MATERIALS: Student Worksheet B THIS PROGRAM SUPPORTS HIGHER LEARNING SKILLS RELATED TO EARTH SCIENCE AND INFORMATIONAL TEXT COMPREHENSION.

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1 ! s e i r r e Cranb A VERY AMERICAN BERRY Supplement to Scholastic Magazines. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved OCEAN SPRAY and associated logos are trademarks of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. OCEAN SPRAY CRANBERRIES, CIN. All rights reserved. Where They Grow The layers of earth in a bog are important to the health of growing cranberries. At the bottom, a layer of clay holds water. A layer of peat holds water and keeps roots moist. A layer of sand holds roots in place. SAND PEAT CLAY How They Are Harvested In the autumn, cranberries reach their peak in color and flavor and are ready for wet or dry harvesting. DRY HARVESTING: Metal teeth comb the berries off the vine, depositing them in a burlap sack. WET HARVESTING: As the harvesting machine churns the water, berries are shaken free from the vine to be collected.

2 POSTER AND TEACHING GUIDE GRADES A Very AMERICAN BERRY Dear Teachers, Welcome to A Very American Berry! Created in conjunction with Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., this skills-aligned program leads students on a fascinating exploration of history, science, and food. Cranberries have been a part of American history since the beginning. Grown in bogs managed by families who often go back for generations, the cranberry is one of only three native fruits cultivated in North America, along with the blueberry and the Concord grape. Join us in discovering the rich history and science behind this very American berry. Additional lessons and printable worksheets are available at scholastic.com/oceanspray. Supplement to Scholastic Magazines. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved OCEAN SPRAY and associated logos are trademarks of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. OCEAN SPRAY CRANBERRIES, CIN. All rights reserved. ACTIVITY ACTIVITY For Peat s Sake ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What is a cranberry bog and how does it work? TIME REQUIRED: 0 minutes MATERIALS: Student Worksheet A, large glass jar or open-topped clear plastic container, modeling clay, florist foam or dark foam rubber, sand, green pipe cleaners, glue, fresh cranberries, and water WHAT TO DO: Ask students if they know how cranberries are grown. Cranberries are grown in bogs, which are wetlands with layers of clay, peat soil, and sand. Explain that cranberry plants are vines. Because of their air pockets, the berries float in water. Farmers often flood the bog for easy harvesting. Point out that a bog is made of different layers of earth. Each performs a role. The clay at the bottom holds water. Next, a layer of peat follows that keeps plant roots moist. Sand at the top provides a place for new roots to grow. Older beds have several layers of peat and sand. Distribute Student Worksheet A and guide students through creating a model cranberry bog. Challenge students to attach cranberries to the vines (using glue) and then flood the model with water. Students should note how the berries float for easy harvest. Cranberry Farming: Then and Now ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How has American cranberry farming changed? TIME REQUIRED: 0 minutes MATERIALS: Student Worksheet B WHAT TO DO: Explain that cranberries are native to North America. Native Americans used them for dyes and medicinal products and legend has it that cranberries were present at the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The first commercial harvest of cranberries took place in 86 in Cape Cod, a coastal region of Massachusetts. Tell students that cranberry farms have traditionally been family operations. Many of these farms, even to this day, are passed down from generation to generation. Explain that cranberry farming has changed over the years. In the past, farmers would run wooden scoops with long teeth through the vines to pull off the cranberries. Today, most cranberries are harvested by flooding a bog, shaking the cranberries loose from their vines, and collecting the floating berries. Distribute Student Worksheet B. Have students read the text and answer the questions that follow. Instruct students to write a letter to a contemporary cranberry farmer on a separate sheet of paper. Remind them to use the proper form for a letter, including a salutation and a closing. THIS PROGRAM SUPPORTS HIGHER LEARNING SKILLS RELATED TO EARTH SCIENCE AND INFORMATIONAL TEXT COMPREHENSION. Enter to win the FARM-TO-CLASSROOM SWEEPSTAKES! See the back cover for details for the chance to win a classroom visit from a cranberry farmer! scholastic.com/oceanspray

