RiceWeb - "A compendium of
facts and figures from the world of rice."
Rice Grower's Association of Australia, Inc.
http://www.rga.org.au/rice/iyr2004.asp
They have a very subtle menu system at the top of this
page. Run your mouse along the words at the top and other menus will
drop down. There is lots of information to help with all sorts of
projects.
Pictures of
hats developed to keep the sun off the heads of rice workers in hot
countries
USA Rice Industry News
This is a site devoted to dispensing information for
people in the business of rice. Unfortunately, there were also a number
of broken links.
Rice, A
Key Ingredient
From the USA Rice Producers, the site focuses on providing you with a
wealth of information about rice, processing rice, and research related
to rice.
International Rice Research
Institute - "Rice science for a better world."
There is an incredible number of resources related to all aspects of
rice. Don't miss the site.
RiceOnline.com
Focuses on providing information and statistics related to the rice
industry.
RiceWorld - "Open your
eyes to rice."
Permanent exhibits at the site are related to:
1) Biotechnology
2) "Friendly insects that help out the rice farmer."
3) Traditional tools of rice farming.
Features Section - a wonderful international perspective on issues
related to rice.
Check it out for articles on women and rice and the history of rice
production.
The Research page
at the RiceWeb
This is a short page of links providing a gateway to major research
sites to do with rice.
California Rice
They're in the process of producing a new web page as I type this, but
don't wait to check out all the information they have.
Basic Information about Rice in Thailand
Rice is a critical crop in Thailand. Information and pictures are
provided.
Organic Rice
Production Information
Climate
Variability and Rice Production in Sri Lanka
Foodmarket
Exchange.com
Statistics on international rice production. Other links to further
information on other rice-related topics are to be found at the bottom
of the page.
Economics
Research Service: Rice
Title: Teaching with Historic
Places: Lesson Plan
Index
Source: National Park Service: National Register of
Historic Places
Site address: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/standards.htm
Information on the site:
The following information has been
taken directly from the NPS website.
Teaching with Historic Places
(TwHP) has developed more than seventy-five classroom-ready lesson
plans on
topics and places across the curriculum. In an effort to help teachers
meet
their students' educational goals, TwHP has categorized its lesson
plans
according to the United States History Standards for Grades 5-12. Part
of the
National Standards for History developed by the National Center for
History in
the Schools, these voluntary standards promote historical thinking
skills and
understanding.
Most of the TwHP lessons are now
available on the Web; these lessons have been marked by underlining
their
titles. For more information on lessons not yet available on-line,
contact
TwHP; you can also view the entire collection according to state,
topic, or
time period.
Era 1: Three Worlds Meet
(Beginnings to 1620)
Era 2: Colonization and Settlement
(1585-1763)
Era 3: Revolution and the New
Nation (1754-1820s)
Era 4: Expansion and Reform
(1801-1861)
Era 5: Civil War and
Reconstruction (1850-1877)
For this project, please go to
Era 4,
Standard 2 for the lesson When Rice was
King.
Title: When Rice was King
Source: National Park Service: National Register of
Historic Places
Site address: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/3rice/3rice.htm
Information on the site:
This address will take you
directly to the lesson on rice plantations and their relationship to
American
history. The site begins with an overview of the lesson and a table of
contents
providing teachers with links to the inquiry questions, the historical
context,
and the core resources, including maps, readings, images, and
activities, as
well as supplementary resources, to teach the unit of study.
Title:
The Rice Museum: Georgetown, South Carolina
Source:
The Rice Museum
Site address:
http://www.ego.net/us/sc/myr/rice/index.htm
Information on the site:
The National Park Service has
linked this resource to their lesson on teaching with historic places
entitled,
When Rice was King. They have
classified the lesson under Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861),
history
standard 2: How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the
rapid
expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of
Americans
and led toward regional tensions. The intention of the lesson is to
illustrate
these concepts through allowing students to “investigate early rice
plantations
in Georgetown, South Carolina, to learn how rice cultivation
transformed the
native environment and promoted the South’s dependence on a plantation
economy.”
At the bottom of the first page
for the Rice Museum are four links which provide a great deal of
valuable
information:
(1)
Brief History of
Georgetown
(2)
Rise of the Rice
Culture
(3)
Collapse of the
Society
(4)
Planter Lifestyles
The four links will give readers a
concise overview of the information from the perspective of the region.
