Lesson Overview:
Students will listen to the story Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Dorian Cronin, and the poem, "Farmer Brown Has a Problem" by Diane Ambur, to explore problems and solutions. They will dramatize this story and create original verses that express a demand from a favorite farm animal.
Length of Lesson:
Three 45-minute class periods
Notes:
This lesson is particularly suitable for grade 1.
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- retell important details from the story in their own words.
- identify significant information from the text including main idea, problem and solution.
- relate prior knowledge and experiences to literal information found in the text.
- communicate information from the text to peers through classroom dramatization.
- demonstrate audience behaviors appropriate for the context and style of theater performed.
- communicate ideas and thoughts through writing and illustration.
- represent ideas and farm animals and through movement.
Supplies:
- Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
- Masking tape or string to create barn
- Labels/signs for students to designate roles of animal characters in the story
- Chart paper for creating verses with whole group
- Writing paper for each student
- Crayons for illustrations of animals depicted in verses
- A rhythm stick or pointer to conduct the Barnyard Orchestra
Instructional Plan:
Before beginning the lesson, you should establish ground rules and signals which will be used for behavior management during the lesson's dramatic activities. A visit to the Web English Teacher Web site, will give you many ideas to help with discipline and classroom management in lessons such as this. Several important things to remember when working with drama in the classroom are:
- Plan in advance so each pupil has a role to play.
- Prior to the lesson, plan the use of space in the classroom.
- Praise students for their efforts and never force them to perform.
- Always begin with simple activities and build to more complex ideas.
- Always offer constructive feedback.
- If students misbehave ask them politely to sit down. Bring them back into the group when they are ready and can contribute once again.
It is helpful for this lesson if students have previous background knowledge of farms and farm animals. If not, you might want to discuss this with the class or even consider a field trip to a farm. It is also helpful if the students have had practice using their senses to describe personal experiences and observations to an audience. If they have not, some role-play to describe simple emotions, experiences, and behaviors might be helpful.
Begin the lesson by asking the students to brainstorm a list of farm animals. Record the animal names on the board or on chart paper. Then have a short discussion with the class about these animals. Some suggested questions are below:
- How many of you have seen a (name of farm animal)?
- What did it look like?
- What did it sound like?
- What does it eat?
- How does it move?
- Does it provide anything for us?
- Does it live inside or outside?
- These questions could be prepared ahead of time and charted on paper to keep the discussion flowing and guide the students' responses.
Next, ask students to help you create an imaginary barn for all of the animals they charted. Explain that they will be making the outline of a barn on the floor with masking tape or string. Ask the students for suggestions of how a barn could be created on the floor with tape. It might be helpful to show a few pictures of the interior of barns to the class since students will need to think about the space that will be occupied by the different animals. The A&B Barns Web site has a variety of photos on that may be helpful. So students can think about how much space will be needed, have them choose six animals that will live in the barn. Talk about the size of these animals and the space they will need to live in a barn. Once students have chosen the animals, put the names of these animals on six pieces of paper and set them aside. Explain to the students that they will be assuming the roles of these animals and "living" inside the barn they create.
Using student suggestions and teacher guidance, create an outline of a barn with tape or string on the classroom floor. Then determine the space needed for the six different animals that students have chosen and define it with tape or string and label each area with the animal's name.
Divide the class into six groups. Assign each group an animal by choosing from the papers with the animal names that you set aside earlier in the lesson. Ask students to stand inside the barn in the space designated for their animal.
Next, tell students that they will be listening to a story about some trouble that a farmer is having with his animals. Spend about five minutes having the students predict the kinds of problems that barnyard animals might have and how a farmer might solve the problems. You may want to list the problems and solutions on the board.
Read Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. Ask students to participate in the story by chanting "click, clack, moo" when appropriate. After reading the story, discuss the farmer's problem and how he solved it. Have students look at their list of predicted problems to see if any of them match the problems experienced by the farmer in the story. Brainstorm other ways the farmer might have solved the problem.
