Montague Township School District
Agriculture Curriculum Guide
Grade 8
2025-2026
Rachel Sikora
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Description
The Agriculture curriculum at Montague Township School covers the full range of the National Council for Agricultural Education's Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (AFNR) Career Clusters. Students in grades 5-8 engage in hands-on activities across eight career cluster skill areas: agribusiness systems, animal systems, biotechnology systems, environmental service systems, food products and processing systems, natural resource systems, plant systems, and power, structural and technical systems. The year-long program builds technical skills while helping students explore careers in natural resource management and agriculture. Throughout the curriculum, students develop competency in critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, and leadership while learning to apply technology and financial literacy to real-world agricultural problems.
Big Ideas
- Agriculture encompasses diverse systems—plant, animal, food, environmental, and mechanical—that interconnect to feed and sustain communities.
- Scientific inquiry and hands-on experimentation are essential tools for solving real-world agricultural challenges.
- Sustainable resource management and stewardship of natural systems are critical for long-term agricultural viability.
- Career readiness in agriculture requires both technical knowledge and business acumen, including financial planning and marketing.
Essential Questions
- How does agriculture impact our daily lives and global food systems?
- What role do science and technology play in sustainable agricultural practices?
- How can understanding genetics and animal science lead to improved agricultural outcomes?
- What career pathways exist in agriculture, and how do financial and business skills support success in these fields?
Crosscutting Concepts
Disciplinary Core Ideas
Earth and Space Sciences
Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science
Life Sciences
Physical Sciences
Science and Engineering Practices
Students read informational texts about agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and animal science, and produce written work including research reports, blog posts, portfolio updates, and writing assignments. Students engage in collaborative discussions, present findings to peers, and cite evidence from multiple sources to support claims across all units.
Students apply mathematical reasoning across units including calculating food costs, feed amounts, percent loss, square footage for coop design, lumber quantities, soil nutrient amounts, population graphs for carrying capacity, and data collection and graphing in macroinvertebrate and plant biodiversity studies.
Students conduct hands-on investigations aligned to life science, earth science, and engineering design standards. Topics include plant cell structure, photosynthesis, cellular respiration, genetics and heredity, animal systems, water chemistry, ecosystems, food webs, population dynamics, natural resource management, DNA extraction, and aquaponics and hydroponics system design.
Students examine the history of agriculture, Native American agricultural practices, the industrial revolution's impact on natural resources, global food production policies, cultural food practices, food insecurity and inequality, and the role of agriculture in economic development across time periods and regions.
Career readiness, financial literacy, and 21st century skills are embedded in every unit. Students explore agricultural careers, practice agribusiness skills including budgeting and record keeping, develop personal and professional skills through FFA activities, and investigate how education and training affect earning potential in agriculture and related fields.
Assessment is continuous throughout the year and uses multiple strategies to measure student understanding. Formative assessments include exit and entrance tickets, observations, journals, pair-and-share activities, self-evaluations, discussions, group work, and question-and-answer exchanges. Benchmark assessments draw from Study Island data, pre-assessments, quizzes, and unit tests. Summative assessments emphasize applied learning through projects, labs, portfolio updates, blog posts, webquests, and presentations. This multi-method approach allows teachers to gauge student progress in both content knowledge and practical skill development across all career cluster areas.