Home Geography for Primary Grades · Lesson XXXIX · Unit 8: Animals and the seasons
39. Uses of animals
Goal: Your child names animals that give us food, wool, leather, fur and silk, and animals that work for people, and writes lists of each.
You'll need
- A wool sock or sweater, something leather (a belt or shoe), and something silk if you have it
- A glass of milk or a piece of cheese
- Colored pencils
- A geography notebook (any notebook kept just for these lessons) and a pencil
What's in the book
Questions about animals used for food (beef, pork, mutton, veal, birds, fish), wool, leather and the tannery, furs, how silk is made by the silkworm, the many uses of the cow, dogs (the St. Bernard of the Alps, sledge dogs), and which animal is most useful. Lists to write.
The lesson, step by step
Food from animals
Ask: What farm animals give us food? From which animals do we get beef? Pork? Mutton? Veal? What birds and fish do we eat? Where does milk come from?
Clothing from animals
Hold up the wool sock and the leather belt. Ask: From which animal do we get wool? How is it taken off the sheep? (It is sheared, like a haircut; it does not hurt.) Leather is made from animal skins at a tannery.
Silk
Read about the silkworm.
Silk is made by little worms called silkworms.
If you have something silk, feel it. Ask your child to tell back how a cocoon becomes silk thread. (The book explains, plainly, that the cocoon is put in hot water so the moth cannot break the thread; sensitive children may want to know that ahead.)
The useful cow
Ask the book's questions: What do we get from a cow? Its meat, milk, butter and cheese, leather from its skin, and more. Let your child count how many uses you can think of together.
Dogs
Read about the St. Bernard. Ask: Which animal shows the most love for its master? Name some kinds of dogs. Who use dogs to pull their sleds?
Write the lists
The book asks for four lists: animals useful for food, animals that work for people, animals useful to us for clothing, and birds used for food. Your child writes three names in each list.
Draw
The book says to draw and paint some of the animals in the lesson. Your child picks a favorite.
Afterwards
Visit a farm, a petting zoo or a county fair and look for the animals from the lists.
Answers to the book's problems
Beef comes from cattle, pork from pigs, mutton from sheep, veal from calves. Chickens, turkeys and ducks are birds used for food; fish include cod, salmon, trout and tuna. Wool comes from sheep, which are sheared once a year; it makes sweaters, socks, coats and blankets. Leather is made from the skins of cows, sheep, goats and other animals, which are cleaned and soaked in a tanning liquid (in the old days made from tree bark) at a tannery. Furs come from animals such as beaver, fox, mink and rabbit. Silk is spun by the silkworm to make its cocoon. The cow gives meat, milk, butter, cheese and leather; in Long's day its horns were made into combs and buttons and its hoofs into glue. The dog shows the most affection for its master. People of the far north, such as the Inuit, use dogs to draw their sledges. Animals that work for people: horses, oxen, dogs, donkeys. The most useful animal is a matter of opinion; the horse, the cow and the dog are all good answers.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.