Next, do a picture walk through the story and have the students retell it in their own words. If you are not familiar with picture walks, information and ideas can be found at the Reading to Kids Web site. After the picture walk, chart the main events in the story and list the characters needed in order to dramatize the story. Giving clear directions for student movement, invite students back to the taped barn area and divide them into groups of characters for dramatization of the story. If your barn area is not large enough to accommodate all the students, assign one or two students to each animal area while the rest of the group acts as the audience. Ask each barnyard group to think of a line or two about the problem they have and what they will say to the farmer. Model a few suggested lines for them or suggest some from the story.
With teacher as narrator, dramatize the story using the student groups. If time permits, repeat the activity several times so that all students can have a chance to participate and assume the role of different animal characters.
Share the poem "Farmer Brown Has a Problem" by Diane Ambur with the students. You may want to use a cloze activity with this poem and have students fill in the selected word(s). Refer to the Auburn University Web site, English Education Models Interactive Cloze Activity: Overview, for information on this technique.
Students may want to read the poem more than once, substituting different words each time.
Once the students are familiar with the poem, discuss the similarities and differences of the poem and the story.
Next, introduce a shared writing activity to the students. In this activity students will choose a farm animal not in the story and make up a verse for it using "Click, Clack." You can model this for the students with verses such as, "Click, clack, neigh, the horses want more hay." "Click, Clack, quack, the ducks want a snack." Remind students that the verse must include a demand from the animal.
It may be helpful to have a model posted for students:
Click, Clack _____________________.
The _____________(wants, needs,) ____________.
Give students 'think time' to create their own verse and have students share these with the class. Write the verses on the board or on chart paper. Next, pass out a sheet of paper to each student. Have them select one verse to copy and illustrate.
After students have completed their drawing, have them move back into the barnyard drawn o the classroom floor. Assign groups of students to each of the different animal spaces.
Then, call out the name of an animal in the barnyard and ask the students in that area to move and sound like that animal. As they do this, talk about the rhythm of their sounds. Tell the students they will become a "Barnyard Orchestra" and you will be the conductor.
At this point, students should be seated on the floor in their assigned barnyard space. Introduce two new words to the students - tempo and pitch. These words can be written on the board or on large flash cards. Explain the meaning of the two words in relationship to sound and music. TEMPO is movement - how slow or fast you go. Explain that you will change the tempo of the orchestra by waving the pointer faster or slower when conducting the barnyard orchestra. Model this for students. Then explain PITCH. Pitch is how high or low a sound is. Demonstrate that when you raise the pointer you want a higher pitch and when you lower the pointer you want a much lower pitch. Again, model this for the students. Explain that you, as the conductor, will change the pitch of the orchestra by pointing high or low. Also explain that using the pointer or rhythm stick, you will point to the animal group to perform. Explain and demonstrate that you might also point to one person or a small number of people in the group using the pointer and that those students must move and sound like their animal. Practice this with the students. Then do another practice run and record it. Play it back to the students and see if they can pick out areas that need improvement. Then record the activity again, asking students to make the improvements they noted. Optional: A student can be designated as the conductor after the teacher has modeled several times.
Closure
Have students share their verses and illustrations with the group while the recording of their barnyard orchestra is playing in the background.
Assessment:
Use the Assessment Rubric to assess your students work.
Extensions:
Using the demand from their verses, students will write a letter to Farmer Brown persuading him to meet their demand. Put students in pairs. Have one student read the letter to the other who will act as Farmer Brown and try to solve the problem. Then have students switch roles.
Collaborate with the art teacher or in class, make masks or costumes for the characters and use them in the dramatization.
Collaborate with the music teacher or in class put music or instruments to "Farmer Brown has a Problem" by Diane Ambur.
Sources:
Print:
- Barbour, Nita H., and Seefeldt, Carol. Developmental Continuity Across Preschool and Primary grades, Implications For Teachers. Maryland: Association For Childhood Education, 1993.
- Calkins, Lucy McCormick. The Art of Teaching Writing. New Hampshire: Heinemann, 1994.
- Cronin, Doreen. Click, Clack, Moo-Cows That Type. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
Web:
Authors:
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Diane Ambur, Retired Staff Development and Mentor Teacher
Montgomery County Public Schools, MD
