August / September / October / November / December / January / February / March /April / May
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom
February, 2012
February 21 is Pancake Day
The small town of Olney, England has been holding a Pancake Race every year since 1445. The tradition began when a housewife was cooking the family's traditional Shrove Tuesday pancakes as the church bell summoning the townspeople to the shroving service began to ring. Read more, with lessons and activities...
National Snack Food Month.
Look for healthy snack ideas in "Food and Fun," and try this lessons:
Students experience the concepts of ratio and probability, using agricultural products that can be considered snack foods. Students analyze and record information from the class experience. (1st-6th grade math and health)
Writing Prompt: Write detailed instructions for making your favorite snack.
National Canned Foods Month
Eating healthy is a matter of choice for most of us today, but it wasn't so simple for early American colonists. We know that a healthy diet includes eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and that we can usually get some variety of these at the grocery store. But early Americans could only get fresh fruits and vegetables during the growing season. For the rest of the year they had to rely on food preservation techniques.
Explore food preservation techniques with Food for Keeps (6th-8th grade science, language arts, math, social studies) .
Bill Pickett, Bulldoggin' Cowboy
February is Black History Month
Oklahoma agriculture played an important role in the history of African Americans. Indian Territory provided a new beginning for many freed slaves, who came here to form towns and farm. Others became cowboys and joined cattle drives. Read more...
Get a head start on spring by forcing branches from a spring flowering bush or tree (flowering quince, forsythia, etc.) Read more...
February is National Lamb Lovers' Month
Sheep have grazed in Oklahoma pastures at least since statehood, and sheep and lambs ranked 16th among all Oklahoma agricultural commodities in 2010. Learn more, with lessons and other resources...
National Potato Lover's Month/ National Sweet Potato Month
Potatoes and sweet potatoes both originated in the New World, though they are not related. The leaves of sweet potatoes can be eaten by animals. The leaves of potatoes are poisonous. Read more, with lessons and activities...
Oklahoma Vegetable of the Month: Sweet Potato
Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family and native to the American tropics. They are a winter crop, so they provide fresh vegetables when many other vegetables are unavailable. Read more...
Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Cherries
Ag in Art: Chinese Plate With Cherries and Bean Pod, Giovanna Garzani, 1620
The US leads the world in sweet cherry production, producing about 370 million pounds every year. Sweet cherries are grown commercially in Washington, Oregon, California. and Michigan. Read more...
February is National Dental Health Month.
Writing Prompt: Write detailed instructions for brushing your teeth.
February 7 is the birthday of John Deere.
He created a plow from a broken piece of polished steel that made it possible for farmers to work sticky prairie soils. From his customers he learned that the cast-iron plows they brought with them from the East were unable to cope with the thicker, tackier soils of the Midwest. While plowing, farmers had to stop every few feet to scrape off the damp earth that clung to the plowshare (the cutting blade). Read more here.
The Great Backyard Bird Count: February 17-20.
Count the birds at your classroom feeder and record the results on this site.
Food Checkout Week is February 19-25.
The American Farm Bureau celebrates Food Checkout Week the third full week of February each year to celebrate the abundance of food produced by farmers in the US. Read more, with lessons and activities...
President's Day is February 20
In 1862 Abraham established the US Department of Agriculture and Presidents Washington and Jefferson were happiest conducting agricultural experiments on their farms. Learn more about the presidents and agriculture, with activities...
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.