Date:
Day
Weekly
Standards &
Elements:
Vocabulary:
Weekly Planner –TAG
MondayS2P1. Students will
investigate the properties of
matter and changes that
occur in objects.
S2P1.a. Identify the three
common states of matter as
solid, liquid, or gas.
S2L1. Students will
investigate the life cycles of
different living organisms.
S1L1. Students will
investigate the
characteristics and basic
needs of plants and
animals.
S1L1.c. Identify the parts
of a plant—root, stem, leaf,
and flower.
SS1G3 The student will
locate major topographical
features of the earth’s
surface.
SS1G3a. Locate all of the
continents: North America,
South America, Africa,
Europe, Asia, Antarctica,
and Australia.
Chocolate
Chocolatier- a person
who makes chocolate
from the beans, or
someone who works with
chocolate to make
confections, or it can be
used to describe a
company that simply buys
and sells chocolate.
Tuesday-
Subject: Chemistry of Chocolate- 1st-2nd grade
Wednesday-
Thursday-
Friday-
Hook:
You are an
environmentalist. You
must figure out ways to
grow chocolate and
harvest it without
destroying the
rainforest.
Pass out a piece of
chocolate candy each
student (check for
allergies) Ask them if they
know where chocolate
comes from?
Lucía's Story - And The
History Of Chocolate
Lucía lives in a hot and
rainy part of Costa Rica.
Her parents and neighbors
grow their own food to eat,
and they also grow some
crops to make money. In
the tropics, many crops are
grown on large plantations
with lots of chemical
pesticides and fertilizers,
which can hurt other plants
and animals in the area.
But here, people are tending
cacao trees organically,
without any chemicals, so
that they can keep their
forest green and productive.
A healthy forest has lots of
different levels, which
makes it possible for many
different animals and plants
to live together. Cacao has
an important role to play
because it is an understory
tree, which means that it
grows in the shade of taller
trees.
Lucía helps to take care of
the cacao trees and harvest
the pods. She breaks open
the pods, and puts the beans
into big, burlap bags so that
they can ferment for three
days. Then, she spreads the
beans out onto a cloth on
the ground, and lets them
dry in the hot sun for a
week. When the beans are
ready, she goes with her
father to sell them. They get
paid extra because they are
growing organically.
Meanwhile, far across the
ocean, the cacao is made
into chocolate. When we
buy candy bars, part of the
money goes to pay for the
shipping, part for
processing, the candy
wrappers, the advertising,
the store owner, and lots of
other stuff. Lucía’s family
really gets only a small part
of the price we pay for
chocolate.
Chocolate as we know it
has only become available
in the last 100 years or so,
even though cacao beans
had been growing in
Central and South America
for a long time.
When the Spanish explorers
came to Mexico in the
1500s, they found the
Aztecs drinking "xocolatl"
(pronounced "ho-ko-latol"), made from cacao
beans, water, and
sometimes, spicy peppers.
Montezuma, the last king of
the Aztecs, was known to
have drunk 50 pitchers a
day! The Spanish brought it
back to Europe, but since
they found it too bitter, they
added vanilla and sugar.
They wouldn't let anyone in
Europe know how or where
it grew, and guarded their
secret for about 100 years,
growing it on plantations in
their colonies.
You have to remember that
there weren't a lot of
different drinks available
then, as there are now. So
eventually, when other
people did find out about it,
drinking chocolate became
a very fashionable thing to
do. Fancy clubs just for
drinking hot chocolate were
opened.
It really didn't taste that
great, however, because
cacao beans are about 50%
fat. Chocolate became
much better when, about
150 years ago, the Dutch
chemist, Conrad Van
Houten, invented the
chocolate press. Then
people could separate cocoa
butter, the fatty part of
cacao, from cocoa powder
and, in turn, make hot
chocolate and chocolate
candy as we know it today.
Today, the huge demand for
chocolate has turned cacao
into an important cash crop,
world wide. We hope, by
including organic cacao in
our Chocolate Kit, that we
can help make it possible
for both Lucía’s family and
the forest to keep
flourishing.
