Publisher’s Story Summary: When Cris Peterson’s cow Annabelle gives birth to a calf, an amazing process begins. Now Annabelle can produce milk—about 40,000 glasses of milk each year, or enough cheese to top 1,800 pizzas. Alvis Upitis’s sparkling photographs document the cheese-making process—starting on the farm where Annabelle’s calf is born and milking begins, then moving to the cheese-making plant where the milk is heated and cooled, stirred and swirled, thickened, drained, and sliced—and finally packaged for stores.

Cris Peterson’s personal and informative text explains the process in a simple and engaging manner. Mr. Uptits’s photographs capture moments on the farm with the cows and the calves and reveal an inside view of the cheese-making process. A wonderful collaboration, concluding with the author’s own recipe for pizza.

LESSON: EXTRA CHEESE, PLEASE!

Lesson Summary

From a cow named Annabelle to pizza, this colorful book illustrates the fascinating process by which milk is processed into mozzarella cheese.

Concept: Productive Resources

Definition: Productive Resources are the natural, human, and capital resources that are used in the production of goods and services.

Comprehension Questions

What are the natural resources in the story?
Land, sunshine, water, grass, etc.

What are the human resources in the story?
Examples are the farm family who cares for Annabelle, the milkman who delivers the milk from farm to cheese factory, and the workers who make the cheese at the cheese factory.

What are the capital resources in the story?
Farm buildings, milk bottle, weighing machine, milking machine, milk truck, all the equipment and machinery in the cheese factory, etc.

What are some of the skills the human resources must have to produce milk and cheese?
They must know how to raise and feed milk cows, how to operate the machinery in the cheese factory, and how to test milk for bacteria.

The whey that came from the production of cheese became a productive resource. Explain how.
The whey was used for fertilizer for growing corn and hay.

What is the final product (good) that results from the production?
Mozzarella cheese for Friday Night Pizza

Other Concepts:  Goods & Services, Producers, Specialization

  Productive Resources