Activity Ideas One: Tomato Stories Two: Yummy Tomatoes Three: The Life of a Tomato Four: Tomato Fact or Fiction

TOMATO TIDBITS   Are you growing tomatoes in your garden this year? If you are, you’re not alone – nearly 35 million people in the United States grew tomato plants this summer! It is the most popular garden crop, which means many people like to eat them. Do you like to eat tomatoes?  Ketchup? Salsa? Pizza? Chili? If you like any of these foods, you like tomatoes!   Late summer is a great time to use tomatoes as a way to teach about comparisons, history, science, and health. If the students can apply what they learn in a class or program to what they eat or see at home, in gardens, or at the store, they will remember things better.   For more classroom activities about tomatoes, refer to the following Growing in the Garden: K-3 Curriculum (4H-905A) lessons.             Grade K, Unit 3, Lesson 1, When is it ready to eat?             Grade K, Unit 3, Lesson 3, Building a Food Maze             Grade 1, Unit 3, Lesson 1, My Totally Tasty Plant             Grade 1, Unit 3, Lesson 3, Where in the World             Grade 2, Unit 3, Lesson 3, The Life of Garden Produce             Grade 3, Unit 3, Lesson 4, Value-added Tomatoes             Grade 3, Outdoor Classroom, Salsa and Herb Garden   For more program ideas about tomatoes, refer to the following Growing in the Garden: Outdoor Classrooms (4H-905B SET) activities.             Day 3, Activity 2, Get Ready, Get Set, GROW!             Day 3, Activity 3, Seed to Seed             Day 7, All of the activities about adding value to garden produce             Day 9, All of the activities about harvesting Activity Idea One: Tomato Stories Back to top Go to the Book Review link on this web site and read about the following books. Hopefully you can find the books in your library. They are available at most bookstores or on the web. These books are good read aloud or take turns reading books. Discuss the role of tomatoes in each of the books.   How were tomatoes an important part of the story?   How did the stories relate to your students?   COOKING WITH HERB By Jules Bass Eating the Alphabet By Lois Ehlert Growing Vegetable Soup By Lois Ehlert FARMER’S MARKET By Paul Brett Johnson Never Take a Pig To Lunch By Nadine Bernard Westcott I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato By Lauren Child I Eat Vegetables! By Hannah Tofts Vegetable Garden By Douglas Florian   Activity Idea Two: Yummy Tomatoes Back to top Materials: Fresh tomatoes – an assortment of kinds (For example, Roma to compare sizes and shapes, red and yellow varieties to compare colors) These are separate from the recipe. Labels or containers of processed tomatoes such as tomato sauce, tomato soup, salsa, ketchup, pizza, tomato juice Copies of Garden Salsa from below (One per student if they want to take the recipe home. Or, one to share between members of a small group.) Plastic knives to cut vegetables (Enough to share between 2 to 4 people) Cutting boards (Enough to share between 2 to 4 people) Soap and water or hand-wipes to clean hands, utensils, surfaces Bowls and spoons to mix and serve the salsa Paper plates and napkins (one per student) Corn chips to eat with salsa See Garden Salsa recipe for a list of ingredients   Tomatoes come in many different colors, shapes, and sizes. Photo credit: USDA-ARS, North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station, Ames, IA.   Download, enlarge, and print the image showing many different kinds of tomatoes and show it to the students or have different kinds of tomatoes on display.   Divide the group of students into smaller groups of 4 to 6 people. Assign them one of the steps to preparing the Garden Salsa recipe. Have everyone wash his or her hands before preparing the recipe. Remember to save a few tomatoes to compare size, shape, color, and maybe flavor. Prepare the Garden Salsa recipe. Chill it on ice or in a cooler or just start eating it while you continue with the ideas in these activities.   Summer Garden Salsa 3 large tomatoes, seeded & coarsely chopped 1 small fresh jalapeno chili, seeded & minced 1 clove garlic, minced ¼ cup finely chopped onions 2 T. finely chopped cilantro 2 tomatillos, husks removed, finely chopped Juice from 1 small lime 2 medium ears cooked sweet corn, off the cob ¼ t. salt, ¼ t. freshly ground black pepper In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Stir together until will blended.  Cover and chill for 30 minutes or more before serving.  Keeps for up to 4 days in the refrigerator.  Makes about 2 cups.   © 2000 Iowa State University

Display the fresh tomatoes and processed tomato products in front of you. You may want to print the photograph of the tomatoes and put them on an overhead projector. Then ask the following questions.

What characteristics make these tomatoes alike? (Consider using all your senses to compare.)

What characteristics do all these tomatoes and processed food products have in common?

What characteristics make these tomatoes different? (Consider using all your senses to compare.)

What characteristics make these tomatoes and processed food products different?

