THE PEOPLE OF THE VALLEY
FOOD PRODUCTS FROM THE VALLEY

Grade Level:
4^th-6^th

Standards Integration:
Minnesota:
Grades 4-5: Scientific Concepts and Applications-Living and Nonliving Systems
A5. A student shall demonstrate an understanding of characteristics of the physical world.
Grades 6-8: Scientific Concepts and Applications-Physical Systems
4. Describing how a premise is supported by scientific concepts, principles, theories, or laws.

North Dakota:
Grades K-4: Social Studies: Economic Systems
4.3.1 Understand how various factors influence economic decisions.
Science: Science and Other Areas
4.7.5 Understand how culture influences the way people relate to science.
Grades 5-8: Science: History and Nature of Science
8.8.1 Understand how science is influenced by human qualities.

Materials:
Cream of Wheat; various toppings (optional); bowls and spoons; other processed foodstuffs such as raisins, yogurt, pickles, etc.

Objectives:

Students will investigate how food is harvested and processed in order to understand how food products are created from raw materials.

Background:
Like many recent modern inventions, Cream of Wheat cereal was created as the result of a fortuitous accident. Invented in Grand Forks in 1863 by Thomas Amidon, this breakfast cereal was the product of wheat that could not be saved and used by any other means. Amidon discovered that he could grind the wheat and mix it with water to form a cereal paste. George Clifford, George Bull, and Emery Mapes--the owners of Diamond Mills--used Amidon’s wheat and water combination to produce the first commercial cooked breakfast cereal produced in the Red River Valley.

Pre-Visit Activity:
Bring familiar processed foods to the classroom (e.g., raisins, pickles, yogurt, cheese). Ask the students if they know what the original state of the food items (e.g., grapes, cucumbers, milk). Discuss scientific processes for preservation and fermentation. Quiz the students to see if any of them are familiar with one wheat by-product (Cream of Wheat) invented in the Red River Valley about 130 years ago.

Post-Visit Activity
Use directions from the Kraft Foods website (http://www.kraftfoods.com) to prepare Cream of Wheat for the students to try. Suggestion: Do not make the suggested serving sizes for each student. Rather, give each student a small amount to taste. Discuss other items that may be the by-products of foods grown and/or processed in the Red River Valley (e.g., sugar from sugar beets, vegetable oil from canola).