ABOUT YOUR AGMAG
The AgMag is a great supplement to your social studies, science, or language arts curriculum. You’ll get two issues per school year: October (Fall) and March (Spring).
AgMag 2 Spring Issue Theme: Agriculture, the Land, and You!
- Agriculture: Every Day, Every Way!
- Super Soybeans & King Corn
- Meet Lincoln & Elsie!
- Talking Corn & Soybeans
- Meet the Black Elk Family
Integration Ideas
Science
- Use pages 2-3 to trace the path from seed to product. Ask: What conditions (care, temperature, rainfall) help plants grow?
- On page 5, compare the Weather Stats for the U.S., China, Brazil, and Argentina. Discuss why those places are top producers.
- Create a class chart comparing average temperatures and rainfall from page 5. Have students predict which climates are best for corn and soybeans.
English Language Arts
- Have students practice asking and answering who, what, where, when, why, and how questions from each section.
- Encourage students to write a short paragraph: “How does a seed turn into something I use every day?”
- Introduce new vocabulary before reading (harvest, processing, climate, resources) and reinforce through sentence building or word art.
Glossary
Some words in your AgMag may be unfamiliar to your students. Many are defined in the articles. There is also a glossary on the AgMag website. Words you might wish to pre-teach are:
AGRICULTURE: Growing plants and raising animals that people use for food, clothing, and many other things every day. It’s also harvesting those farm products and getting them to us so we can use them. Agriculture is the industry that grows, harvests, processes, and brings us food, fiber, fish, forests, sod, landscaping materials, and more. It uses soil, water, sun, and air to produce its products. The process starts on farms, orchards, gardens, and ranches with the growing and the harvesting of crops and livestock, then moves to processing plants before finally traveling as finished products to stores, farm markets, lumberyards, greenhouses, and more where consumers buy the products. Agriculture is connected in some way with almost everything we eat, wear, and use.
Quote from an Unknown Source: “Agriculture is not simply farming. It’s the supermarket, the equipment factory, the trucking system, the overseas shipping industry, the scientist’s laboratory, the houses we live in, and much more. It has an effect on the air we breathe, the ground we walk on, the water we drink, and the food we eat.”
CASH CROPS: Crops grown by farmers not to be consumed by those farmers, but sold for money.
CROPS: Plants which are grown and harvested to feed people and animals or to make other things people need.
DISTRIBUTION: Delivering things from a processor or factory to a store or business.
FARM: Areas of land where plants and animals are grown or raised for food, clothing, and more.
FARMER: A person who lives and works on a farm (also called producers). Farming is a career; farmers make money by selling their farm products.
FARM (Agriculture) PRODUCTS: Animals or plants raised on farms, or products made from them. Raw materials often must be changed (processed) to be of use. Example: Sheep are sheared to produce wool, but a hunk of raw wool has no practical purpose to someone who needs clothes. The wool is cleaned and processed into yarn, fabric, and eventually clothing, which are woolen products people can use.
HARVESTING: Gathering ripe crops from the field.
HUMAN RESOURCES: The people needed to run a business. For food products, this includes farmers.
NATURAL RESOURCES: Raw materials needed to create products. For food, that includes seeds, soil, water, and sunlight.
PROCESSING: Taking raw produce (example: potato) and changing it into something else (potato chips).
STORAGE: Putting things in a place while they’re not being used.
TRANSPORTATION: Taking people or things and moving them from one place to another.
Turtle Island: Name for the continent of North America for most Indigenous people.
Full Glossary Available at www.mnagmag.org/ag-terms-glossary.
Minnesota Academic Standards Connection
| Subject | Standard Code | Benchmark |
| Science | 2E.4.2.1.2 | Obtain and use information from multiple sources, including electronic sources, to describe climates in different regions of the world. |
| Social Studies | 2.5.25.2 | Explore the importance of first peoples’/Indigenous peoples’ interactions to land, water and the nonhuman world. |
| English Language Arts | 2.2.1.1 | Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why and how, to demonstration understanding of key details in a text. |
AGMAG COVER: AGRICULTURE: EVERY DAY, EVERY WAY!
(See Agriculture in the Glossary. The goal of this page is to guide students to think about how farmers and consumers are interdependent, as well as beginning the discussion of the growing, harvesting, and processing processes that will be more fully developed on pages 2-3.)
Discussion Prompters
- What makes “Agriculture, the Land, and You” a good title for this page? (Each of the products mentioned in the article and many shown in the photos started out with a connection to the land, the soil. They end up being used by people.)
- What connections to agriculture do you see in these photos? (All of the photos show items from agriculture, and all are grown in Minnesota)
- Minnesota has a large agricultural industry. Tell students how farmers here grow everything from plants to livestock to dairy animals to landscaping materials.
Minnesota Grown Activity Answers
Correct answers: Turkey and sugarbeet
Page 2-3—Super Soy and King Corn Discussion Prompters
Tell students that soybeans and corn are Minnesota’s leading cash crops (definition in the Glossary above). They have many different uses. Corn can be used to feed both farm animals and humans, and it can also be used for ethanol. Soybeans are used to make food products (such as oil, meal, and tofu) as well as biodiesel.
Planting and Harvesting
Why are soybeans and crops planted in April and May in Minnesota? (In winter, the ground is too cold. But if farmers wait too long in the spring, there may not be enough time for the plants to grow to maturity.)
Storage and Transportation
Why is it important to prevent mold and spoiling? (Those foods would be ruined, the farmers could not sell them. The farmers would lose money.)
Processing
Have the students discuss the different methods of processing. Ask them to list different kinds of foods they eat that have changed from how they came from the farm. (Corn may be canned or frozen, it may be made into tortillas or cornbread, etc.)
