Week 6 — Life on the Farm

Opening Circle — Welcome to the Farm

Kick off the week: this week we're learning all about farm animals, and on Thursday a real petting zoo comes to visit — so the most important job is to remember everything we learn, because we'll use it when the animals arrive. Meet today's animals on the "What We Know" board one at a time — cow, pig, sheep, chicken, horse, goat — and learn each one's sound. Play a quick round of "I say the animal, you make the sound." Then start the memory hook: "Can you remember just one animal and its sound to tell me at snack?"

Outdoor Play · Farmer Says & Animal Sound Hunt (anchor)

The spark and the first clean memory rep. Hide a few plush animals around the yard; before the hunt, the class looks at three of them and names the sound each makes, then the animals are hidden and children find one and recall its sound when they bring it back. Then play "Farmer Says" (Simon-Says style): "Farmer says moo like a cow," "Farmer says hop like nobody — gotcha!" — they have to hold the rule (only move on "Farmer says") and remember which sound goes with which animal. Keep it joyful; celebrate every remembered sound.

Materials — plush farm animals, animal-sound cards, open yard space, towels & water nearby.

Morning Snack

A calm reset after the active morning. Cash in the memory hook: "Tell me the one animal and sound you remembered!"

Craft · On the Farm, I See

Children build a farm scene on a barn/silo backdrop, placing animal stickers where each animal lives. The rule that makes it memory work, not decoration: first we look at our animals and name where each one lives, then we put the page away and place each one from memory. Cover the model, then let them place the cow in the field, the pig by the mud, the chicken near the coop — from what they hold in mind. A quick peek to self-check is fine; the point is the holding. This page goes on the wall as our growing farm.

Materials — barn/silo backdrops, animal stickers, crayons, child-safe scissors (supervised).

Music & Movement · Old MacDonald (Verse One)

Start the cumulative Old MacDonald with just one animal today — "and on his farm he had a cow." Sing it with the sound and an animal-movement (lumber like a cow). Tomorrow we add a second animal and have to remember the first; today we plant verse one firmly so the list can grow.

Guided Centers

Teacher-shaped centers with a farm thread — the small-world barn (place animals in their pens), animal-sound matching cards, farm puzzles, and a feel-the-fur sensory tray. Circulate and prompt recall: "Which animal lives here? What sound does it make?" (The handprint-chick add-on can live here.)

Lunch

A calm, social meal. Narrate the afternoon to come.

Outdoor Activity / Play (hot window)

Peak heat — keep it shaded and light. A gentle "walk like the animals" stroll or shade play; on a hot day, an indoor animal-movement game. No new memory load here — short is fine.

Quiet Time

Rest, books, soft music. A farm picture book is a lovely pre-nap read. Bodies rest even if not everyone sleeps.

Afternoon Snack

Refuel for the afternoon.

Manipulative · Animal & Sound Memory Match

A gentle picture-matching game: turn over two cards and find the animal that matches its sound (or its home). Quiet "hold it in mind, look for the pair" work that builds the same recall muscle as the morning, in a calm setting.

Closing Circle

Recap the day on the "What We Know" board: "Which animals did we meet? What sound does each make?" Let children fill it in from memory. Plant tomorrow: "Tomorrow we learn where they all live — so keep remembering!"

Opening Circle — Recall, Then Homes & Babies

Open with recall: bring out the "What We Know" board and ask the class to remember yesterday's animals and sounds before you reveal anything. Then add today's layer — where each animal lives (barn, coop, pen, field, sty) and who its baby is (calf, piglet, lamb, chick, foal, kid). Introduce these as a matching challenge they'll do from memory later. Three days until the visit — remind them we're remembering it all for Thursday.

Outdoor Play · Find-the-Home Race & "What's Missing?" (anchor)

Today's memory load grows. Set up "homes" around the yard (a hoop for the field, a box-barn, a coop). The class studies the animals and their homes together, then — from memory — children carry each animal to its correct home: "the pig lives in the…?" Then play "What's Missing?": line up four or five animals, everyone studies and names them, eyes close, you hide one, and they recall which animal disappeared. Add a sixth animal as they get good — that's the load escalating. Joyful, fast, and replayable.

