First Grade Unit: EXPLORE

Explore: FARM POSTER, ANIMAL NEEDS GAME AND STORY

KEY CONCEPTS

• identify animals on the farm and describe their characteristics
• recognize and understand the basic needs of animals for air, water, food, shelter, and space.

SUMMARY

In this activity, students share their comparisons of the farm to their house during morning circle time. The teacher then assembles a large poster with their help summarizing what they learned on the field trip with relation to basic needs. Confirm and correct their ideas, build their vocabulary and add to their list of familiar species. Students then play the Restaurant Game where they compare and contrast diets of different species (very similar to the Living Venn Diagram of the Kindergarten unit but with a different topic. ) During story or literacy time, the teacher reads a story such as "Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm" (or other choice from the Resources list).

MATERIALS NEEDED

A large sheet of bulletin board paper and a place to hang it for the duration of the unit for student reference. Images from the website of the farm or site visited (if available), BasicNeeds.pdf for food, water and shelter images, and TenSpecies.pdf for additional species images as needed or the willingness to sketch. Bulletin board or large wall area covered with paper. Overhead projector (optional), student science notebooks (optional). Story about visiting a farm emphasizing basic needs.

 

DIRECTIONS

FARM POSTER

1. Hang a large sheet of paper. (Cover a bulletin board if possible. ) Teacher leads a guided discussion about the basic needs of animals and uses bulletin board/poster (or an overhead projector for planning and taking notes first, then doing the bulletin board second). Try to incorporate all the information the class learned while at the farm.

2. Ask the students what sorts of things were provided for the animals at the farm? (Guide students to list items the animals used or needed to live). Use printed images from the farm website of their specific animals, the BasicNeeds.pdf image set, and drawings and words by the students to assemble a picture of the farm and the basic needs met there for the animals. You can hang up samples of feed or hay gathered from the farm. You might want to use the images from TenSpecies.pdf for any species whose image is not represented on the website. Label the images.

3. As the unit progresses, continue to draw out what students know, covering basic needs of animals. As they determine these needs, have students help you include them in the picture. Remember, kids are very understanding of our drawings, so go ahead and draw and show them you are not afraid!

4. The poster might include a barn, feed, hay, straw (straw is for lying on, hay is for eating), grain, pastures of grass, woods, shrubby areas, fences, water buckets, feed buckets, a water source such as a well, a place to store grain, a place to get out of the rain and weather, additional fenced areas, additional barn(s) and outbuildings, pastures to graze (for cattle, horses, geese and sheep), shrubbery to browse (goats), places to dig (pigs), a pond to swim on (ducks, geese), bugs (eaten by chickens, geese, ducks) and so on.

5. Talk about the relationship between the animals and the plants. Emphasize the role of plants to feed the animals and people. This is taught in detail in third grade, but introduced here for constructivist learning.

 

ANIMAL NEEDS GAME

1. Once the basic structure of the poster is established on the first day, change energy levels and play the Animal Needs Game. Students are beginning to become familiar with the basic needs of farm animals. This whole-class activity is designed engage new learning styles and reinforce previous work.

2. Ask for two students come to the front and act like their favorite animal. Once the class knows which species they are representing, have the two animals dialogue with each other about what they have in common in terms of their basic needs and what makes them different from each other. Use the list of prompts below to guide the dialogue.

3. After a few comparisons, add another species. Participation by all students is possible as you compile a compare and contrast diagram, taking notes as they go on an overhead or the board.

4. Record the name of the student putting forth the idea for assessment purposes. Optional: Create a Venn Diagram as they perform. In the center, list what basic needs the farm animals have in common, such as, "All farm animals need water. " On the outside edges, put differences such as: "Baby cows drink milk. Chickens do not drink milk. Pigs drink dairy waste. ".

5. When finished, talk about what you have learned about basic needs of farm animals. Transfer notes to the poster and record any new ideas which have arisen.

6. SAMPLE.

TEACHER: (HAVING CALLED UP TWO VOLUNTEERS TO ACT LIKE THEIR FAVORITE ANIMAL)

TEACHER: SO, WHAT DO YOU EAT?

ACTOR CHICKEN: I EAT GRAIN.

ACTOR HORSE: ME TOO.

ACTOR CHICKEN: I DON'T EAT HAY THOUGH.

ACTOR HORSE: I DO.

TEACHER: WHERE DO YOU SLEEP?

ACTOR CHICKEN: I SLEEP IN A CHICKEN COOP WHERE FOXES CAN'T GET ME.

ACTOR HORSE: I SLEEP IN A STABLE THAT KEEPS OUT THE WIND AND RAIN.

TEACHER: CALLS UP ANOTHER SET OF VOLUNTEERS OF TWO MORE SPECIES AND CONTINUES ASKING QUESTIONS SUCH AS:

TEACHER:

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
DO YOU HAVE A PASTURE?
HOW MUCH ROOM DO YOU NEED?
DOES SOMEONE TAKE CARE OF YOU?
WHY DO THEY KEEP YOU?
HOW DO YOU STAY SAFE?

Note: If there was no pig at the farm, or no one chose to be a pig, the teacher might ask for a ‘temporary pig', (even though it is not a student's favorite animal).

STORY

End with a story that illustrates basic needs of farm animals. See Resources section below for suggestions.

RESOURCES

All About Farm Animals by Ann Winterbotham (Doubleday and Company, Inc. , 1988). 45 pages, with color illustrations. This beautiful book gives a vivid picture of farm activity. It includes clear explanations of feeding animals, milking cows and processing the milk, shearing sheep, and other ways people take care of animals. Many other interesting facts about farm animals are given. The easy text and expressive illustrations make this book enjoyable for a wide range of ages.

Our Vanishing Farm Animals by Catherine Palladino (Little, Brown and Co. , 1991). 32 pages, with color photographs. The text and images in this book describe several rare breeds and how they are cared for on family farms. This unusual book demonstrates how people conserve rare breeds.

The Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall, with color illustrations by Barbara Cooney (Viking Press, 1979). 40 pages. This beautiful book tells the story of a year in the life of a 19th century New England farm family. The family members raise food and fiber, with an annual trip to the city of Portsmouth to trade the goods they have made for an iron kettle and othe things they need. (The ox, by the way, is a Milking Shorthorn. )

Farm Animals by Karen Jacobsen (A New True Book, Children's Press, 1981). 48 pages, with color photographs, glossary, and index. This book describes how chickens, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, and horses keep busy all day.

Where Animals Live: The World of Chickens by Jennifer Coldrey (Gareth Stevens, 1986). 32 pages, with color photographs, glossary, and index. Chickens are shown feeding, caring for their young, and defending themselves in the farmyard and surrounding woods.

This is the Farmer by Nancy Tafuri (Green Willow Books, 1994). 24 pages, with color illustrations. The farmer gets out of bed and his work starts a chain of events that includes all of the animals on the farm. This simple story explains interrelationships on a farm.