In this hands-on lesson, students will learn about the many uses for cabbage, compare the different tastes and textures of cabbage varieties, and learn about cabbage's cultural significance as they identify family food traditions.
Students will read articles about the importance of cabbage, participate in a comparison tasting of cabbage, interview family members or friends about memories and experiences eating cabbage, and create a class chart showing different cultural heritages based on the interviews.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This lesson plan is clearly written and organized, allowing teachers to pick it up and quickly find learning objectives, materials, vocabulary, directions, and an assessment.
This resource provides a helpful list of additional resources that can be used.
Additional Prerequisites
This lesson requires one or two 50-minute sessions, with additional time in between to conduct interviews.
The "Preparation" section lays out multiple steps that teachers must take prior to the lesson, including printing and cutting out printable materials and purchasing and preparing cabbage before class.
Differentiation
A simple rubric (to include description of food tradition, reference to an interview or class chart, and adjectives from taste test) may help guide students' written assessment paragraphs.
Some families may not have cabbage traditions, so you can provide the opportunity for those students to interview someone about another food that holds cultural significance within their families. Provide another special time for those interviews to be shared in order to focus on cabbage during this lesson.
The "Extended Learning" section provides some wonderful, project-based ideas that will require some additional thought, student support, and longer-term planning.
Also consider extending students' learning in class using other resources, such as this lesson plan about food choices and the origins of certain foods, this foodprint calculator, or this resource about food systems in California.
Scientist Notes
This resource is a lesson on cabbage, its uses and variety, and cultural importance. All information is accurate and verifiable. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ETS1: Engineering Design
3-5-ETS1-1 Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
LS1: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Economics
D2.Eco.1.3-5 Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
D2.Eco.3.3-5 Identify examples of the variety of resources (human capital, physical capital, and natural resources) that are used to produce goods and services.
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.2.3-5 Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.3 Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.4.3 Identify the reasons and evidence a speaker provides to support particular points.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.3 Summarize the points a speaker makes and explain how each claim is supported by reasons and evidence.
Writing (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.7 Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
