American Studies
American Farmers Count! Census 2020
Students will complete a family tree and write each family members name, and they state they lived in as an adult. They will identify who in their family is/was involved in agriculture. They will then transfer this information to a map of the United States. Students will choose a relative and compare census data from their state with Oklahoma. Students will read about the process of counting American farmers, as well as all Americans. They will discover the difference between the Census of Agriculture and the decennial census. They will find the main idea of a reading passage.
The Art of Growing Things
Students will use seeds and plants to increase their vocabulary, conduct research, create a timeline and make presentations. They will observe plant growth habits in different locations in classroom and report their findings. Students will design and illustrate their own seed packets.
At Home on the Range
How ranchers on the western frontier helped saved the bison from extinction.
Be a Food Explorer
Students will try a variety of unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, research their origins and develop recipes.
Red Dirt Groundbreaker: Bill Pickett, Bull Doggin' Cowboy
Students will be introduced to Pill Pickett, An Oklahoma rodeo personality, who pioneered the rodeo act of bulldogging.
Black Mesa: Where the Rocky Mountains Meet the Short Grass Prairie
Students read about the history, topography and environment of Black Mesa, develop experiments to demonstrate erosion and formation of a mesa, find land features on maps and research related topics.
Bones and Stones
Students will read about ancient farming cultures in Oklahoma and the early development of farming tools. Students will design and construct simple farming tools.
Buried Treasure: Oklahoma's Aquifers
Students will read about the hydrologic cycle, groundwater and aquifers, locate aquifers in Oklahoma and build models to show the permeability of different earth materials.
Busting the Prairie: Planning a Homestead Community
Students learn about the Homestead Act of 1862 and the importance of agriculture in the settling of the West by planning and designing homestead communities and designing handbills inviting others to join them.
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Cherokee Farming
Students will read about farming among the Cherokees and compare farming before and after the removal. Students will make a timeline of the foods adopted by the Cherokee. Students will research to learn more about the Cherokee. Students will conduct experiments with heirloom seeds.
Choctaw Farming
Students will read about farming among the Choctaw. Students will examine contributions of different cultures to Choctaw agriculture. Students will work together to develop imaginary bean hybrids.
Come Into My Parlor
Students read and answer comprehension questions about milking parlors. Students interpret a map scale to measure the space in a milking parlor. Students will use diagrams of milking parlors to determine the fraction of cows being milked in each one.
Corn Cob Toys
Students will make toys from corn cobs and learnof the many uses for corn, both historically and today.
Corn: Then and Now
Students will read about the importance of corn in our lives and in the lives of ancient people. Students will research to learn about corn traditions and growing practices, then and now. Students will research some corn myths and legends and act them out.
Cotton Pickin': Before and After the Civil War
Students examine the importance of cotton to the economy of the South before and after the Civil War.
Dark Days on the Prairie
Students write descriptive paragraphs based on pictures from the Dust Bowl, label a map showing the Oklahoma counties and surrounding states affected by the Dust Bowl, and research climatic conditions of the area.
Dear George: George Washington and the First Census of Agriculture
Students will translate excerpts from letters by George Washington into modern English; Read excerpts from letters by George Washington about the United States in its infancy and compare conditions Washington describes with recent conditions, based on current census data (provided); Compose a modern-day reply to one of Washington's letters, based on current census data (provided). Design brochures to promote selected agriculture commodities. Design surveys and use US Postal Service, email and social media to correspond with students in other parts of the country and compare modes of modern communication; Graph census data and find measures of central tendency.
Don't Fence Me In
Students learn the history of barbed wire and its impact on the development of the west and practice identifying geometric terms using examples of some common styles of barbed wire.
Extending the Knowledge
Students read about the history of land-grant universities and the Cooperative Extension Service, work in groups to find the main idea and supporting details and answer comprehension questions. As a class students make a timeline of the events leading up to the land-grant and Extension system of today. Students research to find information about specific land-grant universities and locatethem on a map of the US.
The Fair Starts With Agriculture
Students will read about the history of county and state fairs in the US, Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma. Students will answer comprehension questions about the reading. Students will develop time lines of the history of fairs. Students will develop fair entries for judging.
Food for Keeps
Students explore food preservation methods and make beef jerky.
From Shelter to Playing Fields: Oklahoma Sod
Students will read about the importance of sod in Oklahoma history and as an Oklahoma-grown product in today's economy. Students will complete math problems related to sod. Students will conduct experiments with a purchased roll of sod. Students will conduct an experiment to demonstrate the usefulness of sod in preventing soil erosion.
Garden Guard
Students will work in small groups or individually to create scarecrows, write brief descriptions about them and display them in a class scarecrow show.
George Washington on the Farm
Students learn about George Washington's contributions to American agriculture.
Get the Point
Students will read about longhorn cattle and answer comprehension questions. Students will measure the spans of longhorn horns from pictures included with this lesson and convert the measurements. Students will answer questions from a chart about numbers of cattle driven to market between 1867 and 1881 and graph the information.
Goodness, Grady!
Students read the true story of Grady, the famous silo cow from Yukon, Oklahoma. Students engineer a way to rescue Grady from the silo. Students use creative writing to explain how they would rescue Grady.
Head, Heart, Hands, Health
Students learn the history of 4-H, one of the oldest youth organizations, and use the information to compare and contrast other historical events.
