Lesson Title:
The Food We Eat

Grade Level:
Grade Two Lesson 1

Unit of Study:
People We Depend On

History-Social Science Standard:
2.4.1   Describe food production and consumption long ago and today, including the roles of farmers, processors, distributors, weather, and land and water resources

Correlation to K-8 California Adopted Textbooks:
Harcourt Brace: Making a Difference.  Unit 2: Where We Live: Lesson 3 and 4.  Unit 4 People Make History: Lesson 1.  Unit 6:  People In Time And Place: Lesson 2.

McGraw-Hill: People Together.  Unit 3: A Working World.  Lessons 1-3.

Setting of Context:
The food that we eat comes from many places.  California is the world's largest producer of many crops that people eat.  The land in the Central Valley of California is very fertile and many people have farmed the land for generations.

Procedure

Many of the crops grown in California are exported to other places.  Trucks, boats, and airplanes take these crops.

Motivation:
Ask students to list the different types of fruits and vegetables they enjoy eating.  Encourage students to guess where these foods are grown in the State.

Focus Questions:
Which California region produces most of the world's agricultural products?

Which crops grow in California?

Who are the consumers of the crops that are grown in California?

How is the food we eat produced?

Expected Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to name the major crops grown in California's Central Valley.
Students will list where the products of the Central Valley are sent.
Students will trace one of California's major crops from the farm to the dinner table.

Assessments:
California crop map
California Valley Crops riddle book
Map tracing where crops are sent
Time line of crop from farm to the dinner table

Key Concepts:
Different crops require a variety of settings in which to grow.  Each crop has a specific process through which it travels from the farm to the consumer.

Essential Vocabulary:
crops
farms
agriculture
export
consumer

Primary Sources:
Pictures of farms in California's Central Valley, labels from produce boxes of those farms

Visuals:
Pictures of crops grown in California, map of California showing crops grown there, stages of a crop from farm to consumption.

Teacher brings a bowl filled with fruit salad (try to include fruits that are grown in California) and tells the students that they are going to have a treat.  The salad is distributed and enjoyed.  Once the students have enjoyed the treat, they will draw a picture of the fruits contained in the salad.

Making Connections:
When you ate the salad, you became a consumer.  A consumer is someone who eats or buys a product.  Do you know where the fruits in the salad came from?

Students will write their answer in a quick-write and share it.

Guided Instruction:
Part I: California's Crops
Show students a map of California and point out that the weather in California is warm and usually sunny.  Highlight the Central Valley and provide information on this region.  It is a valley because it is found between two mountain ranges, the Sierra Nevada and the Coastal Mountains.  Soil in the valley has washed down form the mountains and is very fertile.  Fertile means that it is good for growing things.  Many of the crops that we consume are grown in California.

Practice/Assessment Opportunity:
Students will receive a blank map of California and they will color in the Central Valley.

Part II: Central Valley Crops
Show students the map of the Central Valley that shows the crops grown there.

Practice/Assessment Opportunity:
Using newspaper ads and grocery store circulars, students will cut out pictures of the crops grown in California.  They will then write riddles using a close frame to give clues to solve the riddle.  The riddle will be written on one sheet of paper.  The picture will be pasted on a second sheet with the listed sentence.  Students will fill in the missing adjective.

I am

I grow on

I feel

I taste

(color).

(where it grows).

(texture).

(adjective).

I come from California.

Picture of crop

(name of crop)

Student's pages will be compiled into a class book.

Part III:  Grown in California
Review the crops that are grown in California.  Use pictures and maps. Now take students through a narrative that follows a crop from farm to consumption.  (Use a regional crop to make this easier for students to connect.)

Use pictures and a narrative frame (see below).  The narrative frame size will be dictated by the pieces of information being presented.  These will vary depending on the crop and whether or not it is a processed item.

Sample Narrative:
The crop is planted

The crop is tended to (water, sun, air)

Follow stages of growth

The crop is harvested

The crop is taken (truck, boat, plane) to the processor or distributor

The crop is processed

The crop/processed product is sold to the wholesalers

The crop/processed product is sold to retailers (grocery stores)

The crop/processed product is bought and consumed by the consumer

Narrative frame:

.	.	.	.	.	
.	.	.	.		

Practice/Assessment Opportunity:
Working in pairs, students will retell the narrative to their partner using pictures and a narrative frame.  Once they have retold the narrative, the students will create a time line of the crop from farm to consumption.  They should use words and illustrations.

Choose their own crop to create a narrative for. They will have to draw pictures and write the script.