Caps for Sale, by Esphyer Slobodkina

A peddler goes out to sell his caps and he falls asleep under a tree. When he wakes up, his caps are gone! Who could have taken them? Read this classic children’s story to discover the mystery of what became of the caps.

Materials

Caps page
If you have a cap, bring it in and wear it while you tell the story.
1 paper plate per child

Vocabulary

Peddler (a salesman who sells an item door to door)
Cap (a kind of hat)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they have a hat at home. Can they tell you about their hat? Does it serve a purpose (I have to wear my ball hat when I watch my big brother play little league, I wear my hat to keep the sun out of my eyes when I go fishing. I have a hat I wear when I get dressed up on Sunday).

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

Reading the Story

If you have a cap type hat, bring it in and wear it while telling the story. Introduce the book and note who is behind the tree. Ask the children to predict what they think is going to happen. When you read the page where he is refreshed and rested, ask the children if they notice anything different (all but one cap is gone).

After Reading the Story

Talk about the book with the children. Does anyone remember what a cap is? Where do you wear a cap? Did the peddler sell any of his caps? Why did he want to sell his caps? Have you ever been very hungry, how did it make you feel? What happened when the peddler took a nap? Why do you think he got so angry? What did the monkeys do when he stomped his foot? How did the peddler get all his hats back from the monkeys? What did the peddler call out as he walked with the hats on his head?

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

Ask thechildren if they would like to act out the story. If so, choose a peddler and have all the other children pretend to be monkeys.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; amd to predict what will happen in a story next. AND Creative Arts/ Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Discovery

Make a color match game. Use the caps pattern and make caps of various colors. On an index card write the color names using the coordination color marker or crayon. The children can then sort the caps by color. Use a copy machine to enlarge and shrink the cap page to make a sort game by size.

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

Music and Movement

Let the children take turns leading in this Monkey See, Monkey Do song.

When you shake, shake, shake your fist

The monkey shakes, shakes, shakes his fist

Monkeys see and monkeys do

Monkeys do the same as you!

(Jump up and down, twirl around, touch your toes, stomp your foot)

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

In the story, the peddler balances a huge amount of caps upon his head. Get out the beanbags and let the children practice balancing bean bags on different parts of their bodies while moving to music. Who can balance more than one? Can you balance your bean bag on your head, shoulder, foot?

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

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 going to buy all kinds of _______

That’s what I’m going to do!

(Children can fill in blank with what they will buy. You can let the children pick coins out of a container and then the child must name the coin and the class can sing about the coin value in place of a penny. I’ve got a nickel, I’ve got a dime, quarter).

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

Blocks

In the story the Peddler stacked his hats. Encourage the children to do stacking today. How many blocks tall can they stack before the pile falls over? If using wooden blocks make sure to set a height rule.

Physical Health & Development/ Fine Motor Skills; grows in eye-hand coordination in building with locks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads and using scissors. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Art

Put out paper plates and collage materials. The children can design their own hats to wear. Attach long pieces of yarns in two places opposite. These can be used to tie the hat under the child’s chin.

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

Library and Writing

Caps starts with the /c/ sound. What other words can the children think of that start with this sound? Make a list.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing awareness of beginning and ending sounds in words.

Sand and Water

Fill the table with water today and encourage the children to wash any hats that you may have in your classroom. As they wash can they identify the person who might wear the hat or the purpose of wearing the hat?

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

Dramatic Play

Make sure to include play money and a cash register in the center today. As the children play, talk to them about the coins and their values. Bring in a set of real coins to match the play coins to. Add any extra hats and caps that you might have.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Use the caps page to color and cut out primary color caps. Make a pattern with the caps and then see if the children can follow with more caps or a manipulative in the same colors (Unifix cubes). Practice making patterns today.

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

Outdoor Play

Play a mimic type game. You can play similar to Simon Says but instead of Simon telling the children what to do, the Peddler tells them. “The Peddler says turn around, the Peddler says run to the tree and back”.

Language Development/ Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step direction. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; progresses in physical growth, strength, stamina, and flexibility.

Transitions

Make enough copies of the hats for each child. Color them according to colors that you might be working on with your group of children. I use between 4-6 colors. Tape all of these to a flannel board or the wall where everyone can see them. Say the following poem and either point to a child/monkey or name them.

