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Thematic Project
Concepts
1. A cow produces milk.
2. Farm animals live in a barn.
3. Cows and horses eat grass.
4. Chickens have feathers instead of fur.
5. Cows, horses, and pigs have fur coats.
6. Pigs make the “oink” sound.
7. Cows make the “moo” sound.
8. Lambs make the “baa” sound.
9. Horses make the “neigh” sound.
10. Chickens make the “cluck” sound.
11. Hens lay eggs that people eat.
12. People ride horses to travel.
13. Pigs supply meat for people to eat.
Class Project
Theme: Farm Animals
Project: Dramatic Play of Old McDonald
Phase 1: The introduction will consist of the teacher asking the class if anyone knows what animals can be found on a farm. If the response to the question is positive, then the teacher will inform the students that they are going to learn a new song, “Old McDonald Had a Farm”. The teacher will introduce the thought of the dramatic play that the students will perform at the end of the theme.
Phase 2: The goal of the project is to help the children to form a demonstration that they can present to another class. The teacher will present a bulletin board filled with different pictures of only farm animals and a barn. The demonstration will be accomplished after the children pick the animal that they are most interested in and form it from torn colors of construction paper.
Phase 3: The children will share their knowledge that they have learned by performing “Old McDonald Had a Farm”, in front of their parents. The teacher will also have the activities that the students have done displayed around the classroom and the hall. The teacher will inform the parents of a family night in the classroom.
“Let’s Find Out Table”
Objects that will be displayed on a table for the students:
Plastic farm animals
A baby chick in a cage
Farm animal puzzles
A rabbit fur or pieces of cowhide
Posters and pictures of all different types of farm animals
Books about farm animals
“Old McDonald Had a Farm” printout of words to song
Parent Involvement
The teacher will include the parents in a field trip to a local farm, a petting zoo, interesting home activities that the children will need their parents help with, and parents’ night, which is the performance that the students put on.
Description of Activities:
“Old McDonald Had a Farm”
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to recite the words to the song “Old McDonald Had a Farm”.
Large group activity
TEKS – Music K.3 (B)
Description – We’ll sing the song “Old McDonald Had a Farm” and then talk as a class about the different sounds that the farm animals make. During the day, the teacher will put some country music for them to listen to.
Learning the Sounds
Behavioral objective – The children will be able to demonstrate the sounds that farm animals make.
Large group activity
TEKS – Language arts K.10 (B)
Description – The teacher will read the book “Barnyard Song” by Rhonda Greene. The students will follow along and accentuate the sounds the animals make. During the day the students will have several opportunities to repeat the sounds from the book.
Exploring Addition and Subtraction
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to add/subtract with farm animals on there teacher made objects.
Small group activity
TEKS – Math K.4
Description –The students will be placed into groups of two and will use their barn board set’s (patterns is included at the end) and cut out farm animals to demonstrate how addition and subtraction works. The barn boards allow the students to physically show what the answer looks like with the farm animals. There are also addition and subtraction signs included so that the students can recognize what they look like. The use of the barn boards allow students that may not learn by memorization or visually to use tactical methods to learn.
Learning Patterns
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify the patterns.
Individual activity
TEKS – Math K.5
Description – The students will use their cut out animals from their barn board sets to finish the patterns that the teacher has displayed on the chalk board. This activity can also be used in small groups with out the participation of the teacher.
Reading a Poem
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to illustrate what animal sound goes to what animal.
Large group activity
TEKS – Language arts K.4 (C)
Description – Read “’Quack!’ said the Billy Goat”, and have the type of animals and sounds on sentence strips. Call the students up one by one to match the correct animal to the sound. When every student has participated the class will review.
Favorite Farm Animals
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify their favorite farm animal.
Large group activity
TEKS – Math K.12 (A)
Descriptive – The teacher will find out each child’s favorite farm animal, use the information in a graph. The class will have a group discussion after the graph is constructed to try and explain how it works. After the discussion is completed the teacher will explain why we use graphs and how they work.
Scrambled Eggs
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify the different characteristics of eggs.
Individual activity
TEKS – Science K.7 (A)
Description – The class will investigate small, medium, and large eggs. The teacher will crack open the eggs so that the students can visually see what is in the inside. The teacher will explain why there are differences in the eggs. The teacher could continue with an art lesson where the students draw and color what they think an egg looks like.
Identify Farm Animals
Behavioral Objective – Children will be able to identify farm animals from non farm animals.
Small group activity
TEKS – Science K.6 (A)
Description – The small groups (3 students) the students will have teacher made cards that they will observe and identify what animals are the farm animals. The cards are cut out pictures from magazines that are all types of animals that are laminated. Each group has a total of ten cards.
How to Milk a Cow
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to demonstrate how to milk an artificial cow.
