Economics and Geography Lessons

Everybody Cooks Rice

A Discovery Channel Recommended Lesson

Title: Everybody Cooks Rice, by Norah Dooley (Scholastic Press, New York, NY, 1992)

Lesson Developed by Barbara S. Yingling

Literature Annotation: A young girl searches the neighborhood for her brother who is late for dinner. One the way, she discovers that all of her immigrant neighbors are cooking rice recipes brought from their native countries. She has a taste of each rice recipe and then returns home to find her brother already at home eating rice. There are recipes for each of the rice dishes mentioned

Grade Level: 3

Duration: 90 minutes

Economic Concepts: Production, Wants and Needs

Geography Themes: Relationships: Humans and Environments, Movement (Cultural Diffusion)

MSPAP Outcomes and Indicators:

Economic Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical development and current status of economic principles, institutions, and processes needed to be effective citizens, consumers, and workers in American society.

Indicators:

• Describe the relationship between economic wants and needs.
• Identify economic resources within a community.

Geography Outcome: Students will demonstrate an understanding of geographic concepts and processes as needed to examine the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location and distribution of human activities.

Indicators:

• Explain the relationship between the physical setting of a community and its ability to satisfy the wants and needs of its people.
• Describe how transportation and communication networks link communities.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

• Identify countries mentioned in the text and locate them on a world map.
• Use an atlas to identify the climatic conditions necessary for growing rice.
• Describe the universality of human wants and needs.
• Explain the movement of cultural traditions from a country of origin to a new country.
• Identify the natural resources used in the preparation of rice recipes.

Vocabulary: specialization, resources, temperature and climate conditions

Materials:

• Book: Everybody Cooks Rice 1 copy for every 4-5 students
• plastic baggie filled with uncooked rice
• spray can of room deodorizer
• laminated desk maps, 1 for every pair of students
• large class chart, or copies of the "Everybody Cooks Rice" chart, 1 for each pair of students
• "Family Traditions" worksheet, 1 copy for each student
• Non-fiction books with illustrations of rice fields, 1 for each group of 4-5 students
• On-Line Resources
  • Rice
  • Japanese-style curry rice recipe
  • Rice Recipes from Bangladesh

Teacher Background: Knowledge of the growing process of rice would be helpful.

Lesson Development:

Motivation:

1. Write the phrase "Cultural Diffusion" on the chalkboard. Tell the students that you are going to do a demonstration to show the meaning of the word diffusion. Hold up the spray can of room deodorizer. Say: "I am going to spray a little of this room deodorizer from this corner of the room. Please raise you hand as soon as you can smell the special aroma. (Hand should be raised in a pattern from close to far away.) Ask the students to describe a pattern in the movement of the aroma. As you put the can aside, tell the students that this was an example of diffusion, when the aroma spread out from one location to other locations.

2. To excite the students about reading the book, offer this riddle game about the topic. Secretly place the baggie of uncooked rice in your pocket. Read each clue aloud, stopping each time to allow the students to guess the answer.
   • Clue 1: This food can fit in my pocket.
   • Clue 2: It can be hard or soft.
   • Clue 3: It can be yellow, white, or brown.
   • Clue 4: It used to be a tradition to throw this food at a new bride and groom.
   • Clue 5: Rice Krispy treats are made of this food.

3. Show the class the rice. Say: "We will read a book that shows how traditions about rice can be diffused from one country to another as people move around the world."

Activities:

1. Read the book Everybody Cooks Rice to the students.

2. Divide the students into 8 groups. Assign each group a different recipe from the back of the book. Have the students fold a piece of notebook paper into three columns: the first column titled "Capital Resources". Have the groups list the ingredients for their recipe. Next to each ingredient, have the students list the natural resources(s) from which the ingredient comes, and the capital resources used in the preparation. Allow time for students to share their findings.

3. Ask the following questions:
   • Which recipe seemed the tastiest to you? Why? Did any recipes seem "yucky" to you? Why?
   • If Carrie had stopped at your house, what recipe or dish might your family be having for dinner?
   • Why do you think each family had a special way of preparing rice for their dinner?
   • Why do people who move to a new country often bring their recipes with them?
   • If your family were to move to another country, which special food recipes would you be sure to take with you?

