CLAIRE HAS A DREAM

FACT: 18 PERCENT OF CORN RAISED IN THE U.S. IS EXPORTED TO OTHER COUNTRIES

LESSON 1: It's a Small World (Multidisciplinary)*
LESSON 2: Export Math! (Math)*

*All Lesson plans are adaptable for ALL ages!

CLAIRE HAS A DREAM

Claire stood in front of her third grade classroom telling her story.

"I was born in Korea," she began. "My name was Hye Yung. Hye means wisdom and Yung means glory. I came to Minnesota when I was three months old."

She told them she had never seen her birth mother. But her foster mother, who had cared for her those three months, had sent her a hanbok for her first birthday. A hanbok is a centuries-old style of Korean dress. Claire's was made of red silk, and covered with beautiful designs.

She told them how her hair grew straight up into a spike when she was little, so the first words Elizabeth ever said to her as she was carried off the airplane were, "Look at my sister's hair!"

She told her class that in Korea the people eat lots of rice. She showed them some Korean writing, and she taught them to sing the "Hokey Pokey" in Korean.

Then she laid several items on a table: a pencil, a dollar bill, and some thread. She said that in Korea, a child on their first birthday is asked to choose one of those three things, and whichever one they choose will predict their future. If they pick up the pencil, they will become a scholar. If they pick up the money, they will become a businessperson. If they choose the thread they'll have a long, long life. If the 1-year old picks up two items at the same time, they will double their good fortune!

Then she told her class how it felt to be an American born in another country. She said that sometimes people made fun of the way her eyes slanted. Sometimes kids in school talked funny, making fun of the way they thought people talked in Korea. One time when Claire was shopping for a pair of cowboy boots, the owner of the store told her she didn't belong in this country, and wouldn't wait on her...

That day in school was special for Claire. Her class loved hearing about Korea, and they asked lots of questions. After school turned out to be special too. When she got off the bus, Dave was just starting to harvest the cornfield. Riding in the combine was one of her favorite things to do!

She climbed a ladder into the cab, then sat on the little seat next to Dave's. He always had a bag of candy ready for her.

The combine was Huge! When she was in it, high above the corn, she felt majestic and grand. She could see all the fields around. She could look down the rows of corn and watch them bend into the combine's path.

The front of the combine looked like a giant comb laying flat on the ground, one row of corn fitting between each of the fingers. As the "comb" pushed forward, the stalks of corn were bent and pulled into the machine. Once inside, the kernels were separated from the cob, and the leaves were sent back to the field.

The kernels were the treasure! Claire could see them pouring into the combine bin behind her seat, and could watch it filling as they drove. There were thousands and thousands of kernels, flowing like golden water! When the combine was full, the kernels were loaded into trucks that carried them away from the farm. She asked Dave where the corn went after it left the farm. He smiled and said, "Korea." Claire thought he was kidding, but that night she asked her mom, just to be sure.

"Most of the corn we raise is used to feed animals," her mom said. "Some of it is used to make ethanol gas for cars. Some is used in foods we eat every day. The rest, about 18% of the corn raised in the United States, is sent to other countries around the world."

"And yes, a lot of corn grown here is sold to Korea. Your home country is one of the United State's best customers! From our farm the corn is taken to the Mississippi River, where it's carried on barges to the Gulf of Mexico. Sometimes it travels by train to the West Coast. At the ocean ports, it's loaded into the ships that carry it to other countries. The corn from this farm will travel inside a truck, train, barge, and ship on its way around the world!"

That night Claire couldn't fall asleep. All she could think of was the corn she had helped harvest that afternoon. She wondered if it was on its way to Korea. She wished she had painted one of the kernels purple. Maybe a little girl in Korea would find it, and wonder who had painted it.

When she finally did sleep, she had a dream.

She dreamed about a great, gigantic ship crossing the ocean. On the side was written its name, the "Hye Yung." The ship was filled with corn from her farm and other farms in the United States. There was corn everywhere, filled to the top of the cargo area. The captain and crew had to sleep and eat in the engine room.Everything else was full of golden corn.

A storm came. First, it was a gentle wind, then it became wild and fierce. The Hye Yung was rocking up and down on the waves. She was creaking and groaning as she tossed on the waves.

The customers in Korea were standing on the shore, praying she would arrive safely. They needed the corn for food. The farmers in the United States were praying too. Everything depended on the strength of that ship. Could she make it through the storm?

Claire woke up then. She was scared.

But she was wiser too. She realized that everyone in the world was connected. She knew that people in Korea depended on people in the United States, and people in the United States depended on people in Korea. She felt lucky to be connected to both countries, even if sometimes it felt like she was in a storm.

And she liked the idea that corn from her farm might end up in the country where she was born.

Last reviewed May 7, 2004