AITC Energizer Yellow Pages Introduction
Ag If
Carolina Dreamin'
Chores Galore
Farm Jam
Frozen Farm Vocabulary
Hand Hand Fingers Thumb/Sweet Potato Pie
It's a Barnyard in Here
Little Box...Market Basket
Over Under Around and Through
Pass it on - UNO style
Seed Line
Stop and Scribble
Stop Drop and Roll
The Twelve Days of Fitness...Fit on the Farm
NC Ag in the Classroom Energizer Yellow Pages
In our efforts to provide North Carolina educators with top quality teaching materials in the area
of nutrition and fitness, North Carolina Ag in the Classroom discovered the “Energizers
Classroom-based Physical Activities” which were developed at the East Carolina University
Activity Promotion Laboratory. These lesson designs enable teachers and students to
incorporate healthful physical activities into all hours of their school day. Physical activities have
been skillfully integrated into academic periods of the day such that bodies and minds can be
strengthened through their use.
Ag in the Classroom has chosen to extend and expand a number of the “Energizers” by
suggesting they be conducted with a theme of North Carolina agriculture as academic content.
The purpose of adding these suggested activities is to encourage an understanding and
appreciation of our state’s number one industry while students are taking on required skills and
concepts and working toward the goal of enjoying the highest possible level of good health and
fitness.
Just as a telephone book has white pages with vital information and yellow pages that connect
citizens to needed goods and services, the Ag in the Classroom Energizer Yellow Pages work
with the Energizer white pages to connect young learners to the needed goods and services
provided us by the American farmer.
AITC Energizer
Ag If
Conduct the activity as directed on pages 13 and 54 using the following NC agricultural
examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher reads sentence to class. Have students act out each sentence
for 30 seconds.
• Jog in place as if a new calf has just been born and you can’t wait to see it.
• Walk forward as if you are walking through a field of tall corn.
• Jump in place as if you are popcorn popping.
• Reach up as if you are picking apples or peaches from a tree.
• March in place as if you are leading your prize calf into the show arena.
• Paint as if you are painting the wall of a red barn.
AITC Energizer
Carolina Dreamin’
Conduct the activity as directed on page 32 using the following NC agricultural examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher leads the class on a virtual tour of North Carolina. Students
Move at least 30 seconds for each of the actions listed below.
• March across the Bonner Bridge
• Surf in the Atlantic Ocean
• Climb a Long Leaf Pine
• Pretend you are a farmer and wave at the customers who buy the food and
fiber you produce.
• Stomp the grapes.
• Pick the apples.
• Ski behind a power boat on Lake Norman.
• Ski on the Appalachian Mountains.
• Climb Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi.
• Score a Hat Trick at the RBC Center.
• Shoot a foul shot at the Dean Dome.
AITC Energizer
Chores Galore
Conduct the activity as directed on pages 12 and 52 using the following NC agricultural
examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher calls out the following farm chores to mimic for at least 10-15
seconds.
• using a shovel to move soil
• hoeing a row in a garden
• driving a harvester or combine
• picking strawberries or cucumbers
• gleaning sweet potatoes (collecting those not already harvested)
• loading boxes of produce on a truck
• brushing a horse
AITC Energizer
Farm Jam
Conduct the activity as directed on pages 16 and 39 using the following NC agricultural
examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher reads story to class and class identifies each verb or
“action” word.
2. Teacher pauses during reading while students act out each verb for 15-20 seconds.
3. Continue until the end of the story.
Hello, my name is William and I live on a farm. Today I will lead you on a tour of my family’s hog
farm. First, we need to put on plastic boots to cover our shoes. The boots will prevent us from
spreading germs and diseases to the livestock. The first stop will be the farrowing house. This
is the facility where mother hogs give birth to the pigs. It is very clean in the farrowing house. On
the count of three, let’s count the pigs in one stall. Be careful not to count the same pig twice.
Jump up and raise your hand when you have a count. Walk slowly to the next building which
we call the nursery. Young pigs that no longer need their mother’s milk live in the nursery. They
move around specially designed pens and get to know their siblings and friends. Help to feed
the hogs by operation the automatic feeding system. Don’t be surprised if you feel a misty spray
of water falling on your head. The mist serves as air conditioning on hot days for the pigs. Use
your hand to fan yourself in the heat. Now we are ready to move to another building called the
finishing house. This is where hogs live and eat until they are fully grown and ready for market.
Their feed is specially mixed so that they receive all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients they
need. Go to the kitchen and prepare a healthy snack for yourself. Will your snack include a lean
pork product?
Extension Activity:
Conduct the activity as written using the text from the book, I Drive a Tractor, by Sarah Bridges.
Use Accompanying directions to assist students as they act out the activities described in the
story.
Book Information:
I Drive a Tractor, by Sarah Bridges
Picture Window Books
ISBN 13:978-1-4048-1989-4
Note: Physical activities and lesson plans to accompany this book can be obtained from the
American Farm Bureau Foundation fro Agriculture at http://www.fb-orders.com/ageducate/.
AITC Energizer
Frozen Farm Vocabulary
Conduct the activity as directed on pages 22 and 36 using the following NC agricultural
examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Begin by having students do an activity standing at their desks.
• jumping
• twisting
• jogging
• jumping jacks
• hopping
• knee lifts
• playing air guitar
• marching
2. Students continue activity for 30 seconds or until teacher calls out a vocabulary word at
which point the students freeze.
3. Teachers calls on volunteer to use the vocabulary word correctly in a sentence.
4. Resume activity or begin a new activity when a student uses the vocabulary word
properly in a sentence.
