We All Scream for Ice Cream!

Author

Barb Swanson

Published

8/5/2019

Topics:

Lesson Plans - Pre K - 2nd

Target Grade Level / Age Range

Kindergarten

Time

Two 45-minute lessons

Purpose

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

understand the journey of dairy products, like ice cream.
use sequencing skills.

Materials

Index cards
Crayons
Chart paper
Ice Cream; The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons
Cow to Cone Worksheet
Supplies to make ice cream in a bag:
- Half and half
- Sugar
- Vanilla
- Ziploc sandwich bags
- Ziploc gallon bags
- Crushed ice
- Rock salt
- Spoons
- Measuring cups, a tablespoon, and a teaspoon
Picture journal paper

Suggested Companion Resources (books and websites)

Cow by Jules Older
Cows by Peter Brady
The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons
A Day at our Dairy Farm by Barbara Reeves
Milk Comes From a Cow by Dan Funk
Clarabelle – Making Milk and So Much More by Cris Peterson
Western Iowa Dairy Alliance: www.wiadairy.com

Vocabulary

Scraper – mixes the ice crystals with the cream in a hand-cranked ice cream maker
Dasher – stirs air bubbles into the ice cream mix, this makes it lighter and softer
Crank – turns the dasher in the ice cream maker to stir the ice cream
Separator – at the dairy, this is where the cream and milk are separated from each other
Mixing vat – where the cream, milk, and sugar are mixed
Milking machine – the machine that hooks up to cows’ udders and collects milk
Bulk tank – the tank where milk is stored before it is taken to a factory

Background – Agricultural Connections

This lesson is set up as a sequencing activity with language arts skills first, and the ability to make ice cream later.

One of the key aspects of this lesson is understanding how milk gets from the cow to the ice cream.

First, cows are milked, usually twice a day. However, cows don’t always need to be milked. Cows are monitored on a 305-day milking cycle. A while after the calf is born, the mama cow starts producing less milk. This is called “drying off” and is normal.

When cows are lactating, they can drink a bathtub (30 gallons) of water and produce about eight gallons of milk – in one day!

Most dairies have machines that milk the cows. They have gentle cups that vacuum to the cow’s teats that milk the cow. Before the dairymen put the machine on the cow, they will clean her teats and check for infections. Sometimes cows can get mastitis or other infections. When this happens, their milk is not added to the bulk tank. It is dumped instead.

When cows are treated for infections and diseases with medicine, their milk will continue to be dumped until the withdrawal period on the medicine’s label is up. If farmers collect that milk instead, they can be fined for huge amounts of money.

When the cow is milked, the milk will go into a bulk tank. Milk trucks will come to collect milk from the bulk tanks and take it to companies where it is processed into other dairy items. From there, dairy products are taken to stores and sold to the public. It takes milk just two days to get from the cow to the store.

More information on the dairy process can be found here: https://iowaagliteracy.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/milking-cows-why-do-they-do-that/

Interest Approach or Motivator

Lesson 1 – Ask the children, “What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?” Give each child an index card and demonstrate how to make a cone shape with a circle (the ice cream scoop) on top. Have the children color this like their favorite ice cream flavor.
Lesson 2 – Ask the children, “Who wants to make ice cream?”

Procedures

Lesson 1:

After the children make their ice cream cone on the index card, tape the cards to the chart paper to make a graph showing their favorite flavors. Have the students identify which flavor is the most popular.
Read the book – Ice Cream; The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons.
1. If this book is not available, there are other dairy-related books available through IALF’s Lending Library. Some alternate titles may include A Day at our Dairy Farm, Clarabelle; Making Milk and so Much More, Cows, or Milk Comes from a Cow.
After reading the book, have the children tell you what they learned from the story and record their responses on chart paper.
1. Help the students walk through how ice cream is made. Are there ice cream cows? No, a cow’s milk is made into ice cream. Help them think through the process from cow to ice cream.
Give each child the Cow to Cone sequencing worksheet. Help them sequence the Cow to Cone story correctly.
1. The correct numbering for the pages should be: 1, 7, 6, 3, 8, 2, 5, 4.
Have the children read the final story from the Cow to Cone Worksheet with a partner, or out loud as a class.
Ask the students how the book was different from Bessie’s story. How was it the same? What did they learn about dairy cows and ice cream?

Lesson 2:

Tell the students they are going to make their own ice cream and then go over the procedure.
1. If possible, have extra helpers in your classroom for this. It would be helpful to split the children up into small groups for this activity.
Recipe for Ice Cream in a Bag:
1. Each student will put ½ cup half and half, 1T sugar, and ¼ t vanilla into a sandwich size Ziploc bag. Make sure it is closed tight.
2. Put 3 cups crushed ice and 1/3 cup rock salt into a gallon size Ziploc bag.
3. Place the sealed sandwich bag into a gallon bag and seal.
4. Squeeze bag for about 10-15 minutes and ice cream will thicken.
5. Eat the ice cream right out of the sandwich bag!
When finished with the ice cream the children will write what their favorite ice cream treat is and illustrate their sentence.

Essential Files (maps, charts, pictures, or documents)

Cow to Cone

Did You Know? (Ag facts)

Some believe the first ice cream was made in China about 3,000 years ago.
Cows are milked 2- 3 times a day.
Jersey cows give creamier milk than others.
Iowa is the 4th largest producing ice cream state.

Extension Activities

Visit a dairy farm, or contact a dairy farmer to attend virtually through a video chat.
Visit the Launchpad Children’s Museum http://www.launchpadmuseum.com/

Sources/Credits

Ice Cream; The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons
The Mailbox Magazine, June/July 2005, Kindergarten to First Grade Edition

Author(s)