Go Dog Go, by P.D. Eastman

This is a fun opposite story about a whole range of dogs on the go.

Materials

Roll of crepe paper
A dog breed book or many pictures of dog varieties.

Vocabulary

Opposite (two words that are totally different in what they mean)

Before Reading the Story

Give each child a small toy car. Tell the children that cars take people to where they want to go. Most cars travel on roads. Some roads take people under mountains or rivers. These are called tunnels. Ask the children if they can make a tunnel using their body for their car to drive under. Sometimes the road goes over rivers or railroad tracks, these are called bridges. Can they make a bridge with a part of their body for their car to drive over? Play a version of Simple Simon by asking the children to put their cars under, over, or on different body parts. (Can you put your car over your elbow? Under your knee? On your neck?) When you are finished, ask each child to drive their car back to you.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects, and words such as up, down, over, under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind.

Reading the Story

When you get to the pages where the dog says he does not like the hat, say good-by with attitude. When you get to the page where the dogs are going up the tree and the book is asking why?, make sure you stop and let the children tell you why they think the dogs are going up the tree.

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

Go back through the book with the children and see if they can name the opposites. Show a page giving the first opposite in the set and see if the children can give the second word in return. (ie day and ____ are opposites).

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Discovery

Bring in a book or pictures of real dogs. Let the children examine the likes and differences of different breeds. You could graph which kind of dog is the children’s favorite.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurements; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the song, Opposites, sung to All Around the Mulberry Bush.

Everything I always say,

You always the opposite.

When I say ______,

You say ______!

(Use opposites from the story; day/night, up/down, over/under, big/little, black/white, etc)

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Play a repeat game with the children. Say, “The car moves”. The children repeat this back. Now say the same sentence but add another detail. “The car moves quickly”. Have the children repeat back to you. After they have repeated continue to add more details one at a time (the blue car moves quickly, the big blue car moves quickly, the big blue car moves quickly down the road). Continue until you run out of ideas or the sentence becomes too long for the children. Try another sentence.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; progresses in clarity of pronunciation and towards speaking in sentences of increasing length and grammatical complexity.

Blocks

Ask the children to try to build a car wash for the cars.

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

Art

Put out large pieces of paper and shallow bowls of paint. Let the children use small toy cars to paint. Dip the wheels in the paint and then go back and forth and round and round on the paper. Go dogs go!

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Library and Science

Have the children trace around a circle shape onto a piece of green, yellow, and red construction paper. Let them cut these out and copy the words; go- on green, slow on yellow, and stop-on red.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, string beads, and using scissors. AND Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas to using letter-like symbols, to copying or writing familiar words such as their own name.

Sand and water

Water play. Put out boats or small Tupperware’s that float. Add several small animals. Ask the child to put the animal on the boat, under the water, and over the water.

Water play. Out out boats or small tupperware’s that float. Add many small animals. Ask the children how many animals will fit on the boat before it sinks.

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

Dramatic Play

Bring in a variety of hats. Ahead of time let the parents know that today is silly hat day and have everyone bring a hat from home. Add party making supplies to the center. A roll of crepe paper and some paper to make signs that say the party is here.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety if dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Math and Manipulatives

Tell the children that you are thinking about wheels. How many wheels does a car have, a bicycle, a tricycle, roller blades, a big truck, an airplane, a train? Look around your room for toys that depict modes of transportation and have the children count the wheels.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness if numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Outdoor Play

Encourage the children to be dogs racing in their cars. As they come around you call out Go ____Go! Or stop ____stop! Bring out a set of the traffic circles that were made. Hold them up as the dogs are driving.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.