When Sam-I-Am tries to get the old grouchy dog (?) to try his green eggs and ham, the grouch says absolutely not.  Sam-I-Am tries to get the grouch to try them in a variety of settings.  Will the grouch finally try green eggs and ham?  Will the grouch ever like green eggs and ham?

Materials

•   Ingredients for an egg dish
•  Rhyming word cards from story
•  Food pictures or magazines with pictures of food
• Green food coloring

Vocabulary

• Grouchy (someone in a bad mood)

Before Reading Story

            Show the children the front of the book.  Ask them if they can tell what is on the plate?  Ask them if the dog looks like he likes what’s on the plate? Ask the children if there are any foods that they do not like? Now ask them if there are any foods that they like very much? Give the children a minute to talk about likes and dislikes and then remind them that sometimes you have to try something new before you decide you do not like it. And sometimes you might think you do not like a food but then you try just a tiny bit and realize that you really do like it!

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

            Practice ahead of time so that you can read all the rhymes smoothly.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

After Reading the Story

            Ask the children why the dog was so grouchy?  (Sam-I-Am kept making him try the eggs).  Ask the children why Sam-I-Am kept bothering the dog? (he wanted him to try the food).   What happened when the dog finally tried the new food? (He liked it).  Ask the children if they ever had an experience like this where they finally tried something and found out it was good. 

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in ability 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.

Discovery

            Make an egg dish with the children.  You can use an electric wok or fry pan to make scrambled eggs.  If you do not have access to heat, you can make egg salad by bringing in already cooked eggs for them to peel and mix.  Add a drop of green to any of the egg recipes.

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.

Music and Movement

            Teach your children the song Rhyming Words. (Tune of The Mexican Hat dance). Cut out the rhyming word picture cards.  Put one rhyming word from each pair on a flannel board where the children can see it.  Hold up a picture card from the pile and sing.

Rhyming words sound the same,     (clap Clap)

Rhyming words sound the same.    

Rhyming words sound the same,     (clap, clap)

Rhyming words sound the same.

(Ask the children if they can name the picture that rhymes with the picture in your hand)

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

Blocks

            Make a track (train or car) out of blocks.  Challenge the children to build a bridge or a tunnel.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions or interruptions.

Art

            Green finger paint today.  As the children paint, encourage them to make circle, ovals and other shapes.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; demonstrates growing confidence in a range of abilities and expresses pride in accomplishments. AND 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.

Library and Writing

            Ask the children to go through the food cards or magazines and cut out pictures to make a menu they would like to eat.  Remind them to include a fruit and a vegetable!

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop an awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences. AND 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.

Sand and Water

            Add green food coloring to the water today.

Dramatic Play

            Let the children pretend to cook green eggs and ham.  If you have any plastic Easter eggs these could be added to the center today.  Add old recipe cards or books.

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

Math and Manipulatives

            Have each child cut out a green oval shape and write their name on it.  After trying your egg recipe, ask the children to take their paper egg and place it on a graph marker; yes I like Green Eggs/ No I do not like Green Eggs.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop an awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences. AND 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.

Outdoor play

            Use a ball or a bean bag to play catch.  Before you toss the ball/bag to a child, say a word.  The child must try to make a rhyme for the word.  If a child is having a lot of trouble with rhyming words, have the child say a word and you make a rhyme for him.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

Transitions

            As the children go to their next activity ask them to name a food that is green.  When they have exhausted green foods, pick another color.

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.

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