Twinkle. Twinkle, Little Star adapted by Kristi Fisher

This classic song has been transformed into a gentle book about animals settling in for the night.

Materials

Glitter or colored salt (in a bowl add a cup of salt and several drops of food coloring, mix well)
Food coloring
Flashlight or laser pointer
1-5 stars, cut out

Vocabulary

Twinkle (to flicker and shine)
Gaze ( to look at something for a long time)
Dusk ( the time of day when the sun is going down and it is almost dark outside)

Before Reading the Book

Tell the children that you are going to hum a song and see if they can guess the name of it. Start off humming one or two songs that you know your children are familiar with. Then hum, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Can the children name it? Sing the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with your children. Explain to the children that the time of day when stars come out is called dusk. Ask the children if anyone ever stands outside and looks/gazes at the stars with their parent? What do they look like? How do they make you feel? Introduce the book by telling the children that they can help you read today by singing along with you.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, needs, opinions, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Reading the Story

Practice ahead of time so that you can sing the words to the story. When you get to the last sentence on each page, Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are, point to the words with your finger. Encourage the children to sing”Twinkle, twinkle little star” as you point to the words.

Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes. AND Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of musical activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and musical performances.

After Reading the Story

Go back through the pages and ask the children if they can name all the animals. Name each habitat as you look at the animals. Show them how all the animals are gazing at the star.

Discovery

Let the children experiment with a laser pointer or flashlight that has easy on-off so they can make twinkling patterns on the ceiling and walls. Challenge them by placing the flashlight taken apart so that before they can use it the children must put it together.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills;develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as stapler, paper punch, scissors, and hammer. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to take apart and put together shapes.

Music and Movement

Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or change it up. Sing about;

Twinkle, twinkle great big star, Teeny tiny star, Gargantuan star, miniscule star, humongous star, etc. Show size of sta with hands and arms while singing. (Try to use or hear the children using the various size descriptors throughout the day).

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

Sing, 5 Little Stars Shining Down on Me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIwyDUfDVzE

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Blocks

Put out many plastic animals. Encourage the children to match like kinds.

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.

Art

Cut out large star shapes on yellow construction paper (older children can cut out their own stars). Show the children how to make glue designs on their star by holding the bottle upside down and moving it over the paper. Let the children use glitter or salt that has been mixed with food coloring to cover the glue on their paper. Gently shake the excess glitter/salt off of the paper.

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

Give each child a blackened page with star shapes. Put out colored chalk and small bowls of water. The child dunks the chalk into the water and colors a star. Fill in the night time picture with colored chalk, magic markers, or crayons.

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

Sand and Water

Put dry sand into the table. Add drops of food coloring throughout and let the children mix it. What colors did you make?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins t use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Library and Writing

Teach the children the poem, Star Light, Star Bright. Ask them what they would wish for. Encourage them to draw a picture about their wish and write their wish underneath. Tonight I wish for_______. Or write their wishes on star shapes and make a bulletin board.

Star Light, Star Bright

Star light, star bright,

first star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might

Get the wish I wish tonight.

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & problem Solving;develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, taask, or problem.

Give a child a star making sheet. The child uses a pencil or marker to draw from 1-2,2-3,3-4,4-5,and 5-1 in order to make a star. (This tends to be difficult at first but once a child gets the hang of it, they have been known to make LOTS of stars by tracing a circle and marking across. Best for older children).

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding;shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.

Math and Manipulatives

Put the 1-5 star cutouts on the table with a basket of small animal counters. Have the children place the correct number of animals on each star. For younger children put the stars in 1-5 order. For older children mix the order around and see if they can recognize the numbers and add the correct number of counters.

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

Outdoor Play

Bring out the bouncing balls today. Show the children how to bounce and catch, bounce and catch. count 1-10 catches. Let the child try, count along with them. Bounce and catch 1, bounce and catch 2, etc..

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

Transitions

Cut out mother animal and baby cards. Out them into a bowl or bag that the children can not see through. The children take turns pulling up a card and naming the animal and also the letter otr letter sound that the animal name begins with.

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

Resources

Me & Mama, by C. Cabrera

Follow along as a little girls spends a day joyfully along with her Mother. The illustrations help capture the love bond between Mother and Daughter.

