Students will develop a working vocabulary regarding food, categorize foods by their sources, examine grocery ads, learn about food production, and apply what they learned by analyzing foods they eat at a particular meal.

FoodMASTER: Meat, Poultry, and Fish: Students will learn how animals utilize nutrients and energy from food humans cannot digest and convert it to meat—a food rich in zinc, iron and protein. Students will discover how hamburger is formulated for leanness, compare two kinds of hotdogs and learn about fish.

FoodMASTER: Vegetables: Students will measure the weight and length or circumference of various vegetables. After studying the vegetables, students will classify the vegetables based on plant parts and explore chemical reactions from cooking colored vegetables in acidic and basic water. Students will also use a variety of vegetables to prepare soup.

Got Guts?: Students will investigate the different digestive systems of livestock and learn how animals have unique nutritional needs based on these structures. Students will also discover the responsibilities of an animal nutritionist.

Grocery Store Problem Solving: Students will use basic mathematical skills to solve problems related to the cost of food while integrating geography and nutrition to enhance learning. Activities include analyzing grocery ads, assessing the nutrition and cost of meals, and exploring diets around the world.

Growing Almonds: Fact or Opinion: Students will learn about the process of getting almonds from farm to table and distinguish the difference between facts and opinions as they learn about each stage and season of almond growth.

Keeping Soil in Its Place: Students will be able to demonstrate rain drop splash (splash erosion) and determine its impact on bare soil, ultimately being able to visually identify types of erosion.

Machines in Agriculture: The purpose of this activity is for students to make connections between the six types of simple machines and the complex machinery used to produce food and fiber.

Making Half MyPlate Fruits and Vegetables: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to MyPlate (2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans) and to reinforce the importance of making half your plate fruits and vegetables.

Milk Makin’ Math: Students will learn about the numerous career opportunities involved in the dairy industry. They will also practice real world math problems related to specific careers within the industry.

My Life as a Fruit or Vegetable: The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with an opportunity to enhance writing skills while simultaneously learning about the production and distribution of fresh produce.

Science and Poetry with Almonds: Students will learn about the almond tree life cycle including tree dormancy, pollination, bloom and kernel development of an almond.

Significant Surroundings: Students will identify basic animal behaviors and hypothesize what causes them. Students will also discover the responsibilities of an animal physiologist.

Test Tube Hydroponics: Students will investigate the importance of nutrients for plant growth and discover how plants grow without soil by growing and observing plants in a test tube hydroponic system.

Truth or Hogwash?: 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.

Wheat and Dolls: Students will learn how wheat is grown and processed into flour and other wheat products and create wheat puppets to perform a play.

Working Worms: Students observe how earthworms speed the decomposition of organic matter and learn how this adds nutrients to the soil that are important for plant growth. Activities include constructing worm habitats from milk jugs and completing “Ride the Wild Leaf Cycle” activity sheets.

R5:
Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.

Significant Surroundings: Students will identify basic animal behaviors and hypothesize what causes them. Students will also discover the responsibilities of an animal physiologist.

R6:
Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Students will explore organic and conventional farming practices by analyzing multimedia texts to investigate the differences between conventionally and organically grown apples.

Esperanza Rising: Students will read the novel “Esperanza Rising” written by Pam Munoz Ryan to learn more about migrant workers, agricultural economics, the impact of agriculture to rural communities, agricultural history, and how fruits and vegetables have been harvested historically and are harvested currently.

R7:
Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

Build-a-Calf Workshop: Students will explore concepts of heredity in beef cattle and identify dominant and recessive traits.

Honey Bees: A Pollination Simulation: Students will identify the parts of a honey bee, the stages of its life cycle and its role in pollination.

Let’s Go Shopping!: Students will learn the differences between needs and wants, goods and services, and producers and consumers by participating in a grocery store simulation, exploring the source of grocery store items, and designing their own products to sell.

Luscious Leaves: The purpose of this lesson is to review the functions of plant leaves and to develop an understanding of leaves as edible parts of some plants. Many edible leaves are part of a healthy diet and are a good source of vitamin A.

Paint’s Family Tree: Students will explore the complexity of heredity by studying horses and creating a horse’s family tree.

Robots in High-Tech Farming: Students will discover the four main components of robots, explore how robots are used in agriculture, and program and operate a robot to address a farming challenge.

Understanding MyPlate: Students will explore appropriate serving size and learn how to make good dietary decisions by understanding the components of nutrition as illustrated by MyPlate.

What Makes Up Your Profile?: Students will recognize soil changes in relationship to depth and understand factors associated with soil formation.

What’s in Soil?: Students will identify the components of soil and demonstrate that soil contains air and water.

R8:
Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Caring for the Land: Students will explain why people have different opinions regarding soil management and identify cause and effect relationships relating to agriculture and the environment.

R9:
Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Build-a-Calf Workshop: Students will explore concepts of heredity in beef cattle and identify dominant and recessive traits.

My Life as a Fruit or Vegetable: The purpose of this lesson is to provide students with an opportunity to enhance writing skills while simultaneously learning about the production and distribution of fresh produce.

R10:
Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Cowabunga! All About Dairy Breeds: Students will understand breed characteristics and countries of origin for five different breeds of dairy cattle. Students will discover why dairy farmers choose individual breeds for specific purposes.

From Chicken Little to Chicken Big: Students will identify different breeds of chickens, examine physical characteristics and determine the stages of a chicken's life cycle.

Roll of the Genes: Students will learn about genes and how they affect important traits such as growth, reproduction, disease resistance and behavior. Students will also discover the responsibilities of an animal geneticist.

Soil Formation & Edible Horizons: Students discover what a soil profile looks like, investigate the composition of soil, and explore the five soil-forming factors and soil horizons.