Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton

Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann have worked together for a very long time. Now people are saying that Mary Ann is too old to work. Mike Mulligan and Mary Ann set out to prove that they can still do the work of any modern machine. Will they be able to? What will happen to Mary Ann if they fail? This classic story tells of a faithful friendship with a happy ending.

Materials

A book about construction and earth moving machines.
Construction plans for 4 simple structures.
Cookie sheet
One very strong magnet
Graph paper

Vocabulary

Steam Shovel (an earth moving machine that digs great big holes)
Cellar (an underground room. Sometimes called a basement)
Corner (the place where two borders or lines come together)

Before Reading the Story

Share pictures of construction sites and the kinds of vehicles/machinery that is used on a construction site. As you look at the pictures, talk to the children about how each piece has a special job to do. Look at the pictures and notice the size of the equipment, the kinds of wheels each has, and if the children can guess how the machine is used (for scooping, digging, rolling, carrying away debris). Introduce the story by showing the children a picture of a real steam shovel and a modern shovel.

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

Reading the Story

Before you begin reading hang a piece of paper on the wall where everyone can see it. Have a marker handy so that when you get to the parts of the story where MM and MA cut a corner, you can draw their progress. On page 15 stop and ask the children what they think will happen to Mary Ann. When you get to page 20, ask the children if they think MM and MA will be able to dig a cellar in just one day. As you get to the pages where MM and MA make a new corner, have the children repeat Go Mike Mulligan Go! On page 37 ask the children “How will MM and MA get out? What do you think will 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

Point out the paper on the wall with the four corners nice and square. Ask the children if they can name the shape. Play a shape game with the children. Cut out the Mary Ann steam shovel and cut out 4-6 shapes that you are working on with you children large enough to cover the steam shovel. The children can then take turns hiding the steam shovel under a shape and guessing which shape it is under by naming the shape. You can add another teaching concept by making each shape a different color. The guesser must then guess by naming the shape and the color (Is it under the red circle?).

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.

Discovery

Magnet play today. Take a large cookie sheet and tape some blocks to the ends to make a table with the cookie sheet being the top. Put magnet marbles or small nuts and washers on top of the cookie sheet. Put the strong magnet under the cookie sheet and show the children how dragging the magnet from underneath will cause the items on top to move. You could also add a piece of paper and a small bit of paint so that when you drag the marbles/nuts, it makes marks upon the paper.

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

Circle, Triangle, or Square by Hap Palmer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWtLONv826Y

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.

In the story MM and MA dig faster and faster. Put on music that moves to different tempos and let the children dance or move accordingly.

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

Play In and Out the Windows. Have the children hold hands and make a circle with their arms up in the air. Choose one person to step into the center of the circle. As the children sing the verse, In and Out the Windows the child moves under arms and around and through the circle. At the end of the verse another child goes into the center of the circle and the first child comes out and helps form the circle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MibnLIXnLcE

Go in and out the windows,

Now go and pick a friend.

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.

Blocks

Add any construction vehicles you might have. Add hard hats and construction plans for a building. Trace around blocks to make simple blueprints for the children to copy building or use the ones included.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to take shapes apart and put them back together again.

Art

Give each child a piece of graph paper and colored pencils. Encourage them to make various sizes of squares. After they color the squares they can cut them out and glue to a large piece of paper.

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

Writing and Library

In the story, MM and MA made nice straight corners as they dug their building. Have the children trace around shapes and letters today. Practice drawing nice straight corners when possible and then talk about the corners and help the children count how many they see on each of their tracings.

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.

Dramatic Play

In the story MM and MA worked together to dig a cellar for the town hall. It was a hard job. Give the children damp rags today and ask them to tackle the job of cleaning the dramatic play center. Talk about working together to make sure that all of the items are put away in their correct space. They can use the damp rags to wash the shelves, dishes, and furniture. Make sure to thank them when they are finished for a job well done.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops a growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Math and Manipulatives

Encourage the children to build houses today using Duplo’s, small cubes, dominos etc. Use words to describe the parts of the house/building. (Wall, roof, window, door)

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.

