A Lesson in Farming, Classroom to Cafeteria

Why are small-town schools teaching students to raise animals?

• It is a solution to their budget problems.

• They want to teach students to eat healthily.

• Students are asking for more hands-on learning.

• Students did not like the food being served in the cafeteria.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

A challenge facing rural schools is…

• the cost of energy

• people moving away

• students eating too much meat

• the large amount of people wanting to farm

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Nathan Williamson suggested that the school district save money by…

• purchasing beef patties from a local farmer

• hiring a veterinarian for the school's livestock

• growing vegetables in a school garden to supply the cafeteria

• creating an agricultural course that would provide enough meat to pay for itself

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1

The first herd of cattle at Hagerstown Junior-Senior High School will be…

• kept for breeding purposes

• sold to the local community

• donated to other farms in the area

• slaughtered and used to pay for more livestock

Which statement best summarizes the central idea of the text?

• Students in Hagerstown, Indiana are moving to other cities that offer a different variety

  of opportunities besides farming.

• Teachers hope that more students will become vegetarians as a result of working

  closely with cattle and seeing how they are butchered.

• Students in Hagerstown, Indiana will be raising cattle as part of a new agricultural

  science program designed in response to financial challenges.

• Teachers believe that if more students become farmers then the school district will

  save money on teachers for its agricultural science programs.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

Which detail shows that the challenges Hagerstown is having are part of a bigger pattern?

• "Starting in the next academic year, the cattle, which arrived last month and have

  names like Ground Round and Honey Bear, will be fed by students enrolled in an

  agricultural science class." (Paragraph 2)

• "The total number of farms also fell, by more than 100,000, as large food producers

  expanded and land prices rose — putting more pressure on the small family farm."

  (Paragraph 9)

• "It was Nathan Williamson, an agricultural mechanics teacher, who presented the idea

  of a cattle class to the school board last year." (Paragraph 14)

• "Students in Hagerstown shrug when asked if the class might produce more

  vegetarians than potential ranchers." (Paragraph 20)

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

What is the connection between declining student numbers in rural areas and the creation of

agricultural science programs?

• As student numbers decrease, districts lose money but creating agricultural science

  programs save districts money.

• When more students leave a rural area, it creates more opportunities for new students

  to try agricultural science.

• If students leave schools in rural areas then they need to close schools and find ways

  to educate students outdoors.

• Students are leaving rural areas to study agricultural science and rural areas are

  creating programs to draw them back.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

How do paragraphs 15-16 contribute to the development of ideas in the passage?

• They explain the effect of agricultural science on students' connection to farms and

  farming.

• They identify a problem and demonstrate how the agricultural science program is

  hoping to solve it.

• They contrast the agricultural science program in Hagerstown with other agricultural

  science programs

• They illustrate key challenges that agricultural science programs face in trying to get

  community support.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2