Between the Slices

Grade Level: 4-6

Approximate Length of Activity: One to two class periods

Objectives

Teacher:

1. Introduce students to products grown on a farm and explain how these products are processed into other foods.
   
2. Help students write a paragraph using transition words.
   

Students:

1. Identify products grown on a farm and how they are processed into items eaten every day.
   
2. Write a paragraph using transition words.

Introduction
Today's farmers make it possible for food processors to use quality products such as wheat, pork, and milk to produce the foods we eat and enjoy. But it takes more than the farmer to get these products to our tables. Growing and harvesting crops and raising livestock is only the beginning. It takes thousands of workers to get the agricultural products to our stores and restaurants. Agricultural workers are interdependent, meaning they rely on and support one another. Read below to find out what some products go through to get from the farm to the consumer.

Wheat - A Grain
Winter wheat and spring wheat are grown in various parts of the United States. When the wheat is ready to harvest, farmers use a giant machine called a combine to harvest it. The combine cuts the wheat stalks out of the field and separates the wheat head from the stalk. The wheat head moves into a storage tank on the combine. When the tank gets full, the farmer unloads the combine into trucks or wagons using an auger. An auger is like an arm on the combine. It pushes grain through the combine and into the truck or wagon. The farmer then takes it to the grain elevator.

From there it is shipped by truck, rail, or barge to a terminal, where it is exported or sold to various industries which make feed or food. The place where wheat is shipped to make food is called a mill. The mill breaks the wheat kernels into pieces and sifts the pieces to get the bran and germ (parts of the wheat kernel) out. This is repeated many times to make the substance we know as flour. The miller then adds B-vitamins and iron for nutrients. The flour is shipped in bags to the bakery or grocery store. Bakers use wheat flour because it contains a protein called gluten. To make the dough, active yeast, warm water, and oil are added to the flour. The gluten traps the air bubbles the yeast releases and causes the dough to rise.

Cheese - A Dairy Product
Cheese is a healthy, tasty food that is made from milk. Dairy cows are milked using a milking machine that pumps the milk from the cows into huge storage tanks. These storage tanks cool the milk until refrigerated tank trucks come to pick it up. To begin making milk into cheese, the milk is first heated and quickly cooled. This is called pasteurizing. Pasteurizing is a process that kills any harmful bacteria. The processed milk is then treated to form a soft, custard-like substance called curd. The curd contains a liquid called whey, which must be taken out through a special process before cheese can be made. Special knives cut the curd into thousands of small cubes, and the whey oozes from them. Heating and motion force more whey from the curd. The curd "ball" is then lifted from the vat. The "ball" is broken up into small pieces and put into presses that keep the cheese under great pressure from a few hours to a few days. During pressing, more whey drains out, and the curd is shaped into blocks or wheels. After it is pressed, it is immediately wrapped in plastic. The cheese is then aged in cool storage rooms. The aging times vary for different cheese. Brick cheese and others need two months to age while Parmesan cheese requires about a year. After being aged, the cheese is packaged in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Bologna and Ham - Pork Products
Pigs go to market when they are five to six months old and weigh 240-260 pounds. Pigs may be sold at an auction market, sale barn, or may be bought directly by an order buyer who buys for a packer. Meat inspectors employed by the United States Department of Agriculture inspect live pigs, pig carcasses, and the entire packing plant to make sure that pork is safe to eat. Pork is sold as fresh or processed meat. Fresh meat is sausage, pork chops, and roasts. Processed meat is salami, hot dogs, pepperoni, bologna, and luncheon ham. Processed meats are cured with salt and then smoked, baked, or dried. About half of the pork produced in the United States in sold in supermarkets. The other half is eaten at restaurants, hospitals, schools, and business cafeterias.

Materials Needed

• "Between the Slices Kids' Facts" worksheet
  
• "Vocabulary Match-Up" worksheet
  
• "Secret Sandwiches" worksheet
  
• Items for making sandwiches (break, mayonnaise, mustard, lunch meat, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.) (optional)
  
• Plastic knives (optional)
  
• Napkins (optional)
  

Activity Outline

1. Ask the students if they know how the food grown and raised on a farm gets to them. Using the introductory information, help the students understand the processes that food goes through.
   
2. Read the "Between the Slice Kids' Facts" worksheet with the class.
   
3. Discuss how food processing is the changing or preparing of food by special treatment. Hand out the worksheet "Vocabulary Match-Up." Have the students complete the worksheet and then go over the answers with the class.
   
4. Next, have the students write a paragraph describing how to make their favorite sandwich. Remind students to use transition words in their writing such a next, first, second, and finally.
   
5. Pass out the "Secret Sandwiches" worksheet. Have the students figure out what type of sandwich each child ate.
   

Discussion Questions

1. What is food processing?
   
2. Explain how food gets from the farm to the grocery store.
   
3. How is wheat processed into flour?
   
4. How is milk taken to the dairy plant?
   
5. How is pork cured into processed meat?
   

Related Activities

1. Have student write persuasive essays or paragraphs (Example: a bologna and cheese sandwich is better than a peanut butter sandwich...)
   
2. Have students write letters inquiring about food-processing techniques. Write to ask how peanuts, fruit, or meat is processed. Think of name brand foods and write to the companies that produce them.