| SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE/LANGUAGE
ARTS (
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Objective Materials Lesson
Introduction Lesson Text Instructions
OBJECTIVE
Students will learn about growing, harvesting and marketing
blueberries
MATERIALS
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Photo story can be viewed by students directly on computer
or photos can be mounted on poster board for classroom discussion.
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Word Search downloaded and duplicated, one for
each student |
LESSON
INTRODUCTION
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On what kinds
of plants do fruits grow? (trees, bushes, vines)
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Can you name
some fruits that grow on trees, on bushes, on vines?
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On what kind
of plants do blueberries grow?
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What do fruit
trees, bushes and vines need to grow? (water, sunshine, soil, fertilizer
etc.) |
LESSON TEXT:
Blueberry Botany Brush-up for the Teacher
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Cultivated
blueberries grow best in cool climates where there's plenty of water
and the soil is slightly acid. The bushes can grow as high as 12
feet tall. |
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Each year,
when the days get longer and the air gets warmer, it's a signal
for the blueberry bushes, which are dormant (sleeping) throughout
the winter months, to begin to grow new leaves. In a little while,
buds form and then burst into pretty white blossoms. |
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Bees are needed
to pollinate the blossoms. Each blossom produces one blueberry.
If you look at a blueberry, you can see the star-shaped calyx where
the blossom once grew. It takes about 6 weeks from the time a blossom
appears to the time a ripe blueberry forms |
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Just as the
blossoms on a blueberry bush open at different times over a period
of a few weeks, the blueberries do not ripen all at once. That is
why the bushes are harvested several times. |
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About one half
of the cultivated blueberries grown in the U.S and Canada are sold
fresh. The rest are frozen, dried, canned or processed in other
ways to be used in food manufacturing. Another variety called lowbush
or wild blueberries are grown in Maine and some provinces in Canada
and are used almost exclusively in food manufacturing |
INSTRUCTIONS
Students can follow the photo story of blueberries on the screen, clicking each small
photo as they go to get a larger version.
The word search reinforces
vocabulary and concepts. |
