The Golden Egg Book, by Margaret Wise Brown

A little bunny finds an egg, what could be inside? How will he find out? This is a classic first mystery story for children.

Materials

Pictures of 5 animals that come from eggs
One hard boiled egg
Lots of plastic Easter eggs
Enough plastic eggs for everyone in the class to hold one. Fill them with rice, penny, paperclip, etc. You will need two of each egg. Tape them closed so the children can not open them.
Duck-Rabbit flannel
Pre-made egg shapes 1-10 and many paperclips.
Several plastic cups, a piece of string and small sponge for each, a bowl of water.

Vocabulary

Mystery (something secret)

Before Reading the Story

Put a hard boiled egg inside of a small bag. Tell the children that you brought something in your bag but it is a mystery. Shake the bag; can anyone guess what it is? Give the children clues and see if they can guess (it comes in many colors and sometimes is even speckled, we can eat it, it’s shaped like an oval, it comes from a reptile or a bird). Have a child put their hand in the bag and feel the egg. If they still do not guess, have a child pull it out of the bag. Tell the children that birds like chickens and cardinals/bird in your area come out of eggs. Show the children several pictures of other animals that come from eggs like alligators, turtles, snakes, birds, and spiders, frogs.

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

Reading the Story

After reading the page about what the bunny thought might be in the egg, ask the children what they think is inside? After reading the part where the bunny threw a little rock, ask the children if throwing a rock at it was a good idea? What could the bunny have done besides throwing a rock?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; predicts what will happen next in a story. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

After Reading the Story

Cut out the animals that come from eggs and cut a piece of construction paper into an oval. Lay the animals where the children can see them. Tell the children to close their eyes and count to five. While they are counting, cover one of the animals with the egg shape. Can they guess which one is hidden? Go around your circle letting each child have a turn and play until the children get tired or can easily name the missing animal.

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

Discovery

Put the plastic eggs into a basket and tell the children that there are pairs that when shaken will make the same sound. Ask the children to try to find the pairs of eggs by listening carefully while they shake them.

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 some of your favorite songs while everyone shakes an egg. Use your eggs from science or fill enough with rice so that every child has an egg to shake.

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

Sing Shake Your Egg to the tune of Jingle Bells

Shake your egg, shake your egg,

Shake it very high

Shake it low, shake it fast,

Shake it very slow

Shake your egg, shake your egg

Shake behind your back

Now shake your egg, shake your egg

And put it in your lap.

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

Make the duck/rabbit from resources and use it to teach the children the poem; My Little Yellow Duck

My little yellow duck,

Is really very funny

When you turn him over,

He becomes a little bunny!

(The first time you read the poem…When you turn the duck over to become a bunny, go slowly and see if the children can guess what the duck will become).

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.

Blocks

Put several eggs into the center. Ask the children to build ramps for them to roll down. Will the egg roll faster or slower if the ramp is higher/lower? How can you make it so the eggs won’t fall off the ramp?

Art

Cut out egg shapes from manila files. Put out tissue paper squares and a bowl of glue mixed with a little water to thin it out. Give the children paint brushes to paint the glue onto the egg. Stick the tissue paper squares on top and add another layer of glue. The colors will blend to make new colors.

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

Put egg halves in the sand or water. The children can use them to scoop/pour and to fill and put together.

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

Ask the children to draw an animal that might be inside an egg. After they have drawn, place a construction paper egg over their picture. You can cut out a hole in the egg so it makes a peek through picture. On the bottom of the egg write; What’s inside Kerry’s egg? The children can write their own names and these can be stapled together to make a book.

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

Let’s cook eggs, either pretend or real.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Cut out 1-10 eggs from manila files. Label them 1-10. Put the appropriate number of dots along the edge. Show the children how to put the appropriate number of paperclips onto each egg. Ask them to place them on the table in the proper 1-10 order.

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

Outdoor Play

Chicken noise makers. https://allfortheboys.com/chicken-in-a-cup/ Take a plastic cup and poke two small holes into it. String the yarn through the holes and tie a knot. Wet the sponge and run it down the length of the yarn while another child holds the cup. As you jerk the sponge down the yarn, it makes it squeaky, clucking sound.

