Our Farm Unit

I'm trying to either do different units this year or dig more deeply into ones we already covered. Since I looped up with my little dragons, I want them to still be challenged. So we starting talking about farms this week. I grew up in the country in Pennsylvania. We had farms on either side of us and I had many friends who worked on them. My high school was somewhat affectionately referred to as "Farm High".  Anyway, when I was about 12, my aunt the artist took me with her on a trip to New York City. Of course, there were many sights that were new to me, but one day we saw a little traveling zoo in Central Park. It was all farm animals! I rolled my eyes and was like big deal, but there were so many kids standing around oohing and aahing. It just goes to show how your experiences can form your knowledge-that pesky schema!

Anyway, there was a lot my little ones did not know about farms. I found this little gem on YouTube-beware! You will not be able to get the song out of your head! However, I did like the vocabulary in it-silo, pasture, crops, holstein, etc. and it was just too cute!

We loved this one too. They figured out the pattern pretty quickly and started to sing along. I think it's a little hypnotic.

After learning about traditional farms, I asked them to create a new kind of innovation for their farms.

This is like an irrigation system to give water to the animals.

When one animal was up, the lights turn on.

Mechanical hands to help do extra work.

Reading books to cows.

This child decided farming was too hard a job, so if he has more time to get his work done, they can have parties in the barn.