The Almond Board is helping teachers around California teach children about agriculture. Sabrina Hill has more with Rebecca Bailey, Almond Board Program Coordinator, Industry Relations.
Almond Update – Almond Curriculum
Almond Board of California (ABC) recently finalized a set of almond lesson plans with the help of California Foundation for Ag in the Classroom.
ABC began working with Ag in the Classroom about five years ago while developing previously existing pieces which include An Almond Story activity book and video. Those two pieces work hand-in-hand and are widely used and loved by many, so developing lesson plans to complement the two seemed to be a natural fit to really provide a complete tool kit for teachers to use.
The entire unit, titled California Almonds: An Almond Story, is made up of five separate lessons. And the objective is to help foster an appreciation for agriculture, specifically almonds and to increase awareness and understanding of agriculture among future generations. Students will learn about the people involved in growing almonds, development of almond trees and nuts, processing, different uses of almonds, almond history and nutritional information.
The unit is aligned to education standards for California Public schools including Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards for grades 3-5, and each lesson provides a curriculum matrix. The specific lessons titles are: Fact or Opinion, Science and Poetry with Almonds, Fun with Almond Math, Almond History and Cultural Significance, and Nutritious Almonds.
The plans are available to download on Ag in the Classroom website at LearnAboutAg.org. The activity book and video can also be found there or at Almonds.com. Anyone who would like more information can contact Rebecca Bailey at rbailey@almondboard.com.