Farmers’ Market Project

The Hoot Owls have begun a Project in which they are diving deep to learn about the Farmers’ Market! First, they worked on writing and illustrating stories about their real-life experiences at the farmers’ market. If the students hadn’t been to one, they imagined what it might be like. The Hoot Owls then took turns sharing their stories at circle time. This helps the children get more comfortable speaking in front of a large group and helps them feel proud of their work. Their fellow Hoot Owls asked questions about the stories, which allowed them to practice using the question sentence structure and to ask questions relevant to the topic. 

The Hoot Owls also practice questioning skills with their Wonder Wall. The Wonder Wall is how the class keeps track of what students are curious about. The teachers help the class review the questions they have posed as they progress through the Project. When they uncover the answer to one of the questions they add it to their Topic Web. This web helps the class track what they already know and what they learn. Both the Wonder Wall and Topic Web are growing mediums to display the students’ curiosities and knowledge.

The Hoot Owls have enjoyed talking about things found at the farmers market: fruits, vegetables, cheese, flowers, crepes, popcorn, and more. The class wondered where cheese comes from, so they invited a dairy cow expert, Erin, to help answer their question. They also came up with other questions about cows:

• “Do cows drink?”
• “How do cows eat carrots?”
• “How do baby cows drink the milk?”

The students learned that only baby cows, or calves, drink milk. Adult cows only drink water and can drink as much as 6 bathtubs per day! They discovered that cows eat 100 pounds of food daily, mostly hay, but sometimes carrots, other vegetables, or grains. The Hoot Owls found out that cows only have teeth on their bottom jaw, the top is just a hard leathery piece. To help digest food, cows have four chambers in their stomach. Calves drink milk from the mother’s udders. The udders are also where farmers milk the cows. The milk is then used to make items like cheese and yogurt.

After learning new things, the students make representations. Not everyone makes the same things, as each student makes what they are interested in. Some molded a cow out of model magic and others built a cow using big Styrofoam pieces!

The Pre-K students are enjoying their journey to learn more about the Farmers’ Market. Stay tuned to see where this Project takes them!

#Prekindergarten #SaklanProjectWork