produced by Cathy Mallare
Web Institute for Teachers, Summer, 2001
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Introduction: Thematic units
are a useful tool for implementing a balanced and integrated curriculum that
is interesting and motivating for primary students. As students grow in knowledge
of a specific topic, they develop and apply specific skills and thinking processes
that enhance their ability to read, write, spell, speak, listen, cooperate and
problem solve. Thematic units allow young students to learn skills in a context
which is meaningful to them as teachers chose topics of study that appeal specifically
to young children. As a result, students tend to learn more and retain more
than they would if they were taught skills in a segmented and isolated manner
like drill and practice. Ice Cream was chosen as the theme for this curriculum
web as it is a topic of great interest to children and a topic with which children
already have knowledge and experience. In keeping with developmentally appropriate
practices, this unit is designed to build on that knowledge and experience and
to give children a deeper understanding of the processes by which ice cream
is and can be made. As children learn about ice cream production, they will
develop knowledge of important scientific concepts like states of matter and
continuity and change. They will also gain an understanding of the social and
economic systems involved in producing ice cream as they begin to identify the
relationships between farmers, consumers, businesses and workers. Additionally,
as students learn about the history of ice cream, they will develop an understanding
of how events of the past affect our lives today. Along the way students will
develop skills in researching a topic, organizing and analyzing new information
and communicating that information with others.
Aim: The curriculum web will promote development of emergent readers’
literacy and mathematical skills as they develop knowledge of the history of
ice cream and the various processes involved in ice cream production.
Rationale: We live in an information driven society. Each and every day, we encounter increasingly overwhelming amounts of information as we surf the net, sift through our mail, change channels on our televisions, search for a melodious song on our radios and talk to those around us. As overwhelming as it can be, we are in need of information for it is the means by which we weigh our options and make meaningful decisions about how we will live our lives. However, not all the information we encounter in our daily lives is of the same quality. Thus, knowing how to sift through, organize, analyze, utilize, and communicate information is essential. To aid children in aquiring these important skills, the learning activities contained in this curriculum web will provide primary aged students with age appropriate experience in organizing information and in communicating the knowledge they gain from analyzing information to others. Furthermore, this curriculum web will not only foster young children’s skills in collecting and utilizing data, it will also develop their skills in using the internet as a source of information and learning. In today’s computer driven, internet dependent world, developing skills in navigating websites, using a keyboard and mouse is as necessary as is learning how to use a pencil or telephone. In addition to developing technological skills, this curriculum will develop children's academic knowledge and skills in a manner which is in keeping with the research in multiple intelligences. Specifically, the collection and graphing of data will help students develop problem solving and critical thinking skills and give them practice in writing numerals, ordering numbers, counting, comparing quantities, addition, subtraction and communicating their findings to others. Children’s reading and comprhension skills will also be developed as they encounter printed text on the web and strive to make meaning of it. Their writing skills will be enriched as they complete activities designed to help them recognize sequence and flow of stories. Additionally, children will develop an appreciation for science as they develop an understanding of how inventions like ice cream are continously experimented with, improved and impacted by scientific exploration. And finally, children will begin to develop an understanding of America's economic system has they explore the social and economic processes involved in ice cream production.
Audience: The activities in this curriuculum web
have been designed for emergent and new readers and for teachers who teach kindergarten
and first grade.
Prerequisites: Access to the internet, printer,
electric ice cream maker, 2-3lb coffee cans w/lids, 2-1lb coffee cans w/lids,
ice, rock salt, duct tape
Subject-Matter: First grade students
will learn to organize and analyze information obtained from surveys and literary
texts that contain scientific and historical information.
Children will read informational texts with the purpose of gaining an understanding of the history of ice cream, what is needed to make it and how it is made.
Children will be able to state and correctly sequence the steps in making ice cream.
Children will recognize the importance of sequencing words like first, second, third, then and last and will use them to communicate information in an organized way.
Children will understand how dates can be used to organize information and will create a timeline of important dates in the history of ice cream.
Children will identify the role farmers, veternarians, truck drivers, factory workers, and store employees play in bringing consumers ice cream products.
Children will explain how ice cream was invented and provide examples of how it has changed over time.
