Source: School Library Media Activities Monthly (May 1994, p. 24-26)

Grade Levels: 1, 2, 3

Subject(s):

• Social Studies/US History
• Vocational Education/Agriculture

The student will locate facts in print and nonprint materials about a picture of a farm machine or implement.

Curriculum (subject area) Objectives:

This activity may be used in connection with a unit on the community, urban and rural living, or on machines in everyday life.

Resources:
Print (Nonfiction)

Anderson, Joan. American Family Farm. Harcourt, 1989.

Bailey, Donna. Farmers. Steck-Vaughn, 1990.

Becklake, John. Food and Farming. Gloucester Press, 1991.

Bellville, Cheryl Walsh. Farming Today Yesterday's Way. Carolrhoda, 1984.

Bushey, Jerry. Farming the Land: Modern Farmers and Their Machines. Carolrhoda, 1987.

Chrisp, Peter. The Farmer through History. Thomson Learning, 1992.

Dineen, Jacqueline. Farming. Schoolhouse Press, 1988.

Fradin, Dennis B. Farming. Childrens Press, 1983.

Franck, Irene. Harvesters. Facts on File, 1987.

Gibbons, Gail. Farming. Holiday, House, 1988.

Graff, Nancy. Strength of the Hills: A Portrait of a Family Farm. Little, Brown, 1989.

Hawks, Nigel. Food and Farming. Watts, 1982.

Kerr, Jim. Egyptian Farmers. Bookwright Press, 1990.

Kushner, Jill Menkes. The Farming Industry. Watts, 1984.

Lambert, Mark. Farming Technology. Watts, 1990.

Marston, Hope Irwin. Machines on the Farm. Putnam, 1982.

Miller, Jane. Farm Noises. Simon and Schuster, 1989.

Murphy, Wendy. The Future World of Agriculture. Watts, 1984.

Parkhurst, Sylvia. Farming. Bookwright Press, 1988.

Patterson, Geoffrey. Dairy Farming. Dutton, 1984.

Reed-King, Susan. Food and Farming. Thomson Learning, 1992.

Reynolds, Peter. Farming in the Iron Age. Cambridge University Press, 1976.

Richard, Graham. Tractors. Bookwright Press, 1989.

Richard, Graham. 20th Century Farming. EBEC, 1991.

Sabin, Louis. Agriculture. Troll Associates, 1985.

Shuttlesworth, Dorothy Edwards. Farms for Today and Tomorrow: The Wonders of Food Production. Doubleday, 1979.

Stone, Archie Augustus. Machines for Power Farming. Wiley, 1977.

Technology. Marshall Cavendish, 1989.

Down on the Farm: Yesterday and Today. Rainbow Educational, 1987. 1 videocassette.

Farming. National Geographic, 1985. 1 videotape.

Farming. Pathescope, 1975. 1 sound filmstrip.

Life on a Farm. EBEC, 1977. 4 sound filmstrips.

Instructional Roles:

The teacher of the younger students, teacher of older students, and library media specialist will work cooperatively to arrange a cross-age tutoring experience with children. The teacher of the younger students will begin classroom lessons on farms. The older students' teacher and the library media specialist may select older students and match them with younger students. The older students must become thoroughly familiar with the assignment and the problem to be researched by the younger students. Older students must be taught how to facilitate good research, for they must lead younger students to the answers but not tell them the answers. Give the older students advice on how to praise and encourage their younger charges.

Many professional references are useful in connection with this activity:

Berliner, David and Ursula Casanova. "How to Make Cross-Age Tutoring Work." Instructor 95:9 (May 1986): 14-15.

Cook, Barbara and Carole Urzua. The Literacy Club: A Cross-Age Tutoring/Paired Reading Project. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, 1993.

Foster, Elizabeth Sabrinsky. Tutoring: Learning by Helping (Revised Edition). A Student Handbook for Training Peer and Cross Age Tutors. Minneapolis, MN: Educational Media Corporation, 1992. ED 346393.

Gaustad, Joan. Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring. ERIC Digest, Number 79. Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, 1993. ED 354608.

Hedin, Diane. "Students as Teachers: A Tool for Improving School Climate and Productivity." Social Policy 17:3 (Winter 1987): 2-47.

Jenkins, Joseph R. and Linda M. Jenkins. Cross Age and Peer Tutoring: Help for Children with Learning Problems. Reston, VA: Council for Exceptional Children, 1981.

Raschke, Donna, et. al. "Cross-Age Tutorials and Attitudes of Kindergarteners toward Older Students." Teacher Educator 23:4 (Spring 1988): 10-18.

Rekrut, Martha D. Teaching to Learn: Cross-Age Tutoring to Enhance Strategy Acquisition. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 20-24, 1992. ED 348363.

Smith, Walter S. and Cindy Burrichter. "Look Who's Teaching Science Today: Cross-Age Tutoring Makes the Grade." Science and Children 30:4 (April 1993): 20-23.

Thomas, Robert L. Cross-Age and Peer Tutoring. ERIC Digest. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, 1993. ED 350598.

Activity and Procedures for Completion:

Before the session begins, a toy or model farm with machinery and animals may be set up in the library media center. The teacher or library media specialist may share a picture book about farms, or a nonfiction book such as Gail Gibbons's Farming, with younger children. After reading aloud, the students may discuss what they already know about farms--the chores, animals, machines, etc. The teacher may explain that the students will do research (like older students!) in the library media center.

Bring in the older students and match them with younger students. (Matches should have been made in advance so that youngsters are accustomed to and have met their older tutors.) Sponsor a "sing-along," including "Old MacDonald" and other farm-related songs. Pass out worksheets that depict various farm implements. Explain that these are machines or implements that are used now (or have been used in the past) on farms. The older students will help the younger students find out about the machines/implements and what they do.

Student cross-age pairs may look at the many appropriate books that are displayed in the library media center. Older students will have examined the materials in advance so that they are prepared. The older students may suggest the following strategy to the younger students:

"Let's look at the pictures.

Do you recognize any of the machines?

Do you know what they do?

Let's pick out a book and look at the pictures."

As the younger students look at the nonfiction books, they may be encouraged to talk about what they see. As pictures are located in the books, the older students may read aloud descriptions of the machines and what they do. Older students may check for understanding by asking the younger students to explain the function of the depicted farm machinery or implements.

The younger students may share what they found with the class, with the help of their tutors. Talk about what the machines do and how they help the farmer. End the session with a revised version of "Old MacDonald's Farm." Instead of animals, use machines and machine sounds.

Evaluation:

Younger students will examine books to locate and discuss pictures of farm machines or implements, with the help of older students.

Follow-Up:

The younger students may work with the cross-age tutors to:

• draw a farm scene based on the "research."
• draw farmers from various parts of the world using the tools or implements.

Farming: Tools and Machines

Directions: Look for these pictures of farm tools in books about farming. Ask your tutor to help you read and identify the farm tool and find out how it is used.