Children everywhere have fallen in love with this curious little monkey and his adventures.  This is the first book in the series.  Read as George leaves the jungle and is introduced to the Man in the Yellow Hat. 

Materials

•  An instrument that can go quickly up and down the scales such as a                                  (keyboard, whistle slide, xylophone)

Vocabulary

•  Curious (always wanting to know about things)
•  Deck (the floor across the front of a boat)
•  Fascinated (very curious)

Before Reading the Story

On the page where George lands on the telephone pole, stop and let the children see if they can find the man with the yellow hat.  Ask them what they think will happen next?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation;  demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

After Reading the Story

 Ask the children if they remember why George was sent to prison (he made a false call to the fire department).  Talk to the children about the telephone.  It is not a toy but is used to call and talk to people.  Explain to the children when we call 911.  Let the children practice dialing 911.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately  to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Discovery

Bring in a globe or map and show the children where Africa is.  Bring in some pictures of  animals in their jungle habitat.  Explain that monkeys live in jungles.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.  AND Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in the contexts of the classroom, home, and community.

Music and Movement

 Play Up and Down with the children.  Explain to the children that if the instrument goes up the scale, they are to stand up.  If the instrument slides down the scale, they are to move down.  Use varying speeds and amounts of up and down. The children must listen and then act accordingly.

Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles.

Blocks

Encourage the children to build stairs to add to their block structures.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through on plans.

Art

Show the children how to trace around a small circular object on construction paper.  After they have traced several circular shapes onto a variety of colors, encourage them to cut them out and glue them to a piece of light blue paper. They can then add “strings” by drawing lines and make a balloon collage.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various types of technology.  AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor SKills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Library and Writing;

M is for Monkey.  What other words can the children think of that start with the letter M?  Make a list of the words that the children come up with.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds in words.

Sand and Water

Add spray bottles to the water today.  The children can aim at something in the water table and spray it.  Or attach a target to the wall behind the table for the children to practice aiming and spraying.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Dramatic Play

Bring in a straw hat and a monkey stuffed animal or puppet if you have one.  The children can then make their own Curious George adventure.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation;  demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Math and Manipulatives

Curious George wanted a red balloon but grabbed all of them instead.  Sort something by colors.  Put all the red in this pile, all the yellow here, and the purple over here.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size.

Outdoor Play

Practice walking a balance beam.  If you do not have something like a balance beam that you can walk, draw a line about 10 feet long with a piece of chalk.  Encourage the children to walk the line, jump, slide, walk backwards. 

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, nad balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

Transitions

Ask the children questions about the story as they go off to the next activity.  (Who brought George home from Africa?  Who did George call on the telephone?  How did George get away from the prison?).

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation;  demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.