Last week we completed a School Wide Farm Unit. We had a lot of fun (although it did feel very rushed...there are just way too many things that I want to do!) I haven't had time to blog regularly but I figured that I could at least post some pictures of the wonderful things we did.
Our Farm Sensory Bin. I replaced our sand with green rice (I used vinegar and green food coloring to color the rice) and beans and lots of farm toys. I liked this better than other sensory bins I've done in plastic bins because it was so much bigger. The kids loved it!
Farm Market Baskets. I found the idea for these cute baskets of vegetables and fruits on Kim's Blog Kinders by Kim.
I think I may have made them more complicated that they needed to be but the kids really did enjoy making them. I started by drawing the templates for a potato, corn, strawberry, carrot and peas. I then put the following text on the appropriate vegetable:
My carrot is a _______ that I can eat. (root)
My peas are ______ that I can eat. (seeds)
My strawberry is a _________ that I can eat. (flower)
(I researched this, and indeed, the strawberry is part of the flower)
My potato is a _______ that I can eat. (root)
My corn is a _______ that I can eat. (seed)
I photocopied the vegetables onto 11x14 pieces of paper. I then glued 3 sides to a piece of colored paper. (I originally cut out the vegetable and then realized I didn't need to and I just quickly glued the fruit onto the colored paper). The kids filled in what part of the vegetable we eat and sponge painted any 3 of the vegetables. If they chose the corn, they painted bubble wrap and then carefully turned ti over and pushed it onto the corn to print the corn kernals.
After they dried, the kids cut out the vegetable or fruit and then stuffed it with fiber fill. I stapled the top (with little green leaves). The kids then wrote their name on this poem:
_____________
How does your garden grow?
With ________, _________ and
__________ all in a row.
I originally planned to have them write the names of the vegetables but decided they would have trouble fitting the words on the lines. Instead, they glued the proper word on the lines. Although these took quite a bit of prep work, I would probably do them again because they involved a lot of cutting, writing and following directions practice and the kids really enjoyed the painting, stuffing and the final product.
Planting a Pattern. My class LOVES anything involving patterns. Unfortunately, the patterns they have been creating recently have become so complicated, I was worried they were forgetting the important repetition feature of patterns. I solved this when we did these bean patterns by having them roll a pattern first and then show me how they could do the pattern with beans. They were very good at it. I found these adorable Planting Patterns at Froggy Friends Fun.
Acting Out Mrs. Wishy Washy. We had lots of fun acting out the story of Mrs. Wishy Washy.
Jazz for Kids: Sing Clap Wiggle & Shake. What a perfect cd for a farm unit. It included Ella Fitzgerald singing Old McDonald and Louis Jordan singing Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens. It is impossible not to dance to this music.
Our Big Red Barn. Of course the kids favorite part of our farm unit was probably the big cardboard barn we made. You can read more about it here.
