The Hullabaloo ABC, by Beverly Cleary

This alphabet book encourages a loud and busy day on the farm. Let the children have fun learning the alphabet through this noisy book.

Materials

Index cards
Books or pictures of farm scenes
Stuffed animals that are farm related
Plastic Easter eggs

Vocabulary

Hullabaloo (to make a whole lot of noise!)
Echo (a repeated sound or word)
Bawl (to cry)
Yodel (a kind of singing)

Before Reading the Story

Show the children the cover of the book and ask the children if they recognize what is on the girl’s shirt. Read the title of the book and ask the children if they know what a hullabaloo is? Tell them it is to make a whole lot of noise! Ask the children what they can do while they sing the alphabet song to make a hullabaloo (clap, shout the words, stomp their feet), pick one idea and sing the alphabet song. As you sing, point to the letters on your alphabet wall chart.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Reading the Story

As you read the story, talk about what is happening on the pages (A-B; can you tell what game they are playing? E; who knows what an echo is? Have the children try a few/ Hello!/hello, Ms. ____ is the best teacher!/Ms ____is the best teacher!). Continue through the book.

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

After Reading the Story

On index cards write the children’s first letter of their name, K=Kerry. Hold up the letter and ask if anyone recognizes this letter, do you know it’s name? Help the children think up a sound they can make with their letter (K=crow, R=roar, T=tap your feet on the floor).

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.

Discovery

Put out books or pictures of farm scenes for the children to talk about and compare. Can the children name different structures on the farm? Do they know the kinds of animals that might live on a farm or the produce that a farm might sow? Explain to the children that it takes many people to make a farm run and it is hard work. On farms where animals live, the animals must be fed and cleaned (someone has to muck up all that poop). And on farms that grow produce someone has to plant the seeds and water then. And when the produce is mature someone has to pick it and put it in the trucks to take it to the market.

Science/develops an increasing ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences and comparisons among objects and materials. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Music and Movement

Sing the alphabet song pointing at the letters as you go.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.

Put out your music instruments to make lots of noise. Add a metal coffee can to make the sound of drumming on the washtub.

Creative Arts/Music; experiments with a variety of instruments.

Sing Down By the Bay and have the children echo back each line. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAjhLexlrDc

Teacher Child Response

Down by the bay Down by the bay

Where the watermelons grow Where the watermelons grow

Back to my home Back to my home

Where I dare not go Where I dare not go

For if I do For if I do

My Mamma would say My Momma would say

Did you ever see a whale, waving his tail, down by the bay.

Did you ever see a snake baking a cake, down by the bay

Did you ever see a mouse painting a house, down by the bay

Encourage the children to help make up more verses.

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

Sing Sweetly Sings the Donkey. Use the beginning of the song Down by the Station and then make the donkey braying sounds loudly!

Sweetly sing the donkey,

At the break of day.

If you do not feed him

This is what he’ll say…

Hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw!

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

Teach the children how to yodel (o-d-lady, o-d-lady, o-d-lady-i-o).

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

Go on a farm exercise adventure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHJ2fW3iJVE. Can the children help make up more adventure?

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

Blocks

Use index cards and write the letters E,T, W, H, L, F, N. Add these to the center and encourage the children to try to make the letters using blocks.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.

Art

Ask the children if they remember where the setting was in the story ( a farm). Encourage the children to draw farm animals.

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.

Library and Writing

Put the book in the center and let the children use magnet letters. Can they put them in alphabet order? Can they match the letter to the page?

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.

Sand and Water

Put dirt in the table today and let the children add water to make mud, slick and wet.

Science/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.

Dramatic Play

Add any stuffed farm animals that you might have and plastic eggs to gather from the chickens.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Cut index cards in half. On each half write a capital letter, you do not have to use all 26 letters, just make sure you have some that are made with all straight lines (WETIHL) and some that have curved lines (QRPSGJC). Put out a piece of paper with a line drawn down the middle. On one side write straight lined letters and on the other side write curved line letters. Let the children sort the letters accordingly. Can they name any of the letters as they sort?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement’ shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size. AND Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their name.