Write the following column titles on the board – FRESH, PROCESSED. Have the students list foods that use tomatoes fresh and processed.

Fresh:  hamburgers, salads, B.L.T.’s, sliced, homemade salsa

Processed:  tomato soup, tomato juice, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, taco sauce, ketchup, stewed tomatoes, etc.  Tomatoes can even be found in flavored tortillas and pasta!

Eat the salsa!

You may want to try some of the following recipes.

Apple Tomato Jam   3 cups cooked peeled and cored apples 3 cups cooked peeled and seeded tomatoes or tomato juice Cook above separately, and then combine in large pan. Add 2 - 6 ounce packages of red gelatin.  Store in jars in refrigerator for up to 6 months.  Delicious! © Laura Carlson, 1979

Easy Tomato Sauce 6 large tomatoes diced and strained to remove seeds 2 T. vegetable oil ¼ cup chopped scallions ¼ cup Italian seasoning 1 minced garlic clove Salt & pepper to taste Parmesan cheese Your choice of pasta   1.  Put tomato juice in large bowl and add oil, seasoning, scallions, salt & pepper.  2.  Stir. Let sit covered for a few hours. 3.  Prepare pasta.  4. Pour tomato sauce on hot drained pasta. Sprinkle with cheese. Enjoy!

Activity Idea Three: The Life of a Tomato

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Materials:

Blank white paper

Pencils

Crayons or markers

Have the students take out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil, crayons and markers.  Ask them to fold the paper into fourths so that they have four panels to draw four pictures that tell the story of how a tomato plant grows. On one side of the paper have them go ahead and draw the four stages of growing tomato plants without an explanation. Then proceed with the following discussion and have them label their pictures or draw new ones on the back of the paper.

Tomatoes are planted in the spring and grow and produce fruit, then die – all in one season.  We call plants that do this “annuals” because they complete their seed – to seed – life cycle in one year. 

What did you draw in the first square? Discuss some of their answers. Have everyone hold up their pictures and point to their first story boxes. Then have the students look around to see the different drawings for the first of their stories.

What do most of the pictures have in common? Most of them should have a picture of a seed or transplant in the soil.

Like most plants, tomatoes begin their life as seeds. Most gardeners plant tomatoes as plants in their garden.  The garden center or greenhouse started the seeds and grew them so that they are small plants.  

Why do we plant transplants or small plants rather than plant the seeds directly into the garden?  To get a head start on the growing season.

If you would like to draw a new picture, turn the paper over and start again.

What do tomato plants need to grow?  Sun and water. If they haven’t already included sun and water in their pictures, have the students add something to indicate sun and water.

Seeds also need warm soil and air so we plant them after the threat of freezing weather is past. What season do we plant seeds? Spring. Tomatoes in Iowa are usually planted in May. Write, “spring” somewhere on your first picture.

What have you drawn in your second pictures? Discuss different drawings and have the students hold them up as for picture one.

What do most of the pictures have in common? Stems and leaves.

What season(s) do tomato plants grow? Late spring and early summer. You can label your second picture or draw a new one and label it on the back.

What have you drawn in your third pictures? Discuss different drawings and have the students hold them up as for picture one.

What do most of the pictures have in common? Flowers should start showing up on the plants. Tomato plants will grow about five leaves before they flower.

Do you know what color tomato flowers are?  Bright yellow. They are formed in clusters of a few or many flowers. You may color in your flowers or start another drawing on the back or your paper.

What season do the tomato flowers start to appear? Usually summer. You can write “summer” on your third picture. 

What have you drawn in your fourth pictures? Discuss different drawings and have the students hold them up as for picture one.

What do most of the pictures have in common? Tomatoes should start showing up on the plants.

What characteristics are different between your tomatoes? Different sizes and shapes. If they have colored them already, they may have different colors.

What has happened between pictures three and four in order for tomatoes to start showing up on the tomato plant? Bees, butterflies or wind carrying pollen from one flower to another pollinated the flowers. The stems continued to grow, more leaves developed between more flower clusters. After the flowers died, the tomatoes started to grow. You can add more stems, leaves, flower clusters, bees or butterflies to your pictures or draw a new one on the back of your page.

Which tomatoes will be ready to pick first?  The ones closest to the soil. Why?  They were the first ones to flower and develop into a fruit.

What color are tomatoes when they first show up on a plant? Green.

What color are tomatoes when they are ripe and ready to pick? Red, orange, yellow, or pink, depending on the variety.

When you color your tomatoes which ones will be red, orange, yellow, or pink? The tomatoes growing closest to the soil or the base of the plant. The ones near the top of the plant will be green. Go ahead and color your tomatoes.

What season(s) are tomatoes ready to pick in Iowa? Late summer or early fall. Tomato plants will continue to grow and make tomatoes until they are killed by frost in the fall. Go ahead and label your picture.

