Brainstorming student knowledge of corn Art/PE/Music, Language Arts, Science class, individual Ask students to brainstorm what they know about corn. Ask them to list 3 or 4 things they know (ex: corn is…yellow, a vegetable, makes popcorn, etc). List items on the board. Hand out the worksheet and ask students to color and identify (orally or in writing) the different parts of an ear of corn. Making Corn Tortillas Science class Print the recipe and bring to class the ingredients needed to make tortillas. You may want to enlist the help of a Hispanic parent to help. Read the instructions to students, and have them help you measure the ingredients, and follow the recipe. You may want to ask the kitchen in advance to help with the cooking part, or do it at home and bring the finish products to class the next day for student sampling. Making patterns with corn Art/PE/Music, Math individual If available in your area’s fresh product markets, bring different kinds of corn to class (white, yellow, blue, hybrid), keeping some of the ears intact to show students the differences between them, and shucking others to make patterns with kernels. Give each student a small handful of each type of kernels, and ask them to make patterns, either following your directions, or freely. Hand out the worksheet and ask students to complete it. Decorating a jewelry box with corn patterns Art/PE/Music individual Obtain small, lidded boxes from a craft place or catalog or ask students to bring in a small, lidded box from home. Give each student a box, glue, a handful of dried kernels of corn (multicolored if available) as well as uncooked pasta and rice. Ask students to decorate a small jewelry box with corn, pasta and rice patterns. These boxes will make wonderful presents for Mother’s day! Comparing corn Math, Science class, individual Bring to class various types of corn: canned corn, popped corn, fresh kernels, and dried corn. Give each student one of each type of corn, as well as a worksheet. With the help of the class, model how to compare two kernels. Ask students to compare their respective corn kernels and record it on their worksheets in terms of Size (big, bigger, smaller, etc.) Weight (light. lighter, heavier, etc.) Appearance/aspect (dry, drier, soft, softer, coarse, shiny, dull, rounded, etc.) Color (white, whiter, yellow, darker, etc.) Weighing corn Math, Science class, individual Give each student a kernel of dried, canned, popped and fresh corn. Ask students to estimate how much a dried kernel weighs compared to a popped kernel (lighter, heavier). Have students estimate every combination of kernels. Ask a student volunteer to place a dried kernel on one plate of a mechanical scale, and to place as many popped kernels it takes on the other plate to make the scale balance, according to his (or the majority of students’) estimates. Have her/him add or remove pooped kernels to reach equilibrium. Students can keep track of the numbers on the worksheet. Repeat with other combinations of kernels. Making Arepas Science class Print the recipe and bring to class the ingredients needed to make arepas. You may want to enlist the help of a Hispanic parent to help. Read the instructions to students, and have them help you measure the ingredients, and follow the recipe. You may want to ask the kitchen in advance to help with the cooking part, or do it at home and bring the finish products to class the next day for student sampling. Making a 3-D ear of corn Art/PE/Music individual Print the pattern and make as many copies as there are students in the class. Have students cut out the pattern, and color or paint it. Model how to shape and glue the ear of corn. Circulate to provide help where needed. If time and resources permit, Make corn stalks out of rods or wood sticks (wrap them with green felt or crepe paper with cups along the side that will hold the ears of corn). Place students’ artwork in cups. Display in rows, effectively making a cornfield. Or place all the ears of corn in a basket for decoration or for role-playing. Dissecting a corn kernel Science class, individual, small groups Bring a can of corn, and give each child a kernel. Have students look at the embryo inside the kernel by holding it up to a bright light. Have them carefully tear the kernel skin to reveal what is inside, and look at it with a magnifying glass. Ask groups of students to report on their findings. Compare the corn embryo to the lima bean embryo, using a Venn diagram. Growing corn Science class, individual, small groups Obtain corn seeds from a seeds catalog, or use regular corn for popcorn. Soak the seeds overnight and plant them in soil about 3 to 4 inches deep. Space the seeds about 1 inch apart. Leave the soil container in a bright area. In about 3 weeks, a spiky seedling will start appearing. Every week carefully remove one of the plants and examine its root systems and overall development. Have groups of students or each student keep a running record of the class observations. When all the plants have been examined, have students draw the germination and growth of a corn seed. Graphing the different uses of corn Social Studies class, individual Ask students what they think corn is used for. List as many uses as the students come up with on the board. If the population in your classroom is diverse, Ask each student in turn to come to the board and place post-its next to the phrases representing the use for corn they are familiar with. Once all students have placed their post-its, creating a bar graph (histogram), chorally count the number of post-its for each identified use. If the population of your classroom is fairly homogeneous, Choose a Hispanic country where corn is grown as a staple food. Go through the list of identified uses with the class Ask students to come to the board and place post-its next to the 3 items they believe represent the main use for corn in that country. When all children have stuck their post-its, count them together. Then confirm or refute the students’ guesses, or ask them to find the answers through a book/library/web search. Identifying the places where corn grows Social Studies, Science class Using a big map of the world as a visual reference, ask students to point where they think corn is grown. Place a tack or a picture of a colored corn kernel on every country that grows corn used to feed animals. Place a different colored tack or picture of a different colored corn kernel on every country that produces corn eaten by humans. If the population in your classroom is diverse, ask each child whether corn grows where they were born, and if not, why not. Brainstorm conditions for growing corn. Brainstorming products made out of corn Science class, individual Ask students what can be made out of corn. List all the products students can think of on the board or transparency. (tortillas, arepas, chips, maizena/cornstarch, millet, corn flour, cornbread, syrup, hominy, etc.). Ask students to bring to class a product made out of corn (raw or cooked, processed or unprocessed) and to explain what the product is used for. Then have a corn eating party! Grinding corn Science class, small groups Bring a bag of corn to pop to your class, a few electric grinders and a few manual grinders. Ask students whether they know how flour is made. Explain that the class is