Question for Elementary School Teachers

[memartha]

Hi

I know there are a few teachers on the board, and I hope I can tap into your expertise.

A few parents (including me) have volunteered to do some research on a new unit for kindergarten, on Farm Animals. After we do the research, we give it to the teachers who decide what to use/how to develop their curriculum.

They are looking for books, poems, songs with enrichement activities; hands-on activities to accompany literature divided into categories such as language arts, math and science; and information and ideas to connect planting and "where our food comes from". Also planned are a trip to a farm and hatching some chick eggs.

My question is, do any of you teachers have recommendations on where I can find this info? The thought was that I could do a lot of research online, but before I begin, thought I would check with you to see what you think. A BIG THANKS in advance. Martha

[katygirl]

Check out this page! I am a middle school teacher but recently ran a class for elementary school teachers and the interent. They really liked the site.

http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~greentown/farmunit.htm

There are other great units at

http://www.northcanton.sparcc.org/~greentown/grtheme.htm

Let me know if you have luck


:) Katy

[RobinC]

I am not a teacher, and really don't have any useful information for you. But...I want to applaud you for taking an active roll in your child's education. :)

[Susan]

Hi Martha! Former Elementary School teacher here! :D What a wonderful service you and your fellow parents are providing for this teacher and in turn to her students! Kudos! I recall teaching about farm animals in K and 1st grade-lots of fun! Here are a few more sites with useful info:

Enchanted Learning - wonderful with tons of resources! http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html These pages seems epecially useful: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/ and http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/farmanimals.shtml <---This one is specific to farm animals! :)


Internet Public Library - links to other sites and books lists http://www.ipl.org/youth/

Just thought of a neat idea that I used with my students to keep track of the information we collected on farm animals...make a HUGE data retrieval chart/graphic organizer with column headings for: name of farm animal (male and female names could get a different column or be here too), name of its offspring (babies!), type of animal (mammal, bird, etc.), what it eats, what it's job on the farm is, etc. AND row headings would be the names of the various animals being studied: chicken, cow, sheep, etc. The students could help by giving the teacher the info to go in each box & by drawing pictures for each section (in teams for each animal or however the teacher wants to divide it up). This makes for a wonderful bulletin board too! Hope that all makes sense! :D Here's an example of what I'm talking about (a visual may help, huh?): http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml


Does the teacher/class have access to computers? A virtual trip to the farm could be fun! Here's a site with a farm alphabet book online: http://lincoln.midcoast.com/~wps/jackson/alphabet.htm (great idea!)

Hope some of this is useful for you!

~Susan~

[memartha]

Dear Susan, Robin, Katy and those who have PMed me about this project... THANK YOU!!! I'm printing out everything and will get to work checking out all the websites after dinner. I'm really grateful for all the help. Thanks again. Martha

[kwormann]

I would try http://www.scholastic.com, http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/themes.html,
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/themes/farm.shtml

I used to teach first grade:)