Individual activity
TEKS – Science K.5 (A)
Description – The students will demonstrate this by a small hole in a latex medical glove that has milk in it. The teacher will assist the students. The class will discuss why cows and milk are important to use and the properties of the udders of a female cow.
Bulletin Board Barn
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify a barn and tell what lives in one.
Large group activity
TEKS – Social studies K.5 (B)
Description – The teacher will have a bulletin board with a barn in the middle that branches out with questions that the students have about the barn, what lives there, who works there, and the resources it produces. The class will have a group discussion about their questions and the bulletin board will stay up until the end of the theme.
Chickens Don’t Have Fur
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify that chickens have feathers.
Large group/individual activity
TEKS – Science K.4 (A)
Description – The book “The little Red Hen” will be read and then the teacher will have a container of feathers that the students will be able to feel. The students will then write what they felt and know about the red hen.
Sheep Paper Bag Puppet
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to create their own sheep puppet.
Individual activity
TEKS – Art K.2 (A&B)
Description – The class will use their creative sides to express what they think a sheep looks like. The materials needed are white lunch bags, white cotton balls, ribbon, construction paper, crayons, scissors, and glue. There is an example of a sheep paper bag puppet in materials.
Farm Animals that have Fur
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to distinguish what farm animals have fur and what fur goes to what farm animal.
Small group activity
TEKS – Science K.2 (B)
Description – The teacher will have hide samples for the children to feel to associate what the animal’s fur is like. The children will have the opportunity to talk amongst themselves to discuss what animal hide may go with what animal. There will be a class discussion on how the different groups came up with their answers.
All about pigs
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify a pig and describe the basic characteristics.
Large group activity/individual activity
TEKS – Science K.2 (A)
Description – The teacher will read “Well I Never” by Pearson, the class then will discuss what a pig looks like, how big they get, what colors are they and what they eat.
“Little Cow” Finger play
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to engage in dramatic play by using finger puppets.
Large group activity
TEKS – Theatre K.2 (D)
Description – The teacher will select a student to come up to the front of the class and lead the class in the finger play of “Little Cow”. The other students will use their fingers with out a puppet to follow a long.
The Little Red Hen
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to complete a story map of the book.
Large group activity
TEKS – Social studies K.3 (A&B)
Description – After reading the book several times to the class the students will complete a story map that contains the setting, problem, main characters, and the solution. The class will discuss the order of events and identify the order by using before, after, next, first, and last.
Chronological order
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify chronological order of how a farm wakes up.
Large group activity/individual activity
TEKS – Social studies K.3 (B)
Description – The teacher will read the book “Morning” by Polushkin to the class then discuss the chronological order of how the animals wake up. Then the students will write or discuss the chronological order of what they do every morning before coming to school and use before, after, next, first, and last in there discussion or writings.
Farm Animal Legs
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to assess what legs go to what animal.
Individual activity
TEKS – Science K.6 (A)
Description – The teacher will have teacher made farm animals that will have no legs. The legs will be made from close pins so that the children can match the animal’s legs to the right animal. This will be done by color association and feet. The legs will be banned together and placed in the mystery box and each child will participate in taking a pair and connecting them to the right animal.
Salt Dough Farm Animals
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to construct there favorite farm animal from salt dough.
Individual activity
TEKS – Art K.3 (B)
Description – The students will use the salt dough to construct their favorite farm animal. This would be a two day project. First day would be to construction and the second for painting the dough. The recipe is included in the materials. The projects will be displayed around the room a long with other art projects.
Farm Tic-Tac-Toe
Behavioral objective – Children will be able to identify the characteristics of different farm animals.
Large group activity
TEKS – Language arts K.3 (C)
Description – There will be two teams, one is the X’s the other O’s. Make a tic-tac-toe board on the floor with tape. As the teacher asks the first team a question about an animal and they get it right, the person that answered right goes to the board and stands in the desired spot. The game will continue until all children have had at least one turn.
Bibliography
Duvoisin, R.(1973). Our Veronica goes to Petunia’s Farm. Canada: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Greene, R.(1997). Barnyard Song. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.
McQueen, L. (1985). The Little Red Hen. New York: Scholastic Inc.
Pearson, S.(1990). Well, I Never! New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.
Polushkin, M.(1983). Morning. New York: Four Winds Press.
Resources
Hamilton, D. Flemming, B. (1990). Resources for Creative Teaching in Early Childhood Education. San Diego: HBJ Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Herr, J. (2001). Creative Learning Activities for Young Children. Australia: Delmar Thomson Learning.
Schiller, P. Silberg, J. (2003). The complete Book of Activities, Games, Stories, Props, Recipes, and Dances for Young Children. Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House Inc.
Silberg, J., Schiller, P.(2002). The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays, and Chants. Gryphon House Inc.
Poems
“Quack! Said the Billy Goat”
“Little Cow”