GRADE 2 | People’s Activities in Prairie Communities
The Steps for the Field Study
Review the Get Ready, Prepare and Plan sections in this guide to help you organize materials for the field study.
1) Get Ready
Preview all materials and make decisions about how to
integrate them into your lesson plans.
Plan your activities around the date and time of your
visit to the Pig Science Centre.
Contact Alberta Pork at 780-474-8288 to make
arrangements for your field study visit to the Pig Science
Centre.
Date: ___________________________
Time: ___________________________
Additional information can be found on Alberta Pork’s
web site at www.albertapork.com or questions can be
sent by email to [email protected].
2) Prepare
Customize and photocopy the following forms:
• Letter to Parents and optional Consent Form (The
consent form can be used if your district does not
have its own consent form)
• Guidelines for Adult Supervisors
• Group Organization Chart
• Teacher Feedback Form
• Student Feedback Form
• Student Handouts for Pre- and Post-activities
• Student Passport Pages for the activities at the Pig
Science Centre (These are designed to be
photocopied, folded and stapled into booklets)
The Letter to Parents and Guidelines for Adult
Supervisors should be sent home with students to request
parent volunteers. A minimum of three parent volunteers
is required for the field study visit. Your parent
volunteers will be asked to facilitate learning groups
during the field study. This will involve keeping students
with their learning groups, reading questions out loud to
students, and helping each learning group answer the
questions in their passport booklets.
2 | THE STEPS
FOR THE
FIELD STUDY
Gather materials that are needed for the activities
you select. The following preparation will help
you implement the activities in this teacher
resource guide:
• Prepare a collection of magazines, newspapers
or sales flyers from which students can cut pictures
for the Where Goods Come From activity
(page 15)
• Prepare a collection of magazines, newspapers or
sales flyers from which students can cut examples
of nutritious foods for the Healthy Food Choices
Rainbow activity (page 16)
• Provide some examples of picture books for the
Picture Book activity (page 18)
Check out Alberta Pork’s website at
www.albertapork.com for a variety of industry links that
provide information on agricultural education.
Collect pictures and photographs or find Internet sites on
rural communities, pig farms and pork products that you
can share with students.
Send the Letter to Parents home with students.
People’s Activities in Prairie Communities | GRADE 2
3) Plan
Select activities to introduce students to the concepts and
inquiry at the Pig Science Centre. The Grade 2 program
is organized around three general inquiry questions:
• How do people’s activities in communities
affect us?
have 15 minutes to complete the activities in each
learning area. They will then switch locations.
Prepare name tags for students and any parent
volunteers so the Centre facilitator can call the students
and adult leaders by name.
• What can people do to care for their communities?
• What are healthy food choices?
Talk to your students about the field study they will be
doing. Help students generate a list of questions they
may be curious about regarding pigs and pig farming.
The questions can be posted on a class wall chart and
revisited when you return from the field study at the Pig
Science Centre. Questions can be used as inquiry
questions to help students make connections between
what they learn at the Pig Science Centre and what they
are studying in your classroom.
Have students make predictions about what they think
they will learn about at the Pig Science Centre. Use
sentence starters such as:
• We think we would hear and see...at a pig farm.
• We think pig farmers...
A “Pigtionary Page” handout is provided in this section
of the Teacher Resource. The words on this handout can
be used to introduce students to pigs and pig farming
and to help you work with students to generate
questions.
Complete the pre-field study activities.
Prepare students for what they will see at the Pig Science
Centre. Let students know the pigs are behind glass
windows. Students will be observing pigs through glass
partitions and cannot pet them! Ask students to share
their own ideas for the reason they will not be in direct
contact with the pigs. Students will be introduced to the
concept of biosecurity at the Pig Science Centre.
Organize your students into three equal groups. Each
group will be assigned a group leader - one of three
parent volunteers. A Pig Science Centre facilitator will
provide an orientation tour when you arrive at the
Centre and help you and your students complete
activities. Students will complete activities in three
different areas at the Pig Science Centre. In each learning
area, students will use the information at the Centre to
answer questions in their passports. Each group will
Use the Group Organization Chart on the page that
follows to help you group your students. You may wish
to have each group develop their own group
identification that you can add to their name tags, such
as a group name, colour, or sticker. Use pig or pig
farming stickers or pictures on name tags. Students can
also be asked to add a pig picture to their name tags!
Pair students within each group with a learning buddy.
The chart below is set up to record each pair of learning
buddies within the three groups. Students will work with
their learning group under the direction of a Group
Leader, but assigning learning buddies gives students a
partner to stay with, work with and talk to as they
complete the activities at the Centre. Assign your three
parent volunteers to each group as the Group Leader.
When your class is at the Centre, Group Leaders will be
presenting the question on each passport page to their
group of students. Students will write, circle, match or
draw their responses on each page. Each learning area
has specified passport pages with an activity on each
page. Group Leaders will move with their group of
students to each of the three areas in the Pig Science
Centre.
• Make copies of this chart for each Group Leader.
• Provide Group Leaders with a copy of the
Supervisor Guidelines and the chart when you go
to the Pig Science Centre.
The total time needed for the field study at the Pig
Science Centre will be approximately 1.5 hours. This
allows time for each group to complete the activities in
each of the three learning stations as well as general
orientation and wrap up time.
Note that students may not be able to complete all the
activities at the Pig Science Centre. Any activities that
they do not complete can be used for discussion after
you return to the classroom. A script of the facilitator
presentation at the Pig Science Centre is included in the
Appendix of this resource.
THE STEPS
FOR THE
FIELD STUDY | 3
Group Organization Chart
Learning Group 1
Learning Group 2
Learning Group 3
Group Colour or Symbol:
Group Colour or Symbol:
Group Colour or Symbol:
Group Leader:
Group Leader:
Group Leader:
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Pigtionary Page
Barrow
Boar
Farrow
male pig that has
been neutered
adult male pig kept for
breeding purposes
to give birth
Feeder pig
Gilt
Litter
piglet after it’s weaned from the
sow, also known as ‘weaner’ pig
female pig that has
never farrowed
group of piglets born at one
time from the same sow
Market hog
Piglet
Runt
barrow or gilt raised for meat
production, weighs up to
110 kilograms
newborn pig, weighs 1-2
kilograms
Smallest piglet in the litter
Sow
Pork producers
adult female pig
farmers, the people that
raise pigs
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