Farm Animal Care Curriculum Resource (Page 27 of 42) in pdf

4. In the fall, bales of straw are available as Halloween decorations. Bring a straw bale to class, and

discuss with your students the difference between hay and straw. (Straw is the stubble left over

after the harvest of wheat or other grain crops. Straw is commonly used for animal bedding and

sometimes even for construction of homes. Hay has nutritional value and is used for animal feed.)

Ask students to describe and draw the shape of the straw bale. Is the bale two-dimensional or three-

dimensional? Have students measure the dimensions and find the area. Ask them how they would

find the volume. Have students estimate the weight of the bale and then develop a strategy for

weighing it.

5. Have students solve this brainteaser. (Round decimals off to the nearest 10th.) Alfalfa hay usually

yields around 3.5 tons per acre while other hays average around 1.5 tons per acre. A round bale

weighs about 1,000 pounds. How many acres of alfalfa would you have to have to get 100 bales of

alfalfa hay? (3.5 tons X 2,000 pounds in a ton = 7,000 pounds / 1,000 pounds = 7 bales per acre. 100

bales / 7 bales per acre = 14.3 acres) How many to get 100 bales of other hay? (33.3)

6. Laminate the hundreds chart and pictures, and place magnets on the backs to make a guided center

activity.

Visual Arts

1. Search artwork with hayfields on-line. Have students discuss why hay fields would be a popular

subject for artists. If possible, get prints of Claude Monet’s series of paintings of haystacks to show

students and discuss why Monet painted the same scene over and over again. How are the paintings

different? How are they the same?

Science

1. Investigate. Why would hay have to be dried before it could be stored? Take some freshly cut grass

or other live vegetation and divide it into two parts. Place one part in a covered plastic container

and spread the other half out to dry. Have students hypothesize what will happen to each section.

In two or three days, check to see what has happened with both? Have students write their

observations.

Extra Reading:

• Geisert, Bonnie, Haystack, Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

• Gibbon, Gail, The Milk Makers, Aladdin, 1987.

• Harris, Kathleen McKinley, and Dick Gackenback, The Wonderful Hay Tumble, HarperCollins,

1988.

• Peterson, Cris, and Alvin Upitis, Century Farm: One Hundred Years on a Family Farm, Boyds Mill,

1999.

• Pinczes, Elinor J., McCain, Bonnie, and Elinor Pinczes, One Hundred Hungry Ants, Houghton

Mifflin, 1999.

Vocabulary:

hay, bale, straw, stalks, feed, fodder, legume

Lesson Plan adapted from Oklahoma Agriculture in the Classroom

Animal Chores

Compiled by Busy Barns Adventure Farm LLC

Page 27

Farm Animal Care Curriculum Resource Page 27