Sheep in a Jeep, by Nancy Shaw

Five sheep go out in a jeep for an adventure but things do not go as planned. The illustrations and rhyming words make this the kind of book that young children seem to enjoy over and over.

Materials

Pictures of rhyming words
Sheep outline
Cotton balls
Pincher clothes pins
5-10 objects with texture (bumpy corduroy piece, rough sandpaper, soft cotton ball, smooth plastic, squishy stress ball, etc).
Bucket of dirt

Vocabulary

Steep (that goes down very quickly and sharply) use arm to show
Leap (to jump)
Yelp (to shout)
Weep (to cry)

Before Reading the Story

Look at the cover of the book with the children. Ask them if they know what kind of animal is in the jeep? Tell the children that the sheep are going on an adventure; I wonder where they could be going? Allow the children to make guesses about where the sheep might be going. Introduce the book and read.

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

Reading the Story

When you get to page that says, “sheep don’t think to look up front”. Ask the children what they think might be about to happen? If necessary, remind the children that the sheep are on a steep hill (use arm to show). On page where, “sheep shrug”, ask the children now what could the sheep do? On the page where the sheep shout, have the children notice the sheep’s faces. How do you think they are feeling? Why? When you get to the page that says, “the driver sheep forgets to steer”, ask the children again what they think might 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 ability to predict what will happen next in a story. AND 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.

After Reading the Story

Now go back and reread the story without stopping and asking comprehension questions. Read it with a good rhythm so that it flows and the children can really hear the rhyming that occurs throughout the story. When you are finished reading play a game with rhyming words. Say AT and have the children try to make words that rhyme with it (cat, bat, fat, hat, etc.). Try other sounds such as IT, OG, and EEP.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

Discovery

Put out a variety of textured objects for the children to feel and talk about. Can they name the various textures or relate them to something else? (this tree bark is rough and bumpy like this sandpaper). Ask the children if they can guess which texture object is most like a real sheep? (soft like a cotton ball).

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

Sing Rhyming Words Sound the Same sung to tune of Loopty Loo.

Rhyming words sound the same (clap, clap)

Rhyming words sound the same. (clap, clap)

Rhyming words sound the same (clap, clap)

Rhyming words sound the same.

As you are singing this put out three pictures, two of rhyming words and one that does not rhyme. Have a child tell you which does not belong and then begin again.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

1 little 2 little 3 little sheep

4 little 5 little 6 little sheep

7 little 8 little 9 little sheep

10 little sheep say “Baaaa”.

Hold up fingers as you sing or recite.

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

Blocks

Add small cars and long pieces of sturdy cardboard to make ramps. Show the children how when they make a bigger angle, the car will go down the ramp quicker. Add a ruler so they can measure the length from the bottom of the ramp to where the car stops rolling.

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

Art

Sheep cotton balls For more artistic sheep, use puff balls

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Sand and Water

Make mud. Empty the dirt into the table and then have the children add water one measuring cup full at a time. What will happen when you mix the dirt and water? How many cups did it take to make mud? How have the children figured out how to mix the dirt and water?

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

Library and Writing

Remind the children that the book today was called Sheep in a Jeep. Ask the children if sheep could really drive a jeep? What else could you pretend the sheep are in? Encourage the children to use their imagination and then draw an illustration of Sheep in a __________. After they have finished, you can write their response on the bottom of their paper or on another piece of paper and attach it. (Sheep in a car, truck, washing machine, swimming pool, grocery store).

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

Dramatic Play

Bring in several chairs today and something to be a steering wheel. The children can pretend that they are sheep in a jeep. (I have used a Styrofoam plate or the cardboard under a pizza for a steering wheel).

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play. AND Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Math and Manipulatives

Give each child a bowl or cup and a pincher type clothespin. Spread two handfuls of cotton balls out on the table or floor. The children take turns rolling a dice and picking up that many cotton balls using the clothespin and dropping them into their bowl. When all the cotton balls are picked up, have the children count how many they have. Who has the most? The least?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal to.

Outdoor Play

If you have a hill in your play yard, roll balls or hula-hoops down. If using balls, roll the ball down the hill and see if the children can kick it back up the hill.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing balls, and using the slide and swing.

Remind the children that in the story the sheep tried to tug their jeep from the mud. Use a jump rope to make a tug of war game. Have two children on each team. The children pull and tug trying to get the other team to move forward. Let different groups of children try being tugging teams.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

Play I’m Thinking of a child that rhymes with __________. That child may then move on to the next activity. (I’m thinking of a child that rhymes with berry. I’m thinking of a child that rhymes with favid).

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

Resources

use to cover with cotton balls or puff balls

Tell Me a Tattoo Story, by A. McGhee

A father shares with his son the back-story on the tattoos that he wears. This is s sweet book about a conversation between a father and child.

Materials

Sticky backed blank name tags
2-inch paintbrushes and several buckets
Manila folders or shirt type cardboard
Ask parent to send in a picture of the child’s family. Make sure you tell the parent that you will put it in a project protector and that you will give it back within the month.
Pictures of mother and baby animals

Vocabulary

Be Kind (nice and caring towards others)
Evaporate (fades, disappears, vanishes).

