Students will gain a deeper understanding for growing strawberries through the application of force and motion, inherited traits, weather patterns, changes of matter and interdependence of organisms.
Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies
Accelerate: to move more quickly, to increase in speed.
Balanced forces: two individual forces of equal magnitude and opposite direction. For example: A book sitting on a table. The table pushes up on the book as gravity pulls down on the book, holding it in place. Forces are balanced.
Celsius: a scale of temperature whereas water freezes at 0 degrees and boils at 100 degrees.
Community: a group of people living in the same place or having characteristics in common.
Commensalism: as association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other is neither benefited nor harmed.
Consumer: a person who purchases goods and services.
Daughter plant: a plant that is naturally reproduced through the mother plant.
DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material, which is present in nearly all living organisms as the carrier of genetic information.
Dominant: influential or prominent.
Ecosystem: a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
Fahrenheit: a scale of temperature whereas water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees.
Friction: the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another.
Force: strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement.
Gene: a unit of heredity that is transferred from parent to offspring and determines some characteristic of the offspring.
Gravity: the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body mass.
Heredity: the transmission of genetic characters from parents to offspring.
Hybridization: the process of plant breeding with an individual of another plant species or variety.
Inertia: a property of matter by which an object continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line.
Ingredients: any of the foods or substances that are combined to make a particular dish.
Irrigate: supply water to land or crops to aid in growth.
Life cycle: a series of changes in the life of an organism including reproduction.
Motion: the action or process of being moved.
Meter: the fundamental unit of length in the metric system, equal to 100 centimeters.
Mutualism: an association between two organisms that is beneficial to both organisms involved.
Neutralism: an association between two organisms without having an effect on the evolutionary fitness of each other.
Offspring: the descendants of a person, animal, or plant.
Parasitism: relationship between two organisms in which one benefits at the expense of the other.
Parent plant (mother plant): an organism that has produced one or more organisms similar to itself.
Plant breeders: scientists driven by the creative process of developing new plant varieties.
Plugs: small- sized seedlings grown in polystyrene or a polythene tray and removed from the tray for planting.
Precipitation: rain, snow, or hail that falls to the ground.
Predict: guessing or estimating something will happen.
Producer: a person, or country, that makes, grows, or supplies goods for sale.
Propagation: the breeding of an organism (plant) by natural processes from the parent stock.
Punnett square: a square diagram used to predict genotypes of a particular cross or breeding experiment named after Reginald C. Punnett, who invented this approach.
Rain gauge: an instrument used to measure and gather liquid precipitation over a period of time.
Reaction: an action preformed or a feeling experienced in response to a situation or event.
Recessive: relating to or denoting heritable characteristics controlled by genes that are expressed in offspring only when inherited by both parents.
Runner: a shoot or branch off of the strawberry plant often referred to as a “daughter plant.”
Speed: the rate at which someone or something is able to move or operate.
Strawberry: a sweet, soft, red fruit with a seed-studded surface.
Temperature: degree of hot or cold that can be measured by a thermometer. Temperature is measured in degrees on the Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin scales.
Traits: observable, physical characteristics obtained through genetic inheritance.
Transplanted: to be moved or transferred to another place or situation.
Velocity: the speed of something in a given direction.
Water cycle: cycle of processes where water circulates between the earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and land, involving precipitation as rain and snow, drainage in streams and rivers, and returning to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration.
Weight: the heaviness of a person or thing.
Wind: the perceptible natural movement of the air, especially in the form of a current of air blowing from a particular direction.
Strawberries are unique! Did you know strawberries are the only fruit that wear seeds on the outside? Most fruits that are categorized as “berries” contain their seeds inside the fruit; however, strawberries are not considered a true berry. Strawberries are a member of the rose family. There are several different fruits and berries that belong to the rose family including raspberries, blackberries, cherries, apples, and pears. Strawberry plants are perennials. That means if you plant one it will grow back year after year, but most strawberry farmers do not use this method. Instead they purchase strawberry plugs, which are young, small strawberry plants that are grown and then transplanted in the farmer’s strawberry patch. Strawberries are also the first fruit to ripen in the spring, and no other small fruit produces berries as soon after planting as strawberry plants.2
Strawberries have many health benefits. Listed here are a few facts to better understand their health benefits.
In North Carolina, strawberry farmers plant in the fall, around late September through early October, depending on the location. The plants are planted as transplants in rows on raised beds. The raised beds are covered with a special plastic that is typically black in color. This plastic serves as a weed barrier, increases soil warmth through insulation, holds in moisture, and provides a clean surface for strawberries to grow and ripen. Between the rows, rye grass is often planted to prevent soil erosion. Throughout the growing season, farmers watch the weather for rain and extreme temperatures that drop below freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit or lower). They irrigate the berries in dry conditions with watering systems, such as sprinklers or drip tape laid beneath the black plastic. Additionally, during winter months, with below freezing temperatures sprinkler systems are used to provide a layer of ice as a barrier for frost protection for the strawberry plants. Strawberries are typically harvested in late April through May, and can continue to June, depending on weather and location.
