Over On the Farm: A Counting Picture Book Rhyme

Posted by Melanie Rivera

Title: Over On the Farm

Author and Illustrator: Christopher Gunson

Recommended Grade Level: Pre-K/ Kindergarten

Common Core Standards Addressed:

CCSS. MATH.CONTENT

•         PK. CC. 3A Count to Tell the Number of objects:  When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object.

•         PK.CC.3C Count to Tell the Number of Objects: Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger

•         PK.CC. 4 Count to Tell the Number of Objects:  Count to answer “ How many?”  Questions how about as many as 10 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 5 things in a scattered configuration: given a number from 1-10, count out that many objects.

•         PK. CC. 5 Compare Numbers: Identify whether the number of objects in one group is more, less, greater than, fewer, and/or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies up to 5 objects)

•       PK. CC. 6 Compare Numbers: Identify “first” and “last” related to order or position.

•         PK. OA. 1 Understand addition as adding to, and understand subtraction as taking from. Demonstrate an understanding of addition and subtraction by using objects, fingers, and responding to practical situations (e.g., If we have 3 apples and add two more, how many apples do we have all together?).

•        PK.OA. 2  Understand simple patterns. Duplicate and extend (eg.What comes next?) simple patterns using concrete objects

•         K.OA. 2 Solve addition and subtraction word problems , and add and subtract within 10, e.g,. by using objects or drawings to represent the problem

•         K. OA. 4 For any number from 1 to 9, find the number that makes 10 when added to the given number, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record the answer with a drawing or equation.

Summary: This book is counting book that takes readers on a journey through farms, forests, and fields. The story is that of mother animals instructing their little ones to do what comes naturally to their species. Baby frogs practice splashing in the pond while Birds practice flapping and cheeping. With each turn of the page, the reader is introduced to a different number (from 1-10) because each page has a larger family from the page before. The entire story rhymes and each page follows the same rhyming pattern just with a different set of animals and number.

Rating:  ***** I think that this is an exceptional book for beginning learners. The book covers a variety of concepts such as counting, rhyming, animals, and even colors. The story line could have been a bit more interesting but I think it is age appropriate being that the book is recommended for ages 2-4. The use of colors, accurate depiction of animals, and appropriate habitats for each animal is also a plus in this book. 

Classroom Ideas: This Book can be used in a variety of ways and activities can be expanded from Pre-k to meet kindergarten standards. One of the activities that can stem out of this book is having the students predict how many animals will be on the next page and use their fingers to represent their answer. This requires the students to recognize the pattern within the pages of the book and also to count in chronological order. For an even more simple activity, the pictures of the baby animals can be shown to the children,without the words, and they can count how many animals they see.To reinforce the concept of numbers, after the children have counted the animals, the numerical representation of the number should be shown as well as counted on their fingers. This activity will help them pair the name of the number to the amount of animals. Students can also be asked to compare the animal families to see which family has the most members which will help them with the skill of comparing numbers. You can also do basic addition and subtraction with this book by using pictures of the animals, or manipulative such as toy animals, and asking the students questions such as “If mother rabbit want to invite over mother frog and her babies, how many babies will there be?”. An extension of that question would be to answer how many animals there would be altogether, which would require students to include the mothers in their calculations. For kindergarten children, they can do addition problems, which require them to add two numbers to equal 10. For this activity they can be asked a question such as “Who should mother fox invite over so that there are 10 babies altogether”. To answer this question the children would have to connect mother fox with the number of babies she has as well as figure out how many more babies she would need to make 10, and then find the mother who has that amount of babies This book can also be used for non-mathematical activities such as looking at rhyming words and animals and their habitats.