Children will explain the role the sun's energy plays in ice cream production and will create an ice cream food web to illustrate this information.
Children will recognize that the production of ice cream involves a transformation of matter from a liquid to a solid.
Children will design an experiment and follow the scientific process.
Children will demonstrate the ability to accurately interpret the data they collect and organize and use it to make thoughtful decisions.
Children will use data to justify decisions.
Children will collect, record, and organize data in an appropriately labeled data table.
Children will label a bar graph’s axes appropriately, give it a title
and scale its axes appropriately.
Children will be able to state the purpose of a data table- it organizes the
data collection and serves as a reliable record of the data that has been collected.
Children will be able to explain that a bar graph displays data in a way that
makes it easy to see patterns and analyze the datan.
Children will navigate an age appropriate website by using Home, Back and Next
buttons in order to locate desired information.
Early childhood classroom teachers are the best judges of what their students
need to know and how they need to learn it. Keeping this in mind, this curriuculum
is designed to be flexible. Teachers may pick, chose and modify lessons and
activities that they deem appropriate for their students.
Kindergarten and first grade students need repeated experiences in making and reading graphs and in sharing the information they gain from them. Before making bar graphs on paper, which are abstract, symbolic representations of real information, children need experience in constructing concrete graphs made with real objects. Once children develop proficiency in interpreting concrete graphs made from real objects, they should be encouraged to make picture graphs. Picture graphs will help children understand that graphs provide information about real things but you don’t need the actual things themselves to make a graph. When children develop skill in creating and analyzing picture graphs, two column symbolic bar graphs should be introduced as well as the idea that these graphs are a permanent record of information unlike the graphs they made with real objects. Once children develop skill in creating two column bar graphs and in analyzing them, they should be introduced to three and then four column graphs. It is also important to expose students to both horizontal and vertical graphing formats as they will encounter both in their math books and standardized tests.
Sample Lesson One: 2 or 3 days
Cut out pink, brown and white scoops of constuction paper to represent ice cream flavors.
Make a class two column data table with the title: Our Favorite Flavors.
Label column one: Ice Cream Flavor. Label column two: Number of Students.
Tell children that tomorrow you are going to have a class ice cream tasting. To make sure you buy ice cream that they like you want to find out what their favorite flavor is.
Ask children to raise their hands if they like vanilla better than strawberry or chocolate.
Then ask children raise their hands if they like strawberry better than vanilla or chocolate.
Finally, ask children to raise their hands if they like chocolate better than vanilla or strawberry.
Then ask children to tell you what flavor got the most votes. Use this opportunity to point out the need to accurately record data to avoid questions and debate.
Explain how a data table can help record and keep track of data.
Ask students to choose 1 of the three paper flavors as their favorite.
Have students write their names on their scoops.
Call all children who chose vanilla to come up and tape their scoop to a class data table.
Then have the children who chose chocolate come up and then those who chose strawberry.
Determine which flavor got the most votes.//
Discuss how a graph can show the same information that is in the class ice cream data table.
Draw and label graph (discuss labels) and use ice cream scoops to complete it.
(As you remove a scoop from the table, color one to take its place on the table.)
Discuss graph. Ask students to tell what they know from looking at the graph. ie., how many more children chose vanilla as their favorite than chocolate? Ask students, given this information, what flavor should we serve at our next party.
Write down their responses on chart paper. Hang written graph, data table and written responses for future reference.
Discuss how the three representations of the data are similar, different. . . what the advantage/disadvantage of each is.
Have an ice cream tasting. See Descriptivie Writing.
Sample Lesson Two: 1 or 2 days
Collect data in a class data table about which type of ice cream cone students like best: sugar, cake, waffle.
Draw and label graph for the students to copy. Discuss why labels are needed and appropriate.
Have students complete individual graphs using the class data. Ask them to write in their journals about what they learned about their classmates ice cream cone perferences. Then complete class graph with their input.
Discuss graph, Ask students to tell what they know from looking at the graph. Record their responses on chart paper
Ask students to decide what type of cone you should buy for the class' ice cream party given the fact you only have enough money to buy one box. Have them explain the basis of their decision. Make sure they refer to the graph..
Sample Lesson Three: 2 or 3 days
Students work in pairs to complete graphing assingments detailed on website.
