Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are looking for the perfect place to raise their family. As they search for the perfect place, they run across dangers. Will they find their perfect place? Where will it be?

Materials

Copy of small ducks
1 white paper plate per child. Fold in half and punch holes along the edge.
Yarn
Duck head/foot
Index card showing a letter from the letters the children’s names begin with.

Vocabulary

Dither (nervous and upset)
Hatch (when the ducklings come out of their shells)

Before Reading the Story

Read the title of the book but don’t show the cover yet. Ask the children if they think they know what Make way for ducklings means? Now show them the cover of the book and ask them if they know now? (get out of the way, move over, step aside, back up). Why do you think the story is called, make way for ducklings? Tell the children that this is a real story about a family of ducks who lived in Boston Gardens.

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

Reading the Story

As you read the story stop at spots that tell about why the ducks think it is a good place to raise a family? Make note about ducks need food and shelter. When you get to the spots where it is unsafe, ask the children why they think it is unsafe for a duck? Is it unsafe for people too?

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 to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can change their name so it ends with “ack” by putting their first letter in front of “ack”. Mary=Mack, Alison=Aack. then repeat their name saying, “quack, quack, quack ______ack” and let the children quack for a few seconds.

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

Discovery

Put several of the small ducks into the center. Show the children how to play hide and seek duck in the center. One child steps outside the center and hides his/her eyes. The other children in the center can each hide a duck somewhere in among the science toys. The child comes back into the center and looks for the ducks. When he/she finds a duck, the child who hid it quacks. Who ever hid the last duck found gets to be the hider.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows capacity to maintain concentration over time on task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions and interruptions. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to taking turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Music and Movement

When you go to the playground today, waddle like ducks all in a line.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Teach the children the song 5 Little Ducks Went Out To Play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZw9veQ76fo

5 Little ducks went out one play,

Over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said “Quack, quack, quack”

But only 4 little ducks came running back.

Continue on to 4, 3, 2, 1. When you get to zero sing or say sadly;

Zero little ducks went out to play,

Over the hills and far away.

Mother duck said “QUACK, QUACK, QUACK”

5 little ducks came running back.

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

Blocks

Tell the children that the story took place in a city. Can you build a city? Don’t forget to add a pond for the ducks!

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates growing 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 Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through.

Art

Ask the children to draw a picture of some place that would NOT be good for a duck to live (under the bed, in a car, on the house roof). After they have drawn their picture give them a copy of a duck to glue on their picture. You can make this into a book called, Ducks in Unexpected Places.

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

Sand and Water

Water play today. Add boats and ducks. If you have no boats or ducks, use plastic lids or bowls. You can also add bear counters or similar. How many bears can float on your boat?

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

Library and Writing

Tell the children that Mrs. Mallard had to know how to get to the island to meet her husband. Ask the children to tell you how to get to the playground from your classroom and then encourage them to draw a map. (You go to the door and go out over there by the drinking fountain. Then you got to go out that door and down the ramp. You turn and walk, walk, walk past the baby room and then turn there. You go to the gate and wait for the teacher to open it. Then you are at the playground).

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussions, drawings, maps, and charts. AND Language/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Dramatic Play

The ducks ate peanuts at the park. Ask the children, Have you ever taken a picnic to the park? Pack a picnic lunch. Use a basket or bag to put your picnic in. Put down a towel or blanket and the children can pretend to have a picnic in the center today.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Show the children how to use the yarn to lace through the holes on the paper plate. This will be the duck body. Either pre-cut a head and feet for the children or put on manila file so they can trace and cut out themselves. Put the head and feet onto the duck body.

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.

Outdoor Play

Teach the children the game, In the Pond, On the Bank. Tell the children that this is a listening game. Use a sidewalk or line as the divider. Call out “In the pond” and everybody jumps onto the sidewalk. Call “On the bank” and everybody jumps to the grass. Mix up your calls and try to trick the children into jumping onto the wrong one.

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

Transitions

Hold up an index card with a letter written upon it. Ask the children if they can name the letter, the letter sound, and whose name begins with this letter, and if any other child has this letter somewhere in their name?

