On the Farm - Lesson Plans

On the Farm
Level B

About the Book

Text Type: Fiction/Realistic
Page Count: 10
Word Count: 47

Book Summary
On the Farm gives students a glimpse of familiar animals enjoying their favorite places on the farm. Fun illustrations of chickens in the hay, pigs in the mud, and a cow in the barn help students decode two new vocabulary words on each page.

About the Lesson

Targeted Reading Strategy

Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Objectives

Use the strategy of making, revising, and confirming predictions
Identify main idea and details
Identify rhyming words
Associate the letter Ff with the sound /f/
Understand that some words name things
Categorize words

Materials

Book -- On the Farm (copy for each student)
Chalkboard or dry erase board
Main idea and details, rhyme worksheets
Pictures of farms (optional)
Word journal (optional)

Indicates an opportunity for student to mark in the book. (All activities may be completed with paper and pencil if books are reusable.)

Vocabulary

High-frequency words: a, in, the, is, on, are
Content words: dog, house, cow, barn, pig, mud, chicken, hay, goat, field, duck, pond, sheep, hill, animals, farm

Before Reading

Build Background

Ask students whether they have been to a farm or seen pictures of a farm. Ask what kinds of buildings, animals, and equipment they might see on a farm. If students live in an urban area or are unfamiliar with farms, show pictures and discuss the above points. If students suggest animals that do not live on a farm (giraffe, elephant, lion), explain where those animals live and ask them to think of other animals.
Expand the discussion by talking about why farms are important to everyone (production of food and dairy products).

Book Walk

Introduce the Book

Show students the front and back covers of the book and read the title with them. Ask what they might read about in a book called On the Farm. (Accept any answers students can justify.)
Have students name the animals on the cover. Ask where the duck is (pond). If the duck is on the list, put a check mark next to it. If not, add it to the list.
Show students the title page. Discuss the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name). Ask students what animal they see.

Introduce the Reading Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

Explain that good readers make predictions, or guesses, about what will happen in a story. Explain that making predictions can help people make decisions, solve problems, and learn new information. Emphasize that making predictions is more important than whether the prediction is right, or confirmed.
Model making predictions.
Think-aloud: I can look at the pictures on the cover and the title page to give me clues as to what the book is about. When I look at the pictures on these pages, I see a pig and a duck. Since the title says On the Farm, I predict that this book will include animals a person might see on a farm. I predict that there will be a cow in the book and maybe a horse. I can read to see if I am right. Making predictions makes me think harder about the book and gives me a reason to read it. I want to find out if my predictions are right.
Have students predict what they might read about in the book based on the covers and title page.
As students read, encourage them to use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For tips on additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

Use the book walk as an opportunity to informally introduce the content vocabulary from the book. For example, ask students what animal they see on page 3. Ask where the dog is. If students say "living room," respond with: Yes, the dog is in a house, isn't it?
Ask students what word on the page they think says dog, and have them point to the word. Ask how they know the word says dog. Read the sentence, and have students point to each word as you read it. Ask whether the sentence using the word dog makes sense.
Encourage students to add new vocabulary words to their word journals.
For additional tips on teaching high-frequency words or word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

Have students read to find out if the words on the page support the predictions they make based on the pictures and words in the book.

During Reading

Student Reading

Guide the reading: Give students their copy of the book. Have a volunteer point to the first word on page 3. Read the word together (A). Point to where to begin reading on each page. Remind students to read words from left to right. Point to each word as you read it aloud while students follow along in their own book.
Ask students to place a finger on the page number in the bottom corner of the page. Have them read to the end of page 5, using their finger to point to each word as they read. Encourage students who finish before others to reread the text.
Model confirming a prediction.
Think-aloud: I predicted that there would be a cow in the book. When I looked at the picture on page 4, I thought that I was right. Now that I have read the words, I know for sure that I was right. Page 4 tells me that the cow is in a barn. I'll have to read to find out if a horse is on a farm.
Have students share the prediction they made before reading and the outcome of that prediction. Then have them revise or make a new prediction about what might happen next in the story.
Have students read the remainder of the story. Remind them to make, revise, and/or confirm predictions as they read.

