Go Dog Go, by P.D. Eastman

This is a fun opposite story about a whole range of dogs on the go.

Materials

Roll of crepe paper
A dog breed book or many pictures of dog varieties.

Vocabulary

Opposite (two words that are totally different in what they mean)

Before Reading the Story

Give each child a small toy car. Tell the children that cars take people to where they want to go. Most cars travel on roads. Some roads take people under mountains or rivers. These are called tunnels. Ask the children if they can make a tunnel using their body for their car to drive under. Sometimes the road goes over rivers or railroad tracks, these are called bridges. Can they make a bridge with a part of their body for their car to drive over? Play a version of Simple Simon by asking the children to put their cars under, over, or on different body parts. (Can you put your car over your elbow? Under your knee? On your neck?) When you are finished, ask each child to drive their car back to you.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects, and words such as up, down, over, under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind.

Reading the Story

When you get to the pages where the dog says he does not like the hat, say good-by with attitude. When you get to the page where the dogs are going up the tree and the book is asking why?, make sure you stop and let the children tell you why they think the dogs are going up the tree.

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 back through the book with the children and see if they can name the opposites. Show a page giving the first opposite in the set and see if the children can give the second word in return. (ie day and ____ are opposites).

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

Discovery

Bring in a book or pictures of real dogs. Let the children examine the likes and differences of different breeds. You could graph which kind of dog is the children’s favorite.

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

Music and Movement

Teach the children the song, Opposites, sung to All Around the Mulberry Bush.

Everything I always say,

You always the opposite.

When I say ______,

You say ______!

(Use opposites from the story; day/night, up/down, over/under, big/little, black/white, etc)

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

Play a repeat game with the children. Say, “The car moves”. The children repeat this back. Now say the same sentence but add another detail. “The car moves quickly”. Have the children repeat back to you. After they have repeated continue to add more details one at a time (the blue car moves quickly, the big blue car moves quickly, the big blue car moves quickly down the road). Continue until you run out of ideas or the sentence becomes too long for the children. Try another sentence.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; progresses in clarity of pronunciation and towards speaking in sentences of increasing length and grammatical complexity.

Blocks

Ask the children to try to build a car wash for the cars.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through on plans.

Art

Put out large pieces of paper and shallow bowls of paint. Let the children use small toy cars to paint. Dip the wheels in the paint and then go back and forth and round and round on the paper. Go dogs go!

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Library and Science

Have the children trace around a circle shape onto a piece of green, yellow, and red construction paper. Let them cut these out and copy the words; go- on green, slow on yellow, and stop-on red.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, string beads, and using scissors. AND Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas to using letter-like symbols, to copying or writing familiar words such as their own name.

Sand and water

Water play. Put out boats or small Tupperware’s that float. Add several small animals. Ask the child to put the animal on the boat, under the water, and over the water.

Water play. Out out boats or small tupperware’s that float. Add many small animals. Ask the children how many animals will fit on the boat before it sinks.

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

Dramatic Play

Bring in a variety of hats. Ahead of time let the parents know that today is silly hat day and have everyone bring a hat from home. Add party making supplies to the center. A roll of crepe paper and some paper to make signs that say the party is here.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Tell the children that you are thinking about wheels. How many wheels does a car have, a bicycle, a tricycle, roller blades, a big truck, an airplane, a train? Look around your room for toys that depict modes of transportation and have the children count the wheels.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness if numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Outdoor Play

Encourage the children to be dogs racing in their cars. As they come around you call out Go ____Go! Or stop ____stop! Bring out a set of the traffic circles that were made. Hold them up as the dogs are driving.

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

Transitions

As the children go to the next activity tell them to pretend that they are dogs driving cars. Call them by saying Go____Go!

Resources

Tape in block center for children to use while making a car wash.

Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, by Kevin Henkes

Lily has a new purse that she is very proud of, but what happens when she brings it to school and tries to interrupt the teacher?