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

Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan

This is a build upon story. Older children will be able to follow along with the verse. In this story the frog is pursued by many predators who would like to eat him for lunch. How will he ever stay safe?

Materials

Flannel pieces/fly, fish, jumping frog, snake, turtle, basket, boy
Frogs numbered 1-10
Jump frog jump path/maze page
Frog cycle cards
Cornstarch packing noodles (ask your director to save all packing noodles that come with children’s materials and check to see if they are cornstarch based.
Small aquarium net or other small net like tool.
Tiddlywinks or poker chips

Vocabulary

Carnivore (one who eats meat or animals)

Before Reading the Story

Hold up a picture of a pond and ask the children if anyone knows what this is? Ask the children if any of them have ever been to visit a pond? Allow the children to share their pond experiences. What did you see at the pond? Did you hear any animal sounds? Tell them that your story today takes place at a pond. Introduce the story.

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

Reading the Story

As you read, put up the flannel board pieces so the children can recall the chorus lines of this story.

Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

After Reading the Story

Talk about the sequence of events. Why were the fish, the snake, and turtle chasing the frog? (They wanted to eat him). Tell the children that the fish, the snake, and the turtle were all carnivores because carnivores eat meat or animals. Ask them who else in the story was a carnivore? (the frog, he wanted to eat the fly. And the boys are carnivores too although I doubt they wanted to eat the frog).

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

Discovery

Bring in pictures of real frogs. Talk about the frog’s appearance. ( frogs have smooth skin, frogs have strong back legs so they can jump, A frog has big eyes that sit on top of his head, frogs have webbed feet to help them be better swimmers, frogs must live near water, a frog has a long sticky tongue to catch insects for lunch).

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

Make the frog cycle cards and encourage the children to put them into proper order.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Music and Movement

Sing Mmm-ahh Went the Little Green Frog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwU3beZ9kcw

Mmm-ahhh went the little green frog one day

Mmm-ahh went the little green frog.

Mmm-ahh went the little green frog one day

And they all went went Mmm-ahh.

Language development/Speaking & Understanding; progresses in clarity of pronunciation and towards speaking in sentences of increasing length and grammatical complexity.

Make about 10 of the large frogs. Number them 1-10 and tape them to the floor touching front to back. Make a lily pad by cutting out a circle and tape it to the floor in front of the number one frog. Show the children how to do a standing long jump. Let them see how far they can jump on the frog measuring tape. Record their scores.

Mathematics/Patterns & measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures for length and area of objects.

Blocks

Ask the children to make a simple pond using the blocks. Then show them how to play tiddlywinks and flip the tiddlywink/chip into the pond. This takes practice to get the correct amount of pressure to fli[ the tiddlywink. (Put one tiddlywink/poker chip flat on the ground. Use the other to put pressure on the edge of the flattened one and pull back gently causing the flattened tiddlywink/poker chip to flip, hopefully into the pond.

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

Art

Show the children the cover of the book and how the turtle is hiding within the pond grass. Bring in cornstarch based packing noodles for the children to make 3 dimensional pond grass. Put out a bowl with a little water in it. Show the children how to dip the end of the noodle into the water (because it is a cornstarch base it will dissolve and the noodles will stick together). Show the children how to dip and stick their noodles together to make a 3 dimensional shape. When they are finished, let them dribble green paint over and it can be pond grass.

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

Give the children long thin pieces of paper that are cut out to resemble snakes. Let them use markers to decorate the snake. Encourage them to add a pattern like the snake in the book. (I have used unifix cubes to make patterns for the children to follow).

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

Library and Writing

Make a copy of the Jump Frog Jump page. Cover it with contact paper and let the children use a washable marker to follow the frog’s path. When they are done they can wipe it off with a damp cloth for another child to use.

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

Sand and Water

Add any small pond animals that you might have to the water table. Put out Tupperware lids that the children can pretend are lily pads. Let them use a small aquarium net to try to catch the animals/fish. How many fish did you catch? How many frogs fit on the lilly pad?