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

Transitions

Play I’m Thinking. Let the children take turns guessing what you are thinking of. Always start out with a shape. If they cannot come up with something that shape, add more details. (I’m thinking of something that is shaped like an oval, I’m thinking of something that is square that we use to watch videos on).

The Rainbow FIsh, by Marcus Pfister

Rainbow fish thinks he is so beautiful and special that he does not want to share with others. What he learns is that to have friends, one must be a friend and share.

Materials

Shiney and silver materials that can be used for collaging (foil, ribbon, sequence, papers)
A silver writing marker or pen
Sidewalk chalk and spray bottle
Minnows (found in a bait shop) This is an added expense but if you can afford is really fun to do.

Vocabulary

Shiney (something that sparkles)
Silver (a color)
Scales (the skin covering of fish)
Fin (the part that moves to help fish swim)
Gills (the part of the fishes body that help it get air to breath)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children how they feel when someone ignores them or is not nice to them? Ask the children what does it mean to share? How do you feel when someone shares with you or you share with someone else? Allow the children to discuss any ideas they have about friendship and sharing.

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

Reading the Story

On the page where the octopus tells Rainbow Fish to share his scales, ask the children if they know why this will make Rainbow Fish happy? (Because he is sharing)

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 know what makes a good friend? Allow them to discuss and write their responses onto a piece of paper (or small fish shapes) and hang it on the wall. (My brother is my friend because he plays with me, Amy is my friend cause she let me ride the bike). As the children discuss, reinforce the concepts of sharing and kind acts.

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

Discovery

Bring in pictures of real fish for the children to examine and compare. Ask them to describe each fish with 2-3 attributes. (It is fat, it has stripes, it has a big mouth, it has teeth, it is long). As the children compare pictures, introduce words such as fin, scale, and gills. Have them repeat the words back and try to use in sentence.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes. AND Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

Music and Movement

Sing 5 Little Fish Swimming in the Water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtgdKHt1W9E

Teach the children the first verse of Fish Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRRe6bHNDkA

Fish have fins and are covered with scales.

They swim in the water and breath with their gills.

(After the children can repeat the verse, pretend to be fish and swim around the classroom. Can you swim fast, slow, in circles, very low, backwards?)

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

Blocks

Tell the children that many fisher people fish from a boat. Challenge the children to build a boat they can get inside of.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Art

Put out shiney and silver materials that the children can collage with today. These will show up nicely on black construction paper.

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

Library and Writing

Cut out scale shapes, one per child. Encourage the child to write or mark their letters on the scale using a marker. Then ask the child what they are willing to share with others? Write their response under their name. Hang all the scales together on the wall with a fish head shape and a tail.

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 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 in others.

Sand and Water

Fill the table with COLD water today. Add the live minnows. Make sure the children wash their hands both before and after touching the fish and stress the importance of being gentle when touching. (When I have done this with children, some are very interested and some are a bit afraid. Though this will require some adult supervision, it is a fun and different sensory activity for children).

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

Dramatic Play

Math and Manipulatives

Cut out a simple fish shape in small, medium, large, and largest. Cut these out in several colors. The children can use them to sort by size or shape or put them in order from small to large. If you cut out a large variety they can use to make patterns.

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

Outdoor Play

Give the children sidewalk chalk to write on the cement today. ENcourage them to practice writing their name or draw fish. When they are finished they can use a spray bottle of water to spray over their writing/fish.

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. 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.

Transitions

Send the children to the next activity by having them pretend to swim like a fish. Call out colors starting with silver, then gold. (If you are wearing silver go line up. Remind children to check around zippers and shoelace holes).

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

Resources

The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper

What a positive message this story carries about how hard work and how practice pays off. What will happen to the little blue engine if nobody helps her get up and over the mountain?

Materials

Simple train cars + engine for name game
Stuffed animals, especially a toy clown if you have one.

Vocabulary

Shiny (something that sparkles in the sun)
Engine (The first car of the train that has the motor to pull)

Before reading the Story

Tell the children that today you are going to read a story about trains. Ask them if they know what a train is? Show them a picture of a train. Do you know what trains do? Do you know what trains carry? Have you ever been on a train? Lead a general discussion about trains to find out what the children know. Now tell them that you are going to ask them some train riddles. (1. A train uses its wheels to get from here to there, what do we use? 2. A train sleeps in a train yard at night, where do people sleep? 3. A train drives on the train tracks, people drive on what? 4. A train drinks fuel and eats coal to nourish it, what do people eat and drink? 5. At night time a man will scrub the dirt off the train with a hose, what do people do when they are dirty?