The History of Ethanol in America
Students will explore the production of biofuels from the 1850s to the present.
The History of Irrigation on the Great Plains
Students examine the history of irrigation on the Great Plains, create a timeline to organize the information and research to learn about irrigation around the world.
Hit the Trail
Student draw three cattle trails that passed through Indian Territory, using a written description of the trails.
Hoboes on Harvest
Students read about the role Oklahoma's wheat fields played in the history of labor movements in the US.
A Hundred Bales of Hay
Students practice patterns on a hundreds chart while learning about hay production, past and present.
An International Menu
Students use dictionaries to research etymologies and explore the diverse origins of common foods we eat.
Just Lookin' for a Home
Students will learn a song about the boll weevil and use it to understand the impact agriculture has on a community and its economy.
Red Dirt Groundbreakers: Lucille Mulhall
Students read about Lucille Mulhall, a famous Oklahoma cowgirl, and participate in activities to strengthen comprehension and vocabulary.
Make Mine Turkey
Students learn to interpret data in grocery advertisements and compute costs by creating a menu and computing the cost of a turkey dinner.
Red Dirt Groundbreaker: Mr. Goldman's Good Idea
Students read about the invention of the shopping cart and identify major elements of the story's structure.
Next Year's Seeds
The student will play a game demonstrating variables that affect the food supply.
Pancakes, Please (Grades 3-5)
Students will read about Pancake Tuesday, summarize the reading page, research pancakes from other countries and cultures and participate in a pancake race. Students conduct experiments, solve math problems and conduct research related to pancakes. Students will perform hands-on activities to understand how leavening agents work in a chemical reaction to make pancakes.
- Smart Board Activity: Poetry (Need help?)Please be patient with us as we learn how to use this new technology.
You must have Smart Notebook software installed on your computer to open Smart Board activities. If you have Smart Notebook software and are using Internet Explorer, you may get a message telling you the activity cannot be opened. In this event, save the activity to your hard drive. Your browser will save it as a zip file. Simply change the "zip" in the file name to "notebook," and you should be able to open it.
Thank you for your patience.
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Pancakes, Please (Grades 6-12)
Students will read about Pancake Tuesday, conduct further research and write a short play about the event for Pre-K - 2nd grade students and organize a pancake race for those students. Students will learn about pancakes in other cultures and choose one pancake and culture for in-depth research. Students will perform hands-on activities to understand chemical reactions with leavening agents which produce carbon dioxide in baked foods. Students will extract yeast from common foods. Students will apply mathematical principles to increase and decrease a recipe to produce the number of servings needed.
- Smart Board Activity: Poetry (Need help?)Please be patient with us as we learn how to use this new technology.
You must have Smart Notebook software installed on your computer to open Smart Board activities. If you have Smart Notebook software and are using Internet Explorer, you may get a message telling you the activity cannot be opened. In this event, save the activity to your hard drive. Your browser will save it as a zip file. Simply change the "zip" in the file name to "notebook," and you should be able to open it.
Thank you for your patience.
Smart Board Acitivity page
The Peanut Wizard
The student will read information about George Washington Carver and outline the information.
Piece by Piece
The student will use geometric shapes made from construction paper to create an original quilt block, then write a brief history of the creation.
Plows on the Hunting Grounds: The Indian Allotment Act of 1887
Students read about the Indian Allotment Act of 1887 and discuss its impact on Oklahoma's Native American tribes and agriculture. Students interpret a map of Indian lands in Indian Territory in 1889.
Potawatomi Farming
Students will read about early farming among the Potawatomi people and compare two stories about maple syrup. Students will learn that maple syrup is not sweet when it comes from the tree and conduct an experiment to find what percentage of sugar makes a substance taste sweet. Students will evaporate sugar water to demonstrate how the sap from a maple tree can become sugar.
Red Dirt Groundbreakers
Short bios of some groundbreakers in the history of Oklahoma agriculture with activites.
Spiro Farming: Corn, Squash and Beans Build a Mighty Trade Center
Students will read about farming practices among the people who populated the area around Spiro Mounds. Students will research to learn more about Spiro culture and other prehistoric farming cultures in Oklahoma. Students will identify the region in the US occupied by Mississippian culture. Students will trace the trade route along rivers and tributaries that joined Spiro with Mississippian ceremonial centers back east. Students will design experiments to demonstrate how agriculture might have started.
Surveying: 19 Chains and 50 Links
Students use geometric skills to practice the art of surveying.
Territorial Children
Students explore the geography of Indian Territory, learn about the lives of children in during that time period, make butter, make a rag doll and play historical games played by pioneer children and America Indian children.
Thanksgiving: Celebrating the Harvest
Students learn about the thanksgiving celebrations of various North American tribes and compare myth and fact regarding Thanksgiving.
Thomas Jefferson's Useful Plants
Students will read about Thomas Jefferson's efforts to find plants that would grow well in the new country. Students will taste and research unfamiliar fruits and vegetables, learn about Jefferson's instructions to Lewis and Clark and follow some of his instructions to explore a defined local area, experience successes and failures by growing a variety of plants from seed, discuss the pros and cons of introducing new plants to an ecosystem.
Time Line of the Land
Students construct time lines, using historical facts about the development of agriculture.