Title: RiceRomp
Source: US Rice Producers Association
Site address: http://www.riceromp.com/
Information on the site:
Dedicated to promoting the
importance of rice, the US Rice Producers Association has put together
a handy
site of information and lessons for teachers. The main page for the
site gives
users the opportunity to branch to student activities or teacher
resources.
Under teaching resources, there are lessons that focus primarily on
grades four
through seven, but can easily be adapted up or down for other grades.
The
lessons are organized under the headings: math, social studies,
science, and
health. The lessons all use the theme of rice and provide a brief study
guide
with activities, extended learning opportunities, and vocabulary.
The resources at this site provide
educators with the opportunity to link their study of the historical
issues as
illustrated by the lesson, When Rice was
King, to other aspects. In addition,
the social studies lessons at the site
give teachers readily-available mini-lessons that could be used to
simplify and
expand some of the concepts introduced in the larger unit of study and
link to
current issues, as well as global perspectives.
Note: If you print the lesson
pages, the print will be hard to see as the pages have a colored
background.
Taking a few seconds to alter the print properties on your printer
dialog box
will allow you to turn off the background and it will print quite
clearly.
By clicking on the Social
Studies link, you will see the
following lessons that are available to teachers:
4th Grade Social Studies
History: How has rice been
produced throughout history?
Economics: How does rice from the
field get changed into ready to eat rice, rice snacks and cereals?
History: HOW do we know about
RICE? WHO first discovered RICE? WHERE did it come from? DOES anyone
know?
Sociology: What is life like for
Gulf Coast rice farmers?
5th Grade Social Studies
Sociology: How is rice used in
food from different cultures?
Sociology: What are some cultural
rituals related to rice?
History: What is the history of
rice in the United States?
History: Do you know how
civilization developed? Man’s urge to explore changed and linked
different
civilizations. Observe how rice cultivation was affected by this.
Economics: How is harvested rice
made ready to eat?
Geography: In what states is rice
grown? What caused these states to begin growing rice?
6th Grade Social Studies
History: What is the history of
the consumption of rice?
Economics: How many different
varieties of rice are there?
Geography: Why does California
have a higher rice yield than the other rice producing states?
Economics: How can rice straw be
disposed of in an economical and safe way?
Geography: What are some varieties
of rice grown in different regions of the world?
Economics: How is rice prepared
for milling and commercial processing?
Economics: What do rice farmers do
to maintain the standard of quality in the rice they produce?
Economics: What are some other
uses for rice?
7th Grade Social Studies
Geography: How is rice produced in
the United States?
Sociology: Rice has a long
history. People in ancient times associated every natural phenomenon
with some
higher spiritual power, or some deity. Can you think of any such
associations
with rice?
Sociology: How can rice feed an
ever-growing global population?
Economics: What will happen to
world rice production in 2002? What will affect the amount of rice the
United
States will export?
History: How long have people been
eating rice?
Economics: How is the price of
U.S. export rice determined by the world market price. What determines
the
world market price for rice?
Economics: How is the price of
rice from the farmer to the miller determined?
Geography: Where in the United
States is rice grown?
Title:
The Golden Crescent
Source:
National Park Service
Site address:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/goldcres/
Information on the site:
The following has been taken
directly from the address provided above. It gives a summary of what
constitutes the Golden Crescent and an overview of the information that
will be
available at this site.
“The Golden Crescent, running in a
wide swath along the Atlantic Coast from Savannah to Cape Canaveral and
inland
towards Tallahassee, is remarkably rich in history and prehistory.
Following
thousands of years of Native American occupation, this area witnessed
many of
the first North American encounters among Europeans, Africans, and
native
inhabitants. A two-hundred-year-long period of small settlements,
mission-building, colonial warfare, and pirate attacks gave way in the
late
eighteenth century to the beginnings of the plantation system. Spain's
cession
of Florida in 1821 finally made all of the crescent part of the United
States.
Rice and cotton plantations, with their interdependent white and black
populations, dominated the antebellum years. After the Civil War, the
Golden
Crescent underwent additional transformations - Reconstruction, the
shift to
sharecropping, a resort boom, a lumber boom, and the struggle for civil
rights.
The interactions of Native American, African, and European groups in
the
crescent have profoundly influenced the course of American and world
history.”