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, nad tasks. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Reading the Story

When you read the voices of the engines make faces and voice tones to match the speech.

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

After Reading the Story

Review the story with the children. Where was the little engine going, why? What kinds of things do train carry? Who helped the train? What color was she? What did she say as she pulled the train up and over the mountain? Remind them that when they were babies they did not know how to walk but they practiced and practiced and now they can. Ask the children if they can think of a time when they had to try and try to do something (ride a bike, tie a shoe, button a button). Help them to name things.

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. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; demonstrates growing confidence in a range of abilities and expresses pride in accomplishments.

Discovery

Add pictures, books, or models of real trains.

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

Music and Movement

Sing She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain but change the words to sing about trains. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1QUK9svSmw

She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes.

She’ll be coming round the mountain; she’ll be coming round the mountain

She’ll be coming round the mountain when she comes.

She’ll be puffing lots of smoke when she comes, puff puff

She’ll be ringing her bell when she comes, ding ding

We’ll all go out to greet her when she comes.

She’ll be bringing good food to eat when she comes.

She’ll be bringing toys for children when she comes.

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

Teach the children the chant CAN (point out the different who cans as you go along).

I can

You can

He can

She can

Who can?

We can!

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

Do The Train poem

This is the little train (bend arms at elbow)

Puffing down the track (rotate arms in rhythmic pattern)

Now she’s going forward (push arms forward)

Now she’s going back (pull arms back)

Now the bell is ringing (pretend to pull cord)

Now the whistle blows (put hand fingers to thumb up by mouth)

What a lot of noise she makes (put hands over ears)

Everywhere she goes! (Stretch out arms)

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

Blocks

If you have a train track, put it out. If you do not have a train track, hang a picture of a train on the track low in the center and encourage the children to make their own track.

Mathematics/Geometry & SPatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take apart shapes. AND Creative Arts/Dramatic PLay; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Art

Remind the children some things are hard to do and require practice. Explain that today we are going to practice cutting with scissors. Ahead of time draw rectangles and circles onto colored paper. Have the children practice cutting these out. Suggest to them to see if they can make a train car from all their rectangles and circles that they have cut. If your children are competent with scissors, give them school equipment catalogs to cut out toys and put them into their train cars. Remind them to say, “I think I can, I think I can” as they practice cutting the shapes out.

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. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Library and Writing

Find a time today to play this whole class game. Put out two lines of chairs, one for every child playing the game. On the chair tape a letter. Make a second set of identical letters, these are the tickets. Give each child a ticket and then let them board the train and find their seat. After all the passengers are seated, pretend to be the ticket collector and go up the aisle making sure that the children are in the correct seat. As you collect the ticket you could ask the children to name the letter. If they can not say, “This is the letter S, it makes the /s/ sound. Can you think of a word that starts with S? Put on music and the children can walk around the chairs till the music stops. Then they must find the chair that matches their ticket. Switch out the tickets among the children and put the music back on.

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

Sand and Water

Add dampened sand and encourage the children to make a mountain. Give the children plastic spoons, Can they make a tunnel under the mountain?

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

Bring in stuffed animals to the center. Add chairs to allow the children to make a train for themselves and the animals.

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

Make copies of the train cars 1-10 and write the number on. Let the children put the cars in 1-10 order and then use small manipulatives to add the correct number of items. Bear counters work well.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Outdoor Play

In the book the dolls and toys asked engines to push and pull them. Use a wagon to demonstrate pushing and pulling. Encourage the children to push and pull each other in the wagon, on tricycles, and other riding toys.

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

Transitions

Make a simple train car for each child in the class. Put them up on the wall randomly to form a train. After you have all the train cars up, tell the children that this is the order that you are going to line up in today. Help the children read their names and put themselves into the correct order in line/to wash hands/brush teeth, etc.

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

Have all the children line up and hold the child in front of them shoulders. Tell the children that you are a train and that the teacher/you are the engine. Walk very slowly announcing different centers like train stops. Let children get off at each station (Our next stop will be blocks. All those who are playing in blocks, prepare to exit the train).

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