Sample Lesson Four: Assessment
Have children work individually to create a data table on what ice cream store children visit most: Oberweiss, Ben and Jerry or Baskin Robbins.
Have them survey 10 children and record data and then use that data to create a graph.
Ask children to write the story of their graph in their math journals: "tell what you learn from looking at your graph."
Additional math activities that tie into ice cream theme:
creating patterns with ice cream scoops. Vanilla scoop, chocolate scoop, strawberry scoop, vanilla scoop. . .
demonstrating part whole relationships. One third of my ice cream sundae is chocolate, one third is strawberry, one third is vanilla.
story problems: I bought an ice cream cone for my mother, another for my sister and one for my dog. How many ice cream cones did I buy? How much money did I spend, if each cone cost me 20 cents?
Sample Lesson One: 1 day
Ask children to tell you some of the foods they like to eat.
Ask them where foods like bacon, honey, milk and oranges come from.
Explain that you're going to read a book which tells about where the food different animals eat comes from.
Read the book Who Eats What by . . . . . . .
Examine and discuss the food chains it descibes and illustrates.
Have children draw the food chain for a glass of milk.
In their science journals have children write about the milk food chains they illustrated.
Sample Lesson Two: 1 day
As a class or in small reading groups read the webbook We Need The Sun to Make Strawberry Ice Cream that is on the ice cream website.
Have students draw the food web for strawberry ice cream.
In their journals, have students write about why we need the sun to make strawberry ice cream.
Sample Lesson Three: 2 days
Explain to the class that you will soon be making ice cream with them but first you need to find out how. Tell them to find out how to make ice cream the class is going to read a webbook which will explain and show how to make strawberry ice cream.
As a class, in small reading groups or in pairs read the webbook Make Ice Cream on the ice cream website.
In science journals, have students list and record the ingredients to make strawberry ice cream according to this text.//
Reread the webbook We Need The Sun to Make Strawberry Ice Cream.
In science journals, have students record the ingredients needed to make strawberry ice cream according to this text.
Ask students to compare the lists.
Given that both lists contain the same ingredients, discuss which webbook is the best guide to making ice cream and why
Sample Lesson Four: 1 day
Make strawberry ice cream with electric ice cream maker.
If someone is allergic to strawberries make vanilla ice cream.
If there are a number of milk allergies in the class, use soymilk instead of milk and cream.
Involve students in the process by reading the receipe together, having students measure, mix and pour as appropriate.
Discuss how the recipe is written in 2 parts. The first part helps you gather the ingredients you need and the second part tells you how to use them to make ice cream.
In science journals, have students create a data table in which they will record observations every ten minutes of what is happening in the ice cream maker.
When ice cream is ready ask children what you need to serve it. "A scoop" Ask children why you can't just pour it out.
For homework: Have students write about the class' experience making strawberry ice cream.
Sample Lesson Five: 1 day
Read the book Matter by
After reading and discussing the book have children create a two column data table entitled Matter in their science journals. One column should be labeled solid, the other, liquid.
Ask children to draw pictures of milk, ice cream, orange juice, oranges, grape juice, grapes, water, ice, dishwashing soap, a bar of soap under the appropriate columns.
Sample Lesson Six: 1-3 days
Make ice cream in a coffee can experiment.
Discuss with children the history of ice cream. see social studies
Pose the question how did people make ice cream before electricity?
Allow children to examine an electric freezer.
Ask children to think about what the various parts are for: the ice cream mixture, to chill the ice cream mixture, to stir the ice cream mixture, to keep the ice cream mixture from coming out as it is mixed.
Ask them to think about how they could make ice cream without an electric ice cream freezer.
Record responses.
Explain to children that you are going to conduct an experiment to find out if you can indeed make ice cream without an electric freezer. Tell them you have 3lb coffee cans and 1lb coffee cans that you think they can use to make ice cream. Ask children to think about how you could use them and what else you might need to simulate the process of making ice cream in an electric ice cream freezer.//
As this is going to be an experiment, explain to children the need to record what they are going to do and what they think will happen just like real scientists do so if the experiment works out like they think it should they can remember what they did so they and others can do it again and if it doesn't work the way they think it should, they can go back and see exactly what they did and think about what they should do differently next time to the results they desire. Tell children scientists call this process of recording and organizing information the scientific method.
