When most of us are getting ready for bed, there are many people who are just going to work.  Meet the many people and the jobs they do while you and I are sleeping.  Meet the people who work the Night Shift.

Materials

• Paper dolls and clothing cut out.  (For a long lasting paper doll set, cover with contact paper and attach small Velcro circles to attach.  Or make out of felt and use with the felt board.
• Collage materials (feather, sequence, fabric squares, buttons, pipe cleaner bits, silk flower heads, etc.).
• Alphabet print letters and inkpad
• Several buckets and 2-inch paintbrushes
• Plastic lids and containers of various sizes
• Pictures of Donuts for Finger play
• Colored chalk

Vocabulary

• Mannequin (model of a person or animal)
• Topiary ( cutting and trimming of bushes, shrubs, and trees)
• Askew (crooked)
• Evaporate (to turn from liquid to vapor from the heat of the sun)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if any of them know what their parent does for work?  Ask; is your parent home at night with you?  That is because your parent works the day shift.  They work during the day and sleep at night.  Our story today is about the nightshift.  Ask the children if anyone can guess what that means (the people work all night and sleep during the day while we are here at school.  Ask the children if they can think of any job that you might have to do at night?  After giving them an opportunity to answer, introduce the book.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Reading the Story

Each introduction to a night shift job starts with a question.  Turn the page and see if the children can name the job. Before reading the title of the worker.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that there are a lot of important jobs that are done during the night shift when you and I are sleeping!  Turn to any page in the book and read the title of the night shift worker.  Ask the children, “Who can remember what this person does”?  Give the children a moment to talk about the job and then turn to another page and continue in the same fashion.

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.

Discovery

Use the pictures of day and night for sorting. As the children sort, ask them questions about what they like to do during the day and at night. Ask about their evening rituals and talk about some of your daily rituals/routines.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing ability to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Music and Movement

Remind the children that the Late-Night Radio DJ plays favorite songs for people.  Let the children choose the music that you will sing and the CD’s that you will dance to today.

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

Five Little Donuts make five donuts by either cutting out pictures or drawing. Put tape on the back and attach to the wall where the children can all see and come up and take one.

Down around the corner  (point to the right)
In the bakery shop
There were 5 little doughnuts  (hold up 5 fingers)
With sprinkles on top
Along came _________ all alone
She/he grabbed a big one and ran on home  (clap hands)
(Repeat 4, 3, 2, 1)

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

Blocks

Remind the children that the Zookeeper works all night to keep the animals of the zoo safe and healthy.  Put your zoo animals in the center today and encourage the children to make cages for like animals.

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.

Art

Remind the children that the window Dressers decorated the windows with feathers and fluff and lots of fun stuff.  Put out your best collage materials today.  Give each child a piece of construction paper and let them create their own fancy designs.

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

Give each child a piece of dark colored paper and a small cup of water.  Show them how to dip the colored chalk in the water and then write on the dark colored paper.  Can they write their name?  Let the children practice drawing and writing and letters.

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

Remind the children that the Freighter Captain works all night to bring containers of food to the ports where they will go to the grocery store.  Put out the plastic lids and containers along with many 1-inch cubes or other manipulative.  Explain to the children that you are going to see which container/lid can hold the most 1-inch cubes without sinking in the water.  Show the children how to carefully place the cubes onto the lid/container.  Count, which holds the most.  Count, how many does each hold?  Who can put the most containers (cubes) onto a boat?

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

Library and Writing

Remind the children that the Newspaper Printer prints the paper all night long so that in the morning it will be ready to read.  Put out Alphabet ink pad letters and ink pads.  The children practice printing-going in an up and down movement to make letters on their paper.

Literacy/Alphabet knowledge;identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Dramatic Play

Remind the children that Fishermen sometimes work all night trying to catch fish for people to eat.  Turn your dramatic center into a fishing boat by bringing in 4-6 chairs and facing them all together touching.  Make fishing poles out of rulers with pieces of yarn tied at one end.  At the other end, tie a magnet.  Make fish and label each fish with a concept that you are learning (letters, numbers, colors).  Add several large paperclips to each fish.  The children can pretend to be fishing as they try to tap a magnet onto a paper clipped fish.

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

Math and Manipulatives

 Put out paper dolls for the children to dress.   http://teachingbymom.blogspot.com/2012/10/free-printable-paper-doll-dress-up.html   OR            https://www.freekidscrafts.com/playtime-paper-doll-bodies/

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

Fill buckets with water and give the children the 2-inch paint brushes to paint the playground!  As they are painting, help them to notice what happens to the water/paint after a few moments in the sun (it evaporates)

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

As the children ride their tricycles around the path today, stop them and tell them that you have to work on the road before they can pass.  Use a broom to sweep the walk.  After a moment, wave the riders on.  Let other children take turns working on the road, being the sweeper, and the riders.

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

Transitions

At lunch today, pretend to be a waitress.  Ask the child if they would like coffee or tea to drink?  Then pour their drink for them today and say, “Enjoy your Coffee/Tea”.

Resources