1. Unit Plan: Down on the Farm
Tiffany Cline

2. Unit Plan Summary
In this unit students will be engaged in a variety of rigorous activities that will help them explore the farm as it relates to everyday living. Students will be crating bubble maps to brainstorm animals and people on the farm. Students will explore how the farm is essential to humans by providing us with food. Students will classify and sort animals. This unit will identify the characteristics and structures, life cycles, and environments of animals.

3. Standards and Objectives
Social Studies
4. Identify the interdependence of economics (self/family). (C, G, E)
Classify primary land uses (e.g., farming, livestock, fishing, residential, recreation, etc.).
b. State the goods and services provided by family producers.
c. State the division of labor within the classroom/home environment (e.g., making an art project, using an assembly line, classroom and community helpers, etc
Science
3. Understand characteristics, structures, life cycles, and environments of organisms.
a. Group animals by their physical features

4. Projects for this Unit Class Book PowerPoint Presentations Collages
Posters

5. Curriculum-Framing Questions
Essential Question
How do we choose where we live?
Unit Question
How does the farm help our lives?
Which animals are more important on the farm?
Content Question
Identify several farm animals?
Who works or lives on the farm?
What sound does a __________ make?

6. Assessments
Questioning will be used throughout the unit. Students will complete KWL Chart. Numerous journal writing samples, class books, graphs will help the teacher monitor students’ progress. Teacher will utilize project rubrics to assess the final project of the unit.

7. Assessment Procedures

8. Assessment Procedures

9. After Project Work is Complete

10. Instructional Procedure
Week 1
Before reading stories teacher will ask children what they already know about farms. (KWL Chart)
Teacher will read classic farm story The Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
Teacher will provide a farm theme word list to each student and introduce the word wall words.
Teacher will provide students with blank sheets of paper and drawing materials of their favorite farm animal. .
Students will write the name of their animal on the page.
Teacher and students will create a Favorite Farm Animal Graph
Teacher and students will analyze data from graph
Teacher will teach students the lyrics of “The Farmer in the Dell”
Week2
Discuss the role of the illustrator of a book
Brainstorm some different ways illustrators create/compose pictures.
Read Aloud Wake Up, Big Barn b y Suzanne Chitwood
Discuss the pictures in the story. How are the made? (Collage)
Create a farm collage
Print out the Farm Themed Felt Board printable in color and prepare them as Felt Board characters.  (If you do not have a felt board, you could prepare tack them on a bulletin board instead).
Read Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Child's Play (or simply sing the song with the kids)   as the various characters come up in the story, hang up the appropriate felt board piece.   Hand out the Barn shapes booklets and have the children compose their own "In the barn there was a _____" Book.  If the children cannot print, hand out the pages that just require images be drawn
Week 3
Set up three stations in the classroom:
Station 1:  10 all different items
Station 2:  5 sets of 2 identical items
Station 3:  2 sets of 5 identical items
Station 4:  10 the entire same item   Items could be: plastic farm animals, eggs, silk plants or vegetables (depending on what you have available). 
If you don't have any of these available, you could print out farm animal coloring pages and hang the appropriate number of those at the stations.   
Divide your class into four groups.  Have each group visit a different station.  Have the children talk about what they see at the station.  Have them print their findings on a sheet of paper.  For students that require interventions, simply allow them to discuss what they are seeing.  
Come together as a classroom.  Using the whiteboard, discuss with the class what they discovered at each station.

11. Accommodations for Differentiated Instruction
Special Need Students
Provide teacher/peer assistance as needed for assignments.
Provide accommodations/ modifications
Allow students to work in groups

12. Accommodations for Nonnative Speakers
Nonnative Speakers will work in conjunction with the ELL teacher for translation and explanation of concepts addressed in this unit.

13. Accommodations for Gifted/Talented Students
Gifted and Talented students will serve as experts on topics and engage in other topic related assignments.
Students will also serve as peer tutors.

14. * See works cited page for additional resources.
Internet Resources
* See works cited page for additional resources.

15. Connection to the Real Word
Upon completion of this unit students will take a trip to a local farm in the area!