Did you know that if an average of 25 strawberry plants were planted, these plants and the resulting runner plants would produce 25 quarts of strawberries? Imagine nearly 6 gallons of strawberries produced from 25 plants.2 If it takes approximately 5 lbs. of strawberries to make a gallon, how many lbs. could a farmer sell from 25 strawberry plants? Answer: 30 lbs.
Before you begin identify any food allergies among the students. Provide them with a few favorite breakfast and snack foods such as a strawberry pop tart, fruit roll-up, and any other foods with strawberry as an ingredient. Allow students to conduct a taste-testing party. Ask students, “What is your favorite snack food you sampled today? What is the common feature among these different snacks?” Direct student conversations by explaining that the snack foods they sampled contain strawberries to provide a desirable flavor. Ask students the following questions:
Create a class pictograph, bar graph, or tally chart to display the information. Explain to students the next several days/weeks we are going to be learning more about strawberries and how important they are in our diet and in our community.
Standards: 5.E.1, 5.E.1.1, 5.E.1.2, 5.P.2.1, 5.NBT.7, 5.MD.B.2, W.5.2.B, W.5.7
Materials:
Essential Files/Links:
Essential Questions:
Question: What is the average temperature from your observation?
Answer: Average weekly temperature is 70 degrees.
Standards: 5.P.1, 5.P.1.1, W.5.9, SL.5.1
Essential Question: Are farmers important to our community?
After watching the videos, talk with students about key terms to describe force and motion: gravity, friction, balanced forces, force, speed, meter, motion, velocity, weight, and inertia.
Extension: Take it a step further with a review game for key terms associated with Quizlet. Link here: https://quizlet.com/12938892/force-and-motion-key-words-flash-cards/ Quizlet is easy to use, just sign-up for free to create your own or simply use as a reference tool while teaching by clicking on the link above.
Extension: To expand on student learning, allow students to play a review game to learn more about force and motion. Students can play games in groups of 2-4 students. This can be played prior to student evaluation of strawberry farming equipment.
Force & Motion Review Game see link: http://classroomgamenook.blogspot.com/2016/05/force-and-motion-freebie-game.html
Standards: 5.P.2, 5.P.2.2, 5.P.3, 5.P.3.2, 5.MD.A.1
Standards: 5.L.3, 5.L.3.1, 5.L.3.2, W.5.9 Materials:
Standards: 5.L.3, 5.L.3.1, 5.L.3.2, 5.RI.7, W.5.2.B, W.5.2.D, SL.5.1, SL.5.4
Essential Files/Links (see list on Page 1 for downloadable files):
Standards: 5.L.2.1, 5.L.2.2, 5.L.2.3, 5.G.1.3, W.5.6, 5.E.1, 5.E.1.1
Standards: SL.5.4, W.5.7, 5.L.2.1, 5.L.2.2, 5.L.2.3
https://www.ncfarmtoschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Strawberry-Ag-in-the-Classroom-3.mp4
Show Videos:
Do strawberry farmers predict weather patterns? See video link: https://www.ncfarmtoschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Strawberry-Ag-in-the-Classroom-2.mp4
How do you water your strawberries? What is the difference between drip tape and sprinkler irrigation? See video link: https://www.ncfarmtoschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Strawberry-Ag-in-the-Classroom-4.mp4
Weather is one of the most crucial uncontrollable variables for strawberry farmers’ success. Each year, they try to determine the best time to set out their plants based on predictions for the coming year. Yields and the start of harvest are affected by when they plant and how cool/warm the weather is in the fall, winter, and spring. The most sensitive period is in the spring, when plants are flowering and frosts can damage or kill the flowers, buds, and developing fruit. Growers protect their plants with overhead irrigation and/or row covers. During that vulnerable period, growers listen carefully for forecasts of a frost/freeze event in their area. Many have frost alarms that will wake them up at night when temperatures fall to a certain level, so they can start their irrigation system (which they have to do before temperatures actually reach freezing). Frost/freeze events happen every year, and strawberry growers are prepared for them. (School gardens will want to watch the weather too, and cover their plants if frost might damage them.)
Other particular weather issues for strawberries:
Farmers are essential to the needs of the community. Students should recognize that most of the food they eat was grown on a farm, processed in a factory, and sent to the store where consumers purchase it. These foods are available year-round in supermarkets and restaurants. Fresh produce is now available year-round because it comes from farms in many parts of the U.S. and from other countries, but North Carolina farmers grow lots of fruits and vegetables. The produce from local farmers is available during the part of the year when our climate allows them to be grown and harvested.
Strawberries are unique because they can be grown in different ways. Strawberries can be grown from seeds. However, strawberries are almost never grown from seeds (except perhaps for alpine types). Like most fruit crops, they are vegetatively propagated, from a plant part and not seeds. One important reason they are propagated this way is this ensures the offspring will be “true-to-type,” basically clones of the parent plants. Strawberries make this process easier than other fruits because they naturally propagate prolifically through their runners and daughter plants. Farmers and gardeners have been raising strawberries from the runners ever since strawberries were domesticated.