Materials

A bit of moss if it grows in your area

Roll of aluminum foil

Paint color samples in reds, pinks, blues, purples, and fuschia (these are free anywhere wall paint is sold) TWO of each sample

Cut out several heart shapes from manila file or cardboard

Vocabulary

Silver (a shiny grayish white color)

Fuschia (a purpley pink color)

Plaid (fabric with a checkered pattern)

Before Reading the Story

Play If You’re Wearing; Call out If your wearing______ name a color-do an action. (If you’re wearing red jump up and down). As you play make sure to include the color silver. (Many children do not know what silver color looks like. Have them check their zippers and shoe ielts).

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

Reading the Story

On the page where it starts, “Out we go!”, ask the children where they think the Mama and girl are going? On the next page where it states,”I watch for Max’s tail” ask the children if they can guess who Max is? On the page with the word, “splash!” ask the children what they think this means? (They are playing in the puddles).

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates 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 plaid

In the story the girl put on her plaid pants. Ask the children if any of them are wearing plaid? Explain that plaid is made by a checkered pattern (show them a picture of plaid if no one is wearing it). Does your room contain any plaid patterns? If so, can the children recognize it?

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

On a large piece of paper draw two bowls of oatmeal. On one put blueberries on top and on the other put banana slices. Ask the children to tell which they like better, bananas or blueberries on top. Write their name underneath the correct bowl and hang it on the wall where they can see it.

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

Discovery

If moss grows in your area, bring in a clump for the children to explore. Put it onto a damp washcloth or it will dry out. How does it feel, smell, look? Encourage the children to use their senses to describe.

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 to I’m a Little Teapot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E6_PNxed5Y The children can act out the poem-song.

I’m a little paint brush short and stout,

Dip me in paint and pull me out.

Move me across the page and you will see,

What pretty pictures are made by me!

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

Have the children pretend to put on their boots. Play the song, Jump in Puddles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mKSJV8L9nU

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

Do the chant, Brush Your Teeth. As you chant, act out the different motions.

Brush your teeth everyday,

Up and down it is the right way.

Back and forth and circles too,

That’s just what you’ve got to do.

Brush your teeth everyday,

Up and down it is the right way.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, hand washing, brushing teeth, and toileting.

Blocks

Make many squares of aluminum foil that are large enough to cover different sized blocks. Show the children how to ‘wrap’ a block with foil. Let the children wrap blocks and later use to build. Note to the children that the color of the foil is silver.

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

At the easel today put out red, blue, and white paint for the children to mix and experiment with. Can they make purple, violet, pink, and fushia?

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

Encourage the children to draw pictures of their families today using colored pencils or markers. When they are finished, help them name and label the people.

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

Library and Writing

Put out the heart shapes for the children to trace around using markers or crayons. Ask the children what they call their Mother and write it on a piece of paper along with “& me”. The children can then write Mama/Mommy/Mom and Me onto the heart shape and cut it out.

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

Sand and Water

Put out containers for pouring. Make sure to include any containers you have with holes in the bottom to make rain.

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

Dramatic Play boots

Add boots of various sizes and raingear to the center today. Include a recording of a rainstorm.

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

Set up a doll house if you have one.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Put the samples into a bowl and let the children match the sets of colors. If more than one color on the paint sample, seperate them.

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

Outdoors make a puddle on the sidewalk-barefoot

Make a puddle on the sidewalk today. Let the children take off their shoes and go barefoot through the puddle and make foot prints beyond. Afterwards have them dry their feet, can they put their shoes back on the correct feet?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, hand washing, brushing teeth, and toileting.

Make a puddle on the sidewalk and use a piece of chalk to draw all around the edges. As your outside time goes, check back to see if there are any changes to the puddle. Talk to the children about evaporation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRLqAhaniyg

Science/Scientific Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

Transitions

Play Which is…taller, longer, wider, smaller, bigger, shorter, heavier, lighter. Ask the child a question that has two answers (which is longer, a jump rope or your foot? Which is taller a house or car? Etc.).

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to be able to determine whether or not two shapes are the same size and shape. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Resources

Safe, Warm, and Snug , by Stephan R, Swinburne

This book tells how a variety of animals keep their babies safe from dangers. It is told in a poetry form and has bright pictures to help illustrate the verse.

