Mr. Gumpy owns a boat.  One day Mr. Gumpy was going out for a boat ride and it seemed like everybody wanted to come with.  Watch what happens when a boat full of animals and people  is crowded and on the river.

Materials

• Several Life preservers if available
• Chest plate to represent Gumpy, boy, girl, rabbit,Cat, dog, pig, sheep, chicken, cow, goat
• Roll of tin foil

Vocabulary

• River (a long channel or stream of water that flows to a lake or the ocean)
• Squabble (to fuss at or bicker with someone)
• Muck about (to mess around with or poke nose into someone else’s business).
• Bleating (the sound sheep make)
• Trample (to step on)
• Float ( it stays on the top of the water)
•  Sink ( it goes to the bottom of the water)

Before reading the Story

            Hold up the cover of the book and ask the children if they know what everyone is sitting in (boat)? Ask the children if they have ever been in a boat?  Where do you use a boat, what do you need to wear in a boat and what do you do in a boat?  Bring in several pictures of kinds of boats to name and discuss with the children. Hang the boats on the wall. Give each child a slip of paper with their name on it and have them tape it beneath their favorite boat.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Reading the Story

As you read, whenever Mr. Gumpy is asked if someone can come along, answer shaking your head. When you get to the page where it says, “For a little while they all went along happily, read until it says the children squabbled and then stop and ask the children if they can guess what is going to happen?

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.

After reading the Story

            Go through the story one more time and have the children act it out with you.  The teacher can be Mr. Gumpy and the children can be the other characters (put on the picture mantels so everyone knows what part each person is playing).  Make sure that they help you figure out how to act out mucking about and squabbling.

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.

Discovery

            Add a large bowl or bucket of water to the center.  Put out a variety of small classroom objects that the children can experiment with to see if they will sink or they will float.  Have them sort them accordingly. 

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss & draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Music and Movement

            Sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat with the children and act out different ways you can row the boat individually or with a partner.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WphumMGa7Ms Think of a variety of ways to row the boat.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; develops growing understanding of how their actions affect others and begins to accept consequences of their actions.

            Mr Gumpy’s boat is a long narrow punt type boat that you must push with a pole.  Have the children stand and row or punt to the left, the right, the left, the right.

Blocks

            If you are lucky enough to have access to several life preservers, bring them in for the children to put on and practice buckling and unbuckling. If you do not have access to life preservers, hang up the pictures of people wearing life preservers. Explain to the children that it is the law to wear them if you are in a boat on the water. Encourage the children to make a boat out of the blocks.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, preproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules a such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Art

            Give the children squares of tin foil and ask them to see if they can make a boat that will float in the water table.  Will their boat hold bear counters?  Mr. Gumpy would be so pleased.

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins t make one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching matching groups of objects.

Library and Writing

Make a copy of the Mr. Gumpy path pages for each child. Can they follow the path and stay inside the lines?

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

Sand and water

            Put water into the table today and boats to float.  If you have no boats, use plastic Tupperware containers.  Challenge the children to see how many counting bears they can put into the boat/Tupperware before it tips.

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

Dramatic Play

Make a set of character medallions for the children to retell the story in dramatic play.

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. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Math and Manipulatives

            Make a simple boat shape that is just big enough for three counters of choice.  Mark a “river” on the table using 2 pieces of masking tape.  Give the children 10 counters and tell them that they have to get them all across the river.  How many times will the boat have to go back and forth to get 10 counters across?  Remember that one counter has to stay in the boat to steer.  Walk the children through the steps to figure out how many times the boat has to go back and forth across the water.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Outdoor Play

Encourage the children to work together to build a river in the sand box. When they are finished, let them pour water into the river. What happens(evaporation)? Can the children saturate the sand enough to have it fill with water? Try this in the dirt, is it easier or harder?

Science/Scientific Methods & Skills; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Put out a balance beam on the playground and have the children practice walking it forward, backward, sliding side -to-side, etc.. Play a game that if you fall off then you fall into the water.

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

Transitions

            Can you name an animal that was on the boat?  Pretend to swim to the next activity.  Can you name some more farm animals?

Approaches to Leatning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Resources