Strawberries are perennial plants. The same plant can survive and bear fruit many years, spreading out by adding new plants near it from its runners. This is how many home gardeners and some commercial growers, mostly in more northern areas, raise their strawberries. Among commercial growers, this practice is generally called “matted row.” Strawberry farmers in the Southeast (as well as in Florida and California) raise their strawberries as annual plants, harvesting them for only one year. North Carolina farmers set out their plants in the fall (September/October), harvest them in the spring (April-June), and then turn the plants under and start all over again the next fall with new plants. Planting on black plastic helps keep the plants growing during the winter so there can be a good harvest the following spring. These first year plants are very productive and have large fruit; those growers who choose to keep plants for a second year of harvest find that berries tend to be much smaller; in addition, plants that are carried over through the summer don’t do well with the North Carolina summer heat and are much more likely to get diseases in the heat and humidity that will affect the next summer’s crop.
Hybridization is the act of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce hybrids (a new form of species). The most common type of hybridization involves crossing two organisms of different breeds (in cultivated plants, these are called varieties or cultivars) within the same species. This is also called crossbreeding. In agriculture, it is used to create healthier crops, varieties that combine good features of the two parents or new flavors. Take strawberries for example, the modern garden strawberry, Fragara ananassa, is derived from 2 native American strawberries, the Virginia “scarlet” strawberry, and the Chilean strawberry (which is found on the Pacific Coast of Alaska to Chile). This cross between varieties created the strawberries that are now grown today. Farmers and scientists have since crossed other varieties based on certain traits to create new strawberry varieties with different desirable traits. Another example of cross-species hybridization is the tangelo, a cross between a tangerine and a pomelo. In agriculture, it is vitally important to maintain genetic diversity, and by extension, the health and longevity of a crop. Hybridization is not to be confused with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which means a foreign agent or genetics of a totally different type of organism (like genes from a bacterium into a plant) have been introduced to the original organism to produce desired results (www.wishfarms.com/genetically-modified-organisms-gmos- explained/)
Yes. Farmers have to be aware of the surroundings, organisms, environment and other factors that make up an ecosystem. Here are a few things to consider:
Agriculture and the Environment
Plant, Animals, Food, Fiber, and Energy
Food, Health, and Lifestyle
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
Culture, Society, and Geography
English/Language Arts
5.RI.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently. W.5.2.B Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic. W.5.2.D Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. W.5.6 With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting. W.5.7 Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. SL.5.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 5 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
SL.5.4 Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
Math
5.NBT.7 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths, using concrete models or drawings and strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction; relate the strategy to a written method and explain the reasoning used.
5.MD.A.1 Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems. 5.MD.B.2 Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Use operations on fractions for this grade to solve problems involving information presented in line plots. For example, given different measurements of liquid in identical beakers, find the amount of liquid each beaker would contain if the total amount in all the beakers were redistributed equally.
Science
5.L.3 Understand why organisms differ from or are similar to their parents based on the characteristics of the organism.
5.L.3.1 Explain why organisms differ from or are similar to their parents based on the characteristics of the organism.
5.L.3.2 Give examples of likenesses that are inherited and some that are not.
5.E.1 Understand weather patterns and phenomena, making connections to the weather in a particular time and place.
5.E.1.1 Compare daily and seasonal changes in weather conditions (wind speed and direction, precipitation, and temperature) and patterns.
5.E.1.2 Predict upcoming weather events from weather data collected through observation and measurements.
5.P.1 Understand force, motion and the relationship between them.
5.P.1.1 Explain how factors such as gravity, friction, and change in mass affect the motion of objects.
5.P.2 Understand the interactions of matter and energy and the changes that occur.
5.P.2.1 Explain how the sun’s energy impacts the processes of the water cycle (including, evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and runoff).
5.P.2.2 Compare the weight of an object to the sum of the weight of its parts before and after an interaction.
5.P.3 Explain how the properties of some materials change as a result of heating and cooling.
5.P.3.2 Explain how heating and cooling affect some materials and how this relates to their purpose and practical applications.
5.L.2.1 Compare characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands.
5.L.2.2 Classify the organisms within an ecosystem according to the function they serve: producer, consumers, or decomposers (biotic factors).
5.L.2.3 Infer the effects that may result from the interconnected relationship of plants and animals to their ecosystem.
Social Studies
5.G.1.3 Exemplify how technological advances (communication, transportation, and agriculture) have allowed people to overcome geographic limitations.
5.E.1 Understand how a market economy impacts life in the United States.
5.E.1.1 Summarize the role of international trade between the United States and other countries through Reconstruction.
http://www.myamericanfarm.org/classroom/games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnA67qAo09E
http://brobichaud.pbworks.com/w/page/27565767/Life Cycle of a http://www.schoolrack.com/mcisek/task/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk6rP_4wpvk
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