S.O.S. for Information Literacy

Farm Life

Description:

This week-long unit focuses on story comprehension through listening skills, word recognition, and the visual recreation of story scenes.

Goals & Objectives:

LIBRARY MEDIA SKILLS OBJECTIVES:

The student will listen and respond to a variety of literary forms. The student will develop listening and speaking vocabularies. The student will demonstrate comprehension of stories. The student will demonstrate the awareness of author, title, and illustrator. The student will use pictures to make predictions and inferences.

CURRICULUM OBJECTIVES:

The student will identify what authors and illustrators do. The student will confirm understanding by using pictures from the story. The student will discuss characters, setting, problem, and solution. The student will use letter/sound relationships. The student will retell familiar stories by using a beginning, middle, and end.

Materials & Sources:

TITLE: Image of Farm TITLE: Resources

Credits:

Author: Gloria Sharpe
Journal: School Library Media Activities Monthly
For more information:
http://www.schoollibrarymedia.com
http://www.crinkles.com
Adapted for SOS by Jennifer Nace, School of Information Studies,
Syracuse University

Sources:

Source: School Library Media Activities Monthly, December 2000,
17(4), 13.

Procedures:

INSTRUCTIONAL ROLES:

This activity may be used by the classroom teacher or reading/language arts teacher with the cooperation of the library media specialist. The teacher and library media specialist should schedule 30 to 45 minute sessions for the students to visit the library media center. The teacher and library media specialist may share responsibility for teaching the curriculum objectives. The library media specialist also may focus on specific resources about farm life and farm animals.

ACTIVITY AND PROCEDURES FOR COMPLETION:

On day one, the classroom teacher introduces the unit by reading Mary Had a Little Lamb. Students read with the teacher by following the words on a poster. The teacher sings the song "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and asks students to join in. The library media specialist visits the classroom and introduces the story Who Will Be My Mother? The library media specialist reviews the parts of a book and the jobs of the author and illustrator. The students predict the story outcomes as they view the pictures. The library media specialist reads the story to the children. After reading the story, the library media specialist asks the students questions to check on their predictions for the story. Students may create pictures of scenes from the story.
On day two, the students participate by performing as a chorus with the same story. Different groups are assigned character parts to read. The teacher reads with the students and points to the words in the story as the students read. The students complete a character web. The teacher focuses on the elements of the story: characters, setting, problem, and solution. The students then practice word recognition. The teacher gives one sticky-back note with a word from the story written on it to paired students. The teacher and students read the pages together. As an example, the teacher points to the first word and asks, "Who has the word 'I'?" That pair places the note over the word 'I'. If the match is incorrect, the teacher asks what is different about the two words. The teacher turns to page five of the book and asks, "Who can come and put their fingers around the word 'to'?" The teacher turns to page seven and asks a student to find the same word on that page. Small groups of students may reconstruct scenes from the story by using a story board and felt animals while they retell the story. The class visits the library media center where the library media specialist conducts booktalks about farm life and animal books. The library media specialist has students recreate a scene from the story using torn-paper art. Pictures are created by using construction paper torn by hand to create picture forms. Students describe the scenes they create.
On day three, the children use photocopies of scenes from Who Will Be My Mother? Student put these pictures together in sequential order. Students may write their names on the cover and read or retell the story from the pictures. In the library media center, the students work in small groups to visit websites about farm life.
On day four, the library media specialist uses a copy of Mary Had a Little Lamb written on chart paper, on which some of the words are substituted with pictures. Students listen to a taped version of the rhyme and follow along on the paper. The students and library media specialist discuss the substitution of the pictures and use of clues in the sentences.
On day five, the teacher passes out the student-made books of Who Will Be My Mother? and gives each student a piece of paper with a list of characters from the story. The students cut out words, match them with the pictures of the characters in the story, and paste labels on the correct page. Examples of labels include boy, horse, bull, rabbit, and hen. Students read their stories. They visit the library media center and work in small groups to explore farm life and farm animal materials. The library media specialist uses a computer projector with the software program Let's Explore the Farm With Buzzy (or something comparable). A trivia game accompanies the program (or the library media specialist can make up trivia questions). Questions are read aloud, and students respond.
On day six, the library media specialist divides the class into two groups to share animal shaped books and to review what authors and illustrators do. Students may color pictures in their student-made books.
On day seven, the teacher divides the class into two groups. One group remains with the teacher to make masks of their favorite character in the story Who Will Be My Mother? and to write a short description of the character. The other group visits the library media center and creates animal-shaped books about a character.

FOLLOW-UP:

The students may visit a local farm to capture some of the sights with a digital camera or video recorder in order to create a bulletin board or electronic field trip.

Assessment:

EVALUATION:

The classroom teacher and library media specialist note students' participation throughout the unit. The teacher also observes or keeps a checklist of understanding on the independent activities such as completion of student-made books, word recognition, etc.

Sources:

Source: School Library Media Activities Monthly, December 2000, 17(4), 13.

Print this Lesson Plan

Presented By: School Library Media Activities Monthly

Subject Area(s)
- K-12: Language Arts
Grade Level
- K - 8
Supporting Files
Content Standards
AASL / ACRL Standards and Assessments