The Topic: Peanut Easier - A peanut is a plant seed that grows in underground pods and tastes like a nut. Peanuts are eaten roasted, and made into peanut butter and cooking oil.   Harder - The peanut is a legume plant species that is usually cultivated for its fruit. The peanut plant is unusual because it flowers above ground, then develops its pods underground. Because of this, peanuts are often called groundnuts. Other names include arachides, goobers, mani, and pinders. This strange legume yields shell-covered pods (fruits) that contain one or more seeds. These tasty seeds are also called peanuts.   The peanut is more closely related to peas than to nuts. Peanuts are a favorite food, whether eaten alone as a snack food or mixed into candy, cookies, pies, and other bakery products. Peanut butter, made by grinding the roasted seeds, accounts for about one half the peanuts grown in the United States. Worldwide however, peanuts are grown chiefly to provide peanut oil. Farmers in Africa and Asia grow about 90 percent of the world's peanuts.   Peanut Allergy http://www.allergicchild.com/peanut_allergy.htm Peanuts, a cheap source of dietary protein predominantly ingested as peanut butter, have indeed become one of the world's most allergenic foods. Related Websites: 2) Peanut Allergy - What You Need To Know from Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Society http://www.oma.org/phealth/peanuts.htm 3) Peanut Allergy by P. Potter from Allergy Society of South Africa http://www.allergysa.org/html/peanut.html 4) Peanut Allergy: Where Do We Stand? by J. Weisnagel, M.D. http://www.allerg.qc.ca/peanutallergy.htm 5) Peanut Allergies from PBS http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec97/peanut_12-19.html 6) Watch That Peanut Butter from Consumer Affairs.Com http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/watch_that_peanut_butter.htm 7) Why Peanuts, Why Now? http://cgi.cadvision.com/~allergy/whypeanutswhynow.html   Peanut Butter Lovers Club http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/ This is the website dedicated to all those who love peanut butter. It contains the history of peanut butter, tells how it is made, has lots of recipes plus nutrition and allergy information, and lots more. Related Websites: 2) Jif http://www.jif.com/ 3) Nutella (Alternative nut product) http://www.nutellausa.com/ 4) Peanut Butter Information from About.com http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/aa110397.htm?once=true& 5) Skippy Peanut Butter http://brands.bestfoods.com/skippy/ 6) Story of Peanut Butter http://www.sanitarium.com.au/schoproj/sppeanut.htm   Peanut Institute http://www.peanut-institute.org/ The Peanut Institute is a nonprofit organization which supports nutrition research and develops educational programs. Other Peanut Organizations: 2) American Peanut Council http://www.peanutsusa.com/ 3) Georgia Peanut Commission http://www.gapeanuts.com/ 4) Virginia Carolina Peanuts http://www.aboutpeanuts.com/index.html   Story of the Peanut from The Peanut Roaster http://www.peanut.com/story.html This brief site tells about peanut history and how they grow. Related Websites: 2) About Peanuts from National Peanut Board http://www.nationalpeanutboard.com/about/index.html 3) Peanut Facts from American Peanut Shellers Association http://www.peanut-shellers.org/Facts/facts.html 4) Peanut Perspective http://www.sansabapecan.com/peanuts/peanuts1.htm 5) Peanuts from About.com http://southernfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa041397.htm 6) Peanuts - The Facts from American Peanut Council http://www.peanutsusa.com/facts/index.html    After visiting several of the websites for peanuts, complete one or more of the following activities. But before working with any group - - First check with parents and guardians to find if anyone has severe allergies to peanuts or peanut products!   Create Your Own 'Peanut Gallery.' Represent your family, not as nuts, but using peanuts. Starting with peanuts and a wooden base, decorate each peanut with paint and markers, fabric, yarn, beads, craft eyes and other stuff to create family members. Then write a story about your family. Get ideas from the Yukon Families Peanut Gallery. Display your family story with your finished 'Peanut Gallery.'   Make Homemade Peanut Butter. You can find directions for both creamy and chunky styles at Homemade Peanut Butter and Old Fashioned Peanut Butter. Be sure to have an adult help supervise the process. Enjoy!   