Fun on the Farm

YEEEEEEEEEEEEHAW!

It’s time for Fun on the Farm! There are lots of great books and activities for this unit, but here are a few of my favorites:

The Farm Concert by Joy Cowley
Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley
Mud Soup from the Wright Group Song Box Series
Yes Ma’am by Joy Cowley
Old MacDonald from the Wright Group Song Box Series

After reading The Farm Concert here are some of our activities:
1. Make a puppet for a character from the story. We use paper sacks and run off patterns
2. Have a puppet show with the puppets or use the animal patterns to make headbands and act out the story.
3. Write a class book about a new kind of concert following the pattern in the book. Classes in the past have written The Ocean Concert, The Garage Sale Concert, The Mexico Concert and The Halloween Concert.
4. Talk about quotation marks. Then have the students make pictures of the characters and replace the quotation marks with speech bubbles and write what the characters said.
5.Use characters from the story and make a farm pattern with them.
6. Make “purple cows” and “pigs in a blanket”. I got this great idea from the early childhood mailring at Teacher’s Net. To make “purple cows” simply pour grape pop in a glass and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. “Pigs in a blanket” are made by cutting a hotdog in half and wrapping half of a crescent roll around it. Bake and serve with ketchup and mustard.

After reading Mrs. Wishy Washy these activities provide fun and learning:

1. Make a Mrs. Wishy Washy stick puppet. I just traced her from the book and ran her off on const. paper.
2. Write a new story using new characters for Mrs. Wishy Washy to wash. The children began with a story frame that said: In went the _________________. Wishy washy, wishy, washy. They creatively filled in the blank with an animal that was not in the story.
3. Have an O Lovely Mud Party. The children can help you mix up some instant chocolate pudding. Then serve with animal crackers and have the children act out the story as they enjoy this tasty treat.
4. A great companion story is Mud Soup. The kids can discuss whether or not their moms know where the characters in the story are and what they are doing! There are lots of details in this story....could for practicing recalling information.
5. Write a mud soup recipe.
6. Mix some dirt with water in a large clear container. Ask the children to predict what will happen if you leave it sitting there.

After reading Yes, Ma’am here are some extension activities:

1. Focus on question marks. Have students write questions to others in the school that they would like answers to. Or send questions about farms to a farmer.
2. Use the pattern in the book to write a new version. “Did you feed my ______________? Yes, ma’am.” You could extend this idea to learn more about caring for a horse or cow. What else do you have to do besides feed it ? “Did you ____________my horse?” Yes, ma’am.
3. The illustrations in the book are set in “the olden days”. Talk about how things were done differently on farms then and now. Have a farmer come in as a guest speaker and talk about technology on the farm.
4. Make butter by pouring whipping cream in a baby food jar and shaking. It takes lots of shaking, so turn on some upbeat music and have the kids take turns! Add salt and eat on crackers or bread.
5. Do a square dance or circle dance. My favorite one is the “Barnyard Dance” which is on a tape that accompanies the kindergarten level of the Silver Burdett Reading Program. Good for large motor development and following directions.

Here are some related websites for kids:

Links to other sites on the Web

Build a Fruit Face
Kid's Farm
Sounds of the World's Animals

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