Everybody is happy on the farm until the children go back to school.  Now the animals are bored and are looking for something to do.  Follow their adventure as they try to check a book out of the library.

Materials

Vocabulary

•                   Bored (tired and annoyed because something is not                                    interesting)
•                   Librarian (the person who works at the library to take care                      of all the books.)

Before Reading the Story

                  Talk to the children about things they like to do.    Ask them to think of a place where they cannot do things they like to do (at the doctor’s office, at my grandma’s).  How did this make you feel?  (sad, mad, bored).  Explain that today’s story is about some animals that got bored on the farm.  Let’s find out what they do to have fun.

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.

Reading the Story

                  When you get to the part where the animal speaks to the librarian, wait a second and give the children the opportunity to make the animal sounds first.

Literacy/Book Appreciation & Knowledge; shows interest and involvement in listening to and discussing  a variety of fiction and non-fictions books and poetry.

After Reading the Story

                  Ask the children to help recall all the animals that were in the story.  There were two animals in the story that did not talk to the librarian, can you think who they were?

Literacy/Book Appreciation & Knowledge; shows interest and involvement in listening to and discussing  a variety of fiction and non-fictions books and poetry.

Discovery

                  Bring in a variety of paper types for the children to explore.  Bring in some rough homemade type paper,tissue paper, tracing paper, graph paper, cardboard, lined, etc.  Let the children use colored pencils and feel the differences and variations of the paper types as they practice writing their names.

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.  AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in a bilities to use writing , drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various types of technology.

Music and Movement

                  Practice doing different kinds of walking with the children.  What does it look like to clip clop in, to plod in, to amble, to flap on in.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, problem, or task.

                  Sing Read Me A Story, to the tune of Found a Peanut. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmxzJVUXR7E

Read me a story, read me a story

Read me a story please oh please.

I’d love to hear one, I’d love to hear one

Read me a story, please oh please.

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Blocks

                  Put out any farm animals you might have today.  Encourage the children to sort them by like kinds and then build a fence around each kind.  Which animal has the most inside the fence?  If you do not have enough farm animals, include any animals that you might have and then have the children sort them by those that would live ona farm and those that would not.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; 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.  AND Mathematics/Number  Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal to.

Art

                  Give the children sheets of paper that are 2-inches by 5-inches.  Let them decorate these and call them book markers.

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Library and Writing

                  Talk to the children about some of the books you have read recently to the class.  Ask the children to draw a picture about one of their favorite books.  When they are finished, write the title of the book underneath.

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play.

Sand and Water

                  Add bubbles and soap bars to the water. Explain to the children that we must always have clean hands when we look at books.  Watch them as they show you their hand washing technique.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, washing hands, brushing teeth, and toileting.

Dramatic Play

                  Ask the children how many of them have ever been to the library.  If there is a library locally, plan a field trip to take your children there.  Tell the children that you are going to let them each borrow a school library book overnight.  Let them pick a book and sign their name to paper with the title of the book they are borrowing.

Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes.  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

                  Ask the children to help you clean your library center today.  Have them take the books of the shelf and dust.  When they begin to put the books back on the shelf, show them how to put the title facing outwards and so the pages are not bent or stuffed into another book.  Have them go through the books and look for any that might need repair.  For older children, you can have them sort the books by like kind.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion in working, playing, and resolving conflicts with peers.  AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; progresses in learning how to handle and care for books; knowing to view one page at a time in sequence from front to back; and understanding that a book has a title, author, and illustrator.  AND Mathematics/ Pattern & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size.

Outdoor Play

                  Bring a basket of books outside and a sheet to sit on.  Spread out and enjoy reading.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; progresses in learning how to handle and care for books; knowing to view one page at a time in sequence from front to back; and understanding that a book has a title, author, and illustrator. 

Transitions

                  Encourage the children to walk in a nice straight line like the animals in the story.

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