Outdoor Play

Ask the children to help you think of ways to make noise on the playground today. (use a stick along the chain link fence, use a shovel to bang on a bucket, kick a ball, scream, etc.)

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

Transitions

Turn to various pages in the book and ask the child if they can name the letter, then read the page and let them make the noise of that letter (J is for jabber, the child can say go away, go away!)

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their name. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Resources

Sam and the Firefly, by P.D. Eastman

Sam is lonely until he meets a new friend who can write words. But sometimes words can lead to trouble.

Materials

Jar and fireflies (10-15)
Glow in the dark paint (you can buy jar at craft store for around 1.00)
Small laser light (ask a friend who owns a cat if they have one)
Several flashlights

Vocabulary

Firefly (a kind of insect with a bottom that glows like a little light in the dark)

Before Reading the Story

Tell the children that you are going to play a word game. Bring in pictures of animals, about 8-10. These can be from a book. Tell the children that you are going to write a word and they are going to practice reading it. Write the first letter of the animal name and make the letter sound. Continue slowly writing each letter and sounding out the letter name. When the children have guessed the word, finish writing the name, have all the children repeat the word and then show the children the picture. When you are finished with this activity, tell the children that the story today is about a firefly that can write words with his glowing bottom.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows increasing ability to discriminate and identify sounds in spoken language.

Reading the Story

When you get to the page where Sam is trying to figure out how to get Gus out of the jar, stop and ask the children if they have any ideas.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experience; 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 Gus got in trouble? Tell them that sometimes playing jokes on people can hurt their feelings and make them mad. Talk about all the good things we use words for (words tell us the story in the book, words help us ask someone to play with us, words let people know what you want or like). Ask the children if they know what words are made out of (letters). Use your flashlight/laser to point to letters on your word wall or alphabet chart. Ask them to name the letters. Point out as you sing the alphabet song.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Discovery

Put several flashlights in the discovery center for the children to try being fireflies and flashing out the syllables of each others names. For more of a challenge, take the flashlights apart and have the children put them together.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing ability to hear and discriminate separate syllables in words. AND Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to uses senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

If you live in an area where there are fireflies, catch them the night before and bring them in for the children to observe and record.

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

Have your children recite the following poem with you. Each time you say blink they can open and shut their hands to make a blink motion.

Fireflies

Fireflies come out at night

Blink blink, blink blink

Showing off their shiny light

Blink blink, blink blink

In the summer sky

Blink blink, blink blink

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

Blocks

Gus the firefly made a traffic jam. Ask the children to make a road and add traffic signs.

Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes.

Art

Put out glow in the dark paint and Qtips for the children to make small fireflies onto dark paper (print up and down) or to write their names.

Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas, to using letter-like symbols, to copying or writing familiar words such as their own name.

Library and Writing

Put out yellow or neon markers and paper. Encourage the children to write their names or copy words from the book.

Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from 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

Put a very small amount of sand mixed with water to make a mixture that you can form into castles. Give the children alphabet cookie cutters or other shape cutters to make letters/designs in the sand.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.

Dramatic Play

The story takes place at night. Encourage the children to act out night time rituals.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Make several copies of the jar and firefly page. Play an adding and subtracting game with the children. (Catch one firefly and put it in the jar. Now catch two more. How many fireflies do you have in the jar? Oops, one flew away, how many are left in the jar?)

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

Outdoor Play

Play firefly tag. The teacher is the light flasher. The children run around the playground and try not to get tagged by the flashlight/laser light. If they are tagged, they must go to the “jar” a designated spot on the playground. The other children can free those in the jar by touching it/the designated spot (ie- a tree). All the children continue to run until the laser light lands on them.

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

Transitions

As you dismiss the children to the next activity use a flashlight to blink out the syllables of their name. Ask them to count the syllables. (Ker-ry=2)

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

Resources

Old Black Fly, by Jim Aylesworth

Old black fly is buzzin around and annoying everybody in the kitchen. This alphabet book will have all the children repeating, “Shoo fly, shoo fly, shoo!”

