Wheat Week
Wheat Week does not currently have educator in Whatcom County. However, any teacher can register their students for DIY Wheat Week! Hopefully in the future, we will be able to offer in-person Wheat Week again.
Wheat Week seeks to immerse students in the wonderful world of agriculture! Funded through the Washington Grain Commission this innovative program teaches students the value of agriculture and its role in maintaining soil and water health. In the past, over 15 elementary schools and approximately 1500 students are enrolled in Wheat Week in Whatcom County.
Wheat Week is a series of five lessons, 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.
DIY Online Wheat Week is a series of short (each less than five minutes) videos that presents a condensed version of Wheat Week for your students to learn on YOUR time. Students in 4th and 5th grade will receive a hands-on kit full of all the materials they will need to learn about wheat while they learn from the videos (and from you). Once you order the kits and receive them, you're ready to teach Wheat Week to your students anytime you'd like!
What local teachers are saying about Wheat Week:
“We thoroughly enjoyed Wheat Week. The kids were really excited, and amazed at the growth of their plants!” 5th grade teacher, Fisher Elementary
“Wheat Week was an incredible summary/synopsis of my entire year!” 4th grade teacher, Isom Elementary
“Wheat Week was the PERFECT complement to our science and our social studies curriculum. Also, looking at the different soils and making the terrariums helped students think of "variables," another of our science focuses.” 4th grade teacher, Isom Elementary
For more information or to enroll your class, contact Aneka Sweeney, asweeney@whatcomcd.org
Wheat Week Lesson Plan
Day 1: What is Wheat?
Students explore the wheat plant as a system of parts. Discuss implication of inputs and outputs to the system and how that affects the plant. Learn what makes wheat grow as they create their own wheat terrariums to observe throughout the week
Day 2: Water in our World
Explore the water cycle, including precipitation, evaporation, condensation and collection through classroom participation. Students model the water cycle as play a game and travel to various locations as a drop of water.
Day 3: 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 4: Does Watershed?
Discover what a watershed is and how we affect the watersheds we live in. Students create individual paper watershed models and learn about the impacts of land planning, pollutants, and stormwater.
Day 5: Wheat Energy
Discover the importance of renewable and non-renewable energy. Learn about solar, wind and hydroelectric power. Students thresh a wheat plant to discover its energy source for humans and how it is transferred to us.
