Today is Mary’s birthday and her friends are coming to help her celebrate.  Sing your way through this folk song and name colors and articles of clothing along the way.

Materials

• Pictures of articles of clothing
• M&M’s or jelly beans for math
• Swatches of various fabrics, two of each
• Box of birthday candles/silk flowers
• Birthday party supplies, crepe paper, wrapping paper, hats, etc..

Vocabulary

• Sneakers (gym shoes)
• Bandana (a scarf that you can wear on your head or around your neck)

Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about their birthdays. Who is the next in your classroom to have a birthday? Who was the last birthday? How many children are 4 and will turn 5? How many are 5 and will turn 6? Let the children share with you any birthday experiences that they choose. (When it was my birthday I had a pink cake. I got a scooter for my birthday).

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; progresses iin abilities to initiate and respond appropriately in conversation and discussions with peers and adults.

Reading the Story

            First time through, sing the story.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N284P3zpL_4. As you turn to the next page, ask the children if they can name the color.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasing complex and varied spoken vocabulary. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

After Reading the Story

Second time, go back through the story and this time read the pictures with the children.  On each page let the children talk about what they see. (What kind of animal is Mary?  Where is she?  What is she doing?  Why is she walking across that log?  What is on her head?  What do you think is inside the box?)  Allow plenty of time for the children to discuss and share their party experiences with one another.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and past experiences; too act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Discovery

            Make several copies of the clothing and color them.  Put a piece of tape on the back or make them into flannel board pieces.  On an index card write the colors that you made the clothes (blue=shirt) and color the card to correspond.  Now hold up a color card and ask a child to find the piece of clothing that matches the color.  The children can match color words to colored clothing. Ask them to name the article of clothing.

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

Bring in swatches of various types of fabrics. Talk about the textures and patterns that the fabric have. Let the children match the two pieces of fabric that are the same.

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

Music and Movement

        Put on the song This is a Song About Color by Hap Palmer and follow the directions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v-nocdm20g

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

           Use the tune of the story today and sing about the children in your classroom. Go around the circle and ask each child to name one article of clothing that they are wearing today. Sing about it. While you are singing, clap to the beat of the song. What other movements can you do to the beat of the song? (Sean is wearing his cowboy boots, cowboy boots, cowboy boots. Sean is wearing his cowboy boots all day long. Ryan is wearing his dinosaur shirt…).

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characterstics, and preferences.

            Sing any song you have about colors, for example, The Rainbow Song. Have the children point to any colors that they might be wearing.

Red and yellow and pink and green,

Purple and orange and blue, black, brown and white

I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.

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

            Sing the Happy Birthday Song.

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

Blocks

            In the story Mary is crossing a log-bridge.  Challenge the children to make bridges (balance beam) today that they can walk across or their cars can drive across.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

Art

            Put large balloon shapes at the easel and let the children paint the balloons.  When they dry they can be hung up together with yarn to look like balloon strings. Hang near your birthday chart.

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.

Library and Writing

            Copy the clothing page to a large format and let the children choose which they choose to color.  After they color their clothing article, ask them to describe it.   Underneath it write _____ wore her _____all day long (Kerry wore her green and white striped sweater all day long).  Put these together and make a classroom book that the children can learn to sing.

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

Sand and Water

            Dampen the sand add birthday candles and silk flowers. Let the children be a birthday bakery and design cakes.

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

Dramatic Play;

            Add birthday party materials; crepe paper, birthday hats, gift bags, wrapping paper.  Let the children play birthday party.

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

Math and Manipulatives

            This would be a fun day to do M&M math activities or jelly bean math.

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

            Make three sets of each clothing article.  Color one that corresponds with the story and color 2 that do not.  Ask the child, can you remember what color shirt, dress, shoes, were in the story? Put out the book and the articles of clothing and show the children how to look up the answers.

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; asking to take books hoe; and engaging in pretend reading with other children.

Outdoor Play

            Have the children all line up on one side of the playground.  Tell them the object of the game is to be the first to the other side of the playground but you have to follow the directions to get there.  Call out different colors and actions.  If the child is wearing the color, they may do the action. (If you are wearing red take 5 giant steps, if you are wearing green take 3 skips).

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; demonstrates increasing capacity to follow rules and routines and use materials purposefully, safely, and respectfully.

Transitions

            Play I Spy as the children head to the next activity.  (I spy a child who is wearing a red shirt with yellow stripes, I spy a child who is wearing black shoes with a white laces)

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.