Prepare Peanut Foods. Here are a few recipe sites to help you decide what to make. 1) Cookbook from National Peanut Board http://www.nationalpeanutboard.com/cookbook/index.html 2) Peanut Recipes from The Peanut Roaster http://www.peanut.com/recipes.html 3) Recipe Categories from Good Earth Peanut Company http://www.goodearthpeanuts.com/recipes.htm 4) Recipes from Peanut Company of Australia http://www.pca.com.au/technical_nutritional_info/default.asp 5) Recipes from the Peanut Advisory Board http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/Recipes/index_recipes.html 6) Recipes from Texas Peanut Producers Board http://www.texaspeanutboard.com/recipe.html 7) Recipes from Virginia Carolina Peanuts http://www.aboutpeanuts.com/cgi-bin/recipes.cgi   Complete A Peanut Experiment. A tiny peanut contains stored chemical energy. When you eat them, the stored energy is converted by your bodies so you can do work. You can also use the energy in a peanut to heat a container of water. Carefully follow the procedures found at Peanut Power. This project should be done with the assistance and supervision of your teacher.   Complete A Peanut WebQuest. Follow or adapt the procedures found at the following webQuest site: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches http://www.evsc.k12.in.us/schoolzone/schools/EMPOWER/project/glenwood/daniels.htm    Write A Peanut Poem. Compose a poem on the subject of peanuts or peanut butter! You can find examples of poetry at 911 for Peanut Butter and Peanutty Poetry.   Debate A Peanut Ban in Your School. In recent years, the awareness of the danger for some persons of peanut allergies have led to the ban of all peanut products in schools, the workplace, or airlines. Use information found at the allergy websites and these below to learn more about the issues. Then debate a proposed ban of peanut products in your school. 1) Don't Ban Peanuts by C. Gorman from Time http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/981005/personal_time.your_heal32a.html 2) Feedback: Peanut Allergies and School http://www.cbc4kids.ca/general/whats-new/feedback/article24.html 3) Growing Number of Schools Ban Peanut Butter as Allergy Threat by A. Hartocollis http://www.devvy.com/peanutbutter.html 4) Should Schools Ban Peanut Butter? Point/CounterPoint from Physician's Weekly http://www.physweekly.com/archive/99/04_12_99/pc.html 5) Why Don’t We Just Ban Peanuts (and Nuts) At School? http://cgi.cadvision.com/~allergy/whynotban.htm   Have A Peanut Day! Check for peanut allergies before holding this event. Celebrate with activities such as 'guess the amount or number of peanuts,' 'peanut hunt', and a 'peanut masquerade.' Have some special foods. Sing the song, Goober Peas from the Civil War Music Site.   Grow A Peanut. Get some help at How You Can Grow A Peanut Plant. Use a database software to keep weekly data for (1) peanut growth/plant height, (2) soil temperature, (3) amount of moisture, and (4) number of leaves.   Do Some Peanut Math. See if you can solve the Peanuts Problem (Grades 7-10). Check your answer at Scoring Guide for the Peanuts Problem. How did you do on that one? Create some peanut math problems of your own. Try them out with your friends and classmates.   Pea or Nut? Compare and contrast the peanut with its close relatives in the legume family (peas). How are they alike and how do they differ? Then do the same with a specific type of nut. Share your findings.   More Peanuts Websites Golden Peanut Company http://www.goldenpeanut.com/ This is the website of a leading handler, processor and exporter of raw and processed peanuts as well as of peanut related products worldwide.   Peanut Harvesting Equipment from Kelley Manufacturing Co. http://www.kelleymfg.com/Peanut/Peanut.htm Here you can see and learn about digger shaker inverters, row combines, and hydraulic dump carts that are used for harvesting peanuts. Related Website: 2) Planting, Harvesting, and Curing Peanuts by G.T. Roberson http://ipmwww.ncsu.edu/Production_Guides/Peanuts/chptr7.html   Peanut Farmer, The http://www.peanutfarmer.com/ Published seven times per year, this magazine gives the latest peanut production findings, analyses of the domestic and global markets, and significant happenings within the industry. Another Online Peanut Magazines: 2) Peanut Grower http://www.peanutgrower.com/home/main.html 3) Southeastern Peanut Farmer http://www.gapeanuts.com/southeasternpeanutfarmer.html   Planters http://www.planters.com/ Learn about the nut company that was started by an Italian immigrant named Amedeo Obici.   