Distribution
Show students images of food products that contain corn and/or soybeans. Ask them to identify which ones have corn and which have soybeans.
Fun Facts
To share with your class:
- The U.S. produces nearly half of the world’s soybeans.
- Coffee cups, grocery bags, even surfboards made from corn plastic biodegrade in just a few months. The key is proper composting.
- Henry Ford once built a car from soybeans. It was so tough he could beat on it with an axe!
- Most of the corn grown in Minnesota is field corn. Its hard kernels are a main ingredient in livestock feed and industrial products. What is the sweet and tasty corn that you eat called?
- Inherited Traits in the Living Corn Necklace – (https://minnesota.agclassroom.org/matrix/lessons/219/)
- Bean Seed Cycle – (https://minnesota.agclassroom.org/matrix/lessons/79/)
Page 4: MEET LINCOLN & ELSIE!
Discussion Prompters
- What types of animals live on Lincoln and Elsie’s farms?
- How do their families use corn and soybeans to feed animals?
- What chores do you think they help with on their farms?
Answers:
- beef cows, chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigs, cats, and dogs
- raising corn plants for corn silage, raising corn and soybeans for livestock feed
- feeding animals, driving tractor (with an adult), collecting eggs
Activity Ideas: Farm Jobs Match
List jobs that Lincoln and Elsie do. (feeding animals, driving tractors, collecting eggs). Have students match each job to a tool or machine that helps get it done.
Example: Collecting eggs → basket, Feeding animals → scoop or pail.
Page 5: TALKING CORN AND SOYBEANS DISCUSSION PROMPTERS:
Discussion Prompts
1.What four countries grow the most corn and soybeans?
The AgMag lists the United States, Brazil, China, and Argentina as the top producers. These countries all have warm growing seasons with enough sunlight and rainfall to support crops.
2.How are the climates in these countries similar or different?
All four countries have warm temperatures during the months when corn and soybeans grow. They also receive enough rainfall for the plants to thrive, although the amount varies. Brazil is the warmest and wettest, while Argentina is warm but drier. The United States and China have warm summers and colder winters. These similarities and differences affect how long crops can grow and how much farmers can harvest.
3.Why do warm, wet places sometimes grow more than one crop each year?
Warm temperatures and plentiful rainfall mean plants can grow for more months of the year. In places like Brazil, the growing season is long enough for farmers to harvest one crop and plant another right away. This is called “double cropping,” and it is possible because the climate allows crops to grow quickly and continuously.
The following websites may be useful to use in conjunction with the climate discussion.
- Kids Guide to Climate Change: https://science.nasa.gov/kids/earth/a-guide-to-climate-change/
- What is Climate Change: https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/geography/general-geography/what-is-climate-change/
- Climate Basics for Kids: https://www.c2es.org/content/climate-basics-for-kids/
Additional Activity:
Use crop growth timelines to practice addition and subtraction (e.g., if corn is planted in April and harvested in October, how many months does it grow?).
Activity Idea: Climate Comparison Chart
Students fill in a chart using the Weather Stats from page 5:
| COUNTRY | AVG. TEMP (°F) | AVG. RAIN (INCHES) |
| United States | 55°F | 30in. |
| China | 58°F | 27 in. |
| Brazil | 77°F | 67 in. |
| Argentina | 64°F | 20 in. |
Ask: Which country is warmest? Wettest? How does this affect farming?
Extension
Use a classroom map to mark these countries with corn 🌽 and soybean 🌱 icons. Then research one country using a kid-friendly website (e.g., Climate.gov, National Geographic Kids and NASA Climate Kids) to compare its weather to Minnesota’s.
Page 6: MEET THE BLACK ELK FAMILY
Discussion Prompts
How does the Black Elk family care for the land and water?
Students may notice from the article that the Black Elk family:
- grows and gathers food responsibly from their land
- hunts and fishes only what they needs
- treats plants, animals, water, and soil with respect, like family
- uses traditional indigenous food practices that protect natural resources
- teaches their children to take care of the Earth every day
Teaching Summary
Being thankful helps students understand that food is a gift from the land and from the people who grow, gather, and prepare it. It encourages respect, reduces waste, and builds appreciation for agriculture and nature.
What are some ways you can care for the Earth where you live?
Possible student examples include:
- picking up litter
- recycling or reusing items
- turning off lights and saving water
- planting flowers, trees, or a garden
- respecting plants and animals
- not wasting food
- helping keep parks, gardens, and yards clean
Teacher Summary:
Kids can take care of the Earth by making small choices every day, such as saving water, reducing waste, recycling, protecting plants and animals, and keeping outdoor spaces clean. These actions connect directly to how families like the Black Elks care for the land.
Activity Idea: My Earth Promise
Students draw or write one way they can take care of the land, water, plants, or animals in their community. Display their promises in a classroom “Garden of Care.”
Extension: The Three Sisters
Introduce students to a farming tradition that began centuries ago and is still used today by many Native communities: The Three Sisters.
Corn, beans, and squash are planted together so they help each other grow:
- Corn provides a stalk for beans to climb.
- Beans add nutrients to the soil.
- Squash spreads wide leaves that keep the ground cool and moist.
Explore the Three Sisters Garden Lesson: https://minnesota.agclassroom.org/matrix/lessons/297/
Started in 1985, the Minnesota Agriculture in the Classroom program (MAITC) is a unique public and private partnership between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the MAITC Foundation. The program’s goal is to advance agricultural literacy for all learners, especially K–12 students and educators. MAITC’s mission is to promote understanding and awareness of the importance of agriculture.
