I Love You, Bunny Rabbit Shulamith Levey Oppenheim

Any child who has a favorite well-loved stuffed toy will relate to this story about Micah and his rabbit. Will Micah turn his old worn toy in for a new one?

Materials

Send a note home letting the parents know that the children are invited to bring a favorite stuffed animal or toy to school today.
Several eye droppers and materials that have some absorbing properties (paper, paper towel, wash cloth, doll clothes, puppet, wood block, plastic toy)

Vocabulary

Concern (to worry about someone or something)
Stains (marks that won’t come out of cloth)
Mend (to sew up holes and worn spots)
Absorb (to soak up the water)
Dissolve (fall apart and become part of the water)

Before Reading the Story

Let the children talk about any stuffed animal or toy that they have brought to school today. Where did you get it, do you sleep with it, does it have a name?

Language Development/Speaking & Understanding; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Reading the Story

Show the children the cover of the book. Can they identify the animal? On the page where the rabbit comes out soaking and still has stains, ask the children if they can think of a way to get the stains off rabbits face? On the page with many rabbits, stop and ask the children what they think Micah will do? When you read Micah’s voice, read with gentleness. Note the expressions on Micah’s face as you read.

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

After Reading the Story

In the story Micah told Bunny Rabbit not to worry. Why do you think he said that? What if you saw a friend with a dirty face or clothes, what could you do to help?

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

Discovery

Put out eye droppers and a cup of water. Let the children experiment with absorption. What materials absorb lots of water, some water, no water at all?

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

Put on the Washing Machine Song and have the children dance along. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Moz_FSkRw

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

Teach your children the finger play, Here Is The Bunny. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp5RI3UOwUU

Blocks

Remind the children that cars take a bath at the car wash. Give the children cars to use and encourage them to make a carwash with the blocks.

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

Art

Give the children bunny templates for them to decorate with markers or crayons.

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

Ask the children to draw and name their favorite stuffed animal or toy. Can they tell you why this animal is special? Write any dictation on a piece of paper and attach to the child’s picture.

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

Sand and Water

Soapy water and doll clothes or dolls to wash.

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

Dramatic Play

Add stuffed animals that can be dressed in the doll clothes. (Children need plenty of practice with buttons, snaps, zippers, and buckles).

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

Math and Manipulatives

Outdoor Play

Make a puddle for the children to dig mud in and jump over.

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

Transitions

Give the children the following bathing riddles and see if they can figure them out. A bird takes a bath in a (bird bath). A car takes a bath in a (car wash). A flower gets a bath in (the rain). A person takes a bath in (a shower/tub). Clothes take a bath in (a washing machine). Dishes take a bath in (the sink/dishwasher). A dog takes a bath (in the hose). Fruits and vegetables take a bath (in the sink). Hands take a bath in (the sink). Fish take a bath in (a lake).

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Resources

My Friends, by Taro Gomi

In this story a little girl learns about the important things in life from her friends.

Materials

Loteria game
Snap clothes pins
Kitchen sponge cut into one inch squares.
Pictures of children getting along-not getting along
Any stuffed animals that you might have

Vocabulary

Before reading the Story

Ask the children if they know what it means to have a friend. Ask them what kinds of things that they like to do with their friends. Ask them if a friend has ever taught them how to do something new. Our story today is about how friends helped a little girl learn how to do many things.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; debins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences. And Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; increases abilities to sustain interactions with peers by helping, sharing, and discussions.

Reading the Story

Read the sentences slowly to see if the children can tell the animal name when you say from my friend the _____.

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

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that people can be good friends also and help teach each other to do good things. Make scenarios that the children can respond to about what they can do to help. Use puppets to help tell these scenarios. (If you are sitting at the lunch table and you want more green beans, what should you say? If you want to put a book back on the shelf but there is someone standing in front, what should you do? If you want to ride a bicycle but they are all being used, what should you do? When someone gets off so you can get on, what do you say? If someone was running on the playground and they fell down, what should you do? )

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

Discovery

Take a piece of paper, divide in half and write fighting-not fighting on it. Use pictures to have the children sort the pictures by those that look like they are getting along and those in which they are fighting. As the children sort you can talk about the pictures and if they, the child, would react the same way.

Social & Emotional Development/Social relationships; progresses in responding sympathetically to peers who are in need, upset,hurt, angry; and in expressing empathy towards other.

Music and Movement;

Chant the 1,1,1,2,3 chant.

1,1,1,2,3

All my friends are here with me.

You’re my friend, you’re my friend

1,1,1,2,3

All my friends are here with me!

(encourage the children to clap or tap out the beat as they chant)

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

Teach children Willoughby Wallaby Woo

Willoughby Wallaby Woo, I don’t know what to do.

Willoughby, wallaby wee, An elephant sat on me.

Willoughby, wallaby washed, I’m feeling awfully squashed

Willoughby wallaby woo, I don’t know what to do.

(Then go around the circle saying )

Willoughby, wallaby w____/werry

An elephant sat on Kerry!

Willoughby, wallaby w_____/woger

An elephant sat on Roger

(Continue around the circle doing each child’s name. When you get back to the beginning do the chorus)

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

Blocks

Encourage the children to work together to build a structure. Friends cooperate and work together.