Materials

Blue Prints
Purse shape
Pillowcase

Vocabulary

Jaunty (playful)
Lurched (jerked forward)
Furious (very angry)
Demonstrated (to show how something works)
Diva (a starlet)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children to think about a career that they think they would like to be when they grow up? Help the children learn to recognize that things that they like doing can perhaps be a career later. (Andres likes to build with blocks, maybe he will grow up and build houses. Lisa likes to pretend to cook in the dramatic center, maybe she will grow up to be a famous cook and write a cookbook. Wanita is always playing with the musical instruments, maybe she will grow up to be in a rock and roll band).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Reading the Story

Stop on the page where Lily reads the note that Mr.Slinger placed in her purse. Though the pictures are small, ask the children to see if they can tell how Lily is feeling,shy? On the page where Lily’s father makes a tasty snack, ask the children why he said,”I think Mr. Slinger will understand” (Lily said he was a fat mean teacher-she was angry)

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation;Shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction, and poetry.

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that you will have a day that they can bring something special to share with the rest of the class. Let them know that you will send a letter home telling their parent what day they may bring their special item to share.

Discovery

Gather up several objects from each of your centers. For younger children choose more familiar objects. Keep these items out of view of the children and place one inside a pillowcase. Challenge a child to put their hand inside the pillow case and try to figure out what the object is by using their sense of touch only. Encourage the children to play this game with a partner.

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.

Music and Movement

Put on some music and tell the children that you are all going to do some “Interpretive Dancing” just like Lilly and Mr Slinger did. Put on the music and have fun.

Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles.

Sing I’ve Got A Penny

I’ve got a penny, I’ve got a penny

I’ve got a penny shiny and new.

I’m gonna buy all kinds of ______

That’s what I’m gonna do.

Child names what they would buy if they had money. Use a quarter like in the story and as you sing the children can pass it around so that the person with the quarter gets to name what they would buy.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Blocks

Add blueprints to the center and encourage the children to see if they can follow them just like a real builder or architect would.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials.

Ahead of time, make simple block structures using 3-6 blocks. Challenge the children to copy your structure. This can also be done by taking pictures of the structures and tape them to the wall for the children to copy using the blocks. As they copy tell them that they are reading the directions.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials.

Art

Give each child a simple purse shape. Put out magazines and scissors and have the children cut out items and then glue them onto their purse. These can be hung on the wall with a sign that states, “What’s In Your Purse?”. (When I have told the children that this is what out bulletin board says, they begin to have fun and cut out crazy stuff and laugh that it would be found inside a purse (cars, spaghetti on a plate,animals, a baby).

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Sand and Water

Add play money/coins to the sand today. As the children dig and find the coins, ask them if they can name the coins. After they have found a handful, encourage them to sort the coins by like kinds. Then have them bury them back into the sand for another child to dig and find.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to be able to determine whether or not two shapes are the same size and shape.

Library and Writing

Remind the children that in the book, the children went to the Lightbulb Lab where they could draw and write about any ideas that they had. Tell the children that today you are going to use your writing center as a Lightbulb Lab. Encourage the children to use paper and pencil to draw out inventions or things that they would like. Go over occasionally and ask the children if they would like you to add any dictation to their work.

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play. AND Science/ScientificSkills & Knowledge; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Dramatic Play

Add purses to the center today. Try to have many smaller items that the children can put into their purses (play money, wallet, small mirror, paper and pencils, sunglasses, gloves, etc.)

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities.

Math andManipulatives

Put out any puzzles that you might have that depict children at school. As the children work on the puzzles ask them to talk about what is happening in the picture. Can they describe using full sentences?

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

Outdoor Play

Remind the children that in the story, Lily was so happy that she ran and skipped and hopped all the way home. Play a follow the leader game on the playground and run and skip and hop about.

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

Bring a purse to the rug and a box or bag that the children cannot see through filled with different pieces of equipment from the room. Put an item into the bag without the children seeing and let a child feel inside to guess what it is in the purse. Make sure you use items that the children are familiar with. (Some things that I have used are; small cars, crayons, magnifying glass, play person, wallet from dress-ups, a shoe from dress-ups, turkey baster from water table, etc)

Dear Parent- We have decided that we would like to do ashow and tell at school. Your child isbeing asked to bring something that they consider special to school to shareand talk about with the other children. We will make sure that this item is put up safely after your child hasshared it with the class. Your child’s day is _____________.

Resources

Building a House, by Bryon Barton

This simple text story and wonderful bright pictures makes it easy for children to see all that goes into building a house.