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know anyone who has a tattoo? Let them share any information they might have in regards to tattoos. (My Mommy has a tattoo on her back, it’s a feather. My uncle has a tattoo right here. My grandpa has a ugly lady on his arm. He says it’s grandma). After the children have been able to share what they know about tattoos, introduce the book.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Reading the Story

On the “Be Kind” page, make sure the children understand what being kind means. What is the boy doing in the picture that is kind? When the child is in the bathtub and asks if he has ever met the pretty girl, ask him if they can guess who that pretty girl was? On the page where there is the heart with numbers on it, ask the children if they can guess who’s birthday those numbers stand for?

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

Ask the children why the boy and Father thought the heart with the numbers was the best tattoo? (It’s the boys’ birthdate). Ask the children if they know when their birthday is? Help them to understand the season or the holiday that it might be near. (Roger your birthday is December 23, that’s just right before Christmas. Angel, your birthday is in June, that’s when the weather is really getting nice outside).

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

Discovery

Pictures of Mother and Baby animals to sort and make pairs.

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

Music and Movement

Sing People In a Family to the tune of Frere Jacques . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC6rvbxdywg

People in a family, People in a family

Eat together, eat together.

People in a family, eat together

All day long, all day long.

(Ask the children what other things they do with their family and make a verse for it).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; progresses in understanding similarities and respecting differences among people such as genders, race, special needs, culture, language, and family structures.

Blocks

Add Family People to the blocks today. Watch to see if the children develop an family themes or conversation in the center today.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Art

Give each child a half of a manila folder. Use a glue-stick to stick the items from your nature walk to the manila folder. Once everything is tacked down, take a piece of aluminum foil and drape over the manila folder covering all the entire folder and objects. Show the children how to rub the foil gently with their finger to reveal the objects underneath. Tacking cardboard shapes to the manila folder could also do this. https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2016/08/in-art-room-texture-relief-with-second.html

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task, question, set of directions or interactions despite distractions and interruptions.

Sand and Water

Library and Writing

Tell the children that today they are going to make their own tattoo by drawing or writing on a blank name tag. When they are finished let them peel the paper off the back and put their tattoo on their body.

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

In the story, the father told stories about each of his tattoos. Ask the children to draw a picture about their family and then tell you the story which you can dictate onto another piece of paper.

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

Dramatic Play

Hang the pictures of the children and their families in the dramatic center. The children can use these to talk about family structures, similarities, and differences.

If you have a dollhouse, set it up today.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Use you teddy bear counters or other animal counters if you have them. Put out two groups of teddy bears and ask the child which family is larger? Put out a family with 5 members and ask the child if they can make a family with less members. Play along with the child/ren making sets that are larger than, equal to, has fewer or more.

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

Outdoor Play

If it’s a nice day, fill buckets with water and let the children use the 2-inch paint brushes to water paint the sidewalk, the building, the tree. Help them to notice that the water evaporates as it sits out in the sun. (Evaporation is when the sun heats up water, turning it into a water vapor (gas, which then evaporates into the air to become part of the rain cycle).

Science/Scientific Knowledge; develops growing awareness of ideas and language related to attributes of time and temperature.

Go for a nature walk and collect any small-thin interesting nature objects (sticks, leaves) for today’s art.

Transitions

Ask the children to name the people in their family before they go off to the next activity.

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

Resources

Be Nice to Spiders, by M. Bloy Graham

Helen the spider comes to the zoo and happily lives among the animals, until it’s time for the Mayor’s visit. What happens when all of Helen’s webs are knocked down? After reading the story children will be more aware of the benefit of spiders.

Materials

Play dough that is getting too dry for daily use.
Pipe cleaners in many colors cut into 3-4 inch sections.
Contact paper cut into 12-inch sections
A bag of plastic spiders or a bag of black beans to pretend to be spiders

Vocabulary

Matchbox (little tiny box, maybe it could hold one matchbox car or a piece of jewelry)
Ventilator (the vent, chimney like thing that you see on roofs)
Satisfied (feeling happy and contented)
Paradise (the perfect place for a spider to live)
Arachnid (animals that have two body parts)
Prey (the next victim for lunch)
Sticky (when something gets stuck to something else upon contact)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they help do chores at home? Let them share anyway that they help out at home. If they do not respond to your question ask if anyone is responsible for making their bed, taking care of a pet, brushing their teeth before bed? Ask the children to help name some of the jobs you have at school to do (sweeper, plant watering, book straightener, etc. Talk about jobs, why do we have them? Why is it important to keep our room clean? Do you have a custodian who comes in after hours? Talk about their job. Take a moment and help the children write a short note to the custodian that you can hang by the door. (Thank you for cleaning our room, it looks pretty. I like when our room smells good. You wash the floor, my Mommy washes the floor at my house). Explain to the children that today’s story is about a helper at the zoo. Show the children the cover of the book and point to the spider. Say this is Helen and she is the helper at the zoo. Ask the children if they can guess how Helen helps? Read the title and begin the story.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities;develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes.

