LESSON 4:
LISTEN TO A-MAIZING STORIES
SUBJECT: Social Studies
OBJECTIVE: Students will gain insights about corn, and about the people who raise it.
EVAULATION: Students appreciate this amazing plant even more, because they have seen or heard some first-hand stories.
BACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS:
No two corn farmers are alike. The way they raise corn depends on their location in the country. That location affects the average temperature and precipitation. It affects the soil type, as well the insect and disease pressures. It affects the uses and profitability of corn.
Within a region, philosophies and management styles also differ greatly. But all farmers have a solid appreciation for what an "a-maizing" plant corn is, and they ALL have stories to tell about it!
STUDENT ACTIVITIES:
1. Ask students to read the story Claire Plays Basketball, then invite one or more corn farmers to visit your class. Ask them to bring some corn plants or kernels, and to tell stories that can "a-maize the students. If they're unable to visit the classroom, maybe they will write some memories in a letter:
- Stories of storms, insects, or other stresses on corn plants and how the plants survived, or didn't.
- Stories about the size and quick growth of corn plants, or about high and low yields.
- Stories about how corn plants have changed since they first started farming.
- Stories of what jobs they need to do when corn is at certain sizes, and how they know what to do.
2. Or read about several farm families on the Internet, and discuss what they might tell you if they were in your classroom. On the Maple Lawn Farms site, students can see an unusual Field of corn. It's planted in a maze (a-maizing!).
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