going to make corn flour. Model how to grind the corn in the manual grinder, then in the electric grinder. Distribute a handful of kernels to each student. In small groups and under careful supervision (you might want to request that a parent or other adult help with this part of the activity), have students grind part of their kernels using the manual grinders and the remaining of their kernels in the electric grinders. Have students compare the two kinds of grind. Have students sample their flour. Collect the flour in a small open container and place it in an area where birds can have easy and safe access to it. Sharing corn stories Language Arts class Have students sit in a circle, and think about a time they ate or did something with corn (you may assign the thinking for the night before, so as not to take shy students by surprise). Ask them to try to think of a unique situation. Ask each in turn to tell their corn story. You may want to record these stories in written for the corn book and/or to record them as audio files to include on the class/teacher webpage. Ask the class to pick the story they find the most conducive to being expanded. As a class, work on the story to incorporate all the elements of a well-structured story Recall the details of the story Establish the main idea and supporting detail Establish main characters and setting Work out the plot Sequence the story (beginning, middle, end) As a class, write the story down on the board or on chart paper Ask students to individually copy the story in their notebooks or make copies of the story for students to illustrate. Making a corn cookbook Language Arts, Art/PE/Music individual, class As a student project (home) ask each student to locate a corn recipe. Ask the students to enlist the help of a relative to either read the recipe to them several times or help them read it. Then ask each student to provide a title for their recipe and illustrate its every step. Collect all illustrated recipes and bind them together in a big class cookbook. This student cookbook can also be digitalized and placed on the school’s webpage or your webpage for parents to admire. This activity can also be done as a class project. Making a corn husk doll Art/PE/Music class, individual, small group Obtain from your local fresh produce market or supermarket the husks of the corn they sell. Follow the step-by-step instructions necessary to create corn husk doll with your students given on the following webpage: http://www.michigan.gov/mikids/0,1607,7-163-15941_20571---,00.html Getting the feel for corn Science class, individual, small groups Create one mystery box for each 4 students with show boxes (cut a round or rectangular opening in one of the narrow sides, big enough to let a child’s hand go through; make sure not to cut the entire rectangle or circle, so that it acts as a flap, effectively hiding whatever object is hidden). Place an ear of corn and a handful of popped corn inside each box, and give to groups of students. Ask students to place their hands inside the mystery box and try to feel what objects are inside. Ask them not to tell what their guesses are. When all children have had a chance to feel the objects in the box, ask a volunteer to tell their guess. Once you have established that the objects are an ear of corn and popcorn, ask students to recall what they felt in the box. Students may come up with the different parts of the ear of corn (rows of kernel, husk, silk, etc), and impressions of what they felt like (hard, crisp, silky, stringy, wet, dry, etc). Record on board all students recollected impressions and sensations. Ask students to feel inside the box again, this time feeling particular areas of the ear of corn or popcorn. Again, ask them to wait until all students have had a turn feeling before telling their impressions. Note discrepancies with their recollected impressions on the board (some students’ sensations may be sharper than others; there are, therefore, no right or wrong answers). Provide students with necessary vocabulary to describe their feelings. Making a poem about corn Language Arts class, individual Brainstorm with students words that relate to corn, as well as words that they associate with corn. Write them out on the board or on a transparency, and go over them several times with the students. Ask students to orally make up a poem using two or more of these words. Record these oral poems in writing and/or on audiotape. You may also ask students to write them out if able. Include the poems on the class website or into the students’ individual folders. Making a 2-D ear of corn Science class Provide students with an ear of corn pattern or ask them to draw an ear of corn. Provide students with a ‘bank’ of fabrics and other materials (crepe paper, felt, cotton, string, silk, construction paper, etc.) Have students cut small rounded pieces for kernels, larger pieces for cornhusks, etc, out of the materials of their choice and glue them on their pattern. Hang artwork around the room, and take digital pictures for the class website. Making tamales Science class Bring to class the ingredients needed to make tamales. Information about tamales and recipes can be found at the following web address: http://gourmetsleuth.com/tamales.htm You may want to enlist the help of a Hispanic parent to help. Have students help you measure the ingredients, and follow the recipe. You may want to ask the kitchen in advance to help with the cooking part, or do it at home and bring the finish products to class the next day for student sampling. Buen Provecho! Estimating numbers of kernels and rows on an ear Math group, individual Ask students to estimate how many rows of kernels there are on an ear of corn. Give an ear of corn to each student (or group of students). With a felt-pen, ask each student (or group) to mark one kernel per row and thereby count rows on their ear. Ask students to report their findings. Compare with estimates (far from estimate, how far, how close). Create a histogram and a line graph with students’ findings. Introduce the notion of mode and median. Repeat steps 1 to 3 estimating and counting kernels on ears of corn Counting kernels Math class, individual Use dried kernels as concrete manipulatives to practice the concepts of zero; counting by twos, threes, fours, etc. Use a combination of dried kernels and popped kernels to practice subtractions, where either the dried or the popped corn is being subtracted from the total kernels. Use dried and popped kernels to practice counting by tens. Dried kernels represent units (1, 2, 3, etc.) and popped corn represent number above ten (1 popped kernel= 10 dried kernels). Give each student a fistful of dried kernels and a bunch of popped kernels. Ask them to count the dried kernels and set them on their desks in groups of ten. They must place one popped kernel underneath each set of ten dried kernels. Once they run out of dried kernels, ask them to count how many popped kernels they have, adding them ten by ten. Ask them to add to this total as many dried kernels they have that did not make it into a set of ten. Making a corn class book Language Arts class Compile all the work that the students have done on the corn unit in either an individualized paper book or a virtual book on the school/class/teacher/student website.