Literacy
* Group students in pairs (by passing out tongue depressor or color bracelets and have students locate their partner) and read story and have students share their thoughts on questions asked (click here) before, during and after reading, plus narrative questions (click for pdf)
* Things to share after reading book, singing and chanting song
a) Listen to the words I say and tell me if they rhyme: farm – rat / farm – arm. Select words from song (cow – blue / cow – now), (pig – hay / pig -wig), (duck – run / duck – luck), (sheep – deep / sheep – grass) and rhyming and non-rhyming words.
b) Tell me a word that rhymes with _____________(repeat this exercise with different words from the song)
c) I am going to say a word from the song and you tell me what letter it begins with (select word from song)
d) Listen to the word I say and lets count the syllables (clap, snap, pat or stomp syllables with the class)
e) I am going to say a sentence from the story / song and you fill in the word that is missing
Example: Pigs give us ___________. Cows give us ___________. Chickens give us ____________. Sheep give us ___________.
* Complete Venn diagram and compare characteristics of two farm animals with similar characteristics in the middle (click for pdf)
* Use this song to practice echo reading, choral reading, buddy reading, and work on phonological awareness activities
* Create a zoo book and sing different verses to the song using zoo animals (click for pdf)
* As a class, create silly alliterative sentences. Example: The scary spider sang a silly song.
* Create your own verses. What if Old MacDonald had a robot or a drum?
Math
* Review shapes and introduce tractor and its job on the farm. Have students create their own tractor using shapes. (click for pdf)
* Show and compare animals by asking questions of size and weight. Which is heavier? Lighter? Taller? Shorter? Have students cut and glue animals from smallest to biggest. (click for pdf)
* Who’s missing? Print out the pdf and place the six farm animals in front of the class and have kids close their eyes and you remove one character. When they open their eyes, have them guess who’s missing. Extension question: You can print another copy and create a set for concentration game (click for pdf)
Science
* Discuss items that are used in the farm. Print two copies and play concentration or matching games. Extend by having them match to the character that follows in the song. Example: match the pigs to ham, chicken to eggs, sheep to wool and cow to milk
* Cheese comes from milk and milk comes from cows: Have a cheese tasting. Encourage parents to send different kinds of cheese for snack. Have kids compare the similarities and differences.
* What do the animals give us? Use grocery store flyers and have kids cut out and match foods to the animal they come from. Example: cow=milk, cheese, steak, burgers; pig=bacon, pork chops, ham
* Science poem: The Farmer:
The sun is coming up (make sun with arms)
The farmer is out the door (walk in place)
The farmer milks the cows (pretend to milk cows)
The farmer feeds the horses (pretend to use pitch fork)
The farmer plows the field (pretend to ride a tractor)
Social / Emotional
* Print out pdf, glue on construction paper and create stick-puppets. Introduce each animal and discuss their traits and sounds. After discussing animals sing Old McDonald and add the the name of additional animals and their sound. (click for pdf)
* Act out the song using stick-puppets, masks, or by assigning roles. Teacher can story tell / narrate the story while students hold-up their stick-puppet when their part comes up in the story. You can also sing the song and have students hold-up their puppet when their part is sung.
* Discuss the cheese. Is it a healthy snack? Encourage kids to sing the song with new lyrics inserting healthy snack.
Old MacDonald had some cheese E-I-E-I-O
With some cheese here, cheese there, everywhere some cheese.
Old MacDonald had some cheese E-I-E-I-O
(Had some ice cream, butter)
Physical / Outdoor
* Square dance. Have the kids sing the song moving in a circle by locking elbows. After each chorus, switch directions.
* Print copies (2-3 sets for entire class) of characters and glue them to construction paper and laminate them. Place them in a circle facing down (so they can’t see the character from the story) and have children dance in a circle to the song and when the music stops the students land on a picture and need to name the character and tell the class what that character gives us…milk, wool, eggs, etc.
* Assign each child a character and have a race to see which one on the farm is the fastest.
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