Write on chart paper the following labels: Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Materials, Observations, Conclusion. Have children copy or give children a copy to place and use in their science journals.
Have children offer suggestions for what should be written under each heading. Emphasis need to be clear about what children will do first, second, third, next and last as you write out the steps in the experiment. Explain how words like first, second helps keep the sequence of events clear so other will be able to replicate the experiment.//
Conduct coffee can ice cream experiment in small groups. Here's what you need and what you do:
3 lb. coffee can with plastic cover
1 lb. coffee can with plastic cover
Rock salt
Crushed ice
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Red food coloring
Crushed peppermint stick (about 3 T.)
Place 1 lb. can in center of 3 lb can. Fill 1 lb. can with ice cream ingredients.
Layer crushed ice and rock salt around the small 1 lb. can. Cover both with
their plastic lids. Sit in a circle on floor and roll the can back and forth
for about 15 minutes.
Record observations and conclusions on chart paper and in journals.
Eat ice cream.
Additional Science Lessons that tie into ice cream theme: food groups, dairy farming, milk , cows
Social Studies and Literacy Activities:
Sample Lesson One: 1-3 days.
Read The Story of Ice Cream that is on the website with your class in order to learn the history of this delicious invention. Print out the time line assignment for your students. Then ask children to complete the time line assignment with a partner while reviewing the story on the computer.
Find out where China; Rome, Italy; Florence, Italy; France; Baltimore, Maryland; New York, New York; Washington, D.C. and California are.
Taste red bean ice cream, chocolate gelatto and raspberry sorbet. Compare and contrast the flavors and textures.
Discuss how ice cream has changed over time. Explore the MakeIceCream.com website to see how many different kinds of ice cream makers there are. Think about and discuss how ice cream makers are changing with the invention of technology. Ask children to write in their journals how ice cream may change in the future.
Sample Lesson Two: 1-2 days
Read Let’s Find Out About Ice Cream by Mary Ebeltoft Reid. Published by Scholastic, NY,NY 1996 sold at Amazon.com to your class.
Ask children to raise their hands everytime they see a job that must be done in order to make ice cream. Record responses on chart paper.
Ask children to think about what would happen if the dairy cows got sick and the veternarians didn't come. Also have them predict what would happen at ice cream factories if dairy farmers stopped milking their cows. Then, ask children to tell you what they think would happen if truck drivers stopped driving their trucks. Create a class book about the different workers who are needed in order to have ice cream.
Additional Social Studies Lessons related to ice cream unit.
Find out where peaches, pecans, chocolate, vanilla and sugar grow.
Descriptive Writing: Have children taste ice cream, one with chunks works especially well for this activity. Then have children write about how the ice cream smells, tastes, feels, sounds and looks. A large sensory chart could be used to brainstorm adjectives for each category together as a class.
Expository Writing: Read the poem "Eighteen Flavors" by Shel Silverstein in Where the Sidewalk Ends to your children or with them. Then have children create a recipes for making one of Ebenezer's wacky flavors. Use a five scoop ice cream cone pattern for children to use as a guide. One the first scoop children write what you do first to make the ice cream, on the second scoop they write what you do next, on the third scoop they write what you do then, on the fourth scoop they write what you do next, on the fifth scoop they write what you do last.
Persuassive Writing: Have children look through the newspaper for ice cream ads. Then ask students to create an ad for a new ice cream they have invented. Or ask children to write what they say to their parents when they want to buy ice cream.
Narrative Writing: Have children write about a special time when they had ice cream to eat.
Informal assessments in the form of checklists and observations should
be utilized to determine if students:
*Can collect, accurately record, organize and display categorical data about
the favorite ice cream flavors of ten of their friends.
*Can analyze their data and tell the story of their graphs.
*Can explain why they made the decisions they did after they analyzed their
graphs.
*Can state how ice cream has changed over time.
*Can organize dates in chronological order.
*Can explain the interrelationship of farmers and factory workers.
Journal entries can be read in order to determine if students:
*Can justify decisons based about data.
*Can explain the sun's role in ice cream production.
