LESSON 1: A, B, C is for Corn!

SUBJECT: Language Arts (English)

OBJECTIVE: Students will learn that corn is in thousands of grocery store products. They can use the names of those thousands of products to play word games, and enhance their spelling or reading skills!

MEASUREMENT: Students will never walk through a grocery store again without an awareness of all the products that utilize corn.

BACKGROUND FOR TEACHERS:

It's hard to find an item in the grocery store that doesn't contain corn. If you learn to recognize corn derivatives on labels, you'll be amazed by its presence in thousands of items. For example:

• Monosodium glutamate and xanthan gum additives are made with corn.

• Instant and ready-to-eat foods use cornstarch to keep their textures during freezing, thawing and heating.

• Cornstarch is a basic ingredient for instant pie and pudding fillings.

• High fructose corn syrups add sweetness to non-diet soda pop.

• Corn syrup also can depress freezing to prevent crystal formation in ice cream.

• Corn syrup is found in salad dressing and condiments, in lunchmeat and in hot dogs.

• Paper products use raw starch in manufacturing.

• Dextrose, a corn sugar sweetener, improves the color and texture of breads.

• Dextrose is also used in vinegar and peanut butter.

• Maltodextrin made from corn syrup is sprayed on instant tea and coffee to keep the granules free flowing.

• Maltodextrin is also used in instant oatmeal and soup mixes.

• Cornstarch is used in dry cell batteries.
  
  

• Dextrins, made from starch, are used in crayons as a binder, and on match heads.

• Corn oil is used in potato chips.

• Super-absorbent cornstarch is used in some disposable diapers.

• Sorbitol, produced from the corn sugar dextrose, is used in toothpaste and shaving cream as a water-soluble bulking agent.

• An oxidized cornstarch paste is spread in a thin layer over aspirin.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES:

1. Ask students to read the story David Makes Cupcakes. Ask them to list all the ingredients in the cupcakes that were made from corn-the sprinkles, writing gel, oil, frosting, gummy worms, etc. How many of the other desserts and foods eaten at the Thanksgiving dinner do they think were made from corn or corn products?

2. The following handouts are lists of products made from corn. There is a list for each of the primary products of corn-starches, syrups, and sugars (dextrose). There are also lists for several coproducts-steepwater, gluten, germ-which are byproducts of the refining process. (For more information on corn refining and the resulting products seeUnit 9, Lesson 3.) Each list is divided into industrial uses and food, drug, or cosmetic uses. (Example 1 & 2)

Ask students to find at least one product that starts with every letter in the alphabet. For example:

• A=aspirin, B=baby food, C=chewing gum. K=ketchup.Q=Quaker brand cereal.Z=zein

• Use words from this list for a CORNY spelling test or spelling bee.

• Put some of these words on flash cards for CORNY reading practice.

• Ask students to practice using a dictionary or encyclopedia by finding these words.

• Play a CORNY memory game. The first student says, "I went to the store and bought _______________ (something made from corn that starts with the letter "a"). The second student says, "I went to the store and bought _________________ (something made from corn that starts with the letter "b") AND ________________ (the item the first student bought that begins with the letter "a"). Each student adds an item starting with the next letter in the alphabet, but must remember the items all the previous students bought.

• Ask students to find words from this list that rhyme with each other, or to think of other words that rhyme with the CORNY words.

• Students can make their own word scrambles. Use the one on worksheet 1 for an example.

• Advanced students could use these words to make a CORNY crossword puzzle. (It's easier if they use graph paper to lay out the words first, then number them, then write the clues!)

3. Ask students to search through their kitchen cupboards at home, and come back to school with a list of 5 items that contain corn. Give them extra credit if they find more than twenty items.

• You might want to have them bring an item or two to school for you to set up a CORNY STORE. Set aside a corner of your room for food and industrial products made from corn. Students could use this "store" to learn to read labels, or to practice skills relating to purchase of those products-counting money, adding up grocery bills, calculating change, as well as to learn about corn in the products they buy.

Last reviewed May 7, 2004