All resources in Agricultural and Environmental Literacy

Square Foot Gardens: Healthy Spaces for People and Pollinators

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“Square Foot Gardens: Healthy Spaces for People and Pollinators” is an interdisciplinary unit of study for twenty-four second grade students at Maple Grove Charter School. Part of a year-long science program, the unit complements the second grade EL Education English Language Arts Curriculum in which two Modules (approximately 18 weeks of literacy instruction) focus on the following guiding questions from Modules 3 & 4: “How do plants grow and survive?How do pollinators help plants grow and survive?How do we get the fruits, flowers, and vegetables that we enjoy?How do we become researchers and share our learning?Why should people help pollinators to survive?How can I take action to help pollinators?” (https://eleducation.org ) 

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Sandy Benton, Victoria Rydberg-Nania

What’s Under Your Feet?

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Learning about our natural resources and how to maintain and improve them is a common thread throughout the K-6th grades. In fifth grade, students learn about soil composition, soil health, how to regenerate soil, and how to test the soil.  Based on the soil test and composition determination/s, we then discuss why we received the results we did, what the results mean, and why different samples from the same geographical area may vary.They learn about soil depletion, the importance of regeneration and management of the soil, and whether to use natural fertilizers or synthetic bagged fertilizers to build up the soil and for plant health. During the process, they learn what N, P, and K mean and how to read the fertilizer bag.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Sandy Benton, Kim Pokorny

Dairy Products in Wisconsin

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The "Dairy Products in Wisconsin" unit for high school English Language Learners focuses on enhancing various linguistic skills through practical and engaging activities. I created this slideshow as a daily launch for mini-lessons in ag-themed language activities for my students in Food Science learning English as an additional language.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Sandy Benton, Jessica Brogley

Maple Syrup Production: Tapping, Collection, Sales, and Marketing

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Maple Grove Charter School, Athens School District, is a Grades K-5 elementary school located the heart of the rural Town of Hamburg. The school takes its name from the school forest on its site. Built in 1904, the school has annual tradition of tapping the maple trees. What started as a first grade classroom project has expanded as students from each grade level identify, tap, and collect sap from two trees. Unit plans have been created for each grade level to address agriculture, science, literacy, social studies, math, and environmental literacy standards. While the sap collecing routines remain relevatively constant each year, the learning opportunties have been differentiated by grade level so that students are always learning new content and skills.In the following unit plan discussion readers will learn about the schoolwide project from the perspective of teachers in Grades 1 and 5.Students in Grade 1 learn about maple tree identification and the traditional and modern tools and technologies employed in sap collection and syrup production. Their fifth grade counterparts continue to grow in their understanding of the tapping, collection, and production processes, and take on the role of entrepreneurs as they develop their brand and market the finished pure maple syrup.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Sandy Benton, Treva Etten, Emily Szutkowski