3 STUDENT WORKSHEET A NAME: FOR PEAT S SAKE Where do cranberries grow? On trees? In a field? No! They grow in a bog! A bog is a low-lying piece of land that contains damp, moist soil. Cranberries grow on long vines that grow along the ground. Let s build a bog! A bog has several layers. Each layer plays a role in the bog. These layers help cranberry vines grow. Use the following materials to build a bog in a jar. DIRECTIONS: 6 Clay is the bottom layer. In the bottom of your jar, place about ½ inch of modeling clay. Peat is the second layer. Place about inches of foam on top of the clay. Sand is the third layer. Place about ¾ of an inch of sand on top of the foam. Glue several cranberries to one of the pipe cleaners. Push the vine deep into the sand. It s harvest time! Flood the jar with water. The water should cover the top of the vine. 7 Using a pencil, gently knock the cranberries off the vine. Observe what happens to the cranberries. QUESTIONS: What role do you think the peat plays in a bog? How does flooding the bog make it easier to harvest cranberries? MATERIALS: glass jar or plastic container modeling clay green pipe cleaners foam sand cranberries glue water

4 STUDENT WORKSHEET B NAME: Cranberry Farming: THEN AND NOW Cranberry farming has been around for hundreds of years. A lot about it has changed over time and some things have not changed much at all. Read the following fictional newspaper article to see what cranberry farming was like in 90. AREA CRANBERRY FARMER FLOATS NEW METHOD: A SHIFT TO WATER HARVESTING BRINGS CHANGES By Clarence Sparrow OCTOBER, 90, PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS Farmers across the country are creating new ways to make harvesting fast and easy. In the past, Mr. and Mrs. Bradford picked cranberries by hand. A few helpers and some large wooden scoops were all they had. It was hard work that would take many days to complete. When a heavy rain flooded his cranberry bog one day, Mr. Bradford got an idea. He noticed that some of the cranberries were floating at the top. Maybe Mother Nature and a bit of pure science could help with his crop! First, we will use water from a nearby reservoir to help flood the bog, Mr. Bradford told his wife. Next, we ll build a machine that can easily be driven over the bog. It will shake the water to help loosen the cranberries off the vines. Getting the equipment for Mr. Bradford s plan was difficult, so the farmers had to build their own. The new method proved much faster than the older one. Once the berries were floating, it was easy for Mr. Bradford to scoop them out. Mr. Bradford is now harvesting his bogs in half the time. He s certain there will be plenty of cranberry sauce on the table for Thanksgiving this year! Questions: What was the old method of harvesting cranberries? Why is flooding a bog a better method of harvesting? Why do you think Mr. Bradford mentions Thanksgiving? Writing Activity: Using a separate sheet of paper, write a letter to a modern-day cranberry farmer. Ask the farmer a few questions about life on the farm. Be sure to include details you have learned about cranberry bogs. Remember to use proper spelling and grammar.

5 TEACHER SWEEPSTAKES Enter to win the FARM-TO-CLASSROOM SWEEPSTAKES! You could win a visit from a real cranberry farmer! Visit scholastic.com/oceanspray by November 0 to enter for the chance to win a visit from a cranberry farmer. If you win, your class will receive a visit from a real cranberry farmer. Supplement to Scholastic Magazines. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved OCEAN SPRAY and associated logos are trademarks of Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. OCEAN SPRAY CRANBERRIES, CIN. All rights reserved. LEARN THE SCIENCE AND HISTORY BEHIND THIS TRULY AMERICAN FOOD! ABBREVIATED RULES NO PURCHASE NECESSARY to enter or win. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning. Ends /0/6. The Farm-to-Classroom Sweepstakes ( Sweepstakes ) is open only to teachers who are over 8 years of age at the time of entry, who are teachers of grades in a public school or accredited private school in compliance with the laws and regulations of its state, and who are legal residents of the 0 states (or the District of Columbia). See scholastic.com/oceanspray/rules for Official Rules.