The illustrations are both large and lovely allowing the children to get a close up view of a variety of animals.  The children will enjoy making the animals noises as you read through the pages.   My classroom enjoyed using this book before naptime as the children and animals settle down for sleep.

Materials

• Pictures of animals
• A scarf for each child
• Several boxes shoebox sized to one large enough a child could sit in
• Counting bear instruction sheet. Make several copies

Vocabulary

• Tramping (walking with big heavy steps)
• Basking  (lying in the sun enjoying how it feels)
• Slinking  (creeping, tiptoeing)

Before Reading the Story

Go through the book ahead of time and make sure you have thought how you will present each animal sound to the children.

Make up riddles about animals that the children are familiar with. Give several hints and then use the animals’ voice/sound as the final clue. (I’m thinking of an animal that likes to be pet, has long whiskers, and says meow. I’m thinking of an animal that lives near the water and catches insects with its long tongue. It says rivett).

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

Reading the Story

On the very first pages where the author asks us to “Listen to the animals…Speak up loud and clear”, ask the children if they can name all the animals on the two pages.  After each page, stop and allow the children to make the animal noises as they present themselves on each page.  Give the children an opportunity to comment about any animal page (I saw an elephant at the zoo and he was really, really, big).

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

After Reading the Story

Tape the pictures of the real animals onto the flannel board.  Keep them in an orderly fashion and close together as you are going to cover all the pictures and remove one so the children cannot see which you have removed.  Show the children the board with one removed; can anyone identify the removed animal?  When it has been identified, have all the children make the animals sound and continue playing Who’s Missing? Until the children grow tired of it.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

Discovery

Put the book and the picture cards from After Reading the Story into the center today for the children to look at and talk about.  Add any other animal picture cards that you might have.  Ask the children to sort the cards by those animals with four few and those who do not have four feet, those with fur, or those that are carnivores.

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

Music and Movement

In the book the bear was rolling in the snow.  Put out a nap mat, large pillow, etc. and tell the children that they are going to do rolls like a bear in the snow.  Have one child at a time come up and roll across the nap mat/pillow.  After they have had a turn rolling, ask if anyone would like to try to do a somersault?  https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&ei=lGYPXdm2OeHl_Qbo-br4Bw&q=how+to+do+a+somersault+kid&oq=how+to+do+a+somersault&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.3413.10293..12878…0.0..0.101.1557.21j1……0….1..gws-wiz…..0..0i67j0i131.lISOND5GaPE#kpvalbx=1    You might have to help a child by gently pushing them over once they are in a safe position.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; progresses in physical growth, strength, stamina, and flexibility.

Find a CD that has a variety of musical tempos.  Give each child a scarf to hold and turn on the music.  Show the children how to use the scarf to move up and down to the music.  Can they make a circle with the scarf above their head that moves with the music?  What other ways can they use to scarf and move to the music?  Can they throw the scarf up in the air and catch it?  Explore using scarfs to music.

Creative Arts/Movement; shows growth in moving in time to different patterns of beat and rhythm in music.

Blocks

Put out any wild animals you have today and encourage the children to make a zoo.  Can they put all the like kinds of animals in one pen?  Which pen has the most animals?  Which has the least? 

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Art

If you have plastic animal stencils tape these to your easel paper today.  The children can fill in the shapes with paint.

Sand and Water

Put dry sand in the table today and add any small objects that you have that are made with metal (colored disks with metal edges, magnet marbles, magnet alphabet letters/numbers, old keys, or large washers).  Bury the objects in the sand and give the children magnet wands to search through the sand for objects.  Put out a small bowl for them to put their collection into.  If using letters/numbers, can the child identify the items that they found in the sand?  If using disks/washers, can the child count how many objects they found in the sand?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Library and Writing

Play word lines with the children.  Give each child a piece of blank paper and a marker.  Explain that you are going to practice making lines that go from the left side of the paper to the right side of the paper.  On each child’s paper mark an L for the left, and an R for the right.  Now tell them that they are going to have to listen carefully for the direction and then make a line as you call it.  You should do the same thing so that the children can have a model.  Say, draw a line from L-R that is dotted.  Draw a line from L-R that is wavy.  Continue making different kinds of lines.  You can then have the children take turns suggesting what kinds of lines to draw. Kinds of lines include; dotted, wavy, thin, zigzag, diagonal, straight, curved, spiral, thick, parallel, straight, vertical, horizontal.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary . AND Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computer.

Dramatic Play

Encourage bedtime rituals by adding boxes that the children can use for beds and blankets.  Add stuffed animals and books for the children to read to each other and their animals.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations. AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book read; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books home; going to the library; and engaging in pretend-reading with other children.

Math and Manipulatives

Use counting bears to play a sorting game.  Make copies of the instructions and read them with the children.  Then let the children begin.  Can they follow the directions without teacher direction? 

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting n a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Outdoor Play

Do lots of animal’s walks outside today.  If you have a climbing structure, swing like the chimp, pretend to swim quickly around the playground like a dolphin, float from one spot to another like the bee, tramp with big steps like the elephant, and slink slowly like the leopard.  What other animal walks can you include?  Ask the children to help think up other animal movements.  (How might a horse move, or a squirrel?).

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

Transitions

Play Which is Bigger?  Use two animals and ask the children to name, which is bigger, a bear or a cat?  A bumblebee or an ant?   Use, which is smaller, taller, and shorter.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Resources