Sheep and Lambs
Radius of Vision Activity / Handprint
Lamb With Popcorn / Counting
Sheep Activities / Poems / Sheep
in Art / Writing Prompts / Books
Wool provides great protection against
the cold because it doesn't freeze when it gets wet. Sheep have
grazed in Oklahoma pastures at least since statehood, and sheep
and lambs ranked 16th among all Oklahoma agricultural commodities
in 2008.
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Sheep have a 270-degree radius of view, almost 3/4
of a circle. Humans only see 170 degrees at best. This makes sheep
very difficult to sneak up on or surprise. Sheep have poor eyesight
but excellent hearing.
Activity: Radius of Vision
1. Students practice angles and degrees of a circle.
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Students will stand and follow teacher directions,
as follows.
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Students will turn left or right in quarter,
half, three-quarter and full turns. (For greater physical activity,
have students jump from position to position.)
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Discuss the turns in relation to degrees of a
circle.
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Students will turn left or right by 45, 90, 180,
270 and 360 degrees.
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With older students, discuss the specific names
of angles (right angle, straight angle, obtuse angle, acute angle.
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Students will change positions to demonstrate
each of the angles listed above.
2. Students will work in groups of three to determine
range of vision.
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One student will stand on a paper circle.
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Member Number 2 will place a mark on the circle
showing the direction Member Number 1 is facing.
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Member Number 3 will hold an object directly
behind Member Number 1 and slowly move it around the edge of
the circle until Member Number 1 can see it.
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Member Number 2 will then mark the point on the
circle where Member Number 1 was able to see the object.
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Students will exchange places so that the range
of vision is measured for each person in the group.
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Students will determine range of vision by calculating
the degrees on the circle.
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Students will show the range of vision of a sheep
by marking 270 degrees from the starting point on the circle.
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Students will compare their own ranges of vision
with that of a sheep.
3. For younger students, mark the circle ahead of time at 270
degrees (range of vision for a sheep).
- Each student will stand on the circle while another student
holds an object at 270 degrees ( the point marked ahead of time).
- The second student will then move the object to the point where
the first student can see it.
- Students will discuss the difference between their own range
of vision and that of a sheep.
4. Students will compose stories and draw pictures illustrating
the difficulty predators might have sneaking up on sheep.
5. Students will use online search engines or library resources
to find the sight radius of some other animals.
Handprint Lamb With Popcorn
- Provide construction paper and popcorn.
- Students will trace their hands on the construction paper and
cut them out.
- Students will draw sheep faces on the thumbs.
- Students will draw hooves on the tips of the fingers.
- Students will glue popcorn to cover the main part of the hand
to look like wool.
- Students will estimate how many kernels of popcorn it will
take to cover the insides of their lambs.
- Students will count the popcorn kernels to find a nonstandard
measure of the area of the "lamb bodies."
- Older students will measure a popcorn kernel in approximate
metric units
to establish a benchmark for measuring an use a grid to find
the area.
- Students will design a classroom graph to show the areas of
the "lamb
bodies."
P.A.S.S. for These Activities
More
on Degree/Radian Circle (from Rice University)
Counting Sheep
Fleece
as White as Snow? Students become familiar with vocabulary
words pertaining to the production of sheep.
Wet and Wooly: Students
examine some of the characteristics of wool.
Combing a fleece
Researchers in Pennsylvania have developed a biopolishing
method that makes scratchy wool feel silky smooth. The US military
is interested in using this biopolished wool, especially for manufacture
of underwear for our troops. Underwear garments currently used contain
synthetic fibers that can burn and melt into wounds during combat situations.
Wool produces a self-extinguishing flame and dissipating ash when burned.
Race car drivers wear wool-lined suits to reduce their
chances of being burned in a firey crash.
If you have a lab table, try this lesson - Great
Balls of Fire - to test flammability in wool and some other common
fabrics.
More Facts
About Sheep and Wool
Writing Prompts
- Pretend you are a shepherd tending sheep and write
a journal of your sheep's wandering through towns and villages.
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Describe your favorite sweater.
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Write a poem using at least three of the following
words: sheep, wool, graze, warm, winter.
Little Boy Blue
by Anonymous
Little boy blue,
Come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow,
The cow's in the corn.
But where is the boy
Who looks after the sheep?
He's under a haystack,
Fast asleep.
Little Bo-Peep
by Anonymous
Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
Bringing their tails behind them.
Little Bo-Peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were still all fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left their tails behind them.
It happened one day, as Bo-Peep did stray
Into a meadow hard by,
There she espied their tails, side by side,
All hung on a tree to dry.
She heaved a sigh and wiped her eye,
And over the hillocks she raced;
And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,
That each tail be properly placed.
