Year on Farm

Read4Nature – Picture Books about Farms

You can print a copy of the table below from the pdf version A year on our Farm

Book name A Year on our Farm
Author Penny Matthews
Illustrator Andrew McLean
Thumbs up! Lovely water colour painting illustrations
Main theme Changes to the weather and living things on a farm over a year.
Living things in this book Farm animals: sheep, Cattle, hens, geese, dogs, cats, people, parrot, mice, rabbits, yabbies, horseFarm produce: apricots, hay, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, mushrooms
things to talk about in the illustrations
  • {     Notice the changes in the tree in the season and month picture
  • {     Characteristics of living things
    • {   Colour
    • {   shape
    • {   food
    • {   young animals
    • {   protecting young
  • {     links into the environment
    • {   changes in the weather
    • {   problem of cats and native birds
    • {   keeping animals fed through the year
    • {   trees providing shade
  • {     other aspects in the environment
    • {   swings in trees
    • {   different shapes of trees – native and introduced
    • {   available water on the farm
    • {   need for sheep troughs on the farm
things to notice in the text
  • {     Sources of food for humans
    • {     apricots
    • {     milk
    • {     eggs
    • {     yabbies
    • {     mushrooms
  • {     animal behaviours
    • {   protecting their young
    • {   teaching young
    • {   where animals are found in the farm
  • {     seasonal events
    • {   fruit picking
    • {   planting
    • {   orphan lambs
    • {   crutching
    • {   shearing
    • {   hay baling
  • {     pests
    • {   cats are a pest to native birds like parrots
    • {   cats used to reduce mice (introduced pest)
    • {   fences needed to protect vegetables from rabbits
Now to observe
  • {     experience a swing repeatedly over a year to notice changes around
  • {     follow a tree for a year and see how it changes
  • {     visit a farm over a year to notice changes
And record
  • {     fold a page into 4, one for each season, choose an animal from the book and draw what it is doing  in each season .
  • {     Make drawings for a matching game with seasons and key farm activities
  • {     Use photos to make a matching game for seasonal activities in your family ( it might be  like beach in summer, Easter eggs in autumn, soups in winter, vegetable gardening in spring)
More about this book:
Science notes
Publisher Omnibus Books from Scholastic Australia, Norwood, SA
Year 2002
ISBN 0 -86291-492-3
Publisher’s suggested age Juvenile literature

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Page updated 15 Jan 2013
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