*Can categorize familiar objects as liquids or solids.
*Use sequencing words in their writing about how they made ice cream.
*Order events in their writing by using dates.
Written work should be assessed according to age appropriate writing rubrics currently in use in the classroom.
Let’s Find Out About Ice Cream by Mary Ebeltoft Reid.
Published by Scholastic, NY,NY 1996
Excellent pictures and simple text. Good for showing the various jobs that are
provided and needed for ice cream production. Photographs provide a basis for
discussing work clothes and the protection they provide. Includes a picture
glossary.
From Cow to Ice Cream by Bertam T. Knight. Published by Children’s
Press, NY, NY 1997
Includes information about ice cream novelties .
Make Mine Ice Cream by Melvin Berger. Published by New Bridge
Communications, Inc. NY, NY 1997
Includes many photographs and details of ice cream production.
The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons. Published by Aladdin Paperbacks,
NY, NY 1987
Comprehensive review of dairy farming and milk production.
From Cow to Carton by Aliki Brandenberg. Published by HarperCollins,
Inc, NY NY 1974
A wonderful resource, full of rich details.
Cow by Jules Older. Published by Charlesbridge, Watertown, MA
1997
A funny, colorful book about all sorts of cows.
Hooray for Dairy Farming by Bobbie Kalman. Published by Crabtree
Publishing, 1998
Includes information about dairy farming in the past.
Curious George Goes to the Ice Cream Store edited by Margaret
Rey & Allan J. Shalleck. Published by Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA 1989
A good book to use for teaching how to summarize.
Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel. Published by HarperTrophy.
A good book to use for teaching the sequencing of events in a story.
Simply Delicious by Margaret Mahy. Published by Orchard Books, NY, NY 1999
Ice Cream Bear by Jez Alborough. Published by Candlewick Press, Cambridge, MA
1997
An easy book for children to read independently.
Issac the Ice Cream Truck by Scott Santoro. Published by Henry
Holt & Co., NY, NY
A book about accepting oneself.
The Ice Cream King by Greg McEnvoy. Published by Stoddart Kids, Toronto, Canada 1998
Thematic Unit: Ice Cream by Dona Herweck Rice. Published by Teacher Created Materials, Inc Huntington Beach, CA 1997
Classroom Graphables by Mary J. Kuth. Published by Creative Teaching Press, Inc., CA 1995
ABCTeach.com This website is a great resource for teachers. The theme units section contains lesson plans and activities that are downloadable and printable. Check out the ice cream lessons by Lisa Manucci.
MakeIceCream.com This commercial site provides insight into the history of ice cream, lots of links to recipe collections and places that sell ice cream products and makers. It also provides an excellent explanation as to why salt water gets colder than fresh water.
MooMilk.com All your dairy questions will be answered at this site.
Edy's Ice Cream Visit the "Ask the Taster" page and find out what it takes to get a job tasting ice cream.
Stonyfield Farm If you have ever wanted to meet a cow up close this is the website to visit.
Farm Animals This a wonderful kid friendly site that not only shows photographs of lots of animals but audio and video of them as well.
The History of Ice Cream If you want to know where the word sherbet comes from or who invented the first commercial ice cream making machine then this is your website.
18 Flavors by Shel Silverstein
I am Ebenezer Bleezer.
I run Bleezer's Ice Cream Store.
There are flavors in my freezer
You have never seen before.
Twenty-eight divine creations
Too delicious to resist.
Why not do yourself a favor
Try the flavors on my list.
Cocoa Mocha Macorni
Checkerberry Cheddar Chew
Chicken Cherry Honeydew
Tutti-frutti Stewed Tomato
Tuna Taco Backed Potato
Lobster Litchi Lima Bean
Mozzarella Mangosteen
Almond Ham Meringue Salami
Butter Brittlle Pepper Pickle
Peach Pimento Pizza Plum
Broccoli Banana Bluster
Chocolate Chop Suey Cluster
Cotton Candy Carrot Custard
Cauliflower Cola Mustard
Onion Dumpling Douple Dip
Turnip Truffle Tripllel Flip
I am Ebenezer Bleezer.
I run Bleezer's Ice Cream Store.
Taste a flavor from my freezer,
You will ask for more.
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