Tomatoes: Literacy Activities

Tomato to Ketchup Step-by-Step (Grades K-2)

Read “Tomatoes to Ketchup (Rookie Read-About Science)” by Lisa M. Herrington and/or watch “How Ketchup is Made.” Make your own tomato paste or make your own ketchup. Create a recipe card with step-by-step instructions to share with friends and family. 

• • • Ingredients
      • 1 cup tomato paste (270 g)
      • 4 tbsp maple syrup
      • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
      • 1 tsp onion powder
      • 1 tsp oregano
      • Sea salt to taste (optional)
    • Instructions
      • Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
      • Try the ketchup and adjust if you want.

Standards:

• GSE Standard ELAGSE1RI2: Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
• GSE Standard ELAGSE1W3 Write narratives in which they recount two or more appropriately sequenced events, include some details regarding what happened, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide some sense of closure.

 

Senses in the Summer Poem (Grades K-2)

Read some poems from the season we are in when “green becomes tomato” in the book “When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons” by Julie Fogliano. Write a five senses poem about the season we are in. Go outside in your yard for inspiration!

I see…
I hear…
I smell…
I feel…
I taste…

Standards:

• GSE Standard ELAGSE3RF4b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
• GSE Standard SKP1b. Use senses and science tools.

 

The Plot Thickens (Grades 1-3)

Read “I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato (Charlie and Lola)” by Lauren Child. Describe what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Have you ever experienced a similar beginning, middle, and end in your life when you were trying something new?

Standards:

• GSE Standard ELAGSE2RL7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

 

A Rainbow of Biodiversity (Grades 3-5)

Read the last half of the book “Blue Potatoes, Orange Tomatoes: How to Grow A Rainbow Garden” by Rosalind Creasy. The section is titled “A Rainbow of Fruits and Vegetables.” Draw a rainbow and on each color, draw the fruits and vegetables that match. Remember to draw each vegetable in ALL of the colors that the varieties can come in. For example, tomatoes can be red, orange, and green.

Standards:

• GSE Standard ELAGSE4RI1. Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.