Why are so many nursery rhymes about children tending
sheep? In ancient times sheep generally wandered around from one place
to another, through the villages and around them, looking for grass
to eat under the care of a shepherd. Often shepherds were children,
sometimes groups of children. Joseph, from the Bible story, was out
tending the sheep with his brothers when his brothers sold him to the
Egyptian slave traders.
What other nursery rhymes are about children tending
sheep? (Mary Had a Little Lamb; Baa, Baa, Black Sheep)
More
about sheep in ancient history
Shepherd With a Flock of Sheep: Vincent Van Gogh, 1884
Discussion Questions
and Activities
More Ag in Art
Books
Cox, Phil Roxbee, Cartwright, Steven, and Jenny Tyler, Sam Sheep
Can't Sleep: A Phonics Flap Book, EDC, 2002. (preschool)
Words with the same phonetic pattern woven into an engaging story.
Green, Emily, Farm Animals: Sheep, Bellweather, 2007.
(Grades K-2)
Early reader provides very basic information about
sheep, including sheep shearing. Includes a glossary.
Lyon, George Ella, Weaving the Rainbow,
Atheneum/Richard Jackson, 2004. (Grades PreK-2)
A young woman raises sheep, shears them, cards and
spins the wool, dyes the yarn, and weaves it at a loom. Terms like "yearling," "skein," "warp," "weft," "shuttle," and "treadles" are
understandable in context and bring richness to the text. Words and
illustrations complement each other in evoking the essence of creating
art and in portraying the lush countryside. In her skillfully composed
watercolor artwork, Anderson directs readers' eyes and shows them
what to focus on. The paintings, with their dose of impressionism,
effectively depict textures, but they can also suggest steam or wind.
The final spread reveals what the woman is weaving: a picture of
her sheep in their pasture.
Nelson, Robin, From Sheep to Sweater: A Start to
Finish Book, Lerner, 2003. (Grades PreK-2)
Ray, Hannah, Sheep (Down on the Farm), Crabtree,
2008. (Grades PreK-2)
Scotton, Rob, Russell the Sheep, Harper Collins,
2005. (PreK-2)
Russell can't sleep. While the other sheep are dozing
off, he ponders the problem of insomnia. When nothing works, he tries
counting things. He starts with his feet, and then moves on to the
stars. Finally, he counts sheep. Russell nods off just as the new day
dawns and the others awaken.
Sloat, Teri, and Nadine Bernard Westcott, Farmer
Brown Shears His Sheep, DK, 2000. (Grades K-2)
The sheep want their fleece back and follow the wool
through the process of spinning, dyeing and knitting. Farmer Brown
knits the sheep sweaters in beautiful colors so that they are happy
every year to produce more wool for him.
Willems, Mo, Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep
(Cat the Cat), Balzar and Bray, 2010. (Grades PreK-2)
Cat's friends all appear midway through a familiar
step in the process of getting ready for bed. Sheep is reading;
Pig is in the tub; Giraffe is brushing her teeth, Horse is on the
toilet, etc. As the animals drift off to sleep, Owl is left on
a perch, watching over them.
More Ag-Related Books for Children and Young Adults
P.A.S.S. for Radius of Vision Activity
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Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.1,2; 4.4; 5.1. Math Content: 4.1c. Reading:
8.2. Writing: 2.1
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Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.1,2; 4.4; 5.1. Math Content: 4.2b. Reading:
7.2. Writing: 2.1
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Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.1,2; 4.4; 5.1. Reading: 6.2b. Writing:
2.1
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Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.1,2; 4.4; 5.1. Math Content: 4.1b. Reading:
5.2c. Writing: 2.2
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Grade 5 - Math Process: 1.1,2; 4.4; 5.1. Math Content: 4.4. Reading:
5.1a. Writing: 2.2
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Grade 6 - Math Process: 1.1,3; 4.1. Math Content: 3.1a. Reading:
5.1a. Writing: 2.1a,7
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Grade 7 - Math Process: 1.1,3; 4.1. Reading: 5.1a. Writing: 2.8
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Grade 8 - Math Process: 1.1,3; 4.1. Reading: 5.1a. Writing: 2.8
P.A.S.S. for Lamb Handprint Activity
Kindergarten - Creative Skills: 1.3. Visual Art: 3.1d,2.
Math: 4.1; 5.1,2
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Grade 1 - Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1,3; 3.2,3;
4.1,4; 5.51,2. Visual Art: 3.2
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Grade 2 - Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1,3; 3.2,3; 4.1,4;
5.51,2. Math Content: 4.1b; 5.1ab. Visual Art: 3.2
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Grade 3 - Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1,3; 3.2,3;
4.1,4; 5.51,2. Math Content: 4.1d; 5.1ac. Visual Art: 3.2
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Grade 4 - Math Process: 1.1,2,3; 2.1,3; 3.2,3;
4.1,4; 5.51,2. Math Content: 4.1bd; 5.1b. Visual Art: 3.2
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma
Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture,
Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education. |