Materials:
http://gleegum.com/makeown-chocolate-kit.htm
world map
paper for timelines
pencil
chart paper
computers
http://www.exploratoriu
m.edu/exploring/explori
ng_chocolate/index.htm
l
Essential
Question:
What is the process of
making chocolate?
Where does it come
from?
How can we keep our forests
intact and have our chocolate
too?
Lesson Focus:
The process of making
chocolate
Where chocolate comes
from
Weekly Lesson
Procedure/
Technology/
Grouping
WG –Whole Group
G – Guided
I – Independent
Have students brainstorm
a list of everything they
know about chocolate.
Have students share at
their tables. Students share
out as teacher makes a list
on chart paper.
Stations
Chocolate comes in many
shapes and forms – in bars
and kisses, in steaming
mugs of cocoa and cold,
creamy milkshakes.
Show slideshow on parts
of chocolate process.
http://www.rainforestalliance.org/sites/default/fi
les/sitedocuments/education/docu
ments/cocoa_slideshow.pd
f
Background information:
The history of chocolate is
in many ways the history of
the Americas. All of the
great Mesoamerican
civilizations were known to
have used cacao beans and
to have consumed some
form of chocolate.
Olmecs: The first known
group to grow the cocoa
plant as a domestic crop
was the Olmec Indians of
Southern Mexico, whose
civilization flourished from
1200 BC to 400 BC, and
who are thought to be the
progenitors of later
Mesoamerican civilizations
the Maya and Aztecs.
Maya: During the Mayan
civilization (AD 250 –
900), cocoa beans were
consumed by most of the
population, as an
unsweetened cocoa drink
made from ground beans.
This drink would not taste
very good to those of us
used to chocolate today!
The Mayans were the first
known society to have
created cocoa plantations to
grow very large quantities
of the crop. Elite Mayans
drank their chocolate from
elaborate vessels, and
chocolate played a role in
royal and religious events,
even in marriage
ceremonies.
Aztecs: The Aztecs copied
the unsweetened liquid
cocoa drink from the
Mayans, calling it
"xocolatl" (pronouned "hoco-la-tol"), meaning "bitter
liquid". Xocolatl was made
from cocoa beans, water
and sometimes, spicy
peppers, vanilla, or other
flavorings. Montezuma, the
last king of the Aztecs, was
known to have drunk as
many as 50 pitchers of the
drink a day! The Aztecs
told this legend about the
origin of cocoa: Their god,
Quetzacoatl, brought the
cacao tree from paradise to
earth, traveling on a beam
of the Morning Star. He
gave the tree as an offering
to the people, and they
learned how to roast and
grind its beans into a paste.
They believed that it
brought wisdom and
knowledge to those who
drank it.
Europeans: When the first
Spanish soldiers came to
the Mexico in the 1500s,
they found the Aztecs
drinking xocolatl and
brought the drink back to
Europe. Because Europeans
found the liquid too bitter,
they added vanilla and
sugar. The Spanish guarded
the secret of where this
delicious drink came from,
growing it on plantations in
their colonies. Drinking hot
chocolate became wildly
popular in Europe.
Chocolate as we know it
came into existence after
1828, when Dutch chemist
Conrad Van Houten
invented the chocolate
press, which separates raw
cocoa into cocoa butter and
cocoa powder, making a
much tastier finished
product. The rest, as they
say, is history!
Cocoa has grown from
being a small domestic crop
grown by the Olmecs in a
region of Central America
to a worldwide cash crop.
Annual cocoa production is
now around 3 million tons,
grown by 5 – 6 million
cocoa farmers on four
continents (North America,
South America, Africa and
Asia).
Procedure:
Discuss this history with
your students.
Break students into groups
to research. Using
technology each group will
create a presentation on the
history of chocolate: They
may choose to:
-Create a timeline
beginning with the Olmecs
and continuing through the
present day.
-Create a slideshow
presentaion of the history of
chocolate from crop to table
as a food product
throughout the years.
-Create a video or an
educreation.
Using a world map, have
the students locate the
places where cocoa has
been grown and eaten.
Using different colors for
different time periods, chart
the changes in where cocoa
has been grown and
consumed worldwide.
Explain the following Aztec
myth to your students.
