Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This is Jane^^^^Miller who writes children's books about farming.
Get a copy of this book if you can. the $3.50 Scholastic price is well worth it, and the $0.50 we paid at a garage sale was a welcome surprise. Excellent home school reader as well as a wonderful read before or after going to the farm! Here's what I like:
* Many alphabet books tend to get fragmented under the burden of covering all the letters, but this book TIES TOGETHER farm concepts. Example: G g - goat - A young goat is a kid. A mother is a nanny goat. A father is a billy goat.
* Pictures from real farms are used. Real animals. Real machines (though I'm not sure how current the incubator is, the idea hasn't changed much and I'm sure there are some old ones out there).
* Capitals and small letters are used for each letter of the alphabet.
* The X is clever and gets a laugh from the adults!
* My little ones like it! Always important!
Although the text is sparse and I often stylize, I would highly recommend this book. I look forward to reading it together, hearing the kids read it later, and seeing them make the connections this excellent work promotes.
The Farm Alphabet Book is a good tool to use for kindergarteners that do not quite know their alphabet yet. It is neat to go through the book because all of the letters are tied to a farm element and if you did not grow up on a farm, it makes it that much more interesting. There is a little text on each page so first graders could also benefit.
This book tells the entire alphabet, in terms of farm things or animals. For example, "A is for apple...G is for goat." After it gives an example of a farm animal with the letter, it gives a fact about whatever thing it is describing. For example: "G is for goat. A young goat is a kid. Its mother is a nanny-goat. Its father is a billy-goat." I liked this book because it gave different facts with it, and wasn't just a letter with a word that matched. I learned some new basic facts about farm animals that I didn't know before. This would be good to read to younger students as they're learning the alphabet. Little kids love animals, so they would definitely be engaged with the reading.
This book uses photographs of things typically found on a farm for each letter of the alphabet. Within each letter/photo is information about the picture and how it relates to life on the farm. This would be a great book to use with young children who have never seen a working farm or are preparing to visit a farm or farm in a zoo. The photos are all very candid and it is obvious that they have captured that animal in it's farm environment. Something I learned is that the farmer puts and X on sheep and lambs that belong to him and are not being sold or......
1. The Farm Alphabet Book by Jane Miller 2. Awards: none for this book 3. Genre: ABC Book 4. Setting: On the farm with many animals and equipment. 5. I would use this book with my entire class. It not only shows the letters of the alphabet, but gives examples of things on the farm that start with that letter. If it is an animal that is being described, then there is 1 to 2 facts told about that animal. Along with the description there is an actual picture instead of a drawing. This would be a great start to a science lesson along with covering the Alphabet.
1. The Farm Alphabet Book by Jane Miller 2. Awards: none for this book 3. Genre: ABC Book 4. Setting: On the farm with many animals and equipment. 5. I would use this book with my entire class. It not only shows the letters of the alphabet, but gives examples of things on the farm that start with that letter. If it is an animal that is being described, then there is 1 to 2 facts told about that animal. Along with the description there is an actual picture instead of a drawing. This would be a great start to a science lesson along with covering the Alphabet.
This a great book to use when teaching the alphabet especially in the classroom in a rural community for children who live on farms because it relates to the farm. However it is a good book for students who do not live on the farm and need to understand the world around them while learning the alphabet.
The Farm Alphabet Book is a wonderful book that cna be used when teaching young children. It describes the A,B,C's of farm life. It is educational and can teach children about farms, because many children are never around farms, while others are. The book describes machines on the farm, food grown on the farm and animals on the farm.
I would give this book one and a half stars. The photography is interest-grabbing and at times quite beautiful. Reading through this book can be an ideal way to teach the alphabet, or for older kids that love farm life.
Some of the words in this book were a little tricky - vocabulary that the children didn't know yet and had trouble determining based on the pictures. The benefit was that they learned some new words, and maybe connected those new words with things they had seen before, but couldn't define.
My favorite thing about this book is that it has nice photographs. I also like that I found it at "The Bookstore" (a used book store in Chico) for really cheap.
Barns and shingled roofs make up the landscape of this book. K and first grade readers follow color photos and easy-to-read words through every letter in the alphabet and learn about farm life.