Farm Unit
Literature Focus Unit
EDU 315
By: Heidi Tidd
Literature Selection
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? By Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear? By Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle
I Went Walking By Sue Williams
Click-Clack-Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
In the Sheep Pasture by Patricia M. Stockland
Working On A Farm by Katie Marsico
In the Pig Pen by Patricia M. Stockland
On the Farm by Annnabelle Garges
Senses on the Farm by Shelley Rotner
Farm Machines by Jim Pipe
Johnny Tractor and the Big Surprise by Judy Katschke
Farm Animals by Melvin and Gilda Berger
Theme Study
• Students will be taking a part in a thematic
unit on farm life/living. This unit will integrate
reading and writing with social studies,
science, mathematics, art, music and physical
education.
• Students will have an understanding about
farm animals, farm jobs, and farm life.
Language Arts: Reading Activities
• Teacher will read aloud the book Brown Bear, Brown
Bear.
• Students will read in groups the books by Patricia M.
Stockland.
• Teacher will read working on the Working On A Farm by
Katie Marsico.
• Students will read their poems, stories and book page.
• Students will read Senses on the Farm by Shelley Rotner.
• Teacher will read Johnny Tractor and the Big Surprise by
Judy Katschke.
Language Arts: Writing Activities
• Students will make an ongoing learning journal what
they learned about farming.
• Students will write their own page of Black Cow,
Black Cow, What Do You Hear?
• Students will write a “what is it poem?” About
farming.
• Students will write a story about a farm animal.
• Students will create a what do you see on the farm
booklet.
Language Arts: Speaking Activities
• Student will share the Black Cow page from the book
on a farm animal.
• Students will use the author’s chair to read their
what is it poem.
• Students will talk about all the things they know
about a farm and what they learned on the farm.
• Students will share their animal stories in the
author’s chair.
• Students will talk in small groups what they want to
learn about a farm.
Language Arts: Listening Activities
• Students will listening to Farm animals noises and
repeating them.
• Students will listen respectfully to each others
poems, animals page and farm story.
• Student will listen to A Day At The Farm With Farmer
Jason by Farmer Jason.
• Students will listen to Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What
Do You Hear? By Bill Martin Jr./Eric Carle.
• Students will listen to the farmer on the farm field
trip.
Language Arts: Viewing Activities
• Students will create KWL – on chart paper, what do
you know about farm animals.
• Students will view different pictures of animals.
• Students will view the Farm Word Wall.
• Students will take a trip to a farm.
• Student will see a toy farm and talk about what they
see, what they think is missing.
Language Arts: Visually Representing
Activities
• Students will create an Animal wall of big and little
animals.
• Students will create a Farm Word Wall.
• Students will showing mama animals vs. baby
animals.
• Students will display their poem with an animal
painting.
• Students will create a life cycle with animal picture
and words.
Science Activities:
• Student will be learning the life cycle of an animal.
• Students will learn animal groups on the Farm or at
the Zoo.
• Students will learn the different animal names (cow
vs. calf).
• Students will talk about and make a table the
different jobs of a farmer throughout the seasons.
• Students will learn how to milk a cow. By watching a
video on how to milk a cow.
Mathematics Activities
• Students will take a survey of how many farm animals
you know before the unit and how many you can think of
after the unit, put them in a graph.
• Students will compare large and small farm animals.
• Students will measure each other compared to a cow.
• Students will talk about money and the price of the farm
animals. Learn has it gone up or down, keep it in a
journal. Listen to an auction sale of animals.
• Students will measure how much their plant grew and
recorder and later graph its change.
Social Studies Activities
• Students will learn about farming – tools and
machinery that we use now and a long time ago.
• Teacher will read the book Farm Machines by Jim
Pipe to learn about what is used now.
• Student will use a web site to see technology.
• Students will learn about farming in different
countries. Teacher will draw up on a map
different places different crops grow.
• Students will learn about planting seeds and grow
their own plants in class.
Music and Art Activities
• Student will make a soap carving of an animal.
• Students will paint a picture of the animal from the what
is it poem.
• Students will create muddy pigs with construction paper
and brown paint.
• Students will create fluffy sheep with paint and cotton
balls.
• Students will sing the song Old MacDonald Had a Farm
and At The Farm by Twin Sisters.
• Students will create animal masks.
Physical Education Activities
• Students will do animal yoga – using kids yoga.
• Students will make animal motions around the
room while making noises.
• Students will jump, skip, hop stop and spell their
spelling words.
• Students will spend a day walking around a farm.
• Students will play musical animals.
• Students will play rodeo round up.
• Students will play Simon says being certain farm
animals
Technology
• For the life cycle:
http://chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/explore/
embryology/
• History of farm machinery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9_qJwwL
qsU&feature=related
• Virtual Farm: www.sites.ext.vt.edu/virtualfarm
• Babe the DVD
• Charlotte's Web the DVD
Language Arts Strategies
• Activating background knowledge: students will
talk about what they already know about farming
and farm life.
• Connecting: Students will be relating to farming
with their own world.
• Playing with language: Students will use language
to create poems, stories and a page for the book.
• Visualizing: Students will create a farm life in their
minds.
• Monitoring: Students will be tracking the growth
of their plants and tracking money.
Language Arts Skills
• Print: Students will be able to recognize words on the
Farm Word Wall.
• Comprehension: Students will recognize different
characteristics of animals. Students will have a basic
understanding of poetry.
• Language: Students will apply various skills in their
writing activities: poem, journal and farm stories.
• Reference: Students will make a t-table, Farm word
wall, and a money chart.
Grouping Patterns
• Large group: conversation about jobs of a farmer,
charting number farm animals, visit a farm, KWL chart,
life cycle of an animal, animal yoga, singing songs, word
wall, announce animal price.
• Small group: talk about KWL, animals on farm or zoo,
ideas for book page, camouflage, life cycle of an animal,
animal sizes, small group discussions, farming tools,
measure plants, and make a graph from plant measuring.
• Individual group: Poems, book page, journal entries, farm
animal story, paintings, carvings, farm animal list, animal
masks, record plant measuring, and create graph in
learning notebook.
Assessments
• Journal entries of animals and the KWL chart: check list for
dates, tracking money and tracking plants.
• Participation in group dissuasions.
• Poems, stories and book page: checklist, 6+1 writing traits.
• Observation when reading their poem, farm story, and book
page.
• Math: graphing and measuring: observation and checklist.
• Spelling is right when using word from the word wall.
• Portfolio of work: poem, painted animal, and farm story.
• Active participation in music and physical education.
• Social studies: being able to know new and old farming
methods. (Reports)