Appalachian Bakers Find Flavor, Community in Locally Stone-milled Flour
Lesson created by Dancey Howes,Webster County and Deanna Cunningham, Jackson County
Objective- Students will be able to apply their knowledge of how plants are stone-milled into flour as they use their hands, rocks and grains to produce flour. Students will also video themselves during this process to reflect their learning.
Standards-
SC.O.K.2.02 Observe and describe the movement, growth and changes in plants and animals.
SC.O.1.1.06 Collect, record and compare information using a variety of classification systems (e.g., ordering, sorting, or sequencing) and using a variety of communication techniques (e.g., sketches, pictographs, or models).
Grade Level Strands- K-1
Length- 2 days
BIG Idea - Students will understand that flour comes from a plant. They will use rocks and grain to produce flour.
Lesson Summary
This lesson incorporates the Folkways’ recording that highlights bakers who bake with flour that’s ground the old fashioned way. It comes from a local, stone-ground mill. The students, through their own exploration of using rocks and grains, will see first hand how a plant produces flour. They will share their learning experience with others by pair and sharing with another classroom to demonstrate their learning.
Teacher To-Do List & Materials
Read through entire lesson and listen to broadcast prior to students’ listening.
Materials:
2 Medium sized flat rocks per child
Wheat grains
Engage
Flour is an ingredient that is used to make many different foods.
How is flour produced?
i
Hand pie made with fresh ground flour
Explore
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains,
roots, beans, nuts or seeds.
Explore
Although usually derived from wheat, flour can also be milled from other plants including buckwheat.
Wheat Plant Buckwheat Plant
Explore
In some parts of the world this is done by grinding the grain between two stones. The stones rub together to crush the grain and produce a coarse flour. .
How does stone-milling work?
Explore
Explain
Focusing Question: As you listen, be prepared to talk about 2 things you think are interesting and 1 thing you are still curious about.
Apply
Have students explore the process of rubbing grains together between two rocks to produce flour.
Apply
Try different ways to crush the wheat into flour.
Share
Pair and share with students in another classroom to show how to grind grains into flour by using rocks and grains.
Reflect
The class will dictate a list of steps on how to make flour.
Groups of students will illustrate each step.
Extend
Grain Graph: Provide students with a variety of grains such as rice, oats, wheat, corn, and barley. Assign each small group one cup of a specific grain to explore. Have the groups weigh their grains, measure them, and describe their colors and shapes. Let each group prepare its grain and taste it. Use the information collected about the grains to create a graph of a certain characteristic.
Grain Sensory Bin: Use grains, funnels, plastic bottles, measuring spoons, and small pitchers in a bin. Estimate how long different amounts of grain will take to get through the funnels. Estimate and test how many scoops would fill up a plastic bottle. Listen to the sounds flowing through the funnels and landing back in the bin.
PBS Video: Great Ingredients| The Journey: Wheat into Flour Part 1
Extend
Read The Little Red Hen stories: Compare and contrast the different versions.
Sensory Tub: Students can pretend to plant seeds in the garden. Provide wheat grains, wheat stalks (use real or purchase stalks from a craft store), dirt, and rocks
Letter Harvest Game: Scatter alphabet letters across the grass. Two cones on opposite sides are the farmers homes. One child is the crow. The crow calls, “letter harvest” and the two players run to the field to take a letter. They have to make it back to their home before the crow tags them. If the farmer makes it home before the crow tags them, they name the letter they harvested. If they are incorrect, the alphabet letter is returned to the “field”. If the farmer is tagged, they have to put the letter back into the “field”. Play continues until all of the letters have been harvested. Variation: they can say the letter sound.
Create a food from a recipe that includes flour and explore cooking tools
Bread Tasting: Compare and contrast different kinds of grain flour then graph favorite type of bread
Take a field trip or virtual tour to a bakery, stone-ground mill, or farm. Invite a baker or farmer to your classroom.
Buckwheat Festival in Kingwood, West Virginia usually in late September
Extend
Wheat Plant Painting: As a process art activity paint with wheat stalks. Explore color, texture and creativity.
Wheat Stalk Fork Painting: Create wheat field art by dipping a fork into yellow and brown paint and placing it on paper at a slight angle to make the wheat. Then paint the ground under the wheat stalks.
Game: tune of “Farmer in the Dell”
The farmer plants the seeds, the farmer plants the seeds, hi-ho the derry-o, the farmer plants the seeds.
The sun begins to shine, the sun begins to shine, hi-ho the derry-o, the sun begins to shine.
The rain begins to fall, the rain begins to fall, hi-ho the derry-o, the rain begins to fall.
The seeds begin to grow, the seeds begin to grow, hi-ho the derry-o, the seeds begin to grow.
The farmer cuts the wheat, the farmer cuts the wheat, hi-ho the derry-o, the farmer cuts the wheat.
(The children are the seeds, sun, etc. On the last verse, the seeds are all grown and the farmer cuts the wheat.
Children fall down when the farmer cuts them down. The farmer then chooses a new farmer.)
Extend
Books About Bread
Extend
Visit a stone-ground mill.
Mollohan Mill is located in Webster County.