Wheat Week
Wheat Week is a series of five lessons, delivered over the course of one week, educating students in 4th and 5th grade about water, soil, watersheds, energy, systems, salmon and wheat, and how they impact our lives. Wheat Week is FREE and any school can request Wheat Week. Teachers are asked to plan together so each day 3-4 classrooms can receive the daily one-hour lesson. All Wheat Week lessons are aligned with Washington State Science Learning Standards. Each lesson takes approximately one hour each day.
Wheat Week Lessons
Day 1: Water in our World
Explore the water cycle, including precipitation, evaporation, condensation, and collection through classroom participation. Students create their own wheat terrariums to model the water cycle.
Day 2: 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 3: There's a Wheatshed in my Watershed
Discover what a watershed is and how we affect the watershed we live in. Students create individual paper watersheds and learn about the impacts of land planning, pollutants, and floods. Students compare a watershed to a wheatshed while discovering the important role the rivers plays in both.
Day 4: Wheat Here, Wheat There
Discover the importance of renewable and non-renewable energy. Learn about solar, wind and hydroelectric power. Students learn about the role dams play in transportation and salmon migration as they demonstrate how hydropower works.
Day 5: Wheat We Eat
Explore the wheat plant as a system of parts. Discuss implication of inputs and outputs to the system and how that affects the plant. Students examine a wheat kernel under magnification and explore products made from wheat. This lesson ends the week with a tasty snack from wheat products.
Wheat Week Educators
Wheat Week is available to any school in Washington. Please contact the Wheat Week Educator nearest you to schedule an exciting week of learning, a week of fun...a Wheat Week.
