The Foot Book, by Dr. Seuss

Dr. Suess in all his rhyming glory discusses feet.

Materials

Footprint pattern, lots
Make footprints ahead of time for writing and transitions.
Show Store supplies- a ruler, some shoe boxes, lots of shoes, a cash register, play money and several gift bags.

Vocabulary

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children to take off their shoes and socks as they come to the group time. Take a few minutes and talk about feet. How many feet do you have, how many toes? See the toe nails; does anyone have polish on them? Show the children where the heel of the foot is and the big toe and the pinky.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and respect for their bodies and the environment.

Reading the Story

Practice beforehand so that you can read this Seuss book in a flowing voice. As you read, slow down occasionally and see if the children can find the rhyming words.

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 to help you make a list of all the things that we can do with our feet. (I can ride my bicycle, I can kick the ball, I can jump up and land on my feet).

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and respect for their bodies and the environment.

Discovery

Explain to the children that all animals have their own special footprint/shape. Look at some of the foot prints and the animals that make them. How are they alike and different?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences and comparisons among objects and materials.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the following chant, Left Foot Right Foot. As you do, hold up your left hand and then your right. Ask the children what other body parts that they have that one is left and one is right?

Left foot, right foot I am cool,

Left foot, right foot I learned at school.

Science/Scientific Knowledge;expands knowledge of and respect for their bodies and the environment. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, andpoems.

Do the Mexican Hat Dance and teach the children to differentiate their left from their right foot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvRRvMw9-fg

Left foot, right foot, left

Right foot, left foot, right

Left foot, right foot, left

Right foot, left foot, right

Dance round and round the circle

And then begin again./And now this is the end.

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

Make a set of 26 foot prints. Write an alphabet letter on each one and put them on the floor in a walking pattern. Put the feet in A-Z order and contact them to the floor. The children can then walk the letters as they sing or say the alphabet.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names if letters with their shapes and sound.

Blocks;

Cut out extra foot prints. Encourage the children to measure how many footprints long a block is. Can they make a line of blocks 5 foot prints long? 10 foot prints long?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures of length and area of objects.

Art;

Take off your shoes and socks and paint the children’s feet. Help them to make their foot prints on a piece of paper or get a long piece of paper that they can walk across. Have all the children contribute to the same sheet of paper to make a classroom footprint-collage.

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences.

Library and Writing

Have each child trace around their foot (with their shoe off) and then take a pencil and label the toes 1-5. Encourage the children to cut out around their foot.

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

Sand and Water

Put your sand table down on the floor today and let the children take off their shoes and socks and put their feet into the sand. You could also add water. Ask the children to use their words to tell you how it feels on their feet.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing ability to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Dramatic Play

Play shoe store with the children. Add a ruler, some shoe boxes, lots of shoes, a cash register, play money and several gift bags. Show the children how to stand on the ruler and measure their foot. Help the children identify what number/size their foot is.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures of length and area of objects.

Math and Manipulatives

Put out any people puzzles that you have today. Can the children show you where the head is, name the parts of the head. Show you where the arm is and name parts of the arm? ETC..

Science/Scientific Knowledge;expands knowledge of and respect for their bodies and the environment.

Outdoor Play;

Find a balance beam to walk, or draw a line with chalk on the cement. Can the children walk forward, backward, slide side to side?

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

Make another set of footprints for your room but this time make both a left and right foot per children in the room. Use these to make a line up chart by the door. The first sets of feet both have the number 1, or one can have the numeral and the other the word. Make 1-20 so that when the children line up, everyone has a number set to stand on.

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