My Family’s Soybean Farm - Seasons - Grade 3 Reading Writing Comprehension Lesson

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper

Lesson plan for 3rd grade students to strengthen reading, writing, and comprehension while reviewing the soybean plant lifecycle and what farmers do across spring, summer, and fall. Includes a clear purpose, required materials (worksheets, vocabulary list, and seasons picture PDF), suggested companion books, and an interest approach with guiding questions. Provides structured procedures: key details activities, vocabulary-supported event recall, and a creative writing task from a soybean’s perspective using time/sequence and cause-effect language.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Activity 1: Key Details

Activity 2: Creative Writing

Vocabulary

Background – Agricultural Connections

[www.iowaagliteracy.org](www.iowaagliteracy.org) My Family’s Soybean Farm: Seasons Target Grade Level / Age Range: 3rd Time: • 75-90 minutes Purpose: This lesson is designed to reinforce 3rd grade reading, writing, and comprehension skills while reviewing the lifecycle of a soybean plant and what farmers do throughout the year. Materials: • Copies of the What happened? worksheets or science journals • Digital copy of the Vocabulary List to display or printed copies for each student • Digital or printed copies of the Seasons Pictures pdf Suggested Companion Resources • My Family’s Soybean Farm by Katie Olthoff • Soybeans in the story of agriculture by Susan Anderson and JoAnne Buggey Vocabulary • Biodiesel: fuel that can be made from soybeans and used in diesel engines. • Combine: a machine that harvests crops • Co-ops or cooperatives: businesses owned by members (often farmers) who can bargain for better prices for their products; co-ops can offer services like grain buying and fertilizer sales • Cover crops: crops planted in the fall to improve soil and water quality • Crops: plants raised for food • Crop rotation: planting different crops each year • Drones: Remote controlled, flying robots with cameras; also called UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles • Export: to send goods or services to another country for sale; a good or service sold in another country • Farmer: someone who grows food or raises livestock • Feed: food for livestock • Fuel: a material that produces heat or power, like gasoline • Harvest: gathering crops • Implement: large machines pulled and powered by tractors like planters and sprayers • Livestock: farm animals, including cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, poultry and others • Leaves: a flattened structure of a higher plant that is attached to a stem and is the main organ of photosynthesis and transpiration • Mature: fully developed • Pod: an elongated seed vessel of a leguminous plant • Nutrients: something that plants, animals and people need to live and grow • Photosynthesis: The process plants use to turn sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into energy • Sprout: After germination, when the plants’ leaves emerge from the soil • Soybean: the seed of the soybean plant, used in a variety of foods and fodder, especially as a replacement for animal protein • Roots: the part of a plant that attaches the stem to the ground to support and supply water and nutrients from the earth to the rest of the plant Background – Agricultural Connections Iowa farmers plant soybeans in late April and May. They monitor the crops throughout the summer, and sometimes spray herbicide to protect the plants from insects, diseases, or weeds. When the seeds have matured in the fall, the upright plant begins to shrivel and the leaves fall away. All harvesting is done by machines. Farmers use combines that cut the stalk, thresh the plant residue, and separate the beans from the pod. After harvesting the beans, farmers either transport their crops to a commercial grain elevator or store the beans in their own grain bins to sell later. After the soybeans are sold, they are transported to processing plants or sold to other countries. Soybeans are used to make many products that we eat or use every day. Some of these products include feed for animals, food products, biodiesel, vegetable oils, cleaning products, and crayons. Interest Approach or Motivator Ask the students the following questions: • Do you know any farmers? • What crops do they grow? • What tasks do they do in spring, summer, and fall to care for the crops? Procedures Activity 1: Key Details 1. Read My Family’s Soybean Farm aloud as a class, or in small groups. 2. After reading ask,“What was the book about?” • Students may say soybeans or Alexander and Isaac’s farm. • Soybeans is the overall topic of the book, but there are many things that happened during the story. 2. Next, ask

FAQs

What is the purpose of this lesson on My Family’s Soybean Farm: Seasons?

It reinforces 3rd grade reading, writing, and comprehension skills while reviewing the soybean plant lifecycle and farmers’ year-round tasks.

What materials are needed for the lesson?

Students use What Happened worksheets or science journals, a Vocabulary List (digital or printed), and the Seasons Pictures PDF (digital or printed copies).

What do students do in the creative writing activity?

Students rewrite the story from the perspective of a soybean, using their notes and including vocabulary words, with time/sequence and cause-and-effect language.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Dipper