Materials

Blankets, 1 per child
Paper plates, 1 per child
Yarn
Animal and Baby match cards/dominos
Cotton balls

Vocabulary

Fish fry (baby fish)
Joey (baby kangaroo)
Slack (very loosely)
Protect (to keep someone or something safe, to guard it from harm)

Before Reading the Story;

Give each child a blanket or stuffed animal to hold. Help all the children gather in nice and snuggly. Ask them if they ever remember a time when they felt scared or nervous? (The first day at school, in a large crowded place, doing something new for the first time). Did your parent help to make you feel safe, what did they do? (They held me, My Mom held my hand, My Dad said it was ok and he watched). Ask who can you go to when you are feeling scared or lonely? (Parent, teacher, friend).

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.

Reading the Story

Take time as you read the story and talk about the pictures. Show how the parent is keeping the baby safe.

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

After Reading the Story

Explain to the children that many families, and school, make rules to help keep everyone safe. Ask the children if their family has any rules at home. ( I can’t touch my Dad’s tools, I have to ask my sister to play with her doll, when I brush my teeth I have to put my toothbrush away and not let it be a sword, I have to wear my bike helmet when I ride on the sidewalk). Talk about your classroom rules and how they keep everyone safe.

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. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; develops growing understanding of how their actions affect others and begins to accept the consequences of their actions.

Discovery

Make several copies of the animal cards. Use these to make dominos. The children must then match the pictures.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attribute such as shape or size.

Bring in a bird nest if you have one. Allow the children to examine it. Nests make baby birds feel safe, warm, and snug.

Music and Movement

Sing a song about Family, this one to the tune of Frere Jacque https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=180

Where is baby? Where is baby?

Here I am, here I am. Hold up pinkie finger

With my family, with my family Wiggle all fingers

Here I am. Hold up pinkie again

Where is sister? Where is sister? Hold up ring finger

Where is brother? Where is brother? Hold up middle finger

Where is Mother? Where is Mother? Hold up pointer finger

Where is Father? Where is Father? Hold up thumb

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

Act out the animal movements from the story. Can you swim away like a fish? Leap like a kangaroo? Crawl like a cockroach? Fly like a killdeer? Be slow and slack like a sloth? Walk on your heels like a penguin? Hop like a toad? Curl up like a snake? Soar like a bat?

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

Blocks

Encourage the children to build homes today. We live in homes that keep us safe and warm.

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

Art

Tell the children that warm fuzzies are times when people make you feel good and loved. Make warm fuzzies with the children. Let the children cut out a circle or organic shape. Have them glue cotton balls all over their shape. They can add googly eyes or small construction paper eyes. Explain to them that they can give their warm fuzzie to someone who makes them feel safe, warm, snug, or loved.

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

Help the children to write a letter to their parent. Encourage them to talk about one thing their parent does to feel protected. (Dear ___, thank you for putting on the band aide when I fell and hurt my knee.)

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

Sand and Water

Create a pond scene by adding plastic turtles, sticks for logs, plastic fish, and water. Turtles like to sit on logs in the sun where they feel safe and warm. How many turtles can the child line up on the log without tipping it over?

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Dramatic Play

Bring in the baby dolls, blankets, bottles, and anything else you have that will allow the children to practice nurturing.

Social & Emotional Development/Social Relationships; progresses in responding sympathetically to peers who are in need, upset, hurt, or angry; and in expressing empathy and caring for others.

Math and Manipilatives

Make paper plate pockets. Cut the paper plate in half. Staple the two halves together with a staple to hold them. Punch holes through both halves at the same time all along the edge. Give the children pieces of yarn and show them how to sew/lace the edges. Put out magazines with animals. The children can cut out the animal pictures and put them into their pocket.

Outdoor Play

Play Fox in the Chicken Coop. One child is the fox. The rest of the children are the baby chicks. The fox tries to catch the baby chicks but they can run to the mother hen (teacher) and be safe if they are touching her. If the fox catches a baby chick, they must sit out and say/sing the alphabet song before they can begin running again. Take turns being the fox.

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

Transitions

As the children leave to go to another activity, ask them to tell you one way that they keep themselves safe (I do not run inside, My brother helps me tie my shoe, I ask my Mom if I can go to my friends house to play)