Materials

Materials in your packet may be reused for multiple units and activities.
*Indicates materials are included in the packet.

• “We Grow Corn: Seasons on a Kansas Family Farm” Book*
• Products made with corn (pages S1-2)*
• Pictures of “No Corn”/ pictures of “Corn” (pages S3-S4)*
• Full grown corn stalk with at least one ear of corn (best done in the fall, reach out to a farmer to get a
  corn plant)
• Planting containers*
• Soil wafers*
• Growth Chart (page S5)*
• Construction paper
• Spray bottle*
• How Does Corn Grow? Sequence sheet (page S6)*
• “Could it be Corn” Mystery of Corn Reader (need to subscribe)

Lesson 1: Why is Corn Important to Me?  (30 minutes)

Key question

• Why do we need farmers to grow corn?

Learning Objectives

• The learner will propose an answer to the question, “Why do we need farmers to grow corn?”
• The learner will provide evidence that many everyday products are made from corn.

Materials

• Book: “We Grow Corn: Raising Corn on a Kansas Family Farm”
• A variety of products made with corn (page S1-2)
• Pictures of “No Corn”/ pictures of “Corn” (page S3-4)

Note: If a product cannot be found in the store or you do not have it at home, photos of all corn-derived products listed in this unit can be found with the electronic version of this guide at www.kansascornstem.com

Guided Teaching
Guided Questions

Introduce the topic and assess your child’s prior knowledge with the following questions:

• “Who knows what corn is?”
• “How would you describe corn?”
• “Where do we find corn?”
• “How do you know it’s corn?”
• “Why do farmers grow corn?”

Read Aloud

Read the book, We Grow Corn: Raising Corn on a Kansas Family Farm. If you read this book when you taught Unit 1, then you can just review the pages as you go through the book.

• Make sure to go over the vocabulary.

Discussion

Discuss that corn grows in Kansas and it is all around them.

• “Do you know what products corn is used to make?”
  (Let your child discuss without cueing them as to whether they are right or wrong. Ask them how they could find out, how they could find evidence.)

Game

Play a game with the products that contain corn. (As mentioned above you can use the products listed on page S1-2 OR you can use the online pictures.)

• Set up 2 places in your home with the pictures of “no corn” and “corn”, these will be used as stations. You will show your child one product at a time and ask if they think it contains corn. If no, your child will go to the “no corn” sign. If yes, they should go to the “corn” sign.
• Go through all the products that you have.

Reveal the answers and discuss

After you have gone through all the products, discuss that all the products you talked about contain corn!
Use the following prompts:

• “Can you find the word ‘corn’ on the list of ingredients?”
• “Are you surprised that so many of our everyday products use corn?”
• “What do you think about so many products containing corn?”
• “Is it important that our farmers grow corn? Why?”
• “What do you think would happen if farmers could not grow corn?”

Conclusion

• “You discovered how important corn is to our lives and that Kansas farmers grow corn. We will continue to learn more about corn. Until then, be on the lookout for corn in your world! Is it in the products you use? Is it growing in a nearby field?”

Early Elementary Activity
Science Activity

• Take some time to look through other products that are in your kitchen. Reading the label, look for the word corn, cornstarch or corn syrup. Can you find more products that are made of corn?

Writing Activity

• Think back to the game we played where you had to decide if the product had corn in it or not. Write about one of the products and if you guessed correctly. Why was it easy or not easy to guess the correct answer? Write a couple of sentences about how the game went.

Upper Elementary Activity
Science Activity

• Take some time to look through other products that are in your kitchen, bathroom and even in the garage. Reading the labels, look for the word corn, cornstarch or corn syrup. Can you find more products that are made of corn?
• Hand out the “Could it be Corn” Mystery of Corn reader to learn more about how corn is used.

Writing Activity

• Think back to the game we played where you had to decide if the product had corn in it or not. Write about your experience during this game. What products were easy to figure out they had corn in them? What products surprised you that had corn? Encourage your child to write between 3-5 sentences about their experience.
• Hand out the “Could it be Corn” Mystery of Corn reader to learn more about how corn is used.

Lesson 2: Where is the Corn Seed?

(30 – 40 minutes, with follow-up observations and 15-20 minute discussion in 7-10 days)

Key Question

How does corn grow?

Learning Objectives

• The learner will propose an answer to the question, “Where is the seed in a corn plant?” for further exploration.
• The learner will make observations of their planting to construct an evidence-based account that corn kernels are corn seeds.