Reading the Story

On the very first page when the zookeeper reads the note from Billy, stop and ask the children if they can guess what kind of pet might be in that little tiny box? When Helen runs like lightning, use your hand to show how quickly. When you get to the part that says, “the lions were annoyed but Helen was delighted”, stop and ask why they think Helen was so happy to see all those flies? (Spiders eat flies). When the zookeeper tells the men to get rid of all the spider webs, stop and ask the children what they think is going to happen?

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

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they remember why we should all be nice to spiders? (They eat flies). Talk to the children about some spider facts and safety. 1) Spiders belong to the family called Arachnids because they have two body parts. Who knows how many body parts insects have (3)? The world is full of many different kinds of spiders. Some are poisonous and dangerous to people but many are not. Spiders will bite if they are scared so please do not touch spiders. Spiders have sticky feet that they can use to climb up trees and walls.

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

Discovery

Put out your old playdough today and many pipe cleaners cut in quarters. Explain to the children that you are going to be making spiders. Have them roll the play dough into a ball and then slightly flatten it. Ask the children if they can remember how many legs a spider has (8)? Have them count out eight legs and stick them into their spider. Spiders also have 8 eyes. The child can either poke 8 holes to represent eyes of add 8 googly eyes. When the playdough dries, the children can paint their spiders. Or, make spiders from pinecones.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts. AND Creative Arts/Art; progresses i abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other art creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic.

Music and Movement

Sing The Eensy Weensy Spider. Change it up by making a Teeny Tiny Spider and a Humongous Giant Spider.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

If you have a spider puppet or stuffed toy spider you can do the poem, Little Miss Muffet.

Choose a child to be Miss or Mr Muffet. Put a pillow in the center of your group circle and have the child sit on it. Begin the poem. At the “along came a spider”, allow another child to put the spider in front, behind, beside, on her head, in her lap. The children must say where the spider is and the Muffit child can jump away. The child who put the spider in a position is now the new Muffit and another child gets to place the spider.

Little Miss/Mr Muffet

Sat on a tuffet (another name for pillow)

Eating her curds and whey (kind of like cottage cheese)

Along came a spider

Who sat down _____________her/him

And frightened Miss/Mr Muffet away.

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

Blocks

Use masking tape to make a large spider web design on the floor. Challenge the children to use blocks to cover the spider web. Are they able to find the correct sized blocks to fit upon the tape? Can they make a pattern using several types of blocks? Add any plastic insects that you might have today, or add several flies from the resource pattern. The children can pretend to fly their insect and get caught in the web.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures for length and area of objects.

Art

Explain to the children that spider webs are sticky so that insects, like flies, get stuck in the web and cannot get out. The spider then eats the insect for lunch or dinner. Give each child a 12-inch section of contact paper that you have taken the backing off of. Put it on the table sticky side up. Give the children collage materials and let them make a sticky collage. These are fun if you add small 3D items such as buttons, bottle caps, feathers, etc.

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

Fill the table with sand today. Add spiders and tongs/pincers and small containers. The children use the tongs/pincers to dig through the sand and pickup the spiders. How many spiders did you capture? Who found the most spiders? As the children dig for spiders you can review with them spider facts that you have learned. If you do not have small plastic spiders to add to the table today, you could use of black beans.

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

Library and Writing

Get books or pictures of real spiders that the children can look at. Notice how all spiders do not look the same however all have 8 legs and 8 eyes.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; progresses in learning how to handle and care for books; knowing to view one [page at a time in sequence from front to back; and understanding that a book has a title, author, and illustrator. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Dramatic Play

In the story, Helen was helping to keep the zoo clean by eating all the flies. Give the children damp paper towels and a broom and allow them to help clean the dramatic center or any center. Have them wipe the shelves with the damp towels and look for broken toys that should be tossed out. If you have a non-electrical vacuum (sweeper brush), let the children use it to get the lint off the carpet. (The children in my room loved using this piece of equipment and I had to finally put it up as a helper job).

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

Math and Manipulatives

Attach tape to a hula-hoop making a simple web type of design. Turn the sticky side out and hang it against, or lean it against the wall. Give the children puff balls (spiders) which they can throw at the hula-hoop target. Let them count how many spiders stuck to the tape.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, climbing, kicking, bouncing balls, and using the slide and swing. AND Mathematics/Number & Operation; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Outdoor Play

If you have a large cemented area, draw a giant spider web with chalk. This does not have to be fancy (see resources). The children can then move from side to side by hopping or jumping on the triangles. Or the children can walk the lines forward, backwards, or sliding. This could also be done inside in your large group area using masking tape.

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

Transitions

Play Bigger Than, Smaller Than. Ask the children to tell you if something is bigger than or smaller than an object or animal. Is a cat bigger than or smaller than a cow? Is a spider bigger than or smaller than a bead? Is a cow bigger than or smaller than an Elephant? Is an Elephant bigger than or smaller than an airplane? Continue naming two objects and asking if the first is bigger or smaller than the second?

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in series, and grouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Resources

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.