Overview:

This lesson was adapted from an Internet lesson “Where Did You Come From” by Mickey Ebert, www.econedlink.org. After discovering that Florida specializes in growing certain fruits and vegetables, students differentiate between imports and exports when comparing fruits and vegetables produced in the U.S. and Chilean markets, and understand that specialization makes countries more interdependent.

Notes to the teachers:

If you cannot access the Internet via laptops, whole class projection, or use of the school lab, this lesson needs minor modifications with the use of more teacher questioning.

United States farmers produce many fruits and vegetables. Production of fruits and vegetables in other countries also takes place. In this lesson, the students will learn why there is international trade of fruits and vegetables. Because students might think that trading is something one does without using money (barter), it is important for them to know that trade between countries always involves money.

Suggested time allowance: 1 class period

Standards:

• SS 1.2, 2.1, 3.1, 4.1
• ELA 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1

Essential Unit Questions:

• How do the nations the nations of the Western Hemisphere rely on each
  other?

Resources/Materials for this lesson:

• Dole 5 A Day. Dole Food Company, Inc. 7 August 2005. http://www.dole5aday.com/Kids/K_Index.jsp
  This website has numerous tools such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, games, etc. In the activities and procedures, go to the specific link indicated in the lesson.
• Fruits and Vegetables Worksheet #1 (included)
• Web links for students
• Exit ticket (included)
• Paper and pencil

Activities/Procedures:

1. Without any introduction instruct the students to complete the worksheet entitled Fruit and Vegetable #1. (included) After completion discuss answers with the class.

2. Explain that the 50 states of the United States all have different weather. Some places are warm all the time, some places have rain almost every day, some places hardly ever have rain, and some places have snow all the time! Could apples grow in all those different places? Probably not - at least not unless the farmers there went to a great deal of trouble and expense. Apples must have rain and warm temperatures while the fruit is on the tree. So it would be very difficult and costly to try to grow apples in the desert or on top of high mountains.

3. If you are going to have each student use a computer, follow these directions. (If there is no computer access for students, the teacher should access the web sites and duplicate the materials.)

Visit this webpage to access the links for completing this activity.

4. Instruct students to complete Steps 1 - 3.

Lots of fruits and vegetables are grown in Florida, including oranges, lemons and limes. The students should guess five other fruits and vegetables that are grown in Florida. Have the students make a list. The students may need help finding the Reference Section; show them that it is on a tab at the top of their screen. Check the student lists to see if Florida is a place where your listed fruits or vegetables are grown. Tell students to keep looking up the fruits and vegetables until they have five. (Tangerines, strawberries, papaya, mangoes, lettuce, grapefruits, celery, broccoli, bell peppers, and asparagus.)

6. Ask, did you know that there are 13 total (including oranges, lemons, and limes) fruits and vegetables grown in Florida on the list? Ask the students why Florida is such a good place to grow all these fruits and vegetables. If they say that Florida has a good climate to grow fruits and vegetables, they are right!

7. Ask your students why bananas were not on the list. Discuss with class information from teachers notes below.

Teachers Notes:
The reason that Florida does not grow a lot of bananas is that Florida SPECIALIZES in growing other fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits. In other words, oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, tangerines, papayas, and mangoes grow so easily in Florida that it would not make sense to try to grow bananas, since they grow easily in Latin America. The climate that citrus fruits need is not exactly the climate that bananas need in order to grow. Although bananas can be grown in Florida, they grow much better in Latin America. So people in the United States IMPORT bananas.

IMPORTS are goods or services bought from sellers in another country. We import bananas because Latin America has the right resources to grow bananas easily. We EXPORT citrus fruits and other fruits and vegetables. EXPORTS of fruits and vegetables mean that they are grown in the United States but sold to buyers in other countries. We export oranges because Florida and California have the right resources to grow oranges easily.

Producers in Florida SPECIALIZE when they decide to grow citrus fruits instead of bananas. When countries SPECIALIZE they put their resources to work to produce a few things instead of using their resources to produce a lot of things. Specialization leads to INTERDEPENDENCE. Interdependence means being dependent on other countries to produce what you don't. The more countries specialize and trade, the more interdependent they become. Latin America SPECIALIZES in growing bananas.

8. Ask, can you think of a country that SPECIALIZES in growing coffee? You may have seen an advertisement that says coffee is grown in Colombia by Juan Valdez. Juan Valdez is just a character used in an advertisement to sell coffee. Colombia has the right resources for growing coffee easily. Those resources include the right weather, the right soil, and just the right temperature of mountain water in which to wash the beans. Do you think Colombia imports or exports coffee? [Exports]

HINT: Here is one way to help students remember the distinction between imports and exports. When a country brings something IN, it is IMporting. IN and IM have similar sounds. When a country EXports, it makes the product EXit from that country.

9. Ask the student to complete the Exit Ticket as a fruit and vegetable assessment (included)

Evaluation/Assessment:

• Exit ticket

Extension Activity:

Have the students write an explanation about why Chile exports fruits and vegetables to the United States. They should include these words: specialize, exports, imports, and interdependent. Students should explain the fruits and vegetables that are exported to the United States from Chile, discuss how the fruits and vegetables get to the United States, why the Geography and climate of Chile make it a perfect place to grow those vegetables, the impact of the reversal of seasons, and why the United States likes to import fruits and vegetables from Chile.

Vocabulary: (See Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave Glossary for definitions)

• export
• import
• interdependence
• specialization