Materials — plush/figure animals, home markers (hoops, box-barn, coop), a cloth to hide one, water & shade.

Morning Snack

Settle and refuel. Quiz the table gently: "Where does the chicken live? What's its baby called?"

Craft · Goodnight Farm Animals

Children "tuck in" each animal by tracing or drawing a line from the animal to its correct home, then coloring the scene. The embedded memory rule: we look at the animal-and-home pairs first, then turn the cards over and match each animal to its home from memory. A peek to check is fine, but the recall is the work. Saying it out loud as they go — "the cow goes to the field" — locks it in. The finished page is a calm bedtime farm to send home.

Materials — animal→home trace sheets, crayons, the matching cards (to study then flip), glue.

Music & Movement · Old MacDonald (Add a Verse)

Now the cumulative song does its real job: today add a second animal — "a cow… AND a pig" — and the children have to sing back the whole growing list, in order. Add a third if they're ready. Each new verse asks them to hold the entire list in mind, which is exactly the skill the week is built on.

Guided Centers

Teacher-shaped centers: an animal→home/animal→baby matching station, the small-world farm (now put each baby with its mother), and a "feed store" pretend play. Circulate with recall prompts: "Show me the lamb's mama. Where does she sleep?" Watch for the children who narrate their thinking out loud.

Lunch

Calm, social meal.

Outdoor Activity / Play (hot window)

Peak heat — shaded and light. A calm "point to where that animal would live" walk, or shade play. Shorten on a hot day; keep the active memory games in the cool morning.

Quiet Time

Rest, books, soft music.

Afternoon Snack

Refuel.

Manipulative · Mama-and-Baby Match

Match each animal to its baby (cow→calf, pig→piglet, sheep→lamb, hen→chick, horse→foal, goat→kid). Quiet thinking work that cements today's babies — and the "look, remember, then find the pair" is a gentle recall rep before tomorrow's bigger cast.

Closing Circle

Add today's layer to the "What We Know" board from memory: homes and babies. "Where does the sheep live? What's its baby?" Preview tomorrow: "Tomorrow we get the farm ready for our visitors — we'll learn how to feed and care for them, gently."

Opening Circle — Recall the Whole Cast & Rehearse Gentle Hands

Tomorrow the real animals come — so today we get ready. First, recall the whole cast from the "What We Know" board: every animal, its sound, its home, its baby — from memory, the biggest recall yet. Then learn how we care for them: feeding routines and, most important, how to be a calm, gentle visitor — soft slow hands, quiet voice, wait to be invited closer, let the animal come to you. Practice "gentle hands" on the plush animals together.

Outdoor Play · Farm Chores Relay & Gentle-Hands Rehearsal (anchor)

Set up a pretend farm-chore course: a feed bucket, a "trough," a water station, the plush animals in their pens. Give a multi-step sequence and let children carry it out in order from memory: "First feed the cow, then give the chickens water, then brush the sheep." Start with two steps, build to three. Between rounds, rehearse the gentle-hands greeting on the plush animals — slow approach, soft touch, calm voice, wait to be invited — the exact moves they'll use tomorrow with the real animals. This is the dress rehearsal for both the memory and the safety.

Materials — feed buckets/scoops, "trough" & water station props, the plush animals in pens, farm-chore sequence cards, water & shade.

Morning Snack

Settle after the active morning. "Tell me tomorrow's plan: how do we greet a real animal?"

Craft · Life Cycle of a Chicken

Children cut out and order the stages — egg → chick → hen — onto a circle or strip. The embedded memory rule: we look at the right order together, then mix the pieces up, and you re-sequence "what comes next?" from memory. Mixing the pieces before they glue is what makes it recall, not copying. Saying the order aloud — "first the egg, then it hatches, then it grows up" — locks the sequence in, the same skill as today's chore steps. (Scissors are fine for Bigs with supervision.)

