This fun book makes learning facial parts and colors easy.  This book can easily be made into a flannel board story for the children to enjoy over and over.

Materials

• Paper plate per child
• Styrofoam cup per child
• Potting soil and a handful of grass seed per child.
• Multiple colors of sidewalk chalk

Vocabulary

• Imagination (to be able to see or think up things that are not really true or real)

Before Reading the Story

            Ask the children if they know what the word “imagination” means.  Talk about how sometimes we imagine things that are not really true or real.  Sometimes we might imagine that we are a superhero or a doctor but we are just pretending.  Sometimes we imagine scary things like monsters under the bed.  Let the children talk about some of their imaginary thoughts.  If the children do not begin their own talk, help them out by telling your own story (I used to imagine that there were snakes under my bed at night). 

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.

Reading the Story

            Have the children help with the line “Go away big green monster!”

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book rea; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take a book home; going to the library; and engaging in pretend-reading with other children.

After Reading the Story

            Play Big Green Monster says….  Touch your two long legs, your triangle shaped nose, your round knees, your two pointy elbows etc..

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

Discovery

            Give each child a Styrofoam cup that they can draw a monster face on.  Then let the children fill it with potting soil and add some grass seed on top.  When the grass begins to grow, they will have their own monster heads to take home.  Observe and record how long it takes for the grass seed to grow.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Music and Movement

            Teach the children the Scary Eyes poem.

See these big and scary eyes,

It’s a really big surprise

BOO!

Touch fingers to thumb to make two small circles. Put these by your eyes and say the poem slowly. At Boo! pop hands open.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities.

            Sing I’ve Got Two Eyes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMRGeT_SRI

I’ve got two eyes, one two. 

They’re both the same size, one two

I’ve got two eyes and they’re both the same size.

I’ve got two ears, one two

They help me hear, one, two

I’ve got two ears and they help me hear.

I’ve got two hands to wave good-bye

I’ve got two arms to swing up high

I’ve got two knees as round as you please

I’ve got feet to walk down the street.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

            Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eueDYPTIg

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Blocks

            Ask the children if they can build a house that is very dark inside.  Encourage them to include a door so that you can see how dark it is inside.

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

Art

            Put out green finger paint.  Challenge the children to make a big green monster face.

Creative Arts/Art; progresses in abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other art creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic.

            Let the children paint a paper plate to be a monster head.  When it dries they can collage on the face.  Show them how to punch holes with a hole puncher across the top and use yarn or pipe cleaners for hair.  Have many colors of paper available for the children to cut out eyes, mouths, and noses.

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

            Encourage the children to dictate and illustrate any monster story or dream story that they would like to share.

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.

Sand and Water

            Add cornstarch and a small bit of water to the table today.  Explain to the children that sometimes it may appear to be one way but really it is not (The cornstarch looks like you should be able to pick it up but when you do it melts into and off of your hand). https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/quicksand-goo/

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Dramatic Play

            Put out dress ups of community helpers or ones that encourage the children to use their imaginations to be someone that they are not.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Math and Manipulatives

           Encourage the children to use any manipulative toy/s that you have that encourage them to sort by colors.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Outdoor Play

On the cement draw circles about six inches round. Have the children each color a circle using a variety of colors of chalk. When the circles are all colored in, have the children start at one end and jump from circle to circle naming the colors as they go.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Transitions

            As the children move to the next activity ask them to show you a body part they have two of, one of, many of, ten of or a body part that is big, small, on their front, on their back, etc.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Resources