Today I'm excited because it's the day before spring break, I'm guest posting about The Rewards of Recycling at the Character Educator {here} and I've got a PPBF pick that takes me back to my childhood on the FARM!
Title: FARM
Author and Illustrator: Elisha Cooper
Publisher: Orchard Books
Date: 1st edition - April 1, 2010
Suitable for: ages 4-8
Themes: farm life, responsibility, jobs, work ethic
Brief Synopsis: Meet a farming family (and all of their animals down to the barn cats and dogs) and journey with them step by step through the seasons from sowing to reaping.
Opening Page: Take a farmer, another farmer, a boy, a girl.
Resources:
Take a peek inside the book at the author's website {here}
Enjoy an interview with the author {here}
Activity Suggestions at Home School Year Blog {here}
Reagan Tunstall's Farm Unit Lesson {here}
Peterson Brothers I'm Farming And I Grow It song parody on You Tube:
Why I like this book:
Here is an aerial photo of the farm I grew up on. Though it's changed significantly since my brother Mark took this picture, it's still in the family after 150 years. My brother Paul and his family live in the homestead now, milk the cows and work the land.
So, this book is perfect for a farmer's daughter like me. But it's also a really great glimpse into rural life for an urban or suburban student like the kids in my school. Team First does a farm unit every year; today's the day I get to be a guest farmer in a few of the classes to show them some pictures and a video of a PBS documentary that was made on our farm
back in 1976 for a series called Wisconsin, Our Home.
This unit endears itself to me because the students actually make these bird's-eye-view farms that were on display last night at Open House. They are initially given some play money with which they have to purchase their animals and the acres to put them on. It's good for math skills, sure, but also great to help them learn vocabulary like silo, manure, fertilizer, and acreage, that might otherwise be foreign to them.
Farm also includes a page with helpful farm vocabulary and would be the perfect complement for our first-grade farmers!
I hope you're able to check out this book; there are so many little details and bonuses that you'll want to experience for yourself.
For more excellent picture book recommendations,
head on over to Susanna Leonard Hill's blog now!
this sounds like a very unique book. I love the cover with the rooster. I love farms and chickens,too.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed a comprehensive gem! From the rooster's name (Breakfast) to the barn cats with no names, it's a true circle of life book. There's even a missing animal at one point and a reference to the fox who might have snatched it, making it just. so. REAL!
DeleteLots of excellent links and videos...thanks! I think more kids (and adults) need to know more about farming. Our lives depend upon farmers. What a heritage you have!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jarm, for your kind words. I just LOVE gathering resources that support my referrals! I am, indeed, blessed to have helped my family make a living off the land as a child.
DeleteHow nice your family farm is still with family. I'll be on the lookout for this book.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a keeper, Wendy. And yes, the farm still being with us is a gift, especially in light of the fact that a blaze in the milking parlor in 2002 threatened to shut us down and forced my uncle and brother to really decide whether the legacy was worth rebuilding.
DeleteWow, you family has been farming for 150 years. Love the photo and all of your resources. One of my relatives had a huge farm and I loved visiting the farm. A whole different world that urban kids just don't understand. Such a perfect choice with spring around the corner.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Pat, for your affirmation. I know that our cousins always relished the time they spent with us on the farm. Sometimes we took that for granted and couldn't understand their hurry to get out into the barn since our hurry was always to finish up chores and get OUT of the barn!
DeleteI know this one - love the watercolors!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right, Julie. His watercolor illustrations ROCK!
DeleteI will be watching for this book, Barbara. You have so identified life on the farm as being both educational and interesting. I remember a fond time visiting a farm during church camp as a ten year old. And loving barns as an adult.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this pic and for your thorough review. :)
We love barns, too, but sadly, many of them are collapsing and/or disappearing in our state of Wisconsin. My husbad has often joked about starting a company to restore and save old barns. And my sister and I LOVED it when tours came to our farm because they'd usually send these adorable thank-you letters about how much they loved the calves and the cotton seed, etc. Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteThe book looks fantastic! But your story is even more intriguing! I love the farm activity you did with your kids. Super!! Thanks for sharing all this. I'll have to check this book out!
ReplyDeleteI loved the Farming and I Grow It video - lots of fun! I live in a small town with farms close by, but most of my students have never been on a farm. Since bussing to a farm (even close by) is out of our budget, I am trying to find a lamb who would like to come to school.
ReplyDeleteHi Dear:
ReplyDeleteI love that the family farm has been with you and yours for 150 years. That is so very... you!
Thanks for the wonderful reflection!
Kim
Finding JOY in 6th Grade
I'll have to get this one for my son. He tries to make farms for the pigs all the time. This is a great topic, because I don't think kids know that much about farms now. One day at a neighborhood park, we heard two girls doing some imaginative play and when the topic of farmers came up they were not very kind about the occupation. Hubby and I were shocked.
ReplyDeleteThere is so much to love about this book and this post. Thank-you for sharing your experiences. We need to support our farmers any way we can. Thanks for sharing this book, it's going on my search list. 'Can't wait to find it!
ReplyDelete