Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are looking for the perfect place to raise their family.  As they search for the perfect place, they run across dangers.  Will they find their perfect place?  Where will it be?

Materials

• Copy of small ducks
• 1 white paper plate per child.  Fold in half and punch holes along the edge. 
• Yarn
• Duck head/foot
• Index card showing a letter from the letters the children’s names begin with.

Vocabulary

• Dither (nervous and upset)
• Hatch (when the ducklings come out of their shells)

Before Reading the Story

            Read the title of the book but don’t show the cover yet.  Ask the children if they think they know what Make way for ducklings means?  Now show them the cover of the book and ask them if they know now?  (get out of the way, move over, step aside, back up).  Why do you think the story is called, make way for ducklings?   Tell the children that this is a real story about a family of ducks who lived in Boston Gardens.

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

Reading the Story

            As you read the story stop at spots that tell about why the ducks think it is a good place to raise a family? Make note about ducks need food and shelter.  When you get to the spots where it is unsafe, ask the children why they think it is unsafe for a duck?  Is it unsafe for people too?   

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.      

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can change their name so it ends with “ack” by putting their first letter in front of “ack”. Mary=Mack, Alison=Aack. then repeat their name saying, “quack, quack, quack ______ack” and let the children quack for a few seconds.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds in words.

Discovery

            Put several of the small ducks into the center.  Show the children how to play hide and seek duck in the center.  One child steps outside the center and hides his/her eyes.  The other children in the center can each hide a duck somewhere in among the science toys.  The child comes back into the center and looks for the ducks.  When he/she finds a duck, the child who hid it quacks.  Who ever hid the last duck found gets to be the hider.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows capacity to maintain concentration over time on task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions and interruptions. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to taking turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Music and Movement

            When you go to the playground today, waddle like ducks all in a line.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

            Teach the children the song 5 Little Ducks Went Out To Play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZw9veQ76fo

5 Little ducks went out one play,

Over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said “Quack, quack, quack”

But only 4 little ducks came running back.

Continue on to 4, 3, 2, 1.  When you get to zero sing or say sadly;

Zero little ducks went out to play,

Over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said “QUACK, QUACK, QUACK”

5 little ducks came running back.

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

Blocks

            Tell the children that the story took place in a city.  Can you build a city?  Don’t forget to add a pond for the ducks!

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates growing 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. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through.

Art

            Ask the children to draw a picture of some place that would NOT be good for a duck to live (under the bed, in a car, on the house roof).  After they have drawn their picture give them a copy of a duck to glue on their picture.  You can make this into a book called, Ducks in Unexpected Places.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem. AND Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play.

Sand and Water

            Water play today.  Add boats and ducks.  If you have no boats or ducks, use plastic lids or bowls.  You can also add bear counters or similar.  How many bears can float on your boat?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building wit blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Library and Writing

            Tell the children that Mrs. Mallard had to know how to get to the island to meet her husband.   Ask the children to tell you how to get to the playground from your classroom and then encourage them to draw a map.  (You go to the door and go out over there by the drinking fountain.  Then you got to go out that door and down the ramp.  You turn and walk, walk, walk past the baby room and then turn there.  You go to the gate and wait for the teacher to open it.  Then you are at the playground).

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussions, drawings, maps, and charts. AND Language/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Dramatic Play

            The ducks ate peanuts at the park.  Ask the children, Have you ever taken a picnic to the park?  Pack a picnic lunch.  Use a basket or bag to put your picnic in. Put down a towel or blanket and the children can pretend to have a picnic in the center today.

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

Math and Manipulatives

            Show the children how to use the yarn to lace through the holes on the paper plate.  This will be the duck body.  Either pre-cut a head and feet for the children or put on manila file so they can trace and cut out themselves.  Put the head and feet onto the duck body.

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

            Teach the children the game, In the Pond, On the Bank.  Tell the children that this is a listening game. Use a sidewalk or line as the divider.  Call out “In the pond” and everybody jumps onto the sidewalk.  Call “On the bank” and everybody jumps to the grass.  Mix up your calls and try to trick the children into jumping onto the wrong one. 

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

Hold up an index card with a letter written upon it. Ask the children if they can name the letter, the letter sound, and whose name begins with this letter, and if any other child has this letter somewhere in their name?

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