In this story a farmer plants a turnip and asks it to grow sweet and strong.  The turnip does grow, and grow, and grow into an enormous turnip!  It takes the farmer the help of his family and friends to get the turnip out of the ground.

Materials

• Masks of farmer/wife/daughter/dog/cat/mouse
• A turnip
• Fingernail scrub brushes or rags

Vocabulary

• Enormous (Really, really big)
• Turnip ( a kind of vegetable that grows under the ground)
• Cooperation (when you need help to do something that is too big to do by yourself)

Before Reading the Story

Before hand, put your real turnip into a bag so the children can not see it.  Bring all your plastic foods to the rug and also 2 baskets.  One labeled Vegetables and the other labeled Not a vegetable.  Tell the children that your story today is about a vegetable.  Hold up the bag (with the turnip)  and ask the children if they can guess what vegetable you have in the bag.  After they are through guessing, or if someone guesses it, pull the turnip out of the bag.  Let the children each pick a plastic food and sort your plastic foods by vegetable-not vegetable.  Do the children know which are grown underground?

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

Reading the Story

            Emphasized the word pulled making a face that looks like you are using all your strength.  Encourage the children to pretend to pull on each page.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend ti and and understands conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

After Reading the Story

            After reading the story, talk to the children about ways that they might help out/cooperate around their home.  Praise them for being good helpers.  Ask them if they can think of a time that someone helped them to do something. (Remember yesterday when Roger helped me wash the paint brushes, when my dog ran away the man caught the leash).  Remind the children that when people help them that they should always tell them thank you.  Thank you lets people know that you appreciate that they helped you.

Social & Emotional Development/Social Relationships; progress in responding sympathetically to peers who are in need, upset, hurt, or angry; and in expressing empathy and caring for others.

Discovery

            Bring the real turnip to the table and a large turnip that you have drawn on paper.  Ask the children to describe the turnip and write their responses on the paper turnip.  After they have described the outside of the turnip, cut it open and continue to have the children describe the turnip.  What does it look like, smell like, feel like.  Finally let the children taste a tiny piece of the raw turnip.  Graph those who liked the turnip and those who did not.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices ti gather information. investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Music and Movement

            Sing Where Oh Where Are All The Children to the tune of Paw Paw Patch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTLX0dkRV4w As the children sing have them act out how to harvest the produce.

Where oh where are all the children,

Where oh where are all the children,

Where oh where are all the children,

Way down yonder in the turnip field.

Pulling turnips, put them in the basket

Pulling turnips, put them in the basket.

Pulling turnips put them in the basket,

Way down yonder in the turnip field.

(Let the children sing about other vegetables)

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

Blocks

            Have the children sort the blocks according to size.  Which block is the smallest in the center?  Which block is the largest in the center?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurements; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size.

Art

            Cut out many circles, squares and triangles in small, medium, and large sizes.  Put these out on the table for the children to collage as they choose.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to be able to determine whether or not two shapes are the same size and the same shape.

Library and Writing

            Turnip starts with the letter T.  Have the children think of T words.  Write them down.  Farmer starts with the letter F.  Have the children think of F words.  Mouse starts with the letter M.  Count the words under each letter, which has the most?  Which has the least?  Can the children think of any more letters so that they all have the same amount?

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds of words. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, and equal to.

Sand and Water

            Put the vegetables in the water today with fingernail scrub brushes.  This is the way we wash the turnip, wash the turnip, and wash the turnip.  This is the way we was the turnip to get it nice and clean.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities.

Dramatic play

            This is a fun story to act out. Make the masks and attach to a sentence strip for the children to wear. Encourage them to act out in the dramatic play center.

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.

Math and Manipulatives

            Have like items in various sizes for the children to sort by smallest, bigger, biggest.  (bear counters, toy cars, scraps of paper)

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to be able to determine whether or not two shapes are the same size and the same shape.

Outdoor Play

            In the story the characters pulled and pulled.  Ask the children if they can find things to pull. (a wagon, a jump rope, a piece of equipment across the yard)

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken language. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops an increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Transitions

            Ask the children to name a vegetable, name a fruit, name something that you eat that is orange, name something that you eat that is hard, etc.

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

Resources