Banana Day

Objective:
The students will sequence how a banana gets from a banana plantation to a supermarket.

Materials

• A world map or globe.

• A print out of the following link which tells where bananas are grown Where Your Bananas Are Grown.  

• A print out or a computer with one of the  following links displayed which tells how bananas are transported.  How Bananas Are Packaged And Transported  or The Banana Journey.

• Banana Journey Worksheet.

Procedure

1. Show the class on the map where bananas are grown.  Have them find where their hometown is on the same map.

2. Discuss what types of transportation the bananas need to go on to arrive at local supermarkets.

3. Read, or discuss, the print out of how bananas are transported.

4. Using a real, or pretend, bunch of bananas, have the students act out the banana journey from farm to market through assigned roles. (They can come up with prop ideas, or it can be done in mime form.) The following steps need to be portrayed:
   1. Green bananas are picked.
   2. The bananas are washed and inspected.
   3. Bananas are put in boxes.
   4. Bananas are loaded on refrigerated ships for their journey over sea.
   5. Bananas are unloaded from ships and placed on refrigerated trucks.
   6. Bananas are taken to a large warehouse to ripen.
   7. Bananas are reloaded on trucks to be taken to supermarkets.

5. Distribute the Banana Journey Worksheet for students to review the process of bananas going from farm to market.  This can be done individually, or as a group for nonreaders.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Share some history facts regarding bananas which can be found in the book Bananas by Jacqueline Farmer or at the following link Banana History.

2. Knowing that monkeys are fond of bananas, do some research on where monkeys can be found.