One of my favorite Ag in the Classroom lessons is
explaining to the kids how everything they eat comes from the soil. I have given it several times with our County
Conservation District. We tried to find
the original source for this lesson, but were not successful. Try this one out on your kids at supper
tonight. See if they would like to eat
soil for supper.
Hi, my name is ___________
and this presentation is called “Soil, It’s what’s for supper.” How many of you think soil sounds good for
supper?
You know what, it doesn’t
sound good to me either. But, what if I
told you everything you eat for breakfast, lunch and supper is because of
soil? Do you believe me?
MAKE A GIANT SANDWICH
Well, I’m really hungry today
so I’m going to make a Soil Sandwich.
Everything I’m going to use to make my sandwich is because of soil.
So what’s the first thing I
need to make my sandwich?
Bread. Let’s talk about bread. What is bread made from? (wheat, grains, etc) And where do wheat and other grains come
from? (plants)
What are the three things
plants need to grow? (soil, water, sunlight)
Why do plants need soil? (it’s
where they get their nutrients and water to grow and also anchors the plant)
What’s the next thing I
should add to my sandwich? How about
some turkey or ham? Doesn’t that sound
good?
Turkey lunch meat comes from turkeys, right? So how can we say this turkey lunch meat
comes from soil? Does anyone have an
idea? (turkeys eat seeds which come from
plants which grow in soil, turkeys eat insects which eat plants which grows in
soil)
What about ham? Where does ham come from? (pig/hog)
Can someone tell me how this
ham lunch meat comes from soil? (Pigs eat corn and processed soybeans to
grow. No pigs don’t eat grass.)
I think I’d like to add some
veggies to my sandwich. I’m going to add
some onion, tomato and lettuce to my sandwich.
How do all three of these veggies relate to soil? (All plants that get their nutrients and
water from soil. Did you know the bulb
of the onion actually grows underground and we have to pull or dig them up?)
Only add lettuce but show
them the onion and tomato.
I almost forgot the
cheese. What is the main ingredient in
cheese? (milk)
And where does milk come
from? (cow)
Can someone tell me how this
milk relates to soil? (Cows eat grass, corn, soybeans, and other grains. Cows can eat grass because they have 4
compartments to their stomachs that can digest the grass unlike ours and the
pig’s that only has one.)
My sandwich is almost
done. Some people like to add mustard
and mayonnaise to their sandwich. Do any
of you? Does anyone know what mustard is
made from?
What about the
mayonnaise? What is mayonnaise made out
of? Does anybody know?
Well, let’s just check on the
label of this jar and see what it says. Do you know that every ingredient in this jar
or any food in the grocery store has a list of ingredients and they are in
order by the amount that is in the jar? Hmmmm...the main ingredient is soybean
oil. Does anyone know what a soybean
is? (plant)
The next things listed are
vinegar and high fructose corn syrup.
Both of these things come from plants.
So the three main ingredients all come from....(plants).
You know what, I’m no longer
hungry.
But all that talking made me
very thirsty. What I need is water. (get
out bottled water and take a drink)
Mmmm, water is so good! How does
water relate to the soil?
Soil helps clean the water –
it removes things like fertilizers from your lawns, animal poop, and other
things we don’t want in there.
IF YOU HAVE TIME, TALK ABOUT THE PLASTIC WATER BOTTLE
What about the bottle – it’s
made from plastic. Does anyone know how
plastic is made?
Mostly plastic is made from
petroleum which is found deep underground.
It’s nonrenewable. Does anyone
know what nonrenewable means? (Can’t be
replaced/made)
So does that mean when the
world runs out of petroleum we won’t be able to make plastic anymore? Well, we could recycle but guess what! Scientists figured out that plastic can be
made from corn, wheat and other grains.
And this type of plastic is biodegradable. What does that mean?
You have been such a good
group today. I’d like to share my soil
sandwich with you. And tonight, when you
are eating supper with your parents, think about where each item of your food
came from, and remember – it’s all because of SOIL!
Cut up sandwich and share
with students. Don’t open mayo or
mustard though it takes too much time and everyone wants something different!
I have done this lesson with 2nd graders
and they really get into it. I have also
presented the same concept to Kindergarten using a package of cookies and they
really seem intrigued by all the ingredients and where they come from.
Thanks to the Wilson County Conservation District for
supplying the script to me.
-A Kansas Farm Mom
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