Outdoors Play

Encourage the children to use the buckets and large trucks to pretend to be working a construction sight. Add hard hats if you have any available. They can pretend to dig out a foundation or build a tall building/mountain from the sand. If you do not have large trucks, the children could wash the bicycles and other riding toys.

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

Transitions

As the children go to the next activity ask them if they can name things that have wheels. List their responses onto a piece of paper. When they run out of wheeled objects, ask them to name something that can be square or another shape that you are working on.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Resources

Mama Provi and the Pot of Rice, by Sylvia Rosa-Casanova

When Lucy gets the chicken pox, Mama Provi knows just what she needs to feel better. She cooks up some arroz con pollo and heads up the eight flights of stairs to her grand daughters apartment. On the way she meets some of her neighbors and the simple meal turns into a feast.

Materials

Local real-estate advertisements. Two of each to use for matching.
Face picture
Dice
Picture of stairs
Animals in their homes

Vocabulary

Apartment (a home in a large building that has more than one home in it).
Dozen (12 of something)
Tremendous (something really great or wonderful)

Introducing the Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know if they live in a house or an apartment? If you do not have any children who live in an apartment, show the children a picture of one, or draw one and explain that it has many floors that people live on. Sometimes there is an elevator and sometimes there are only stairs. Show the children the book cover and tell the children that Mama Provi lives in an apartment. She lives on the bottom floor and her grand daughter lives on the top floor. Read the title of the book and ask the children if they can guess why Mama Provi might be carrying a pot of rice up to her granddaughter Lucy.

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

Reading the Story

As Mama Provi goes up each flight of stairs, huff and puff a little as though you are slightly out of breath.

After Reading the Story

In the story Lucy had the Chickenpox. Ask the children if they have ever had the chickenpox or been sick in bed. Who took care of you, what did they do to make you feel better?

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; progresses in understanding similarities and respecting differences among people, such as genders, race, special needs, culture, language, and family structures. AND 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.

Music and Movement

Play the Pretend game. Pretend to carry something heavy. Pretend to carry something wiggly, something enormous, and something very small.

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

Teach the children The Elevator Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfrn5_v_eCM Make your bodies go up and down with the song.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects, and words such as up, down, over,under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind.

Do the song, Let’s Go Riding an Elevator using scarves to act out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sOlpdcEjsQ

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

Discovery

Bring in pictures or books about animals and their homes.

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

Blocks

Give the children 10 cube shaped blocks or similar shaped blocks and challenge them to build stairs.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take shapes apart.

Art

Encourage the children to draw a large head shape, or use the one provided. Let the children use bingo daubers or their fingers to make chicken pocks on the head shape. The children can also personalize by adding hair or extending features.

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

Sand and Water

If your center allows, add rice to the table for pouring and scooping. If not, try birdseed as it makes the same kind of soothing sound when being scooped and poured.

Library and Writing

Give each child a picture of the stairs and encourage them to copy or write the numbers on each level. They can then cut out pictures of food to glue on the picture, or draw a picture of their own favorite food/s.

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

Dramatic Play

Bring in gift bags or shopping bags that the children can use in their play today.

Encourage the children to do some delicious cooking. Can they name all the pretend foods in your dramatic center?

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

Math and Manipulatives

Put the picture of the face on the table and explain to the children that when a person has the chicken pox that they get a rash that is all spotty. Let the children take turns rolling the dice. They can count the number of spots on the dice and then use a marker to make the corresponding spots on the face picture. As the children continue to add spots make comments about how the face sure has many chicken pox!

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

Outdoor Play

Use mud, sand, dirt, rocks, and other natural ingredients to cook a yummy feast today.

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

Transitions

In the story everyone made their food trades “En un dos port res” which means lickedty split or quickly. As the children move to the next activity ask them to move En un dos port tres or lickedty split.