Materials

• Complete full grown corn stalks with at least one ear on each (best done in the fall, reach out to a farmer to get a corn plant)
• Planting containers
• Soil
• Growth Chart (page S5)
• Construction Paper
• Spray Bottle
• How Does Corn Grow? sequence sheet (page S6)

Guided Teaching
Introduction
Introduce the topic and activate prior knowledge. Review the importance of corn discovered in the previous lesson and introduce the question of how it grows:

• “What products did we discover are made from corn?”
• “Did you discover any other products made from corn?”
• “Is it important that our farmers grow corn? Why?”
• “How do farmers grow corn? What do they need to do?”

Exploration

• Discuss the following question:
  • “How do new corn plants grow?”
  • “How would a new plant start?”
• Pull out the complete corn stalk. (It is recommended to do this activity outside.)
• Take time to look over the whole corn stalk.
• Can any of the parts of the plant be named?
• Guide your child to think about seeds and the role that seeds play in growing new corn plants.
  • Ask your child to find the seeds in this corn stalk.
  • Then ask, “Do you think other parts of this plant would be able to grow corn?”
  • “How can we test what is a seed and what is not a seed?”

Planting

• You will be planting all the parts of the plant:
• Distribute planting containers with soil and have children plant the different parts of the corn stalk. Example: One container will have some husks, while another container will plant some silk. Ideas on what can be planted: a bit of the stalk, part of the root, some of the tassel, part of the husk, some of the leaves and some of the silk.
• Make sure at least one container has a kernel that is planted.
• Be sure to label the container with what was planted.
• Water the containers with a spray bottle.
• Put all the plants in an area to receive sunlight.

Note: Optimum planting depth of the corn kernel is 1-2 inches deep. It will take approximately 5-7 days for a shoot to be seen from the kernel.
Other parts of the corn plant can be planted 1-2 inches deep as well.

Observe

• Observe and record results over 5-10 days:
  • Have your child water the soil of all the planting containers so they stay damp with the spray bottles over the next 5-10 days.
  • Have your child observe and record which plantings sprouted new corn plants and which did not.
  • Have your child use the growth chart or journal to record the growth of their “seed” (page S5).

Analyze

Analyze findings and discuss after 7-10 days (15-20 minutes):

Draw your child’s attention to the planting containers.

• Discuss with the following or similar prompts:
  • “What parts of the corn plant were able to sprout new corn plants? The leaves? Tassels? Roots? Kernels?”
  • “How do you know?”
  • “What does this tell you about where the seeds are in the corn plant?”
  • “If you wanted to plant corn plants, what part of the plant would you plant?”
  • “What are the seeds?”
  • “What does a farmer plant in her/his field in order to grow corn?”

Conclusion
Prompt children to explain how they know the corn kernel is a seed, based on their first-hand observation (evidence). Have children complete the “How Does Corn Grow?” sequence worksheet to assess understanding of the corn life cycle.

Early Elementary Activity
Art/Science/Writing Activity

• Document their thinking: Distribute construction paper and have your child draw a picture of a corn stalk and circle where they found their proposed “seed”. This paper can be placed under their planting container or kept somewhere close to refer to as a reference. A picture can be drawn for each planting container. If your child can, have them label the parts of the corn stalk in their drawing.
• For the next 5-7 days, have your child write or draw their observations under the picture of their “seed”. Encourage your child to write a sentence about their observations. Do not forget to date it!

Writing Activity

• Write a friendly letter to Farmer Bill and let him know what you found out from your seed experiment. Which “seed” grew into a corn plant? A friendly letter contains the date, “Dear” and ends with “Sincerely”. Mail letters to: Kansas Corn STEM, 110 W. 4th Ave. P.O. Box 446, Garnett, KS 66032

Upper Elementary Activity
Art/Science/Writing Activity

• Document their thinking: Distribute construction paper and have your child draw a picture of a corn stalk and circle where they found their proposed “seed”. This paper can be placed under their planting container or kept somewhere close to refer to as a reference. A picture can be drawn for each planting container. Make sure to label the parts of the corn stalk in the drawing.
• For the next 5-7 days, have your child write or draw their observations under the picture of their “seed”. Encourage your child to write a couple of sentences about their observations. Do not forget to date it!

Writing Activity

• Write a friendly letter to Farmer Bill and let him know what you found out from your seed experiment. Which “seed” grew into a corn plant? Also, write to Bill about what corn needs to grow, soil, sun, water ect. Farmer Bill would love to hear about everything you learned from this activity. A friendly letter contains the date, “Dear” and ends with” Sincerely”. Mail letters to: Kansas Corn STEM, 110 W. 4th Ave. P.O. Box 446, Garnett, KS 66032