This thematic unit provides students with cross-curricular opportunities to learn about agriculture. The unit allows for multiple methods of instruction and ways of learning for students, including kinesthetic and STEM. Student questions are encouraged and intentionally addressed throughout the unit. The lessons were implemented in a classroom with EAL students as well as those with varying levels of abilities, as is intended to include all students in the learning journey.
Invitations to Play
Dramatic play center
Tiny World
Muddy Pigs
Accompanying book – Ten Pigs: An Epic Bath Adventure by Derek Anderson
Grain Tray
Animal Rescue
Building Centers
Lesson 1 – What is a farm?
Students’ prior knowledge was drawn on by creating a KWL chart as a class. After reading Old MacDonald Heard a Fart by Olaf Falafel, students helped to create a class version of the classic Old MacDonald Had a Farm, by illustrating their own page. Students were encouraged to think about what the pages of the book looked like and to include background details on their pages. The animal names were added to the pages with the help of a scribe.
Lesson 2 – Who are Farmers?
Thank a Farmer by Maria Gianferrari presents many examples of the resources we get from farms, and what life would look like if we did not have the things farmers produce for us. We identified the sections on our Medicine Wheel that correspond with the four seasons, and attached pictures depicting the activities of farmers during each season. Students then completed a farmer craft in which they turned a picture of themselves into a farmer. An inquiry question about where farmers get their animals from led us to investigate auctions and auctioneers.
Lesson 3 – Bison/Indigenous agriculture
Students identified characteristics of the plains bison, or paskwawi mostos (Cree). We learned that male bison are called bulls, females are called cows, and babies are called calves. We also added the bison life cycle to our class Medicine Wheel. Bison are huge animals, and to hunt them took many people working together. Buffalo jumps were one of the tools Indigenous peoples used to hunt them. The bison gave Indigenous peoples everything the needed to survive. This is why the bison represents the Sacred Teaching of Respect. We learned about the Metis peoples and how they were introduced to bannock. Indigenous peoples also gathered food from the land, like Saskatoon berries. Students were able to taste bannock and Saskatoon berries. We talked about what each of these items smelled, looked, and tasted like.
Lesson 4 – Farm Animals
Some farms have animals and some do not. Most animals that live on farms have a job or serve a purpose, this is what makes them different from pets. As a class, we graphed our favourite farm animals. We counted the number of people that like each animal and compared the groups. Some groups had more, and some had less. Students were asked to identify “which group has more than…” or “which group has less than…”. Students then completed a sorting activity where they sorted animals that belonged on a farm or in a zoo.
Lesson 5 – Cows
After identifying characteristics of a dairy cow, we added the cow life cycle to our Medicine Wheel. An inquiry question about how farmers get milk from cows, prompted us to investigate. We learned that female cows have udders and that is where milk is made. Some cows even ride on a carousel when they are milked. Students worked in small groups to play a roll and graph game. They practiced counting to ten and comparing how many were in each column. While playing the game, students took turns shaking a jar of cream to make butter. Once the butter was made, students were invited to try the butter on graham crackers. The class discussed what the butter smelled and tasted like. We counted how many students liked the butter, and how may did not.
Lesson 6 – Pigs
The lesson began with a video all about pigs. Students were interested to learn that pigs drink milk from their mothers as they thought milk only came from cows. This led to a discussion about how mammals (fancy science word) drink milk from their mothers, but people do not drink milk from all mammals. We read the book Sky Pig by Jan L. Coates where we met Ollie. Ollie is a pig that wants to fly. He tries many different ways to fly, and with the help of a friend, he finally succeeds. Students were then provided with a variety of materials and challenged to create a structure to make a pig fly. When their creations were complete, they strapped in their pigs and we dropped them from the top of the play structure. We discussed what happened to the pigs, and students were excited to make changes to see if they could improve their design.
Lesson 7 – Bees
Students learned that bees have a very important roll in the work of farmers. After adding the life cycle of a bee to our Medicine Wheel, we learned about pollination as well as honey production. Students were able to build on previous learning about pollination from the pumpkin unit. While identifying the characteristics of bees, students noticed that bees have fuzzy legs, which is how the transport pollen from flower to flower. Students participated in a pollination activity where pipecleaners acted as their bees and they were able to transport pollen (glitter) from flower to flower. Students noted that their flower had multiple colours of glitter in it, meaning that the bees had done their job.
Lesson 8 – Chickens
While identifying the characteristics of a chicken, students noted that this was the first farm animal we had leanred about that only had two legs. The students were then broken into small groups to play a farm theme subatizing game. Students were challenged to identify the number that was represented by a digit, ten fram, fingers, or die faces.
Learning Buddies
The Kindergarten students worked with their grade 6/7 learning buddies to create their own farm. Big buddies were in charge of keeping little buddies on budget, while little buddies had to identify the animals that met the requirements listed in the activity.
Wrap up
The end of our unit coincidended with Agribition, which allowed for us to take in some of the events that were offered via live stream. Students were able to see several farm animals in action, including dogs, horses, cows, and sheep. As a class, we completed the KWL charts we started at the beginning of the unit.
