WebQuest Plan

by Cheyenne Whirley

 

 

Lesson Plan Title:Farm Animals

                                                                               rooster

Discipline Topic: Social Studies

 

Target Population:

This lesson is designed for kindergarten students between the ages of five and six.  Students at this age level are beginning to understand where they live and the different places around them.  Part of this knowledge includes understanding what distinguishing city life from the country life.  Since many of the students are visual learners, many of them will benefit from using the internet as a learning tool.

 

Lesson Groupings:

Students will work with assigned partners for the duration of this activity.

 

Curriculum Links: 

Students are learning about different places.  In the last unit they learned about the various characteristics of city life.  They learned that cities are places with many tall buildings, cars, many people, and shops.  In this unit they will be learning about characteristics of farms.   

 

Objectives: 

Students will able to…

                        Identify animals that live on farms, what they eat, and what sounds they make.

 

                        Understand the role of a farmer.

 

                        Understand that animals give us the foods we need.

                       

                        Identify different types of farms.

 

                        Identify differences between farm life and city life.

                       

                        Create a visual representation of a farm.

                                               

National Standards:

NYS ELA Standard 1.  Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

 

NYS ELA Standard 4.  Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

 

NETS 1. Use input and output devices to successfully operate computers, VCR’s, audiotapes, and other technologies.

 

NETS 4. Use developmentally appropriate multimedia resources to support learning.

 

Materials:     

  • 1 computer/child
  • On the Farm by David Elliot    
  • Kidspiration     
  • Crayons
  • 3x5 index card             

Time:

45 minutes/day

 
Scope and Sequence:

Day 1—Introduction.

  • The concept of farms will be introduced.
  • Teacher will read On the Farm by David Elliot.
  • Students will explore webquest briefly and then print out the KWL chart found on the site.
  • Students will fill out the KW portions of their KWL Farm Chart.
  • They will share their ideas with classmates, as the teacher writes student wonderings on a large class chart.

 

Day 2—Students will be able to understand what animals live on farms.

  • Review what students know so far about the farm.
  • Using webquest, students will visit KBears farm and FunFarm to learn about the animals, what they eat and the sounds they make.
  • With their partners, students will complete the graphic organizer using the information they learned about the animals.
  • Partnerships will share their findings with the class.

 

 Day 3—Students will learn the role of a farmer.

  • Review which animals live on the farm, what they eat, and the sounds they make.
  • Using webquest, students will read Elmo Minds the Farm to learn about who takes care of the farm animals.
  • Students will watch the life of a MarkDean--What is a Day Like? to learn about the life of a farmer.
  • Students will watch How Do You Run a Cow Farm? to get more information about what farmers do.
  • Students will complete the farmer printout with their partners.
  • Partnerships will share their findings with the class.

 

Day 4—Students will identify the products that come from different types of farms.

  • Review that the farmer does on the farm.
  • Using webquest students will visit the farm virtual tour to learn about different types of farms (i.e. poultry, dairy, fish).
  • Students will read about what farm animals give us.
  • Partners will discuss what they learned about the farms and the products they prodece.
  • Partners will complete a the Farm and Match worksheet where they must match the product to the correct animal.

 

Day 5—Students will design their own farm.

  • Have children complete the L portion on their KWL charts and share responses with class.
  • Students will work with their assigned partners, using a Kidspriration template and webquest resources, to design their own farm.
  • After each pair prints their kidspiration document they created, they must write 5 sentences on an index card describing what they chose to include in their farm photograph.
  • Partnerships will share their farm documents with the class.

 

Day 6—Students will compare farm life to city life.

  • Review characteristics of a city and a farm.
  • Using webquest, students will analyze farm and city photographs.
  • Students will discuss differences between the farm and city based on the photographs with their partners.
  • Each partnership will classify farm and city pictures using the Kidspiration document.
  • Partnerships will share out at the completion of the activity.

 

Evaluation of Students:

Below is rubric for this lesson.  The rubric is divided into three sections: beginning, developing and secure.  The teacher will check off each child’s performance level, at the completion of each task.
               

                                                                                             

Objectives

Beginning

(B)

Developing

(D)

Secure

(S)

Score

Identify animals that live on farms, what they eat, and what sounds they make.

Students can only identify one or two farm animals and do not know what sounds the animals make or what foods they eat.

Students can identify two to four animals on the farm.  However, they are confused about the animal’s sounds and the foods they consume.

Students can identify four or more various animals on the farm, what they eat, and the sounds they make.

 

Understand the role of a farmer.

 

Students cannot explain any duties of the farmer.

Students can only tell one or two things that farmers are responsible for doing.

Students can explain 3 or more duties that farmers are responsible for doing.

 

Students will identify the products that come from different types of farms.

 

Students don’t know any or can only describe one type of farm.  However, s/he does not know what foods are produced there. 

Students describe one or two different farms and what comes from them.

Students can accurately explain 3 or more different farms and the foods that come from them.

 

Create a visual representation of a farm that displays animals, the foods they eat, who takes care of them, and the foods they produce.

 

Students create a farm that accurately depicts one out of the four elements.

Students create a farm that accurately depicts two to three of the project elements.

Students create a farm representation that shows accurately displays all of the elements.

 

Can identify differences between the farm and the city.

The student cannot distinguish between the city and farm at all.  While one ore two pictures are in the correct category, the rest are out of place. 

The student can identify most characteristics of the city and farm, placing only one or two pictures in the wrong category.  

Each picture is classified into the appropriate box, demonstrating that the student can easily identify characteristics of the city and farm. 

 

 
Evaluation of Lesson:

The lesson will be evaluated based on the overall scores from the rubric.  If the majority of student scores are happy faces, then I know that they mastered the material.  However, if students received mostly unhappy and straight faces, I will have to review this topic further with them.

                                




Return To Table of Contents