4. Have the students work in groups of 4-5. Distribute a copy of the "Everybody Cooks Rice" chart and a copy of the book to each group. Direct them to reread the book to locate the information for the chart.

5. Distribute desk maps and a small handful of the uncooked rice to pairs of students. Have the students place one grain of rice on the map to locate each of the countries mentioned in the story. Ask: "Is there a pattern to the way the rice grains are distributed on the map? (Many of the grains are located on places nearer to the equator than to the poles. Many are located close to water.)

6. Many of the families mentioned in the story may have grown their own rice in their native countries. Ask if any of the students know how rice is grown. Explain that rice is a grain and that most of the people who grow it plant it by hand. Distribute the non-fiction books in which pages showing rice fields have been marked. Ask the students to notice anything special about the way the rice is planted. (The rice plants are in flooded fields; there is a lot of water.)

7. Distribute a world atlas to each of the pairs of students. Have the students open to the rainfall map of the world. Teach them to use the colorations in the legend to find out how much rain falls on some of the countries they have marked with the rice grains. (Most of these countries receive high amounts of rain, above 40 inches per year.)

8. Have the students look at the Growing Seasons map and use the legend to read the length of the growing season in some of the countries marked with rice grains. (Most of the countries have a long growing season of 8 to 12 months.)

9. Make the generalization with the students that rice requires a warm climate with heavy rainfall or a constant supply of water. Ask: "Could you grow rice in a garden in Maryland? Do we have the resources and climate conditions to grow rice here in Maryland?" Have the students use the rainfall and growing season maps of Maryland to investigate this question. (Maryland's average yearly rainfall is 40-45 inches. That might be sufficient for growing rice, but the growing season is cut short by early frost.) Ask students if they know where in the United States people have the proper natural resources and climate conditions to grow rice. (Rice is grown commercially in some of the southern gulf states. Most of the rice grown in the United States is planted and harvested using mechanized techniques.)

10. Tell the students that rice is the main food for over half the people of the world. In some countries, rice is eaten at every meal. Point out that the families in the story may have brought their rice recipes with them because, in their native country, rice was their most important food and it satisfied their need for food. Have the students look at the rice grains on the maps again. Ask them to identify the family that would have migrated the farthest if they had moved to Maryland. Ask: "Why would a family from that far away move to Maryland? What might have "pushed" them out of their native country? What might have "pulled" them to come to Maryland?" (Some families flee war conditions, famine, political problems, overcrowded conditions, or poverty. Some families are enticed to move by political and religious freedom, better jobs, available land, and so on.)

Conclusion/Closure:
Have the students in each pair take turns moving a grain of rice from one of the countries to Maryland. As they move it, they should tell what type of transportation is being used and why the family might be moving to Maryland.

Thoughtful Application:
Remind the students that food recipes are only one example of traditions that are culturally diffused. Distribute the "Family Traditions Web" worksheet and explain each of the branches. For homework, have students do research to find out about traditions that have been handed down in their own families or in the family of someone close to them. (Allow about two weeks for this research.) They may respond in pictures, writing, and/or with voice on tape. It is especially helpful if they can bring in any artifacts that portray family traditions, such as special clothing, art, or jewelry. Some students may want to share a cherished family recipe. As the students report back to the class, remind them that it is ok to take home ideas they have learned from other students because that is cultural diffusion at work!

Extension:

1. Make a class cookbook of cherished recipes.
2. Share the books, How My Parents Learned to Eat and The Keeping Quilt, to add more examples of traditions.
3. Discuss examples of diffusion of American foods, music, sports, or other characteristics to the rest of the world to help students understand that cultural diffusion occurs when people interact and learn about each other's culture. (Examples: Cokes, McDonalds, Elvis, American baseball and football)

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Last updated on October 17, 1997
Maintained by Martin M. Creel: Marty_Creel@fc.mcps,k12.md.us