Variations:
1. Students define the given vocabulary word.
2. Students can spell the word.
3. Students can name a synonym or antonym.
4. For math, students can give a sum, difference, product, or quotient.
Agricultural words:
swine
poultry
dairy
beef
produce
pork
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb/Sweet Potato Pie
Conduct the activity as directed on page 14 using the book, Sweet Potato Pie, by Anne
Rockwell. Whenever the teacher reads, “My, oh my, sweet potato pie!” students open arms wide
and pantomime eating a piece of pie.
Another book that lends itself to action and pantomime is, Over on the Farm, by Christopher
Gunson. The rhyming text speaks of mother animals instructing their babies to stretch, splash,
leap, flap, and snuggle. Students can act out these motions as the teacher reads the story.
Because the rhyme is a repetitive dialogue, students can recite the text with the teacher or
speak responsively as they act out the motions.
Book information:
Sweet Potato Pie, Anne Rockwell
Random House
ISBN: 0-679-86440-7
Over on the Farm, Christopher Gunson
Scholastic Press
ISBN 0-590-13445-0
AITC Energizer
It’s a Barnyard in Here
Conduct the activity as directed on page 29 using the following NC agricultural examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher selects a baby farm animal or has students select an animal.
• calf
• gosling
• duckling
• chick
• pig
• kid
• colt
• lamb
• fingerling
2. Students must imitate the way the animal walks or moves around
beside their desks or around the classroom for at least 30 seconds.
3. Students continue until signal is given to imitate another animal.
AITC Energizer
Litter Box… Market Basket
Conduct this activity as directed on pages 28 and 43. Extend the activity by replaying with an
agricultural focus. Instead of using balled-up paper, use real or plastic commodity items that are
produced in our state. Items that can be used include:
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apples
pecans
peanuts
cucumbers
bolls of cotton
sweet potatoes
white potatoes
AITC Energizer
Over, Under, Around, and Through
Conduct the activity as directed on page 9 using the following NC agricultural examples:
Over
a wooden fence
a narrow ditch
a plowed row
a bushel basket of sweet potatoes
Under
a wooden fence rail
a branch of an apple or peach tree
Around
a pasture of grazing cattle
a silo filled with cattle feed
a farm pond
a newly planted field of sweetpotatoes
Through
an orchard of blooming peach trees
a barn of dairy cows waiting to be milked
a farm house kitchen for a cold glass of milk
a squeaky farm gate
You may also wish to use the book, Up, Down, and Around, by Katherine Ayers. This rhyming
text discusses garden vegetables that grow up, down, and around. Students can stretch up,
bend down, and twirl around as directed by the story. In the end they “…get a bunch. Pick some.
Pull some. Let’s have lunch!” Students can take turns leading their classmates through
appropriate motions for the ending of this story.
Book information:
Up, Down, and Around, by Katherine Ayers
Candlewick Press
ISBN 978-0-7636-4017
AITC Energizer
Pass it on- UNO style
Conduct this activity as directed on pages 10 and 33. When different colored cards indicate
specific activities, us agriculturally related pantomime activities, such as:
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using a hoe to chop weeds in a garden
picking apples
picking strawberries
riding a horse
lifting bales of straw
lifting bushels of sweet potatoes
raking and spreading pine straw
AITC Energizer
Seed Line
Conduct the activity as directed on pages 27 and 49 using the following NC agricultural
examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Students walk to the front of the class and get in order based on the number or size
of seeds they brought from home. (without talking)
2. Allow younger classes to talk.
3. Have students re-form in groups based on seed color, shape, size, etc.
4. Have students try to identify the type of plant the seed came from.
AITC Energizer
Stop and Scribble
Conduct the activity as directed on pages 21 and 40 using the following NC agricultural
examples:
Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher calls out physical activity:
• jumping
• twisting
• jogging
• jumping jacks
• hopping
• knee lifts
• playing air guitar
• marching
2. Students begin activity and continue until teacher calls out an agricultural spelling word.
3. Students freeze and partners work together to try to spell the word correctly on a piece
of paper.
4. After 10-15 seconds, teacher calls out new activity and spelling word.
5. Continue until all spelling words have been used.
6. As students cool down, teacher will write correct spelling on the board and students will
check their work.
7. Variation: Same activity using sidewalk chalk outside.
Agricultural Word List:
farm
germinate
agriculture
fertilizer
plant
harvester
livestock
profit
grow
tractor
AITC Energizer
Stop, Drop, and Roll
Conduct this activity as directed on page 57 emphasizing its importance as a safety measure.
Provide an agricultural connection by allowing students to consider and discuss fruits and nuts
that grow on trees. Note that these commodities “stop” growing, “drop” to the ground, and “roll”
into the hands of the farmer who will sell the crop to consumers or will “roll” to a spot on the
ground where seeds within the fruit or nut can germinate and begin to grow a new tree.
Now the class can take part in the activity and think about their favorite fruits and nuts are
grown!
The Twelve Days of Fitness…Fit on the Farm
Conduct the activity as directed on page 42. Substitute activities completed by fit farmers across
the Tar Heel State.
“On the twelfth day of Christmas, the farmer gave to me…”
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12 work boot stomps
11 hay bale lifts
10 tractor hitch-ups
9 ditch diggers
8 fence post placements
7 apples picked fresh
6 cantaloupes boxed up
5 catfish caught
4 acres planted
3 sheep shorn
2 grapevines pruned
1 trimmed NC Christmas tree
To view video of NC agriculture, go to YouTube and search for “What is North Carolina
Agriculture.”