On The Farm: A Barnyard Ballad

Thematic Unit: On The Farm: A Barnyard Ballad

Lesson Topics: Farm Animals and Farm Noises

Content Areas: Language Arts, Reading, Social Studies, Science

Grade Levels: K - 1st Grades (15 students)

Language Proficiency Level/s: ELLs- Lower - Intermediate Proficiency

Unit Objectives:

To learn English through the content of farm animals

To read a bar graph and think analytically

To practice reading with the help of mnemonic devices

To learn sequencing of events

To practice retelling a process through oral and written language

TESOL and Tennessee Standards for ESL

TESOL National Standards

Standard 1: English language learners communicate for social, intercultural, and instructional

purposes within the school setting.

Goal 2, Standard 1 - To use English to achieve academically in all content areas: Students will

use English to interact in the classroom

Goal 2, Standard 2 - To use English to achieve academically in all content areas: Students will

use English to obtain, process, construct, and provide subject matter information in spoken and

written form: a). retelling information, b). responding to the work of peers and others, and c).

representing information visually and interpreting information presented visually.

Tennessee ESL Standards

R.1-2.7 Use prior knowledge, context, sentence structure, multiple meanings and

illustrations to read unfamiliar words.

R.1-2.9 Read and follow 1 – 4 step directions to complete a simple task.

R.1-2.11 Demonstrate use of various strategies to construct meaning (e.g. context,

illustrations, prior knowledge).

L.1-2.6 Demonstrate use of various strategies to construct meaning (e.g. context,

nonverbal clues, prior knowledge).

W.1-2.2 Write to convey ideas or stories using pictures, marks, letters, words and simple

sentences.

S.1-2.4 Tell, summarize and/or retell ideas and/or stories.

Specific Objectives: The objective of this unit is to connect meaning of content related

vocabulary through the use of English and mnemonic devices such as onomatopoeia and

rhyming.

Leveled Reading Materials:

Early Morning in the Barn by Nancy Tafuri

PreK-1st Grade (ages 3-6): Pre-literacy-beginning - Young children love to imitate the noises

that animals make and this book offers a fun way to act like animals through a catchy rhyme

scheme.

Old Mac Donald Had a Farm Illustrated by Carol Jones

Grades K-2 (ages 4-7) This book is great for beginning/ intermediate readers gaining literacy

skills and also helps familiarize the kids with different farm animals through repetition and

onomatopoeia.

Inside a Barn in the Country by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Grades 1-3 (ages 5-8): For developing and expanding literacy skills - In this book, one tiny

mouse wakes up an entire barn and the quiet night becomes a cacophony of farm animal noises.

The story is told with a colorful and descriptive rhyme scheme.

Whole Group Reading Materials

Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming

Grades K-1 (ages 4-6): In this book, Goose chases a butterfly obliviously around the farm while

barnyard animals make sounds in a rhythmic, onomatopoeic way. This is a fun book to get the

whole class involved and familiarize the students with different farm animals.

The Thing That Bothered Farmer Brown written by Teri Sloat, illustrated by

Nadine Bernard Wescott

Grades K-2 (ages 4-7): In this delightful book, Farmer Brown is trying to get the annoying insect

that is bothering him but he keeps disturbing farm animals as he goes. The rhythm and sound

effects in this book provide many opportunities for interesting classroom activities.

Instructional Procedures:

Set – Build prior knowledge on a chart and review new vocabulary words. Ask the students what

they know about farms. (What types of animals or crops?) Take notes on a big piece of chart

paper. Start a word wall for farm related words that are difficult to spell.

Guided Practice – warm up -Rhyming words

Mini-Lecture – Read Barnyard Banter by Denise Fleming to help familiarize the kids with the

different animals. Discuss the sounds that different farm animals make.

Group Task #1 – Graph farm animal favorites. Pass out five farm animal picture cards (horse,

goat, chicken, cow, pig) to each student and tell what each one is called, just in case a student

doesn’t know its name. Ask them to choose their favorite one and hand all the rest back to the

person on the far right side of the room. One at a time, ask the students to come to the front of

the room and place the farm animal they chose on a chart above the name of that animal. After

each student has finished placing their animals, they will be able to see which animal was chosen

the most and which was chosen the least. Discuss why they chose different animals. Ask why

they think some animals didn’t get chosen as much. Why did some get chosen more?

Shared Book – Read aloud, The Thing That Bothered Farmer Brown. Teacher will engage

students in a discussion to talk about words for sounds. Add words to word wall. The teacher

will discuss the idiom: “To have a bee in your bonnet” (to be bothered by something) with the

class.

