Harvest Time Math

Fall is almost here, and what better way to get in the swing of the season than combining math with information about harvests? Start your exploration of harvest-time sites in Idaho, home of the potato. Visit the Idaho Potato Expo, where you'll find fascinating trivia about the world's largest potato chip and the invention of French fries. The site includes potato facts with statistics that are perfect for logic and word problems.

What's next? Think national! The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service is a rich resource of raw data and real-life math applications. The USDA's National Weather Summary provides a summary of crop harvests throughout the country — as well as crop percentages for each state.

If you're looking for a simpler activity for primary students, try Learning Partners' Let's Do Math! You'll find a vegetable-sorting activity for grades K–2 — as well as some tips on making math real for kids in an everyday setting.

Idaho Potato Expo Homepage
http://www.ida.net/users/
potatoexpo/index.html

National Agricultural Statistics Service
www.usda.gov/nass/

The Joint Agricultural Weather Facility
http://www.usda.gov
/oce/waob/jawf/
profiles/mwcacp2.htm#NAM