What is the cultural
significance of chocolate to
the Aztecs? Has chocolate
always been eaten and used
and thought about in the
same way throughout
history? Why might the
Aztecs consider chocolate
to be a gift from their gods?
The story begins in Central
America, about two
thousand years ago. Cacao,
the tree that chocolate
comes from, grows wild in
the lush tropical rainforests
there. The first people
believed to have cultivated
cacao and used the beans
were the Olmecs, one of the
earliest of the
Mesoamerican civilizations
(1200 B.C.E. - 400 C.E.).
Though we don’t know
much about how the
Olmecs used cacao, we do
know that their
descendants, the Aztecs and
the Maya, loved cacao so
much that they gave it
important roles in their
cultures.
Throughout the Mayan
civilization, which
flourished from 250 C.E. to
900 C.E., cacao beans were
consumed by most of the
population in the form of an
unsweetened cocoa drink
made from ground beans.
This drink was bitter,
frothy, and a bit oily – it
wouldn’t taste very good to
those of us accustomed to
modern chocolate! The
Maya were the first known
society to create cocoa
plantations in order to grow
large quantities of the crop.
Elite Mayans drank their
chocolate from elaborate
vessels, and chocolate also
played a role in royal and
religious events, including
marriage ceremonies.
The Aztecs copied the
unsweetened liquid cocoa
drink from the Mayans,
calling it xocolatl
(pronouned “ho-co-la-tol”),
meaning “bitter liquid”.
Xocolatl was made from
cacao beans (also known as
cocoa beans), water and,
sometimes, spicy peppers,
vanilla, or other flavorings.
Montezuma, the last king of
the Aztecs, was known to
drink as many as 50
pitchers of the drink a day!
The Aztecs told this legend
about the origin of cocoa:
Their god, Quetzacoatl,
brought the cacao tree from
paradise to earth, traveling
on a beam of the Morning
Star. He gave the tree as an
offering to the people, and
they learned how to roast
and grind its beans into a
paste. They believed that it
brought wisdom and
knowledge to those who
drank it.
When the first Spanish
soldiers came to the Mexico
in the 1500s, they found the
Aztecs drinking xocolatl
and brought the drink back
to Europe. Because
Europeans found the liquid
too bitter, they added
vanilla and sugar. The
Spanish guarded the secret
of where this delicious
drink came from, growing it
on plantations in their
colonies. Drinking hot
chocolate became wildly
popular in Europe.
Chocolate as we know it
came into existence after
1828, when Dutch chemist
Conrad Van Houten
invented the chocolate
press. The chocolate press
separates raw cocoa into
cocoa butter and cocoa
powder, making a much
tastier finished product. The
rest, as they say, is history!
Cocoa has grown from
being a small domestic crop
grown by the Olmecs in a
relatively small region of
Central America to a
worldwide cash crop.
Annual cocoa production is
now around 3 million tons,
grown by 5 – 6 million
cocoa farmers on four
continents (North America,
South America, Africa and
Asia). So, although the
cacao tree is indigenous to
Central America, it is now
cultivated in many tropical
regions, particularly in
Western Africa.
Most cacao trees are tended
on small family farms.
Cacao is an understory
crop, which means that it
grows best in the shade of
other trees. Cacao trees
form an important part of
the rainforest ecosystem,
providing food and habitats
for animals that live there.
The cacao trees begin to
bear fruit when they are
about 4 years old. A few
times a year, cacao trees
produce large footballshaped pods that contain
seeds embedded in a fleshy
pulp. These seeds, or cacao
beans, are what we use to
make chocolate.
Cocoa harvests occur twice
a year. Ripe pods are
harvested by hand, and
workers use special tools
with hooked blades to cut
them down. The pods are
cut open and the cacao
beans extracted by hand
from the pulp surrounding
them. Piles of beans are
covered with leaves and left
to ferment for 3 to 9 days.
During fermentation,
enzymes in the beans
release the cocoa flavor and
turn the beans a rich brown
color. The beans are then
dried in the sun, packed
into sacks, and shipped off
for processing.