People Associated with Peanuts Jimmy Carter http://www.americanpresident.org/KoTrain/Courses/JC/JC_Life_Before_The_Presidency. htm Here is the biography of 'Jimmy' Carter, whose parents owned a peanut farm, warehouse, and a store outside the small town of Plains, Georgia. Related Websites: 2) Jimmy Carter at DiscoverySchool http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/worldbook/atozhistory/c/097440.html 3) Jimmy Carter from Grolier's New Book of Knowledge http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/nbk/bios/39pcart.html 4) Jimmy Carter http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/jc39.html 5) Plains, Georgia: Home of the 39th President of the United States http://www.plainsgeorgia.com/   George Washington Carver http://www.invent.org/book/book-text/23.html Agricultural chemist George Washington Carver developed crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil and discovered hundreds of new uses for crops such as the peanut, which created new markets for farmers, especially in the South. Other G.W. Carver Websites: 2) Carver, George Washington http://www.africana.com/Articles/tt_080.htm 3) George Washington Carver from About.com http://inventors.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa041897.htm 4) Legacy of George Washington Carver from Iowa State University http://www.lib.iastate.edu/spcl/gwc/bio.html 5) Peanut Man: The Story of George Washington Carver http://www.graceproducts.com/carver/index.html 6) Peanut Products: As Discovered by Dr. George Washington Carver http://www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~rlandrum/peanut.htm   Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center http://www.charlesmschulzmuseum.org/ Here is the museum website of the creator of the 'Peanuts' cartoon strip. Other Websites for Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts: 2) MetLife Gallary (Peanuts art) http://www.metlife.com/Gallery/index.html 3) Snoopy: The Official Peanuts Website http://www.snoopy.com/ 4) Sparky Rocks http://www.webbinteractive.com/sparkyrocks/   Websites For Teachers Learning About Ratios: A Sandwich Study (Grades 4-6) by S. Weinberg http://www.col-ed.org/cur/math/math17.txt and http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/math/cecmath/cecmath017.html This lesson provides students with a concrete introduction to the concept of ratios.   Peanut Butter and Details (Grades 3-5) by E. Braslawsky from Education World http://www.education-world.com/a_tsl/archives/00-1/lesson0043.shtml Each student will write the directions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and ask another student to follow the directions and make the sandwich.   Peanut Butter and Jelly Dance (Grade 2) by J. Matas http://atozteacherstuff.com/lessons/peanutbutter.shtml Each student will find three other people, by nonverbal body language, and will complete a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, while the song is playing.   Peanut Butter and Jelly Geology from Nevada Mining Association http://www.nevadamining.org/education/projects/proj_936169200.html In this project students make PB & J sandwiches to learn how natural forces shape the rock layers of the earth's crust.   Peanut Butter and Jelly Programming (Grades 5-8) by D. Sweeney http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/2166.html This activity was designed to connect written communication skills and sequential thinking with writing computer programs.   Peanut Butter Lovers Month http://www.clyde.k12.oh.us/jh/stbstult/peanut/ This site shows how one class accumulated a wealth of poems, stories, essays, news reports, craft ideas, laughs, lessons and projects.   Where Is My Peanut? by V. Vrooman (Grades 2-8) from Academy Curricular Exchange http://ofcn.org/cyber.serv/academy/ace/sci/cecsci/cecsci185.html As a result of this activity, the students will observe a peanut, record facts about the peanut, use measurement devices, draw pictures if necessary, use the data to find the peanut after hiding it, and have others use your data to locate their peanut.   Who is George Washington Carver, Anyway? from Beacon Lesson Plans http://www.beaconlc.org/boa/display.asp?lessonid=959 This lesson enables students to learn about an African-American scientist who made significant contributions in science since 1880. Related Lesson Plan: 2) George Washington Carver http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/TLresources/longterm/LessonPlans/famous/carver.html   peanut peanut shell runner peanut roasted peanut boiled peanut peanut butter peanut butter diet planting allergy cultivating crop cracker jack harvesting Tuskeegee Institute Spanish peanut farming groundnut circus crop rotation ground pea Valencia peanut peanut skin nitrogen fixing blanching peanut hull World's largest peanut legume peanut brittle PB & J sandwich grinding Peanut State Virginia peanut peg 'goober peas' protein pod roasted-in-the-shell salted peanut oil nutrition peanut butter glasses Peanuts (Cartoon)        Created by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, 11/01.