Mini-Unit On Pigs
Overview of the Mini-Unit
This unit is designed for a first and second grade split level classroom. However, because of the time of the day that this unit will be taught, most of the children will either be second graders or first graders at a second grade reading level.
The subject matter for this mini-unit is "pigs." There are several aspects of pigs that will be explored throughout this unit. First students will become familiar with basic knowledge about pigs such as the lifestyle of a pig both domestic and wild, food, habitat, appearance, habits, characteristics of different breeds of pigs, and the history of the domestication of pigs. The students will also learn and compare the use of pigs in different societies. The students will also examine the use of pigs in our society and learn about a variety of products which are made from pigs. Students will also explore pigs in a variety of genres in literature and the characteristics of famous pigs in the media. Students will also learn through an interview with a farmer more about the care and maintenance of raising pigs. Students will also compare pigs and guinea pigs and note differences and similarities between the two.
My goal for this unit is to make the learning process both fun and interesting for students. I intend to expand their knowledge of pigs and help them build a better understanding of the content knowledge mentioned above. I hope to provide an active learning atmosphere where children can work together in heterogeneous groups to expand their knowledge about pigs. My goal is for children to become comfortable with guest speakers and learn the proper protocol for interviewing and asking questions. Hopefully, by the end of this unit children will be able to look back and see a change or expansion of what they previously knew about pigs.
I chose pigs because it was something that my co-op was really excited about. She had never done a unit on pigs and was interested to see how I could pull it all together. The structure of the unit is to designed to keep students involved and interested in the topic. Because the unit is taught during reading time, there is a heavy concentration on pig literature and actively researching information in nonfiction literature books. My co-op has given me one and 1/2 hours a day for 5 days to teach this lesson, so I have structured the unit to touch on the information about pigs that I found most important.
Overview of What I Did
Preparation/Getting Ready:
Obviously, in order to put a thematic unit together, you must make several visits to the library to check out a variety of great books about pigs. I found the librarians to be very helpful in suggesting books related to this theme as well as the teacher resource books (in bibliography).
Other helpful sources were the local Agricultural experts. I got Robbie Berg's name from my co-op and was able to call her for help. She was a wonderful resource and supplied me with an entire binder of pork activities from the Farm Bureau. (also listed in the bibliography)
Getting the room ready was a task in itself. Posters on pigs are hard to come by. I was fortunate enough to find a whole calendar at WalMart on pigs and laminated the pictures from that. Other places to look for pig decorations were outlet stores, book stores, and other discount stores. I was able to find a giant room decoration from a local teacher store of a farmyard pig and four adorable piglets--- the children really enjoyed this.
In addition to finding posters, it is important to design a pig area in the room for any type of pig artifacts. This is were I put a giant cardboard cut-out of Babe, pig lights, pig figurines, and tubs of literature books about pigs. I also created "pig folders" for the students to keep their work from this unit.
Believe it or not, the atmosphere of the room set the tone for the entire unit. The children were so excited!
Other than general lesson planning, it is important to plan for extra help in the room and send out letters to parents if you think you will need them. Much of my mini-unit was designed around a "centers theme," so parent help was essential. I would strongly encourage asking for help--- it was wonderful to have them in the room.
If you plan on having a local pork producer come to the classroom, contact him/her as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I had planned for one to come in and talk to the class, but it didn't work out. Local farmers are also a wonderful resource. Due to the possibility of contamination and disease, it is more likely that they will come to you rather than you (as a class) visit them.
Day 1:
To begin the lesson on pigs, I had everyone in the class write a one word description of pigs onto a paper pig cut-out. The descriptions varied greatly, "pink, fat, smart, yummy, etc." These pigs were later classified and grouped into categories as a whole class. This web was discussed briefly at the beginning of the unit and will be discussed and expanded upon again at the end of the unit so that the children will be able to see the growth and expansion of their knowledge about pigs in this short time.
As a whole class, the students watched the video from the Farm Bureau. After the video, the students were divided into three groups and each group went to a center. Descriptions of each of these centers is included in the lesson plans. Each group spent approximately 30 minutes at each center, and only made it through two centers on the first day.
Day 2:
I began today's class by reading a children's book about pigs aloud to the whole class. Children then proceeded to the center that they had not been to yet. When centers were complete, children were given in-class time to finish work that was unfinished from the previous day. A checklist was kept of all the students and the assignments that they had completed. Finished work was displayed on the bulletin boards around the room.
I then taught the lesson on "pig" dictionaries (also described in detail in the lesson plan).
After students had been working for a while on their pig dictionaries, I gave them a chance to relax with the movie entitled, The Joy of Pigs. This film does an excellent job explaining the role of pigs in other cultures as well as our own. There is a section in this movie where the native people are not fully clothed. This was explained to the children as one of the differences in our cultures and that there was nothing to be silly about. The section is very brief, so it may be something that you choose to skip over.
We only watched about 10-15 minutes of the film. The rest of the film was shown during the next couple of days.
Thank-You notes were sent home to the parent volunteers who helped make the centers such a great success!
Day 3:
Children continued to work on their pig dictionaries. A class book was made of the illustrations that the children did during the Amazing Facts Center. More of the movie was shown and sections of the movie were discussed as the movie progressed. Various pig books continued to be read aloud to the class during transitions and down time.
Day 4:
Today children had a lesson in Power Writing. They wrote, in simple paragraph form, about two new things that they learned about pigs. After Power Writing, students worked on a hallway display. They created pigs similar to the ones they made with their book reports and wrote a sentence in the middle of the pig about one thing that they learned about pigs. (very similar to the Power Writing) These pigs were displayed in the hall along with their finished pig dictionaries.
The remainder of the informational movie about pigs was shown today. Several poems about pigs were read aloud to the class.
Day 5:
Today students got to taste a traditional and popular treat called, "Pigs in a Blanket." While snacking on their treats, the students watched several clips from popular videos. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to watch the whole film, but I showed some selected parts of Babe and the Lion King. After watching the clips the students compared the behaviors and characteristics of Babe and Pumbaa and talked a little bit about the differences between domestic and wild pigs.
To end the lesson, the students were asked to expand on the web they built at the beginning of the unit and see what they learned throughout the last two weeks.
All of the students were given an individual pig award for their hard work throughout the unit and all of their work was sent home in their pig folders.
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