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

Resources

Dear Parent,

Cooking is a wonderful way to share an experience with your child. While cooking you are introducing your child to math (add 2 cups of _______, ¼ teaspoon ____) and also science concepts (what happens to an egg when you add heat? What happens when you mix milk with flour?). Find a simple recipe that you and your child can make together.

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Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown

Now it’s time to go to bed. Mother rabbit helps her little bunny settle her head, saying goodnight to things in the home feeling safe for a cozy nights sleep.

Materials

Several flashlights
Alphabet line
Star, moon, and rabbit shape for tracing onto manila file
Oil pastels

Vocabulary

Before reading the story

Open the book to the first page. Ask the children if they can guess what the story is about. Can you tell what time of day it is? Where is the bunny? Stretch and yawn. Turn to the cover of the book and tell the children the book is titled, Goodnight moon. Ask them if they can see where the moon is.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; develops growing awareness of ideas and language related to attributes of time and temperature.

Reading the book

Read the book in a soft soothing voice. Point to each object as you read the goodnight_____ and let the children help name the objects.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varies spoken language.

After Reading the Story;

Ask the children how night time is different from day time? What types of activities do you do during the day? What kinds of activities do you do at night? How do you know when it is time for bed? What gives us light in the day time? What gives us light in the night? What kinds of things are in your bedroom?

Science/Scientific Knowledge; develops growing awareness of ideas and language related to attributes of time and temperature.

Discovery

Put several flashlights into the center. What can you find that the flashlight can shine through (color paddles, your shirt, paper, a plastic lid, etc)? Does the flashlight shine through a book, a toy car?

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

Music and Movement

Sing Hey Diddle Diddle, The Cat and The Fiddle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caRuhprYlOQ

Teach the children the following poem with hand actions.

These fingers are so sleepy, Point to hand

It’s time they went to bed.

First you little finger, Fold down pinkie finger

Tuck in your little head.

Ring man, now it’s your turn Fold down ring finger

Now tall man great Fold down middle finger

Pointer finger hurry Fold down pointer finger

Because it’s getting late!

Let’s see, are you all tucked in?

No, there’s still one to come.

Move over pointer finger,

Make room for stubby thumb Fold in thumb

Author Unknown

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

Blocks

Use the blocks to make rooms of a house. Add doll furniture and small people.

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.

Art

Let the children draw with oil pastels onto white construction paper. When they are finished, wash over theri drawing with watercolors in a dark night type color. Using watercolors over oil pastels make the colors pop and give a night time effect. Encourage the children to draw something in their bedroom. You can then write,”Lee says good night stuffed elmo” and make a book with each child saying good night to what they have drawn on the paper.

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences trough pictures, dictation, and in play. AND Creative Arts/Art; gains ability on using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Sand and Water

Put magnetic alphabet letters into the sand. Encourage the children to dig for the letters and match them to an alphabet line. Make a simple Alphabet line by tracing the magnet letters onto a piece of sentence strip. Cover with contact paper if you want it to last for multiple uses.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; kn ows that letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Library and Writing

Trace around the star, moon and rabbit shapes onto a manilla file and cut them out. SHow the children how to use the manilla folder shapes to trace around onto paper. Encourage the children to practice cutting out the shapes with scissors.

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing number of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers. AND Physical Health & development/Fine Motor Skills; develops strength, dexterity, and coordination needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, andhammer.

Dramatic Play

Encourage a child to be the mother bunny. She says good night to an object in the dramatic center and the baby bunnies repeat.

Math and Manipilatives

Use the link to get a free bingo game download for Goodnight Moon. https://littlelearninglane.com/2016/07/01/goodnight-moon-freebies/

Outdoors

As the children play on the slide or other equipment that requires going one at a time, play Categories. As each child prepares to go down the slide, they must name something from a category specified by the teacher. (EXample= name a stuffed animal you have at home, name a food you eat for breakfast, name something that you do in the night, name something you wear).

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Transitions

Play I’m Thinking Of… Describe something in the room and see if the children can guess what it is. “I’m thinking of something that is made of wood and is in the dramatic center. We can pretend to cook meals on it and a real one gets hot”.