Wheat Week
Wheat Week Is Back In Whatcom County!
Wheat Week seeks to immerse students in the wonderful world of agriculture! Funded through the Washington Grain Commission this innovative program teaches students the value of agriculture and its role in maintaining soil and water health. In the past, over 15 elementary schools and approximately 1500 students are enrolled in Wheat Week in Whatcom County.
Wheat Week is a series of five lessons, delivered over the course of one week. These lessons are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards educating students about systems, water, soil, conservation, DNA, energy, and wheat as well as how they impact our daily lives.
DIY Online Wheat Week is a series of short (each less than five minutes) videos that presents a condensed version of Wheat Week for your students to learn on YOUR time. Students in 4th and 5th grade will receive a hands-on kit full of all the materials they will need to learn about wheat while they learn from the videos (and from you). Once you order the kits and receive them, you're ready to teach Wheat Week to your students anytime you'd like!
For more information or to enroll your class, contact Riley Gillan, riley-gillan@franklincd.org
What local teachers are saying about Wheat Week:
“We thoroughly enjoyed Wheat Week. The kids were really excited, and amazed at the growth of their plants!” 5th grade teacher, Fisher Elementary
“Wheat Week was an incredible summary/synopsis of my entire year!” 4th grade teacher, Isom Elementary
“Wheat Week was the PERFECT complement to our science and our social studies curriculum. Also, looking at the different soils and making the terrariums helped students think of "variables," another of our science focuses.” 4th grade teacher, Isom Elementary
Wheat Week Lesson Plan
Day 1: What is Wheat?
Students explore the wheat plant as a system of parts. Discuss implication of inputs and outputs to the system and how that affects the plant. Learn what makes wheat grow as they create their own wheat terrariums to observe throughout the week
Day 2: Water in our World
Explore the water cycle, including precipitation, evaporation, condensation and collection through classroom participation. Students model the water cycle as play a game and travel to various locations as a drop of water.
Day 3: Amazing Soils
Differentiate between the three soil textures (sand, silt and clay) based on particle size and permeability through a hands-on demonstration. Discover how soil is made. Discuss the properties of soil and their importance to farmers and community members.
Day 4: Wheat DNA
Students learn about the important contributions Norman Borlaug had on feeding the world in the 1970's. Students explore wheat classes, plant breeding, and DNA through a wheat germ DNA extraction.
Day 5: Wheat Energy
Discover the importance of renewable and non-renewable energy. Learn about solar, wind and hydroelectric power. Students thresh a wheat plant to discover its energy source for humans and how it is transferred to us.