Group Task #2 - Role Play: Students create sound effects to represent the sounds in the story.

Read the story again only this time assign each pair or group to come up with a sound effect or

two to make when their part in the story comes around.

Create – Students illustrate and label "WANTED" posters for “The Thing That Bothered Farmer

Brown.” Tell why whichever noisy thing they have chosen is guilty. (See sample on power

point slide.)

Mini Lecture – Discuss the idiom: “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” (something that already

happened and can’t be changed) with the class. Where does milk come from? How is ice cream

made? Add new words to word wall. (Use power point slides)

Group Task #3 – Students make “Hillbilly Ice Cream.” Students will follow Ice cream recipe to

learn simple measurements. While taking turns shaking ice cream cans, children will work on re-

writing the story of how ice cream is made in booklets with words and illustrations.

Create- Students make booklets for how to make ice cream and illustrate it.

Sharing – Students share booklets and complete student survey.

Closure – Teacher helps students fill in the KWL chart with things that they learned about.

Students refer to word wall for assistance.

Assessment Tools & Techniques:

1. Informal – Mini-Lecture – KWL Chart

2. Formal – Words that rhyme activity

3. Formal/Authentic – Group Task #1 – Graphing activity- peer and self-observation

4. Informal- Group Task #2 - Story sound effects

5. Informal – Group Task #3 – Making ice cream

5. Informal – Sharing ice cream booklets

6. Formal/Authentic – Student surveys

7. Formal – KWL Chart- Fill out the “L” portion.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Chart paper

ELMO

5 Small cans with lids

5 Large cans with lids

Newspaper

Rock salt

Sugar

Vanilla flavoring

Milk

15-20 - 6 page blank booklets

Crayons or markers

LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS: (see below)

KWL CHART

RHYMING WORD PAIRS

ANIMAL PICTURE CUTOUTS

BOARD GRAPH

“WANTED” TEMPLATES

WHERE DOES MILK COME FROM SLIDE

VOCABULARY WALL (will create with class)

WHERE DOES ICE CREAM COME FROM SLIDE

HILLBILLY ICE CREAM RECIPE

STUDENT SURVEYS

Teacher Created Materials: (Created on Power point and uploaded as GIFs)

References:

Belew, L. G. (2011). Alphabet soup activities. Columbia, TN: Tenn. Farm Bureau Foundation for

AITC.

Capucilli, A. S. (1995). Inside a barn in the country. New York, NY: Cartwheel Books.

Clipartforfree.blogspot.com. (2008). Animal clip art. Retrieved from

http://clipart-for-free.blogspot.com/2008/08/clipart-farm-animals.html.

Fleming, D. (1994). Barnyard banter. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Jones, C. (1997). Old macdonald had a farm. Sydney, Australia: HarperCollins.

ProCon.org. (2011, April 4). How milk gets from the cow to the store. Milk.procon.org.

Retrieved from http://milk.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000658.

Sloat, T., Wescott, N. B. (1995). The thing that bothered farmer brown. New York, NY:

Orchard Books.

Sloat, T. (2006). Teri sloat. Retrieved from http://www.terisloat.com/books/thething.html.

Snow, J. (2000-2011). Farm clip art. ABKL Designs. Retrieved from

http://abkldesigns.com/index.html.

Tafuri, N. (1992). Early morning in the barn. New York, NY: Mulberry Books.

Tennessee Department of Education. (2009). English as a second language curriculum

standards: Grade 7-8. Retrieved from

http://www.fentress.k12tn.net/ESL/ESL%20curriculum%20standards.pdf.

Tesol.org. (2006). PreK–12 English Language Proficiency Standards. Retrieved from:

http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/seccss.asp?CID=95&DID=1565

Theteachersguide.com. (2011). The teacher’s guide: On the farm. Retrieved from

http://www.theteachersguide.com/onthefarm.htm

MTSU Honor Statement

This assignment/assessment was solely written by me. In no way have I plagiarized (represented

the work of another as my own) or otherwise violated the copyright laws and academic

conventions of fair use. I know that violations of this policy may result in my being dismissed

from Middle Tennessee State University and/or appropriate legal action being taken against me.

Signed: Erin B. Cathey

Created by

Erin B. Cathey

ebc2s@mtmail.mtsu.edu

June, 2011

FOED 6020

Dr. D. V. Craig

Middle Tennessee State University