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

Dramatic Play

Math and Manipulatives

Mark a frog pond onto the floor or use a hoolahoop. Mark a line about 5 feet from the pond. Give a child 5 beanbags to try to throw into the pond. (Tell the children that the beanbag is a pretend frog that must try to jump into the pond). How many ‘frogs’ made it into the pond? How many did not? For older children you can give them a piece of paper that they can graph their results (2 in and 3 out of the pond). Have the children take turns throwing the bean bags into the pond.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal to. 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.

Outdoor Play

Play leap frog with the children.

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

As children go to the next activity sing or say; Tell the children to crouch down on their haunches and listen for when their name is called.

Jeepers creepers look at all those leapers.

Jeepers creepers look at ____jump.

(The child named jumps off and begin again with a different child)

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

Resources

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen

Children of all ages like to go on a bear hunt. Follow this families adventure as they swish, splash, squelch, stumble, and hooo there way in search of a bear. Be brave!

Materials

Binoculars
Pictures of real bears
Alphabet bingo cards -add letters to the frames provided
Teddy Graham cookies
Bears about 4-5 inches tall
Several teddy bears
Bucket of dirt

Vocabulary

Adventure ( a trip or an experience)
Brave (to not be scared, even if it’s something kind of scary)
Gloomy (dark and cold looking)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know what it means to be brave. Let them share any acts of bravery they might have done (when it was thundering I had to be brave cause my sister was crying, I rode my bike without training wheels, I swim in the lake, Ms. K picked up the worm!)

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating;uses an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Reading the Story

Show the children the cover of the book. Read the cover and ask if anyone has ever been on a bear hunt before? Where would you look for a bear? What will happen when you find a bear? As you read the story, show the children how to make the sound actions with their hands.

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 predict what will happen next in a story.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they would like to go on a bear hunt. Move about your classroom following the theme of the book. Let the children help tell what you might encounter along the way and how you will have to move (a big tree, we have to climb it, a giant mountain we have to climb it, a tall bridge we have to go across it)

Discovery

Add a pictures of bears, a Teddy Bear, and binoculars to the center. If the children do not know how to use binoculars, show them by looking out the window. If you can, put a teddy bear outside for the children to focus on with the binoculars.

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

Music and Movement

Make enough bear cards for all the children to have one. On each card write an action (jump over the block, jump around the table, crawl under the table, and walk backwards across the rug); Hide the cards about the room . Tell the children that they are going to go on a bear hunt. Everyone must find one bear card and then meet at a designated spot. When everyone is gathered, read the directions on each bear and have the children do the action. Make sure that you write your directions to include one preposition. Let everyone do the actions if they like.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds increasing understanding of directionality, order, and prepositions of objects, and words such as up, down, over, under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind.

Teach your children Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear. Have the children do the actions as you repeat the poem.

Teddy bear teddy bear turn around

Teddy bear teddy bear touch the ground

Teddy bear teddy bear tie your shoe

Teddy bear teddy bear that will do

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

Blocks

Build a cave for a bear. Add several small teddy bears to the center.

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

Art

Draw a picture of your family going on a bear hunt. Don’t forget to add the bear!

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

Play alphabet bingo with the children. Use Teddy Graham cookies for markers. Have each child play until they fill their card, then they can eat the bears.

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

Sand and Water

Make mud to put in the table. Does it really go squelch? How does it feel?

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.

Dramatic Play

Put a scarf or sheer curtain over the table and pretend that it’s a bear cave.

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

Math and Manipulatives

If you have teddy bear counters, put them out for the children to sort and count.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurements; 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

Play Are You Sleeping Mr. Bear? Choose one child to be the bear. The bear gets in the middle of the circle and pretends to sleep. Everyone else holds hands and makes a big circle around Mr. Bear. Quietly the children in the circle ask, “Are you sleeping Mr. Bear?” and take a step closer. Mr. Bear continues to sleep. The children ask again getting closer. Continue until Mr. Bear lets out a huge ROAR and tries to grab a child while all run away shrieking. Let the children take turns being Mr. Bear.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise to enhance physical fitness.