Cacoa beans travel a long
way from tree to factory, in
just few months. But the
journey’s not over yet! The
beans still have a few steps
to go before they become
everyone’s favorite treat chocolate. The beans are
first sorted and cleaned,
removing any last pulpy
bits. They then undergo the
ever-important roasting
process, which is the key to
bringing out the chocolate
flavor. The beans are
roasted in rotating ovens for
up to two hours. They are
then transferred to the
winnowing machine, which
cracks and removes the
brittle outer shells, leaving
behind something known as
nibs.
These nibs are made of
53% cocoa butter, a fatty
substance, and 47% pure
cocoa solids. The next step
in the process is to separate
these two materials. This is
achieved by first grinding
the nibs, thereby crushing
them into a paste known as
chocolate liquor. And no,
it’s not alcoholic! This
liquor is then pressed,
squeezing out the fatty
yellow stuff known as
cocoa butter. What is left
over is finely ground into
cocoa powder.
Now tell your students that
they are going to see
firsthand how chocolate is
made from the raw
ingredients cocoa butter,
cocoa powder and sugar.
Explain that cocoa butter
and powder are the fats and
the solids, respectively, of
the cocoa plant. Using the
Make Your Own Chocolate
Kit, have the students work
in teams of 5 to make their
own chocolate according to
the instructions.
or
The teacher may do all of
the steps involving heat and
have the students take turns
helping to stir. Give each
student a paper liner and
have them place things –
nuts, raisins,
marshmallows, etc. in it to
their liking, then spoon the
warm chocolate in on top to
make their own piece of
candy.
• Allow students to observe
the cocoa beans and explain
that the cocoa powder and
cocoa butter are the solids
and the oils separated out
from the cocoa bean.
• Check for allergies
• If the chocolate seems to
be taking a long time to
cool, the temperature
indicator is not broken – it
simply won’t read any
temperature outside of its
range. Place the chocolate
in the refrigerator for short
amounts of time and keep a
close eye on its
temperature.
http://gleegum.com/makeyour-own-chocolate-kit.htm
Assessment:
Have the students write
their own modern-day
myths about the origin of
foods they enjoy. Use the
Aztec myth of chocolate as
a jumping-off point. As a
class, discuss the
significance of myths and
why ancient cultures told
myths to understand their
world.
Optional lessons:
http://www.rainforestalliance.org/education.cfm?
id=third_l4
Includes linked lesson plans
on rainforests, their human
inhabitants, and the foods
they produce. Excellent
lesson on the Chachi
Indigenous group and their
cultivation of cocoa. Great
resources, including
firsthand stories of kids
who live in cocoaproducing rainforest areas.
http://www.lessonplanspage
.com/ScienceMDChangeM
atterChocolate57.htm
A lesson that uses
chocolate-making to
demonstrate the phases of
matter.
III.
• Allow students to observe
the cocoa beans and explain
that the cocoa powder and
cocoa butter are the solids
and the oils separated out
from the cocoa bean.
• Check for allergies
• If the chocolate seems to
be taking a long time to
cool, the temperature
indicator is not broken – it
simply won’t read any
temperature outside of its
range. Place the chocolate
in the refrigerator for short
amounts of time and keep a
close eye on its
temperature.
The Legend Of
Chocolate
Chocolate comes from
cacao beans which were
originally found only in
Central and South America.
Cacao was so special to the
ancient Aztecs that they
told this legend: Their god,
Quetzalcoatl, brought the
cacao tree from Paradise to
earth, traveling on a beam
of the Morning Star. He
gave the tree as an offering
to the people, and they
learned how to roast and
grind its beans into a paste.
They added spices and
mixed it with water calling
it "xocolatl" or
"bitterwater". They
believed that it brought
wisdom and knowledge to
those who drank it.
Today, cacao is an
important part of
agriculture in the tropics all
around the world. The
legend of chocolate lives
on!
What does chocolate have
to do with us?
What happens when a plant
or animal species is
removed from the
rainforest? What caused the
chocolate plant to not
produce fruit?
Watch: Magic
Schoolbus in the
Rainforest.
https://app.discoveryedu
cation.com/learn/videos/
13C250C1-1AAC4AF0-AA8DE1C8F2F98B40
Higher Order
Thinking:
Assessment
Homework
Differentiation
Remediate
Extend