Tuesday, March 9, 2010

On The Farm


This book jumped right off the shelf at the library. It may not have jumped right off the shelf but I think it was calling my name. It didn't really call my name, but something led me to think about picking it up and realizing it fits perfectly with our learning this week. I'm wondering if it will inspire the children in some way, if it could be a mentor text for their own writing, will we use it to do a shared writing and make our own book. You see, we are preparing the beginning of this week for a visit to a local farm focusing on the relationship between plants and animals later in the week.


On the Farm, written by David Elliott recalls the busy life of a family farm. Each two page spread tells the reader about an animal found on the farm. Often describing what they look like or things they do around the farm. The reader will encounter simplistic shorter bits of text and rhymes. The watercolor illustrations and black pen are big and vibrant focusing on the text while being warm and complimentary to the text. The illustrator Holly Meade found a nice balance. I am interested to see what we learn at the farm and if we could build a page like this for an animals we see. Here's a sample from page one

The Rooster

Crows and struts.

He's got feathers!

He's got guts!


Oh, the rooster

struts and crows.

What's he thinking?


No one knows.

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