Materials — life-cycle cut-outs (egg, chick, hen), child-safe scissors, glue, circle/strip backing.

Music & Movement · Old MacDonald (The Full List)

Build the cumulative song to its fullest today — as many animals as the class can hold, each verse rebuilding the whole list in order. This is the day-before peak: holding the entire growing list is the exact "hold it in mind" skill they'll use to recall the whole cast tomorrow.

Guided Centers

Teacher-shaped centers: a "get the farm ready" dramatic-play (set up pens, fill feed buckets, lay out water), the chore-sequence cards to re-order, and a gentle-hands practice corner with the plush animals and fur swatches. Circulate: "Show me your softest hands. What's the feeding order again?" (The Piggy-in-the-Mud sensory add-on can live here, supervised.)

Lunch

Calm, social meal.

Outdoor Activity / Play (hot window)

Peak heat — shaded and light. Quiet shade games or a calm "what will we say to the animals tomorrow?" chat. Keep it short on a hot day; the active rehearsal lives in the cool morning.

Quiet Time

Rest, books, soft music. Bodies rest before the big day.

Afternoon Snack

Refuel.

Manipulative · Build the Feeding Order

Lay out farm-chore sequence cards and have children put the steps in order from a picture model, then from memory. A calm "first / then / last" sequencing game that rehearses tomorrow's careful, ordered approach.

Closing Circle — Review the Plan

Close the plan–do–review loop: "What was our feeding order today? What were our three gentle-hands rules?" Then walk tomorrow through out loud: "First we wash hands, then soft slow hands, then we wash hands again." "The real animals come tomorrow — and we remember everything!"

Opening Circle — It's Farm Friends Day!

Celebrate the moment, then recall the plan from memory. "Which animals might we meet? What sound does each make? How do we greet them — what are our gentle-hands rules?" Let the class reconstruct it all. Walk through the visit flow out loud, including the order: wash hands → meet the animals with soft slow hands → wash hands again. Name the timing simply: "Our turn with the animals is mid-morning, after snack."

Outdoor Play · Final Recall Warm-Up (anchor lead-in)

A short, joyful warm-up in the cool morning while the earlier rooms take their turns with the animals. Run one last round of "What's Missing?" and a quick gentle-hands rehearsal on the plush animals, then a calm version of Old MacDonald. This primes the exact memory and softness they're about to use — keep it relaxed; the real thing is minutes away.

Materials — plush animals, the cloth, signal/sound cards, water & shade.

Morning Snack

An early, calm snack so bodies are settled and hands are clean before our rotation slot. The petting zoo is set up outside; the first rooms are rotating through.

Petting Zoo · The Bigs Rotation Slot (anchor · the culminating moment)

The big one — our staggered slot, one room at a time, animals calm. Everything the week built is cashed in here: the children greet the real animals with the soft, slow, quiet hands they rehearsed, name each animal and its sound from memory, and recall what it eats and where it lives as they meet it. An adult is within arm's reach of every single interaction; the vendor handles the animals; ratio holds throughout. You're the calm narrator — name the remembering and the gentleness you see: "You knew that was a goat — and look at your soft hands!" No child is required to touch; watching counts. Keep it unhurried and joyful, then move out so the next room can rotate in.

Materials / setup — vendor pen & animals (shaded staging), staff escorts, the hand-washing station, the calm indoor alternative space staffed for any child who's opted out.

Craft · My Farm Book

Fresh off the visit, children fill a small pre-folded book — a page for each animal they just met — drawing the animal, its home, its baby, and the sound. The embedded memory rule: each page is filled from memory of the week and the visit — what did you just see and remember? This is the warm consolidation of the morning: putting the held knowledge onto paper, in their own hands. A treasured keepsake of Farm Friends Day to send home. (Googly eyes and small parts are fine for Bigs with supervision.)

Materials — pre-folded farm books (4 sections), crayons/markers, animal stickers, googly eyes (supervised), glue.