Have students make a small question mark in their book beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

After Reading

Reflect on the Reading Strategy

Ask students what, if any, words they marked in their book. Use this opportunity to model how to read these words using decoding skills and context clues.
Discuss how making predictions helps keep them interested in the book and helps them understand what they are reading. Have students share the outcomes of their predictions.
Think-aloud: I predicted that a horse would be on a farm. The book didn't list this animal. However, I've seen horses on farms before, so I know that they can live there.
Discuss additional strategies students used to gain meaning from the book.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Main idea and details

Discussion: Have students name their favorite animal in the book. Then have them read the page aloud that tells about this animal.
Introduce and model the skill: Explain to students that books that they read have a main idea that tells what the book is about. The title of the book and the pictures can be clues to identify the main idea. Discuss the main idea of this book. (Different animals can live on a farm.) On the board, draw a copy of the main idea and details worksheet. Write the main idea in the top box. Explain that the book gives details about animals that live on a farm.
Model identifying details.
Think-aloud: On page 3, I found out that you can find a dog on the farm. A dog is an animal. This details tells about the main idea. I will write this on the board in the first box.
Check for understanding: Ask students to find the details about the animal on the next page. When students have identified cow and barn, record the word on the diagram on the board.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the main idea and details worksheet. If time allows, discuss their answers.

Extend the discussion: Instruct students to use the last page of their book to draw a picture of an animal they did not read about that they think belongs on a farm (horse, cat, rooster, mouse). Ask students to share their pictures with the group.

Build Skills

Phonological Awareness: Identify rhyme

Say the words cow and now. Ask students to repeat the words and tell you what is the same about the words. Reinforce that the words rhyme because they both end with the sound /ou/.
Tell students that you are going to say groups of three words. Two of the words rhyme, and one doesn't rhyme. Ask them to tell you the word that doesn't rhyme. If necessary, model how to do this using the first example. Say the following groups of words: pig/big/bear; hay/hen/way; mud/bud/hut; barn/goat/coat; sleep/sheep/duck; hill/hand/pill; truck/box/duck.
Independent practice: Introduce, explain, and have students complete the rhyme worksheet. Have students cut out the pictures and sort them into pairs that rhyme. If time allows, have students work with a partner to play concentration. Have the pair spread out one set of cards face down on the table. Have one student turn over the cards and say the names of the pictures. If the names rhyme, the student can keep the cards and go again. If not, the student turns the cards back over, and the other student takes a turn.

Phonics: Initial consonant Ff

Write the letter Ff on the board, and ask students to name the letter. Tell students that the letter Ff stands for the /f/ sound they hear at the beginning of the word farm. Have students find the word farm in the book and put their finger on the letter that stands for the /f/ sound.
Tell students that they are going to read some words that start with the /f/ sound. Write the words fat, fed, and fin on the board. Run your finger under the letters of the word as you have students sound it out with you: /f/ /a/ /t/. Have a volunteer circle the letter that stands for the /f/ sound.
Repeat with the words fed and fin.

Grammar and Mechanics: Naming words (nouns)

Tell students that some words tell the names of people, places, and things. Explain that these naming words are called nouns. Have students look at the cover while you read the title. Point to the word farm and explain that this is a noun that names a place.
Have students turn to page 3 and find two nouns (dog, house). Point out that the noun dog names an animal and the noun house names a place.

Have students work with a partner to find the nouns in the book and circle them. When students have finished, discuss which words name things and which name places.

Word Work: Categorize words

Review the naming words for the animals: dog, cow, pig, chicken, goat, duck, sheep. Ask students what group these animals belong to (farm animals). Make a large word web on the board, and label it farm animals. Have students brainstorm animals that might live on a farm that are not shown in the book while you record their ideas on the web.
Ask students to think of ways to group these animals into different groups. Suggest that they can group them into big/small; fur/feathers; two legs/four legs, and so on.

Build Fluency

Independent Reading

Allow students to read their book independently or with a partner. Additionally, partners can take turns reading parts of the book.

Home Connection

Give students their book to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Extend the Reading

Writing Connection
Write the sentence A ___ is on the farm. Brainstorm a list of other animals that can be found on a farm (cat, mouse, horse, donkey, turkey, ostrich, llama). Ask students to choose an animal, write the sentence, and illustrate it. Display the farm animals on a bulletin board titled "Our Farm Animals."

Social Studies Connection
Discuss different products that are obtained from farm animals, such as milk, butter, and cheese from cows (meat and leather are optional products to be discussed at the teacher's discretion), eggs from chickens and ostriches, and wool from sheep. Create a bulletin board of packaging from these products.

Assessment

Monitor students to determine if they can:

make logical predictions based on available text knowledge; revise or confirm predictions as they obtain new information
correctly list details about farm animals on a worksheet
correctly identify rhyming words on a worksheet
associate the letter Ff with the sound /f/; read simple CVC words starting with the /f/ sound
identify the nouns in the book
sort words associated with farm animals into meaningful categories

Comprehension Check

Retelling Rubric

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