Monkey,monkey in the tree. Rogermonkey, Roger monkey in the tree

Give the purple cap down to me. Give the purple cap to me.

This is fun to do when you are teaching colors like silver, aqua, and violet.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understand an increasing complex and varied vocabulary. 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 with others without being overly submissive or directive.

Dear Parent-

Being able to copy and make patterns is an important skill to learn for later math acquisitions. Find some objects in your house that you have multiples of (silverware, socks, colored paper clips, etc.) and make a pattern for your child to copy. When they are able to copy your patterns, challenge them to make a pattern for you to copy.

Resources

Don’t Let the Pigeon drive the Bus! By Mo Williams

A naughty pigeon tries to convince your children that he should be able to drive the bus. Children enjoy interacting with this fun book.

Materials

Simple pigeon shapes
Alphabet bus page, one per child

Vocabulary

Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about rules. Why do we have rules? What are some of our classroom rules? What do you think would happen if nobody followed the rules? Is it fair for one person to not have to follow the rules but everyone else does?

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; demonstrates increasing capacity to follow rules and routines and use materials purposefully, safely, and respectfully.

Reading the Story

Read it as though you are trying to convince the children that you (the pigeon) should really drive the bus. Turn to the last page with the truck and ask the children what they think the pigeon might be thinking? (I’ll drive the truck!)

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

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that you are going to play a game about listening and following the directions. Play The Bus Driver Says… which is really Simon Says. The teacher either says,”Bus Driver says to jump up and down” or “jump up and down” The children only follow the direction if the Bus Driver says to do. Think of lots of fun and silly things for the children to do mixing up times when the Bus Driver says and times when the the Bus Driver does not say what to do.

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

Discovery

Do you have any feathers? Put out several and a magnifying glass. Encourage the children to look through the magnifying glass and see how feathers are made. Up close, they are truly lovely.

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 The Wheels On The Bus doing the actions to go along with each verse.

The wheels on the bus go round and round,

Round and round, round and round.

The wheels on the bus go round and round,

All through the town.

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

Blocks

Put out your transportation vehicles today, especially if you have a bus. Encourage the children to make roads using blocks.

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

Art

Put the book on the table so the children can see the cover. Explain that today they are going to make pigeons. Put out the pigeon shapes, either pre-cut for younger children or with scissors for older children. The children can then look at the book cover and see if they can put their shapes together in a similar pigeon fashion. Put out markers so that they can add beaks and eyes and embellishments.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put shapes together and to take them apart.

Sand and Water

Library and Writing

There is a Youtube of this story.

Literacy/Book KNowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading related activities, such as asking to have a favorite story read; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books homes; going to the library; and engaging in pretend reading with other children.

Make copies of the alphabet bus page and small pieces of paper with a letter on each. The children take turns picking up and letter and naming it. They can then all look for the letter on the bus page and color it in. Continue until all the letters are found.

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

Dramatic Play

Add a police type hat and call it a bus driver hat for today. Let the children bring in chairs to make a bus. A paper plate makes a simple steering wheel. The children can take turns driving the bus.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Put out your counting bears or similar small counters and several duplos/large legos of different sizes and shapes. Ask the children to pretend that a duplo is a bus and to see how many of the bear counters they can get onto or into the bus. As they experiment, ask them why they think one duplo can hold more counting bears that another. (The red one is longer so it has more room. The yellow one is tiny. This one has a circle so it is big)

Mathematics/ & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity. AND 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. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal.

Outdoor Play

Play Duck, Duck, Goose. Have all the children hold hands and make a large circle. Drop hands and have everyone sit down. Choose one child to be ‘It’. It walks around the circle gently tapping each child on the head saying either duck or goose. If the ‘It’ says duck, nothing happens. But if ‘It’ taps a child and says, “goose” the child quickly stands up and tries to chase ‘It’ around the circle. ‘It’ tries to get to the child’s open spot before the child can tag him/her. This child is the new ‘It’ and the game continues.

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

Transitions

Have all the children get in a line behind you. Tell them that you are going to pretend to be the bus driver and drive them to the different centers today. Have the children follow you as you make your way around the room announcing each center and letting children ‘off’ the bus to go play.