Materials

Two clean fly swatters
Several old toothbrushes and Popsicle sticks

Vocabulary

Shoo (go away!)

Before Reading the Story

Show children a fly swatter. Does anyone know what this is? When do you see flies? Explain that flies land on food and throw up a tiny bit of liquid that they then suck up through their straw like mouth, yuck! They also walk all over your food with dirty feet. Because their feet are dirty, they can make you sick. If a fly comes near your food, use your hands to move him away and say “Shoo fly, shoo fly shoo!” Let the children practice this several times.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.

Reading the Story

Tell the children when you get to the parts that say “Shoo fly shoo fly shoo!” you need them to help.

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

As you turn each page, point to the letter and see if the children can name it.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

After Reading the Story

Go back through and point out the letter on each page and ask the children what went with it (O=olive oil).

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; associates sounds with written words, such as awareness that different words begin with the same sound.

Discovery

Find an old dead fly and put it into a sealed container (bug catcher, empty cassette case) and let the children examine it with magnifying glasses. Do you see its two eyes? Do you see the hairs on its legs? How many legs does the fly have? What are those things on his back? For older children encourage them to draw what they see.

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

As an extended activity, take a container of milk and put it someplace out of the way. This should be at room temperature so that the children can hypothesize what will happen and then observe the milk over a period of a week. Each day carefully pull it down and let the children talk about the changes that are occurring. Can they predict what is going to happen to the milk?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to describe and discuss predictions, explanations, and generalizations based on past experiences.

Music and Movement

Put on the video of Flick a Fly and let the children dance along with the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgPKQKa4U9E

Creative Arts/Movement; shows growth in moving in time to different patterns and beat in music.

Sing the alphabet song. Sing it starting off in a whisper voice getting louder and louder. Sing it in a loud voice getting softer and softer. Use this same effect using classroom instruments. Point to each letter on your alphabet chart as you sing.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows that the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Blocks

Challenge the children to make alphabet letters using the blocks. You might want to use a dry erase board to show the shape of several letters at a time. It is easiest to begin with capital letters as there are more straight lined letters. With the help of a teacher, four year olds can begin to write their names using blocks.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows that the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Art

Show the children the cover of the book and the spray that is following the fly. Tell the children that you are going to make spray using paint. Put out several bowls of colored paint. Give the children old toothbrushes and Popsicle sticks. Show them how to scrape the Popsicle stick against the toothbrush to make the paint spatter onto their paper.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety if ways for creative expression and representation. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Sand and Water

Fill the table up with sand. Put magnet letters in and mix it all up. Let the children sift through the sand in search of the letters. Can they name them? Can they make a word that begins with the letter sound?

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge;identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Library and Writing

Encourage the children to write or trace alphabet letters. If you do not have large letters, find punch out ones at the local Dollar Store that the children can trace around.

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. AND Physical Health & Development; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various types of technology.

Dramatic Play

Kitchen play today. Can the children sort all the foods that must go in the refrigerator from those that do not have to go in the refrigerator? Ask what do you think would happen if you did not refrigerate the food?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Math and Manipulatives

Use food cards to sort those that need refrigeration and those that do not.

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

Outdoor Play

Bring your fly swatters outside and with chalk write the letters of the alphabet on the sidewalk. Hold up a letter written on an index card or piece of paper. The children then must find it on the sidewalk and swat it with their swatter. Ask them if they can name the letter. If not, say the letter name and have them repeat swatting the letter again. This game needs to be controlled and works best with two children at a time.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name. AND SOcial & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops an increasing ability to give and take in interactions; to take turns using materials and in games; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Transitions

Same activity as outdoor play but in the classroom. Use 26 paper plates on the floor. For younger children only put out 5 paper plates at a time.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds

Resources

Dear Parent,

Learning letter names is hard work for children. You can help them by learning the most important letters first, those in their name. Write your child’s name on a piece of paper and encourage him or her to copy it. As you and they write the letters, name them and encourage your child to repeat back to you. Once your child has mastered his/her first name, work on your last name or the names of other family members. The idea is to get your child to see, write, and name letters.