Lunch

A happy, social meal — let them retell the visit while it's fresh. (Lunch runs a touch later today to make room for our rotation slot; quiet time still begins right after.)

Wind-Down · Talk About Our Visit

A calm, seated wind-down in the cool of the room — no midday outdoor activity today, the big morning was enough. Pass around the "What We Know" board and let children add what they noticed about the real animals from memory. Soft and unhurried, easing toward rest.

Quiet Time

A well-earned rest after a big, exciting morning.

Afternoon Snack

Refuel.

Music & Movement · Old MacDonald Victory Lap

Sing the full cumulative Old MacDonald one more time, now featuring the animals we actually met. A joyful, familiar way to rehearse the whole remembered list — and to set up tomorrow's retelling.

Closing Circle — Today We Met Them!

Celebrate the visit and the remembering: "Which animal did you meet? What did you say to it? Did you remember its sound?" Send them off proud — and plant tomorrow: "Tomorrow we'll remember it all and make a fluffy sheep to keep!"

Opening Circle — Tell Me About Yesterday

A retelling morning. Pull out the "What We Know" board and the farm books and ask the class to remember and retell the visit from yesterday: which animals came? What did they feel like, sound like? How did we greet them? Which was your favorite? Let children narrate the story in order — this recall-and-retell is the week's memory work consolidating. Warm and unhurried; everyone gets to share a memory.

Outdoor Play · Act Out the Visit & Memory Games (anchor)

A joyful, low-pressure recall morning in the cool window. Children act out yesterday's visit — be the animal, be the gentle visitor, replay the greeting — and play favorite memory games one more time ("What's Missing?", find-the-home, the sound hunt). Let them lead which animal to play. The week's biggest recall, now in their own words and bodies. (If the petting zoo had to push to today as a rain-date, run the Thursday rotation flow here instead — wash hands before and after, gentle hands, Bigs slot in this cool window.)

Materials — plush animals, the cloth and home markers, the farm books, water & shade.

Morning Snack

A calm reset. "What's your favorite memory from the farm visit?"

Craft · Fluffy Sheep Keepsake

The week's keepsake: children glue cotton balls onto a sheep template to make it soft and fluffy, adding a face, legs, and googly eyes. The embedded memory rule: before we start, we name all the animals we met yesterday from memory — and the sheep reminds us of the soft, gentle hands we used. As they fluff, prompt the recall: "Was the real sheep soft like this? What else did you meet?" A treasured, touchable reminder of Farm Friends Day to carry home. (Cotton balls and small parts are fine for Bigs with supervision.)

Materials — sheep templates, cotton balls, googly eyes, black paper/crayon for legs & face, glue, child-safe scissors (supervised).

Music & Movement · Farm Songs Favorites

A joyful sing-along of the week's favorites — the full Old MacDonald, animal-movement songs — child's choice. Let them call out which animal verse comes next from memory. A happy, familiar way to close the week's music.

Guided Centers

Teacher-shaped centers with a gentle wind-down feel — the small-world farm, the memory-match cards, a "make a farm scene" drawing table, and the farm books to finish and share. Circulate with recall prompts and let the children revisit their favorite parts of the week at their own pace.

Lunch

A happy, social meal — let them keep retelling the farm week.

Outdoor Activity / Play (hot window)

Peak heat — light and shaded. Quiet shade play or a calm "show your fluffy sheep" share; indoor movement on a hot day. The big week is winding down — keep it gentle.

Quiet Time

A well-earned rest to close a big week.

Afternoon Snack

Refuel.

Manipulative Centers

Open, quiet manipulatives — child's choice, with the farm matching and sequencing sets available for anyone who wants one more memory game. A low-demand, content close to a full and exciting week.

Closing Circle — Our Farm Week

Celebrate the whole week and, especially, how much they remembered: "What will you tell your grown-up about the animals that visited?" Send them off proud with their fluffy sheep — and look ahead to next week's adventure.