Farm and Zoo

Exploration

Developed By:
Early Childhood / Kindergarten
Ana Delgado, Laura Yost,
Stacy Munsell
Unit5 School District

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 Farm Animals

This thematic unit is designed for Early Childhood

and Kindergarten students. It will target development
of essential speech and language skills that are
required throughout the elementary grades. In
addition, basic science concepts will be introduced.
Activities surrounding the farm and the zoo will
focus on increasing basic vocabulary, sentence
structure, categorization, concepts, and attributes.
Our group consists of an Early Childhood Teacher
and 2 Speech Therapists who primarily work with
speech/language impaired students. Our main goal in
developing this unit is to use it as a tool for co-
teaching as well as small group instruction.

Zoo Animals

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 Relevant Learning Standards
From: http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/
4.A.1a Listen attentively by facing the speaker, making eye contact and paraphrasing what is said.

4.A.1b Ask questions and respond to questions from the teacher and from group members to improve
comprehension.

4.A.1c Follow oral instructions accurately.

4.A.1d Use visually oriented and auditorily based media

4.B.1a Present brief oral reports, using language and vocabulary appropriate to the message and audience
(e.g., show and tell).

4.B.1b Participate in discussions around a common topic

12.A.1a Identify and describe the component parts of living things (e.g., birds have feathers; people have
bones, blood, hair, skin) and their major functions.

12.A.1b Categorize living organisms using a variety of observable features (e.g., size, color, shape,
backbone).

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All students will
Point to correct animal when given a choice of
2 pictures
Correctly identify between 2 animals when
given the animal sound
Categorize objects into 2 groups (animal vs.
non-animal)
Point to animal based on a specific attribute
(i.e., size, color, and number)

Most students will

Verbally identify a minimum of 5 animals
when given picture cue
Categorize animals into zoo vs. farm
Identify a given animal based on a verbal
description
Produce the sound a given animal makes

Some students will

Name 2-3 attributes for a given animal
Categorize animals based on 3 attributes
Name 5 animals belonging in a category
without cues or prompts
Formulate a simple sentence about a
picture

4

http://www.sbcss.k
12.ca.us/sbcss/spec
ialeducation/ecthe
matic/zoo/
Language Activities
http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/s
bcss/specialeducation/ecthem
atic/zoo/language.html

Cooking Activities
http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/
sbcss/specialeducation/ecth
ematic/zoo/cooking.html

PreAcademic Activities
http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.
us/sbcss/specialeducatio
n/ecthematic/zoo/pacade
m.html
http://www.sbcss.
k12.ca.us/sbcss/sp Language activities
ecialeducation/ect http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/sbc
hematic/farm/ ss/specialeducation/ecthematic/
farm/language.html

PreAcademic Activities
http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/s
bcss/specialeducation/ecthem
atic/farm/pacadem.html

Cooking Activities
http://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/sbc
ss/specialeducation/ecthematic/
farm/cooking.html
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 A variety of activities
and assessments can
be created using
Kidspiration Software.

Switches and
recorders
can be used
to facilitate
language for
a variety of Switch Toys Chaeptalker Single Switch tape
ability levels. Communicator book

Hands-on activities, such as farm/

zoo animal sorting, make a fun Books can be a great way to expand vocabulary,
center time activity sequence events and model appropriate language
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 http://www.kidspiration.com
Create a more graphic
assessment with
Kidspiration.

http://www.mayer-johnson.com/
Picture cues and choice
boards can be generated
through Boardaker to assess
children in a subjective
manner.

When assessing children with special needs, a variety of tools

should be utilized including: portfolios, play-based assessments,
and accuracy counts based on mastery criterion.

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1. You will need to provide visual cues, choice
boards, and other augmentative communication
devices for your nonverbal students.
(www.mayer-johnson.com)

2. Children who have motor difficulties may need

switches in order to operate various computer
tasks. (www.intellitools.com)

3. For children with limited vocabulary /

environmental exposure hands-on experiences
may need to be provided i.e. go to the farm or
zoo and provide actual objects for your students
to manipulate.

4. For children with receptive language deficits

you may need to provide hand-over-hand
assistance, restate/rephrase directions, and
shorten amount of material.

5. For children with expressive language deficits

you may need to allow them to point or hand
you the object, provide models, and
communication devices such as PECS.
(www.PECS.com)

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