Materials

Pictures of tools
Several large boxes, the bigger the better!
A sharp knife/Exacto blade
5 paintbrushes 2-3 inch width and also rollers
Pictures of animal homes
Block center blueprints
Box of graham crackers, can of frosting, string licorice cut into small pieces

Vocabulary

Before Reading the Story

Open the book up to the page that reads,” The house is built”. Ask the children to help name all the parts of a house (window, door, roof, wall, chimney, and step). Ask the children if they know who the people are that help to build houses, perhaps a parent does some sort of construction. Explain to the children that it takes lots of people to help build a house. Turn to the front cover and introduce the book.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Reading the Story

Take your time on each page and talk about what the people are doing. Talk about the tools and name the objects. Point out all the work that goes into building a house.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can remember the kinds of work/ers that build the house. If they are having trouble recalling do a walk through of the book one more time and see if the children can recall what is happening on each page. Show the children the last page where the family is moving in. Ask the children to think about where things go on the inside of the house. Where would you put the oven (kitchen)? Where would you put the bed, your toothbrush, the TV, the car, etc)?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction and poetry. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Discover

Make two copies of the animal in their homes cards and cover the back so the children cannot see through the paper. Use these to play Memory with the children. Mix all the cards and lay out on the table picture side down. The children take turns picking up two cards. If they match, they get to keep them. If they do not match they must put the cards back on the table picture side down where they found them. Have the children take turns picking up 2 cards until all the pairs have been found.

Music and Movement

Teach the finger play, Houses.

This is a nest for the Bluebird Cup both hands, palms up fingers together

This is the hive for the bee Make a fist with one hand

This is a hole for the rabbit Make a hole placing fingers to thumb

And this is a house for me. Fingertips from both hands together to make a peak

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

Blocks

Make block blueprints and put in center along with hard hats. To keep these for repeated use, cover them with contact paper. As the children build with the blocks today, encourage them to read the blueprints and see if they can make the structure using your classroom blocks. I have included several examples under resources but this works best when you use your own classroom blocks and the skill levels of your children to build.

Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing patterns and shapes, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Art

Explain to the children that you are going to build houses. Give each child 3 graham crackers and a tiny bit of frosting. First show them how to carefully break the graham crackers in half to get 6 squares and then them how to spread the frosting on the edges of the cracker to use for paste. Put on the walls and the roof. Use small pieces of licorice strings to embellish with windows and doors. Glue embellishments on with frosting.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence/grows in abilities to persist and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences. AND Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Sand and Water

Add dampened sand today and encourage the children to dig burrows and make caves.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Library and Writing

Have the children to draw a picture of their house. Ask the children to tell you three things about their house (the door is red, my room is upstairs, I got a window that looks at the street). Write their responses at the bottom of the page. Put all the pictures in a book form and title it Whose House? As you read the pages, the children can guess whose house it is.

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play. AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as asking to have a favorite books read; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books home; going to the library; and engaging in pretend reading with other children.

Dramatic Play

Put out any play tools you have and let the children pretend to build a house. Add flashlight, tape measure or ruler, and hard hats.

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

Math and Manipulatives

On index cards write numbers 1-5. Use the tool pictures and ask the children to name the item. Repeat back the object clapping out the syllables. Ask the child to count the syllables while they repeat/clap the word. Put the item above the correct number index card. How many items have one syllable, two syllables, etc..

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing ability to hear and discriminate separate syllables in words. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects,

Outdoor Play

Bring out any large boxes that you have collected. Put paint into large enough containers that the children can easily get the paintbrushes and rollers into it. Put the boxes with the opening facing down. Allow the children to paint the boxes to make houses. With the children decide where the teacher will cut the windows and doors once the paint dries. Let the children use the houses on the playground.

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. AND 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.

Transitions

Hold up a tool card. Can the child name the tool? Can they tell how the tool is used or pantomime using the tool? Let the children take turns naming tools as they go to their next activity.

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.

Dear Parent- Today we read a story about building a home. Take a walk through your house today and see if your child can name all the different rooms and their purpose. Or, open up your home tool box and show your child the various tools that you use to keep up and maintain your home. If possible, give your child a scrap of wood so that they may experience hammering, screwing, and sawing.