Standard: Science

28 Feb 2022

Seasonal Food on the Farm

August-June

Every season is a different experience when you are on the farm!  Come explore what the current season has to offer for life here.

Ohio Science Standards:

  • K.ESS.1: Weather changes are long-term and short-term.
  • 1.LS.2: Living things survive only in environments that meet their needs.
  • 2.ESS.3: Long- and short-term weather changes occur due to changes in energy.
  • 3.LS.3: Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.
  • 4.LS.1: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.

Indiana and NGSS Standards:

  • K-PS3-1. Make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on Earth’s surface
  • 2-ESS1-1. Use information from several sources to provide evidence that Earth events can occur quickly or slowly.
  • 3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
  • MS-ESS2-6. Develop and use a model to describe how unequal heating and rotation of the Earth cause patterns of atmospheric and oceanic circulation that determine regional climates.
  • HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.

Ohio Social Studies Standards (K-8):

  • Geography – Places and Regions: A place is a location having distinctive characteristics, which give it meaning and character and distinguish it from other locations. A region is an area with one or more common characteristics, which give it a measure of homogeneity and make it different from surrounding areas. Regions and places are human constructs
  • Economics – Scarcity: There are not enough resources to produce all the goods and services that people desire
  • Economics – Production and Consumption: Production is the act of combining natural resources, human resources, capital goods and entrepreneurship to make goods and services. Consumption is the use of goods and services.

Vocabulary:

farm, weather, season, fall, winter, summer, spring, temperature

07 Feb 2022

Maple Inquiry (4th -8th)

(Jan 21 to Feb 25, 2026)

Maple sugaring is the tradition of making maple syrup from the sap gathered from maple trees in late winter. Plan to make observations, ask questions, collect data using scientific tools, and analyze the data you collect. Explore our authentic sugar bush and sugar shack as science comes to life through this hands-on, guided inquiry program. (Jan 21-Feb 26, 2026)

Ohio Science Standards:

  • SIPA Grade 3-5: Observe and ask questions about the world that can be answered through scientific investigations.
  • SWK Grade 3-5: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
  • SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a continual process and the body of scientific knowledge continues to grow and change.
  • LS Grade 4: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful.
  • LS Grade 5: Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem. All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy.
  • LS Grade 7: Energy flows and matter is transferred continuously from one organism to another and between organisms and their physical environments.

NGSS Standards:

  • 3-LS4-3 Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
  • 5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
  • 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment
  • MS-LS2-3: Develop a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of energy among living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.
  • MS – LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Ohio Social Studies Standards:

  • SS Grade 4: Geography- The economic development of the United States continues to influence and be influenced by agriculture, industry and natural resources in Ohio.
  • SS Grade 5: History- Early Indian civilizations (Maya, Inca, Aztec, Mississippian) existed in the Western Hemisphere prior to the arrival of Europeans. These civilizations had developed unique governments, social structures, religions, technologies, and agricultural practices.
  • SS Grade 6: Economics- When selecting items to buy, individuals can weigh costs and benefits and compare the price and quality of available goods and services.

Vocabulary: sugar bush, sugar shack, sap, diameter, density, xylem, phloem, glucose, hypothesis, observation, investigation, comparative question, data, analysis

Video Introduction: CLICK HERE for Maple video with a Greenacres educator

01 Mar 2021

Sustainable Agriculture (Highschool)

August-June 

On this journey, we’ll answer the question:  what exactly is sustainable agriculture?  Then, you lead the way as we go on a fictional quest to build your own sustainable farm!

Ohio Science Standards:

  • ENV.ER.1: Energy resources
  • ENV.ER.4: Soil and land
  • ENV.GP.4: Sustainability
  • ENV.GP.7: Food production and availability

Indiana and NGSS Standards:

  • HS-LS2-7. Design, evaluate, and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity.

Ohio Social Studies Standards:

  • Industrialization and Progressivism: The rise of corporations, heavy industry, mechanized farming and technological innovations transformed the American economy from an agrarian to an increasingly urban industrial society.
  • Social Transformations in the United States: Political debates focused on the extent of the role of government in the economy, environmental protection, social welfare and national security.
  • Achievements and Crises: Advances in technology, communication and transportation improved lives, but also had negative consequences.
  • Globalization: Environmental concerns, impacted by population growth and heightened by international competition for the world’s energy supplies, have resulted in a new environmental consciousness and a movement for the sustainability of the world’s resources.
  • Fundamentals of Economics: People cannot have all the goods and services they want and, as a result, must choose some things and give up others
  • Sustainability: Decisions about human activities made by individuals and societies have implications for both current and future.
  • Sustainability: Sustainability issues are interpreted and treated differently by people viewing them from various political, economic and cultural perspectives.
  • Technology: The development and use of technology influences economic, political, ethical and social issues.
  • Technology: Technologies inevitably involve trade-offs between costs and benefits. Decisions about the use of products and systems can result in intended and unintended consequences.
  • Environment and Society: Human modifications of the physical environment in one place often lead to changes in other places (e.g., construction of a dam provides downstream flood control, construction of a city by-pass reduces commercial activity in the city center, implementation of dry farming techniques in a region leads to new transportation links and hubs).
  • Environment and Society: Human societies use a variety of strategies to adapt to the opportunities and constraints presented by the physical environment (e.g., farming in flood plains and terraced farming, building hydroelectric plants by waterfalls and constructing hydroelectric dams, using solar panels as heat source and using extra insulation to retain heat).
  • Environment and Society: Physical processes influence the formation and distribution of renewable, nonrenewable, and flow resources (e.g., tectonic activity plays a role in the formation and location of fossil fuels, erosion plays a role in the formation of sedimentary rocks, rainfall patterns affect regional drainage patterns).

Vocabulary:

sustainability, agriculture, three pillars of sustainability, soil properties, conservation, ecology, eco monitoring, research, animal welfare

01 Mar 2021

Farm to Market: Mrs. Nippert’s Marinara

August-June 

Join us as we follow the journey of food, from the field to the consumer.  Help us figure out how we can make this season’s harvest profitable! 

Ohio Math Standards:

  • 6.EE.2 Write, read, and evaluate expressions in which letters stand for numbers.
  • 6.EE.9 Use variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem that change in relationship to one another; write an equation to express one quantity, thought of as the dependent variable, in terms of the other quantity, thought of as the independent variable. Analyze the relationship between the dependent and independent variables using graphs and tables, and relate these to the equation.

Indiana and NGSS Standards:

  • MS-ESS3-4 Earth and Human Activity. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how increases in human population and per-capita consumption of natural resources impact Earth’s systems.

Ohio Social Studies Standards:

  • Economics – Scarcity: The fundamental questions of economics include what to produce, how to produce and for whom to produce.
  • Economics – Markets: The interaction of supply and demand, influenced by competition, helps to determine price in a market. This interaction also determines the quantities of outputs produced and the quantities of productive resources (entrepreneurship, human resources, natural resources and capital) used.
  • Economics – Financial Literacy: When selecting items to buy, individuals can weigh costs and benefits and compare the price and quality of available goods and services.

Vocabulary:

farm, product, economics, market, profit, consumer, production, supply and demand

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