The fall harvest time is here (at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere!) with pumpkins, falling leaves, and cold, brisk winds. It’s a perfect time to feature the harvest in the classroom, with mounds of vegetables ready to be picked, brilliant orange, red, and yellow colors, and an abundance of seasonal activities to brighten up the home and school.
Molly’s Organic Farm has 5 complete lesson plans to celebrate (and explore) everything from your senses to the seasons, all the while learning about the workings of a community-based organic garden. And you don’t have to leave your classroom to do them!
Identify the parts of plants with a Plant Part-y Salad. Play a high-energy fruit and vegetable guessing game. Pay attention to your senses with our Sense-Sational word lists. Explore beneficial bugs with a simple honey taffy recipe or paint the seasons.
And once you’ve checked out the educational activities available in connection to the book, we suspect you’ll also enjoy using Molly’s Organic Farm as a funny and sweet read-aloud.
More than just a harvest book, Molly’s Organic Farm follows an endearing, curious, and sometimes mischievous orange tabby, who sneaks in the garden when the wind blows a gate open and decides to stay. She pounces, plays, and makes friends with the farmers, and when winter comes she happily goes home with one of her new friends.
Young readers learn about planting, composting, crop rotation, and helpful and not-so-helpful bugs, as Molly the cat explores her new home.
As Maya Rodale of the Rodale Institute says, “What better way for kids to learn of life on an organic farm than through the eyes of this charming cat?”
