Alpacas!

Today's Farm News was a long one.  A lot has happened since our last class.  We have an impending birth (Esther, the Nigerian Dwarf doe, is due to kid any time), the sale of KitKat the super friendly goat kid, some awesome Livestock Guardian Dog action, some new visitors on the farm (alpacas!), and a very sad death of a new goat kid.  We talked about the constant flow of life and death on the farm.  Yes, it is very sad when an animal does not make it.  The students handled the news very well, and we talked about the learning that takes place and new precautions that are made any time something bad happens.  These are the major teaching moments that I don't want to miss.

After getting up to speed, the class then went back to talk about alpacas.  We had discussed fiber animals in our last workshop, but it wasn't until now that the class was about to make observations!  We have three visiting suri alpacas on the farm!  The class was able to feed them, and observe their padded feet, the way they lay down in kush position, and how they lack top teeth!  The kids were fascinated!

After our animal time, the class listened as I read the story, "Blue Ribbon Alpaca".  This was an absolutely perfect story for today's lesson!  The main character in the story is a young alpaca names Josephine.  We talked about agriculture topics in the books such as sheering the fleece, bottle-feeding when the mother's milk does not come in, etc, but we also discussed major themes in the book such as rudeness and bullying, self confidence, and unconditional love.

For art, the groups talked about perspective.  The younger class worked on a horse, large and in the foreground.  They will add smaller animals in the background and paint them next week.  The older class learned how to create perspective with a lesson in fence drawing.  They did an absolutely amazing job!

The younger class talked about action verbs today.  The class came up with verbs for each of the farm animals that they have met, and we wrote them on the board.  Then, the students played a game.  Each student was given a card.  The student with the START card read her sentence first.  The class had to pick out the action verb in the sentence.  Then, they had to look at their cards to see if they had the same verb listed at the top.  If so, it was their turn to read their sentence out loud.  It was like a verbal scavenger hunt!











Our class will meet again on December 13th.  Until then, the kids will be working on a writing assignment. The younger class talked about action verbs today.  They will be writing a farm story (maybe about alpacas or work animals such as horses, donkeys, mules, or cart-goats).  The story should have some great action verbs that we can talk about in class!  (Each child will be working on his or her own level.  Feel free to help them write, dictate for them and then let them copy your words, etc.  This is stress-free and can be modified as needed!)  The older class talked a lot about the bizarre alpacas!  They learned that there are two different breeds (suri and huacaya).  We talked about different terms, odd sounds and warning calls, and interesting behaviors of alpacas.  Write a story, but be sure to use lots of adjectives.  Make it descriptive!

 

Workshop #3: Work Animals

We are studying "Work Animals" for this workshop, but we spent time with ALL the animals and soaked up the beautiful fall weather!

Donkeys are one of the "Beasts of Burden" that we are studying.  We talked about how they help farms all over the world plow fields, pull carts, and carry loads.

The class spent some time with the new zebu bull and heifer!

The younger class worked on horses today!

The older class finished up a previous mosaic project.

Last Day of the Fiber Workshop!

Today was our last day of our fiber unit!  We wrapped up this workshop with a quick lesson in sheep and sheep terminology.  They learned more funny words such as ewe, yearling, and mutton.  They agreed that it was very confusing for each type of animal to have its own specific words for males, females, babies, etc!

The group spent some time learning about crochet from our guest speaker, Laura Rook from Kagooli Handmade!  The class was able to see and feel batt and roving, and then they could see different types of crochet.  Of course, the students knew all about crochet hats, blankets, shawls, etc., but they were completely surprised to learn that you could crochet dolls and toys, as well!  Laura brought in some fun dolls and items to show the class, and even brought in a hamburger made of yarn!  I am so glad that the group was able to learn that the sky is the limit when it comes to creativity!

The groups shared their alpaca stories today.  This week, they could either write an alpaca story that uses terms that they learned in class, or they could write an alpaca poem.  Although the writing assignments for class are very laid back, I was a little disappointed that very few students in the afternoon class had time to work on one this week.  I am encouraging them with a prize for any class that has 100% participation for our next writing assignment!

I shared the story, "A New Coat for Anna".  The students were able to follow along as I read the story of how Anna's mother bartered for her daughter to get a much needed wool coat.  It took almost a year, but once the farmer sheared the sheep, the wool was taken to the local spinner, the berries were ripe and collected, the yarn was dyed red, and the tailor cut and sewed the material, the coat was ready for Anna to wear.  This was a great story to wrap up the unit!

For art, the younger class searched the yard for the perfect sticks for a mobile activity.  They used different colors and textures of yarn to wrap their sticks, and then we worked on balance as we hung them as a mobile.  The older class had a weaving project.  They created woven bookmarks!  This was tricky for some, and others were getting very creative with these!

We will NOT have class next week, as workshop #3 will not begin until 11/15.  We will not have a writing assignment during the gap!  See you on the 15th!