Some parents have asked, "Why end the school year with a unit on farms?"
"This unit is a favorite with students, who remember it fondly years later as fifth graders and beyond! Students get their own money (“farm bucks”) to buy the supplies they need to build their own model farms. Certainly, they are learning a lot about farm life and farm animals in the process of designing their farms, which makes this a valuable social studies unit. Students also employ many of the mathematical skills they have been developing all year long, including spatial reasoning (arranging the different parts of the farm on a grid), problem solving, and calculating with up to 2-digit numbers. We find this unit is a wonderful way to celebrate and culminate a year’s worth of mathematical learning, while also keeping students engaged and enthusiastic through the last days of first grade! "
