Pigs

This unit begins the first week in September and culminates in June.

We read "This Little Piggy Went to Market" chant on a large poster. The children brainstormed other places the piggies might go and we wrote these on a predictable chart. Since I am doing this right at the beginning of the year I have the chart sentences pre-written and just fill in the kids’ answers. (Example: This Billy piggie went to the circus.)We retell the chant using some of the children’s answers. We do this each day we reread the predictable chart and I encourage the children by mentioning that this was "Billy’s contribution". You can even put the chant into a pocket chart and have the children put their names into the blank.

I read If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff first thing in the morning. This book and tape then goes into the listening center. I always start the day by reading aloud a story or two just for fun to the children. I find this is a good and quiet way to start the day. The students come in to the classroom more quickly to listen to a story and the tone is set for the day.

During Shared Reading we reread our predictable chart and read Piggies by Audrey and Don Wood. We took off our shoes and did "This Little Piggy" with our toes and our hands. This is fun to do at the beginning of the year because it is something the kids are really familiar with which is important to get kids comfortable and enjoying school. The children love to see my bare toes. They find it quite funny and it breaks the ice. I like to share with the students how I always play this game with my own two sons. Then I bring out my children’s photos and they learn more about me.

I tell the children the story of The Three Little Pigs using flannel pieces I got from Storyteller Products. Storyteller products are sold like Tupperware from a hostess. Here is one web site where you can contact a hostess. http://www.felt2learn.com/sample_of_products.htm

We focus on the numbers 1-3 using flannel numbers. I bring out other flannel shapes and the children count and match them to the right number. The students practice writing numbers 1-3. The flannel story then goes into the storytelling center. We discuss that this is day 3 we are in school. We sing the song "Who’sAfraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

"Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
The big, bad wolf? The big bad wolf?
Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?
Tra la la la la!"

I don’t do more with the story of The Little Pigs at this time because we do it again at the end of the year. In May we read several different versions of the story, eat pigs in a blanket and get ready for our presentation of "The Three Piggy Opera" which we do instead of a big graduation ceremony. We talk about how we started off the year reading about pigs. We reread these old favorites. We talk about what their next year in first grade will bring.

I read a nonfiction book about pigs to the children. We discuss pig vocabulary such as snout, snort, hooves and trotting. We do the "Hokey Pokey" with piggy parts instead, for example, put your right hoof in, etc. We pretend we are pigs walking around, eating and then quietly sleeping. If I was doing this unit later in the year I might do a KWL chart about pigs.

In math we make pigs using shapes-circles for the head and snout, triangles for ears, oval for the body and rectangles for the legs. These little pigs go on a bulletin board along with the student’s photos and the poem I made up below.

These little piggies sang their ABC’s,
These little piggies counted 1,2,3,
And these little piggies laughed, "Whee! Whee! Whee!"
All day long.

We reread Piggies and read The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. I show the kids how to draw pigs on their own by drawing shapes. We make a large mural of pigs and a farm scene.

I read the book Pig by Mary Link first thing in the morning. Later we look at a chart of the bones of the foot and read the book Bones by Stephen Krensky. The children trace their own feet. We use the cut out feet to measure around the room. We measure the tables, teacher’s aide, a child, etc. I record the measurements as part of a graph. Tracing their feet fits in nicely with the All About Me unit that I also do in September.

We read the book I Like Me by Nancy Carlson. This is a Houghton-Mifflin book. We make a Venn diagram comparing real pigs to the storybook pigs we have read about. I tell them the story of Polly Pig Goes to School. This flannel story came with The Three Pigs flannel kit I got from Storyteller Products. It tells the story of a little pig girl’s first day of school and all her feelings through out the day. She feels sad leaving mom. She feels nervous entering the classroom. She is happy when the teacher praises her. She is mad when another child knocks her blocks over, etc. The kit comes with different faces to show the emotions. We discuss how the students felt on their first day and how they feel now. The kit comes with some worksheets and we do a worksheet about shapes for math. Below is another pocket chart poem. I do not know who the author is so I can’t give credit. I found it on the web. It was originally based on ten little pigs but I modified it since I do this so early in the year.

Five little pigs rolled in the mud-
Squishy, squashy felt so good.
The farmer took one piggy out.
"Oink, oink, oink" the pig did shout!

No little pigs rolled in the mud.
They all looked so clean and good.
The farmer turned his back and then,
Those pigs rolled in the mud again.