AGRICULTURE
PRODUCTS

Grade Level:
4^th-8^th

Standards Integration:
Minnesota:
Grades 4-5: Write and Speak-Speaking
Using visuals or manipulatives to illustrate ideas.
Social Studies: Geography and Citizenship
4a. Describing how local resources and products are used in the region or the world.
Grades 6-8: Social Studies-History and Citizenship
4. Describing how citizens contribute to a changing community through participation. Economics and Business-Informed Consumerism
4. Evaluating the quality of products or services.

North Dakota:
Grades K-4: Science: Science and other Areas
4.7.3 Understand how different types of resources affect our lives.
Grades 5-8: Library/Technology Literacy
8.1.3 Identify and access appropriate resources.
Language Arts: Students engage in speaking and listening process.
6.8.3 Select materials for communicating.

Materials:
Internet
(optional) Products or by-products for students to “sell” (see post-visit activity)

Objectives

In order to learn about agricultural products produced in the Red River Valley, students will research individual products through the Internet, books, and interviews.

Background:
The richness of the soil of the Red River Valley yields some of the most sought after products in the world. A diverse number of crops have been, and continue to be produced here, with this region producing most of the world’s wheat supply. Few understand the variety and importance of all of these products.

Pre-Visit Activity
Ask the students to come up with a list of products made in the area. You may have to get them thinking by using by-products of these crops (such as Dakota Growers Pasta) Ask the students how dependent they feel the world is on these crops. Next, relate statistics from the websites, (www.mda.state.mn.us/maitc/agprofile.pdf for Minnesota; www.agdepartment.com/PDFFiles/agbrochure2002.pdf for North Dakota), about the importance of these crops globally. Have the students form groups or work individually (depending on class size) to learn about these products. Through research on the Internet, in text, and through interviews the students should learn the following information:

	What the product is used for
	How and when it is grown
	Who buys this product
	How it is harvested
	The benefits of this product to the local economy

Post-Visit Activity
Allow the students to try and “sell” their products to the class in the form of a presentation. Each student or group of students should cover the five areas listed above in order to successfully sell their product, as well as come up with a clever way to market the product with a visual.