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

Art

Tell the children that the little girl must be happy to learn so many things from her friends. What does your mouth do when you are happy? (It smiles). Cut out smiles from large pieces of red construction paper. Show the children how to print teeth onto the smile using a piece of sponge cut into a square and held with a clothespin and moving up and down, up and down.

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

Ask the children to think of things that they know how to do that makes them feel proud. Write these down on a piece of paper. I write their proud things on a star shaped paper. The children write their name on one side and I write what they are proud of on the other. We then hang these over the table with string.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; demonstrates growing confidence in a range of abilities and expresses pride in accomplishments. AND Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas, to using letter-like symbols, to copying and writing familiar words such as their own name.

Dramatic play

Bring in stuffed animals today. As the children play ask them if they can think of things that each animal could teach them.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Teach the children to play Loteria which is the Spanish version of BINGO. For older children instead of showing the children the pictures, only give clues for each symbol on the board.

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

Outdoor play

Take the book outside to re-read and let the children do the actions.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

Put two 6-foot long strips of masking tape onto the floor about 1 foot apart. Call two children to hold hands and then walk the line as they go to the next activity. You could have the children jump the line, walk backwards, tip-toe, etc..

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.

Resources

Loteria pictures and riddles. Make four copies of the loteria cards and 3 rows of three per card. Make a set for the caller.

Mr. Gumpy’s Outing, by John Burningham

Mr. Gumpy owns a boat. One day Mr. Gumpy was going out for a boat ride and it seemed like everybody wanted to come with. Watch what happens when a boat full of animals and people is crowded and on the river.

Materials

Several Life preservers if available
Chest plate to represent Gumpy, boy, girl, rabbit,Cat, dog, pig, sheep, chicken, cow, goat
Roll of tin foil

Vocabulary

River (a long channel or stream of water that flows to a lake or the ocean)
Squabble (to fuss at or bicker with someone)
Muck about (to mess around with or poke nose into someone else’s business).
Bleating (the sound sheep make)
Trample (to step on)
Float ( it stays on the top of the water)
Sink ( it goes to the bottom of the water)

Before reading the Story

Hold up the cover of the book and ask the children if they know what everyone is sitting in (boat)? Ask the children if they have ever been in a boat? Where do you use a boat, what do you need to wear in a boat and what do you do in a boat? Bring in several pictures of kinds of boats to name and discuss with the children. Hang the boats on the wall. Give each child a slip of paper with their name on it and have them tape it beneath their favorite boat.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Reading the Story

As you read, whenever Mr. Gumpy is asked if someone can come along, answer shaking your head. When you get to the page where it says, “For a little while they all went along happily, read until it says the children squabbled and then stop and ask the children if they can guess what is going to 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 to predict what will happen next in a story.

After reading the Story

Go through the story one more time and have the children act it out with you. The teacher can be Mr. Gumpy and the children can be the other characters (put on the picture mantels so everyone knows what part each person is playing). Make sure that they help you figure out how to act out mucking about and squabbling.

Discovery

Add a large bowl or bucket of water to the center. Put out a variety of small classroom objects that the children can experiment with to see if they will sink or they will float. Have them sort them accordingly.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss & draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Music and Movement

Sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat with the children and act out different ways you can row the boat individually or with a partner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WphumMGa7Ms Think of a variety of ways to row the boat.

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

Mr Gumpy’s boat is a long narrow punt type boat that you must push with a pole. Have the children stand and row or punt to the left, the right, the left, the right.

Blocks

If you are lucky enough to have access to several life preservers, bring them in for the children to put on and practice buckling and unbuckling. If you do not have access to life preservers, hang up the pictures of people wearing life preservers. Explain to the children that it is the law to wear them if you are in a boat on the water. Encourage the children to make a boat out of the blocks.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, preproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules a such as fire safety, traffic and pedestrian safety, and responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Art

Give the children squares of tin foil and ask them to see if they can make a boat that will float in the water table. Will their boat hold bear counters? Mr. Gumpy would be so pleased.

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins t make one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching matching groups of objects.

Library and Writing

Make a copy of the Mr. Gumpy path pages for each child. Can they follow the path and stay inside the lines?

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

Sand and water

Put water into the table today and boats to float. If you have no boats, use plastic Tupperware containers. Challenge the children to see how many counting bears they can put into the boat/Tupperware before it tips.

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

Dramatic Play

Make a set of character medallions for the children to retell the story in dramatic play.

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. 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 without being overly submissive or directive.

Math and Manipulatives

Make a simple boat shape that is just big enough for three counters of choice. Mark a “river” on the table using 2 pieces of masking tape. Give the children 10 counters and tell them that they have to get them all across the river. How many times will the boat have to go back and forth to get 10 counters across? Remember that one counter has to stay in the boat to steer. Walk the children through the steps to figure out how many times the boat has to go back and forth across the water.

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

Outdoor Play

Encourage the children to work together to build a river in the sand box. When they are finished, let them pour water into the river. What happens(evaporation)? Can the children saturate the sand enough to have it fill with water? Try this in the dirt, is it easier or harder?

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

Put out a balance beam on the playground and have the children practice walking it forward, backward, sliding side -to-side, etc.. Play a game that if you fall off then you fall into the water.

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

Transitions

Can you name an animal that was on the boat? Pretend to swim to the next activity. Can you name some more farm animals?

Approaches to Leatning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.