Follow the bears as they go to town.  This is a great talking through book about what goes on in the different buildings around town.

Materials

•    Picture of penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and dollar bill
•    10 pennies, 2 nickels, 1 dime
•    Store Labels
•    2 pictures of shape buildings
•    Pictures of storefronts and items they might sell.

Vocabulary

•   Town (This is where all the buildings are that people go to during the day).

Before Reading the Story

Turn to the page that says “Morning has come to town”.   Ask the children if they know what town means.  Help the children define it by using your town as the example.  Ask the children what kinds of buildings are in their town? If they cannot answer, ask them if they ever go to the bank, library, grocery store, department store, fish store, etc.

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.

Reading the Story

Take your time on the pages that describe what is going on in the buildings.  Let the children take turns describing something that they see.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating;develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

After Reading the Story      

Tell the children that town is where all the stores are. Ask the children to help you make a list of all the kinds of buildings that are in your town and that they might go

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating;develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.  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.

Discovery

 Explain to the children that many people get to town by driving in their car or taking public transportation.  Talk about how most land transportation has wheels and wheels roll.  Ask the children if they can recall what shape wheels are (round, circle),  Ask the children if they think a rectangle block would roll (no, because  it is not round).  Show the children how a cylinder block is round like a wheel.  Ask them if they think it will roll?  Invite the children to collect objects in the room that they think will roll.  Make a small ramp using a piece of cardboard and let the children experiment finding objects that will roll and not roll.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Music and Movement

Sing or chant, I’ve Got a Penny

I’ve got a penny, I’ve got a penny

I’ve got a penny shiny and new

I’m going to by all kinds of _______

That’s what I’m going to do.

Also sing nickel, dime, quarter, and dollar

(Give each child a piece of money.  When you sing the song see if they can name the piece of money that they have and also what they would buy.)

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, tsdk, or problem.  AND Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing  interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Chant One a Penny

One a penny, Two a penny, Three a penny, more

Four a penny, Five a penny

That makes a nickel for the store

Six a penny, Seven a penny, Eight a penny more

Nine a penny, Ten a penny

Now that’s a dime for the store!

(As you do this poem, hold up pennies until you get to 5 then replace with a nickel.  Continue adding pennies to the nickel until you get to ten and replace with a dime.  Count out five pennies and ask the children what this is equal to.  Then count out ten pennies and ask them what it is equal to (2 nickels or a dime)

Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increased abilities to combine, separate, and name “how many” concrete objects.  AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Blocks

Put tape on familiar store labels and let the children build a town.  Have them tape on the store names to label each building in town.

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

Art

Contact over the building shapes pages.  Show the children how to use the play dough to cover the shapes of the buildings.  They can roll it out or pinch it on.  You can also make letters for them to cover. 

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops strength, dexterity, and control ineeded to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, andhammer.

Sand and Water

Place play coin money in the table with sand.  The children sift through the sand and find the coins.  Put a cupcake tin near the center with a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter glued to the bottom.  The children find the coins and put them into the correct tin.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to determine whether or not two shapes are the same size and shape.

Library and Writing

            Make two sets of the store labels and glue them to index cards.  These then can be used to make a memory matching game.  TUrn all the cards upside down.  The children take turns picking up two cards.  If they ar a match they get to keep them.  If they are not a match, the cards get put back in their place upside down and the next child takes a turn.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; tpo take turns in games and in using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.  AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup  objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Dramatic Play

 Add an office prop box (briefcase, clip board, pencil and paper, old calendars and memo books, calculator, paperclips, stapler, computer keyboard and phone.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play experiences that become more extended and complex.  AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops strength, dexterity, and control ineeded to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, andhammer.  AND Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as crayons, pencils, and computers.

Math and Manipulatives

Match the store to the items that belong in them game. Make a copy of the pages, cover them with contact paper and have the children match the items that belong in each store.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup  objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.  AND Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Outdoor Play

Tell the children that you are going to act out a story with them.  Pretend to get up and dressed, eat breakfast etc.  Now it is time to go to town.  Get in your car, put on your seatbelt, turn the key and drive.  When in town, decide what stores you are going to (Kerry you go to McDonald’s and get everyone French fries, Roger you go to the hardware store and buy a hammer, etc).  Gather everyone back; ask them if they can remember what they bought.  All get in the car and head back home.

Creative Arts/Dramatic PLay; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.  AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions and interruptions.

Transitions

Ask each child if they know what their parent does for work.  List these on a piece of paper.  (Alison’s Mom is a teacher.  Ryan’s Dad works for the cable company.  Paula’s Mom is an artist.  Sean’s Mom makes books.  Raven’s Mom is a Mom).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; progresses in understanding similarities and respecting differences among people such as genders, race, special needs, culture, language, and family structures.  AND  Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions,; and for varied other purposes.

Resources