This old Appalachian counting rhyme comes to life with Mr. Keats bright illustrations.  If you know the tune, this is a wonderful book to sing and act out with your children. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIDHDfk3sm8 (Make sure to change up the words to match the version of the book you are using).

Materials

• Copy of each animal in the story plus 6 other animals not found in a meadow
• Meadow, not meadow sort page

Vocabulary

• Meadow (a grassy field that has a stream running through it.)
• Basking (to lie in the sun)

Before Reading the Story

            Tell the children that your story today is called over in the meadow.  Ask them if they think they know what a meadow is?  Show a picture or draw one on a chalkboard explaining the parts of a meadow (Draw a grassy area, a stream, some trees, and a gate).  Tell them that many kinds of animals live in meadows.  Ask them if they can think of any that might like to live in this one.  Make a list of animals that they name.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Reading the Story

            If you know the tune for this story, sing it instead of reading it.  Hold up your fingers on each page and let the children say the number.  Note if any animal is on the children’s list from above (Hey Kerry, you said a fish!)

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

After Reading the Story

            Go back and do a picture walk.  On each page have the children do the action and ask them if they know the sounds the animals make.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Discovery

            If you have an old aquarium, set it up with a habitat for a small creature that is familiar to your children.  Bring one in for a few days so the children can observe it.  Put out magnifying glasses, paper and pencils for recording their observations.  (We get toads on our playground which the children love to catch, we bring one or two inside for a day to observe.  We have also made a Roly Poly habitat, a catfish tank, and a worm habitat).

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

Music and Movement

            Count from zero to ten and back again.  Use your fingers to hold up and take down as you count.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increasing ability to count to 10 and beyond.

            Re-sing the book with the children.  On each page, have the children clap the appropriate number of times.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Teach the poem, Beehive.

Here is the beehive,                                  Make a fist

But where are the bees?                            Shrug shoulders

Hiding away, where nobody sees                    Look down at fist

 I hear them now, they’re in the hive               Put fist up to ear

 Out come the bees, 1,2,3,4,5.                             Hold up fingers as you count

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

Blocks

            Bring in a box of items that the children can use with your rubber/plastic animals to make habitats (Styrofoam block, rocks, sticks, cloth square).

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Art

            Cut large pieces of green construction paper in half.  On each half, draw a line 2/3 the way across the long ways.  Have the children cut fringe on the paper stopping each time at the line.  After they have cut “the meadow grass”, encourage them to draw an animal or person to go into the meadow.  Tape all the fringed pieces of paper onto the wall in rows then slide the animals/people in between.  Make a label that says Over in the Meadow.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools including pencils, amarkers, paint brushes, and various other types of technology.

Sand and Water

            Bring in grass clippings and small animals.  Pretend your table is a meadow today.

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

Library and Writing

            Have several children sit with you and the book.  Ask the children questions about each page.  Who is this?  What are they doing?  What is basking?  Do you ever bask in the sun?

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Dramatic Play

            Parent and baby play today.  Who is the mother?  What will you teach your children to do today? (Set the table, change the baby, get dressed up)

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

Math and Manipulatives

            Cut and contact the animal pictures.  Have the children sort the pictures by those that live in the meadow and those that do not live in the meadow. 

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

Outdoor Play

            Make a hopscotch board and practice jumping and hopping to the numbers.

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

Play, 1-2-3 What Number Do You See? Make two fists and bump them together as you say 1-2-3. As you say What number do you see? Hold up 1-10 fingers. Ask a child to answer before they head off to the next activity.

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

Resources