For extended information on rice
and cotton production:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/goldcres/cultural/planthome.html
For information just on the issue
of coastal rice production:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/goldcres/cultural/plantrice.html
For maps available at this site:
http://www.cr.nps.gov/goldcres/maps/maproom.html
Title: Rice
Source: USDA On Line Photography Center Photo Research
Site address: http://www.usda.gov/oc/photo/opc-rice.htm
Information on the site:
At the time of this commentary,
there are 18 full-color photographs available for students to use in
projects.
The photos focus on rice production in the US and show fields and
machinery,
mostly at harvest time. There is one photo, 71cs0101, that shows the
contrast
with rice harvesting in India. Each photo has information available on
what it
is showing.
Check out the USDA (United States
Department of Agriculture) site for many, many valuable resources that
can be
used by teachers and students. The USDA has set up a completely
separate site
for children called the USDA for Kids
at: http://www.usda.gov/news/usdakids/index.html
Title: USA
Rice Federation
Source: USA Rice Federation
Site address: http://www.riceprocessing.com/
Information on the site:
The USA Rice Federation has
provided a concise summary of information on various topics related to
rice.
The information is organized under three broad headings:
¨
All about rice:
History, cultivation, milling,
farming ecology,
consumption, production, types/forms
(you’ll find pictures of each type here),
nutrition, legends
Processing with rice:
US rice consumption, milling, forms
of rice, USDA
grades, nutrition, research database, source list
Research:
Database with 1000 entries on rice
research since 1988
Title: Producers Rice Mill, Inc.
Source: Producers Rice Mill, Inc.
Site address: http://www.producersrice.com/
Information on the site:
The information at this site is
provided by a private corporation which specializes in rice milling.
Clicking
on the “Rice” link on their main page will take you to short pieces on:
history, cultivation, milling, types, and facts. The cultivation link
has a
nice summary on the modern process of rice cultivation in the US that
acts as a
strong contrast for the production of rice in other less-developed
countries.
The milling link summarizes the processes involved. The firm has also
provided
a picture of the large tractor-trailers loaded with rice lined up to
unload. It
gives students some idea of the immensity of this process.
Title: The Handbook of Texas
Online: Rice Culture
Source: “The Handbook of Texas
Online is a joint project of The General Libraries at the University of
Texas
at Austin and the Texas State Historical Association.”
Site address: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/RR/afr1.html
Information on the site:
The article at this site briefly
traces the history of the commercial production of rice in Texas.
Title: AskAsia: Rice - the
Global Crop – Mini-Unit
Source: “The Asia Society is a national nonprofit,
nonpartisan public
educational organization dedicated to increasing American understanding
of Asia
and broadening the dialogue between Americans and Asians.” Funding for
the
organization is provided by the Freeman Foundation.
Site address: http://www.askasia.org/teachers/Instructional_Resources/Lesson_Plans/Indonesia/LP_indonesia_1.htm
Information on the site:
The AskAsia website is a major
source of information and resources to assist teachers and students to
understand Asia. Of particular interest for the purpose of
complementing the
activities from the National Park Service is a mini-unit developed by
Nancy Van
Ravenswaay that is available there. Ms. Ravenswaay has pulled together
a unit
that contrasts rice cultivation in Asia, represented by Indonesia in
this case,
and the US, with a focus on California. Pictures, activities, and
handouts are
provided that cover a study of the rice plant and an investigation of
rice
cultivation in two different sets of circumstances.
Title: American Memory
Source: Library of Congress
Site address: http://memory.loc.gov/
Information on the site:
The
Library of Congress has put
together a truly phenomenal resource called the American Memory site.
Every
student and teacher should be aware of its existence. The American
Memory site
contains resources from the historical collections of the national
digital
library. When you go to this site, click on “Collection Finder” and you
will be
able to search for a variety of resources that will greatly enrich
student
understanding on many topics. For example, by clicking on the subtopic
of
agriculture and searching using the term “rice”, I was able to find old
photos
showing activities at rice festivals in Louisiana. By going to
geography and
then using “rice” as a search term, I was able to find panorama photos
of rice
fields in Hawaii and Louisiana, among others.
Title: Rice Culture on the
Ogeechee
Source: Toward Racial Equity: Harper’s Weekly
Reports 1857-1874
Site address: http://blackhistory.harpweek.com/7Illustrations/Culture/RiceCulture.htm
Information on the site:
This link contains the story
published January 5, 1867 regarding a rice plantation near Savannah,
Georgia.