What do the first and fourth pictures have in common? Hint: This common link is hidden in your fourth picture. They both have seeds.

What is different about the seeds in the first and fourth pictures? A tomato plant can be grown from one seed but it produces several hundred seeds inside the tomatoes.

What other popular garden plants start with one seed that produces several hundred other seeds that you can see? Corn, beans, peas, peppers, pumpkins, strawberries, and many others.

What cycle is that called?  The “seed to seed” life cycle or an “annual” life cycle.

You have created a story panel out of four pictures. Where else are story panels used? Cartoons. They are also used to develop television advertisements and animated movies. Many step-by-step directions for how to build or make something contain illustrations that shows a beginning and end.

ACTIVITY IDEA FOUR: TOMATO FACT OR FICTION

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Materials:

Index cards

Markers

Tomato Fact or Fiction Game

Using index cards, write or type “FACT” on two cards and “FICTION” on two cards.

Write the statements given below on separate index cards.

Have one person be the scorekeeper and timer and another person is the game show host who reads the statement cards. Divide the rest of the class into two teams and give the teams a set of fact and fiction cards.

The host turns over the top statement and reads it to the first team. The scorekeeper watches the clock and the team has fifteen seconds to discuss it among themselves and determine whether it is a true statement or not. If they determine it is a true statement, they hold up the “FACT” card.  If they determine it is not true, they hold up the “FICTION” card.  If they guess correctly, they score one point.  If they answer the question right, they have the choice of getting to answer another question.  If they choose to answer another question and get it wrong, they loose a point and it is the other team’s turn. If they answered the first question wrong, the host and teacher can read and discuss why the statement was incorrect. (See list of statements.) They do not get another turn nor do they earn a point.

If a team has two points, they can request to go double or lose all.  If they guess the answer correctly, they have 4 points.  If they miss the question, they lose all their points.

STATEMENTS (Write the question at the top of the index card and the answer at the bottom in smaller print.)

1. Mexico is the largest producer of tomatoes in the world. FICTION – the United States is the largest producer of tomatoes in the world.

2. On the average, every man, woman and child in the United States eats a total of 18 pounds of fresh tomatoes every year. FACT

3. On the average, every man, woman and child in the United States eats less than 50 pounds of processed tomatoes, such as in sauces, salsa, and ketchup. FICTION – actually people eat a total of 70 pounds of processed tomatoes each year.

4. Tomatoes are actually a fruit. FACT – botanically speaking they are the fruit of the plant because they contain seeds. Until the late 1800’s, the tomato was classified as a fruit to avoid taxation, but this was changed after a Supreme Court ruling said that the tomato is a vegetable and should be taxed. Judge Justice Gray wrote in 1893: “Botanically speaking, tomatoes are fruits of a vine, just as are cucumbers, beans, and peas.  But in the common language of the people … all these are vegetables, which are grown in kitchen gardens, and which, whether eaten cooked or raw, are like potatoes, carrots, beets, lettuce, etc., usually served at dinner … not like fruits, generally served as dessert.”

5. Tomatoes have always been a popular food in the United States. FICTION – English settlers were reluctant to eat them because they thought tomatoes were poisonous. They didn’t become a popular food until the last 1800’s.

6. The tomato has relatives in its plant family that are poisonous. FACT – the tomato is a close relative to black nightshade that is a low branching plant that has flowers similar to a tomato but grows fruit the size of a berry that turns from green to purplish-black. Black nightshade grows in fields, ditches, around buildings, and in open woods and pastures. It doesn’t taste good or have a good texture so animals do not usually eat it.

7. Tomatoes are native to the Americas.  FACT – They were originally cultivated or grown by the Aztec and Incas in South America as early as 700 AD.

8. Tomatoes and potatoes are close members of the same plant family. FACT – they both belong to the Solanaceae (pronounced: So-lan-A-see-ee) family.

9. George Washington Carver, famous for developing 325 uses of peanuts, encouraged people to eat tomatoes.  FACT – He strongly encouraged his poor Alabama neighbors to eat tomatoes in an effort to improve their vitamin-deficient diet.

10.  The tomato doesn’t contribute very much nutritional value to the human diet. FICTION – A University of California at Davis survey ranked the tomato as the single most important fruit or vegetable of western diets in terms of overall source of vitamins and minerals.

11.  Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C. FACT

12. Spanish explorers brought tomato seeds back to Spain and tomatoes quickly became popular in the Mediterranean countries of Spain, Portugal, and Italy. FACT

13. The first tomatoes that were cultivated or grown were very similar to those we eat today. FICTION – The original tomatoes were small berrylike fruits in clusters.

14. Tomatoes were once called “love apples”. FACT – Because of their heart shape and red color they were thought to be an aphrodisiac and called “love apples.”