Ag Unit: Cotton Belt Map

When we were planning this unit out we were not going to do a map, but then Cotton's Journey came and we decided to enlarge the map from the curriculum guide and use it. 

We traced it with light pencil and drew the map while the kids sat and watched.  If you are a teacher, then you know how difficult it is getting first graders to just sit and watch something (unless of course it is a movie), but there is something about drawing in front of my class - they LOVE to watch me draw!  Even so, this was A LOT to draw and I should have broken it up into two days, but I didn't and we survived.   I wrote United States of America first and we discussed our country then I drew the outline of our country.  I then told then I was going to draw something on the map about what we have been learning - I drew the outlines of all of the states that you see below.  Then we discussed what I just drew - they finally guess it was something about cotton and I told them it was called the cotton belt and that is where cotton grows in the US.

Then, came the long part . . . I wrote in the name of each state.  This took a while!  I started with our state (California) and had them repeat after I said the state's name.  When we got to New Mexico they started talking with each other about their mom going to New Mexico and this and that - So, I challenged them to read me all the names of the states I had written.  This worked to quiet them down (they loved it) and I did this after every state I wrote.  It worked well, then I drew in our city and a compass to complete the map. 

I am glad we added the map to our unit!  Our kids have no idea what a country or a city or a state is - no matter how many times I tell them, so the more practice they get with maps the better off they will be!

What do you think?

Ag Unit: Cotton Mind Map

The next part of our ag unit is the cotton mind map.  At this point we already knew what a cotton plant looks like thanks to our cotton pictorial.  So, now we got to extend our knowledge by learning some very specific things about cotton.  The picture in the middle is the same picture from the observation walk we did the first day of the unit. 

I placed each picture on (with masking tape) and labeled it ,one at a time.  We started with the description - this was review from the cotton pictorial we had done the day before.

But, instead of just reviewing the parts of the plant, we used the cotton samples to take a really close look at each part.

They got to touch each part and feel it - some of them even smelled it. 

Then we talked about what a plant needs in their habitat - soil, water, and sunlight.  For next year, I will add a picture of the cotton belt to this section.   

There are many uses for cotton!  It was fun to talk about all the things we use cotton for.  First graders don't think about what their shirt is made out of or what farm animals eat - so, it was nice to explain a few of the things that cotton is made into. 

Then we talked about interesting facts.  These facts came from Cotton's Journey and from online. They love that a cotton bale weighs 500 pounds and talk about it all the time!

I loved doing this mind map because the kids kept going back to it in their writing and we got a lot of mileage from it.  It was time consuming to find all of the pictures online, print them, laminate them and cut them out.  But, it was time well spent! 

What do you think?  Did I miss anything in the mind map (like a square in the description)?  How would you use this in your classroom?

Ag Unit: Cotton Pictorial

The second day of our unit we drew a cotton pictorial.  My amazing partner traced an enlarged version of the cotton plant from Cotton's Journey. 

It was traced in light pencil and I went over it with markers while the kids watched.  We talked about each part and what each part does then labeled each part.  A few weeks later we added the real boll to our pictorial - just for fun!

This was their very first introduction to cotton!  This took us about 30 minutes to complete. 

Just a note for the teachers ready - we also said the chants the day we did this pictorial (and every day of our unit).