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

Dear Parents, today we read a story about a pigeon who did not want to follow the rules and begged and pleaded to be able to drive the bus. Talk to your child about house rules, why do you have them? What happens if you do not follow them? Does begging change your mind?

Resources

Screen Shot 2018-11-13 at 5.30.36 PM — Use this to make a pigeon

Careers, Following Rules

Diego, by Jeannette Winter

This is the story of a famous Mexican artist/muralist, Diego Rivera. It is written in simple text so that even young children can love and appreciate the inspiration of his vibrant colors and style. It is a good way to introduce fine arts to children.

Materials

Visit the Diegorivera.com web site to find a picture that you can share with the children. I have chosen La Noche de los Pores.
Colored chalk
Watercolors
A variety of paper types to watercolor on (construction, printer, waxed, cardboard, and newspaper).

Vocabulary

Artist (Someone who creates paintings or other creative works)
Mural (a very large painting, usually painted onto a wall)

Before Reading the Story

Show the children the picture that you have chosen and begin by encouraging the children to talk about the picture. What do they see? How many people are in the picture? What are they doing? Do you see the baby wrapped in the blue blanket? Do you ever nap or rest with your family members? How do you feel when you are all snuggled in with your family?

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

Explain that this picture was painted by a man named Diego Rivera. Mr. Rivera was an artist. Tell the children that they also are artists. When they draw or paint they are making art work. Explain that some people choose to be artists for a job.

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

Reading the Story

Introduce the book. As you read, note the images on the pages. Talk about how Diego drew things that he saw in the world. Note any picture hanging on the wall that a child might have drawn that depicts something from their life. Let the children know that they are artists too.

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences.

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that today you are going to all practice being artists. Explain that some artists are painters like Diego and other artists are dancers and sculptures, and actors, and singers. Explain that today we are going to use our imaginations and creativity to be artists.

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

Discovery

Let the children experiment with water color paints on a variety of paper types.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences and comparisons among objects and materials.

Music and Movement

Sing or chant The Rainbow Song.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRTdq0VsLGQ

Red and yellow and pink and green,

Purple and orange and blue.

I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow

How about you?

(give children slips of color and as you sing, they can hold up their colors accordingly)

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

Put on instrumental music and give each child a scarf. Encourage them to dance with the scarf. Can they throw the scarf into the air and then catch it, twirl it over their head, or make a circle around their body? Explain that dancers are a different kind of artist

Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.

Blocks

Diego used to make murals on walls. Ask the children if they can build a large wall today.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor SKills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Art

Put pieces of dark construction paper on the easel today and let the children draw with colored chalk. Try dipping the chalk into a cup of water for a different effect.

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

Put a still life on the table and encourage the children to try to draw what they see. This should be something simple like several flowers in a vase or a stick with leaves attached.

Creative Arts/ Art; progresses in abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other art creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic.

Library and Writing

Bring in art books that the children can look through. As the children look, talk about the images on the page. Help the children be aware of art and artistic styles.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book 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. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness t learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Have the children are practice writing their names today, explain to them that artists should always write their names on their artwork so that people will know who painted or drew the beautiful work.

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

Sand and Water

Dampen the sand today and add plastic bowls or sand forms to fill and make castles/shapes. Tell the children that they are like sculptures creating shapes in the sand. For young children this can be slightly difficult. Show them how to count 1-2-3 and then quickly turn the plastic form over, tap the top lightly and carefully pull off the form to expose the shaped sand.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Dramatic Play

Put out a doctor kit today. Remind the children that Diego spent much of his childhood very ill. Encourage the children to pretend to be doctors and get the dolls or each other well.

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

Outdoor Play

Ahead of time take a large roll of paper and draw a simple mural outline. It could be something like a flower garden or a giant school bus. Tape it to the wall or fence and then bring out your paints and encourage all the children to help paint the mural. Praise the children for all working so well together on the mural. You can suggest that they try to stay inside the lines but do not worry if they do not. If you add flour to the paint, it will thicken it so that it is less drippy.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion in working, playing, and resolving conflicts with peers.

Take chalk outside to draw on the sidewalk.

Transitions

Bring in a second artwork by Diego or another artist. As the children move to the next activity, ask each to answer a specific questions that related to the art work or to make an observation about the piece.

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences.

Resources