Category Archives: Community Helpers

Don’t Wake Up Mama! by Eileen Christelow

Today is Mama’s birthday and 5 Little Monkeys want to do something special.  Follow the antics as 5 little monkeys prepare for a birthday surprise.

Materials

  •             Birthday hats and any other “party” supplies you may have.
  •             Pieces of wrapping paper.
  •             Cake mix plus ingredients needed and a can of cake frosting
  •             Birthday candles
  •             Metal bowl or cookie sheet.  

Vocabulary

  •             Quiet (not noisy)
  •             Loud (noisy)
  •             Surprise (to catch somebody unaware/unexpected)

Before Reading the Story

Before reading the story, talk to the children about how some sounds are loud and some sounds are soft.  Ask the children if they can help name some loud sounds and some soft sounds, write their responses onto a piece of paper labeled Soft Sounds/Loud Sounds (whisper, the tick of a clock, leaves falling down, fire alarm, airplane, thunder).  Show the children the front of the book, notice the 2 monkeys with their finger by their mother, what do you think they are saying?  Notice the Mama monkey, where is she?  What is she doing?  What are those things on her ears?  Ask the children to cover their ears, what does it do to the sound of your voice? Read the children the title of the book in a very quiet voice while putting your finger up to your mouth and saying shhhh.

Literacy/ Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction non-fiction and poetry.  AND Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects and materials.

Reading the Story

 Encourage the children to put their finger to their mouth and repeat, ”Shhh! Don’t wake up mama!” where appropriate.  Make the loud sounds loud while you read.

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

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can tell you what the story was about.  Why did the monkeys not want to wake the Mama?  What did the monkeys make in the kitchen?  What happened to the cake?  Who came to help the monkeys?  What did they all do in the end?  Sing Happy Birthday very loudly with the children.

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

Discovery

Put out a metal bowl and a variety of objects (feather, cotton ball, small block, crayon).  Ask the children to drop the items into the metal bowl and tell if it made a soft or loud sound.  Have the children make a chart, loud sounds and soft sounds by putting the dropped object on the appropriate piece of paper.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes. AND Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Today would be a fun day to let the children help make cake or individual cupcakes.  After they are baked and cooled, the children can use plastic knives to frost.

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

Music and Movement

 Sing Happy un-Birthday to Us.

Happy un-birthday to us

Happy un-birthday to us

Happy un-birthday happy un-birthday

Happy un-birthday to us.

            Or…

Happy birdel daydel todel youdel

Happy birdle daydel todel youdel

Happy birdle daydel happy birdel daydel

Happy birdel daydel todel youdel.

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

Sing songs that change in voice modulation such as John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt or the Alphabet song.

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

Blocks

Add fire trucks and fire hats today.

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

Art

On a piece of paper make a large M, for monkey and B, for birthday.  Show the children how to roll out the playdough or use pinches of play dough to cover the letters.  This can also be done with the letters in the children’s names.  Cover the name with contact paper if you would like to have it for an extended period of time.

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

Library and Writing

Encourage the children to make cards to share with their parent or a friend.  It can be a un-birthday card or just a card to express love/friendship.  Help to dictate their words.

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

Sand and Water

Dampen the sand and add birthday candles so the children can pretend to make cakes.  Challenge them to add 3 candles to their cake, 7 candles, etc..

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

Dramatic Play

Add some crepe paper and birthday hats and let the children play birthday party.

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 pieces of wrapping paper and tape and encourage the children to see if they can wrap blocks like pretend gifts.

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

Outdoor Play

As the children play, encourage them to notice different sounds.  Do you hear that loud truck?  I hear a bird up in the tree.  Do you hear the wind chime?

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

Transitions

As each child prepares to go to the next activity ask them if they know when their birthday is.  If they do not, tell them something to help them learn when their birthday is. Kerry, your birthday is in the spring when the weather starts to get warmer.  Your birthday is April 9.  Roger, your birthday is very close to Christmas!  Your birthday is December 23.  Have the children repeat the dates.

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

Curious George, by H.A. Rey

Children everywhere have fallen in love with this curious little monkey and his adventures.  This is the first book in the series.  Read as George leaves the jungle and is introduced to the Man in the Yellow Hat. 

Materials

  •  An instrument that can go quickly up and down the scales such as a                                  (keyboard, whistle slide, xylophone)

Vocabulary

  •  Curious (always wanting to know about things)
  •  Deck (the floor across the front of a boat)
  •  Fascinated (very curious)

Before Reading the Story

On the page where George lands on the telephone pole, stop and let the children see if they can find the man with the yellow hat.  Ask them what they think will happen next?

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 if they remember why George was sent to prison (he made a false call to the fire department).  Talk to the children about the telephone.  It is not a toy but is used to call and talk to people.  Explain to the children when we call 911.  Let the children practice dialing 911.

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.

Discovery

Bring in a globe or map and show the children where Africa is.  Bring in some pictures of  animals in their jungle habitat.  Explain that monkeys live in jungles.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.  AND Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in the contexts of the classroom, home, and community.

Music and Movement

 Play Up and Down with the children.  Explain to the children that if the instrument goes up the scale, they are to stand up.  If the instrument slides down the scale, they are to move down.  Use varying speeds and amounts of up and down. The children must listen and then act accordingly.

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

Blocks

Encourage the children to build stairs to add to their block structures.

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

Art

Show the children how to trace around a small circular object on construction paper.  After they have traced several circular shapes onto a variety of colors, encourage them to cut them out and glue them to a piece of light blue paper. They can then add “strings” by drawing lines and make a balloon collage.

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.  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.

Library and Writing;

M is for Monkey.  What other words can the children think of that start with the letter M?  Make a list of the words that the children come up with.

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

Sand and Water

Add spray bottles to the water today.  The children can aim at something in the water table and spray it.  Or attach a target to the wall behind the table for the children to practice aiming and spraying.

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.

Dramatic Play

Bring in a straw hat and a monkey stuffed animal or puppet if you have one.  The children can then make their own Curious George adventure.

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.

Math and Manipulatives

Curious George wanted a red balloon but grabbed all of them instead.  Sort something by colors.  Put all the red in this pile, all the yellow here, and the purple over here.

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

Practice walking a balance beam.  If you do not have something like a balance beam that you can walk, draw a line about 10 feet long with a piece of chalk.  Encourage the children to walk the line, jump, slide, walk backwards. 

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

Transitions

Ask the children questions about the story as they go off to the next activity.  (Who brought George home from Africa?  Who did George call on the telephone?  How did George get away from the prison?).

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.