Mother Mouse is tucking her baby into bed.  Baby mouse begins to cry, I want another, Mother.  Another Mother!  Find out what Mrs. Mouse does and how she and baby mouse resolve this issue.

Materials

• Mask of Mrs. Mouse, baby mouse, Mrs Duck, Mrs. Frog, Mrs. Pig, and Mrs Donkey
• A variety of plastic foods or toys that have a varied number of syllables (corn, apple, carrot, pineapple, celery, pear)
• Magazines with pictures of mothers and babies
• Box of cornstarch

Vocabulary

• Fret ( to be upset and cry)    

Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about their bedtime rituals. Does anyone read them a story? Does anyone kiss them good-night?

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

Reading the Story

            Sing the Mother animal’s responses to baby mouse. 

After Reading the Story

            Tell the children that in the story, mother mouse went to find what she thought her baby wanted.  Ask the children what baby mouse really wanted?  Ask the children if they have ever had an experience like baby mouse, what did they do, what did their parent do?  Explain that when we don’t use our words or talk in full sentences, people do not always know what we want. 

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

Discovery

            Tell the children that you are going to play a game with them about not using your words correctly.  Put out a variety of plastic foods.  Explain that you are going to ask them to guess which one you want by grunting the food name.  They will have to try to guess which one you want by counting the syllables of the word.  Practice counting syllables in the children’s names before you begin.(apple=grunt, grunt /pineapple=grunt,grunt,grunt).  After they guess correctly have all the children name the food item and then clap out its syllables.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing ability to hear and discriminate separate syllables in words.

Music and Movement

            Sing Good Night Baby, to tune Good Night Ladies . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMruF_CLrqM

Good night baby, good night baby,

Good night baby, it’s time to go to sleep

AGAIN!

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

Blocks

            Challenge the children to make a bed that they can sleep in. How will you figure out if it is long enough? How will you form the base? What blocks will you need to use?

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Art

            Use magazines and ask the children to cut out pictures of babies and mothers.  These can be both human and animals.  Draw a line down a piece of poster board and have the children glue the babies on one side and the mothers on the other.

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

Sand and Water

Try something different in the water table today. Add a box of cornstarch and slowly add water. The mixture will become solid in the bottom of your water table but when you pick it up, it will liquify and slip through your fingers. Show the children how to let it become a solid and use their finger to write their name. Them pick it up and let it ooze through their fingers.

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. AND Literacy/ Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials. such as pencils, crayons, and computer.

Library and Writing

            Encourage the children to think of other animals that might come and sing to baby mouse.  What might these other animals say and bring to baby mouse?  Have the children illustrate and write their responses.  (Meow, I will bring you milk. Don’t cry baby mouse I will bring you a piece of cake).

Literacy/Print Awareness & Concepts; shows increasing awareness of print in the classroom, home, and community settings.

Math and Manipulatives

            Ask the child to give you two or three objects (chain link, counter bears).  When they give them to you say “I want another, now how many do I have”?  Continue this as the child gives you another and counts, note if they understand adding one more and how high they can count.  For older children you can say I want two more, now how many do I have?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increases abilities to combine, separate and name “how many” concrete objects.

Dramatic Play

            This is a fun story to act out   Make the Mother masks and attach to a sentence strip.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress ub 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.

Outdoor Play

Play Mouse Tag. The teacher starts off as ‘the cat’ and chases the mice trying to catch them. Have a tree or a climber be the mouse hole or safe place. If a “mouse” is caught then they become a cat and help catch other mice.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion in working, playing, and resolving conflicts with peers.

Transitions

Ask each child to tell you something that their Mother does that makes them feel special and loved. (My Mom makes me chocolate milk, My Mom hugs me and tickles me)

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition.