Old Black Fly, by Jim Aylesworth

Old black fly is buzzin around and annoying everybody in the kitchen. This alphabet book will have all the children repeating, “Shoo fly, shoo fly, shoo!”

Materials

Two clean fly swatters
Several old toothbrushes and Popsicle sticks

Vocabulary

Shoo (go away!)

Before Reading the Story

Show children a fly swatter. Does anyone know what this is? When do you see flies? Explain that flies land on food and throw up a tiny bit of liquid that they then suck up through their straw like mouth, yuck! They also walk all over your food with dirty feet. Because their feet are dirty, they can make you sick. If a fly comes near your food, use your hands to move him away and say “Shoo fly, shoo fly shoo!” Let the children practice this several times.

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.

Reading the Story

Tell the children when you get to the parts that say “Shoo fly shoo fly shoo!” you need them to help.

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

As you turn each page, point to the letter and see if the children can name it.

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

After Reading the Story

Go back through and point out the letter on each page and ask the children what went with it (O=olive oil).

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; associates sounds with written words, such as awareness that different words begin with the same sound.

Discovery

Find an old dead fly and put it into a sealed container (bug catcher, empty cassette case) and let the children examine it with magnifying glasses. Do you see its two eyes? Do you see the hairs on its legs? How many legs does the fly have? What are those things on his back? For older children encourage them to draw what they see.

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

As an extended activity, take a container of milk and put it someplace out of the way. This should be at room temperature so that the children can hypothesize what will happen and then observe the milk over a period of a week. Each day carefully pull it down and let the children talk about the changes that are occurring. Can they predict what is going to happen to the milk?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to describe and discuss predictions, explanations, and generalizations based on past experiences.

Music and Movement

Put on the video of Flick a Fly and let the children dance along with the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgPKQKa4U9E

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

Sing the alphabet song. Sing it starting off in a whisper voice getting louder and louder. Sing it in a loud voice getting softer and softer. Use this same effect using classroom instruments. Point to each letter on your alphabet chart as you sing.

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

Blocks

Challenge the children to make alphabet letters using the blocks. You might want to use a dry erase board to show the shape of several letters at a time. It is easiest to begin with capital letters as there are more straight lined letters. With the help of a teacher, four year olds can begin to write their names using blocks.

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

Art

Show the children the cover of the book and the spray that is following the fly. Tell the children that you are going to make spray using paint. Put out several bowls of colored paint. Give the children old toothbrushes and Popsicle sticks. Show them how to scrape the Popsicle stick against the toothbrush to make the paint spatter onto their paper.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety if ways for creative expression and representation. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Sand and Water

Fill the table up with sand. Put magnet letters in and mix it all up. Let the children sift through the sand in search of the letters. Can they name them? Can they make a word that begins with the letter sound?

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

Library and Writing

Encourage the children to write or trace alphabet letters. If you do not have large letters, find punch out ones at the local Dollar Store that the children can trace around.

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 Physical Health & Development; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various types of technology.

Dramatic Play

Kitchen play today. Can the children sort all the foods that must go in the refrigerator from those that do not have to go in the refrigerator? Ask what do you think would happen if you did not refrigerate the food?

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

Math and Manipulatives

Use food cards to sort those that need refrigeration and those that do not.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; 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

Bring your fly swatters outside and with chalk write the letters of the alphabet on the sidewalk. Hold up a letter written on an index card or piece of paper. The children then must find it on the sidewalk and swat it with their swatter. Ask them if they can name the letter. If not, say the letter name and have them repeat swatting the letter again. This game needs to be controlled and works best with two children at a time.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name. AND SOcial & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops an increasing ability to give and take in interactions; to take turns using materials and in games; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Transitions

Same activity as outdoor play but in the classroom. Use 26 paper plates on the floor. For younger children only put out 5 paper plates at a time.

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

Resources

Dear Parent,

Learning letter names is hard work for children. You can help them by learning the most important letters first, those in their name. Write your child’s name on a piece of paper and encourage him or her to copy it. As you and they write the letters, name them and encourage your child to repeat back to you. Once your child has mastered his/her first name, work on your last name or the names of other family members. The idea is to get your child to see, write, and name letters.

Where Does The Butterfly Go When It Rains? by May Garelick

What a wonderful question this title is. Follow along as the author tells where other animals go when it rains, but where does the butterfly go when it rains?

Materials

Butterfly match game/patterns
Butterfly wings (sold at Dollar Store)
8 one to two in paint brushes and buckets

Vocabulary

Hide ( to move out of sight or to be blocked from view)

Before Reading the Story

Talk about where and what people do when it is raining outside. Make sure to touch on the safety of going inside when there is thunder. Talk about how after the rain there are puddles, does anyone like to play in the puddles? Ask the children if they know what an umbrella is, have they ever used one? Ask the children if they know where animals might go when it rains (my cat runs under Mommy’s car, the cow goes to the barn) Introduce the story and ask it as a question, Where do the butterflies go when it rains?

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

Reading the Story

After you ask the question, “Where does the butterfly go in the rain’? Give the children a few seconds to respond before you turn the page. If no one responds, shrug your shoulders and continue reading. If someone does respond say “I don’t know, let’s keep reading”.

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

After Reading the Story

Cut out a small butterfly shape from a manila file. Cut out a triangle, circle, square, and rectangle from colored paper that is big enough for the butterfly to be able to hide under without being seen. Have a child hide their eyes. Place the butterfly under one of the shapes. The child then opens their eyes and guesses which shape the butterfly is under. Make sure to have the child name the shape that he thinks the butterfly is under. Then let that child hide the butterfly while another child guesses.

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

Discovery

If you have butterflies already at your center, put out orange slices and water to attract them to a window close to your science center. Check out this web site for more info about making butterfly feeder. https://insteading.com/blog/how-to-attract-butterflies/

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

Music and Movement

Teach the children the counting rhyme, La Mariposa

Uno, dos tres, cuatro, cinco One, two, three, four, five

Cogi una mariposa de un brinco. I caught a butterfly.

Seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez Six, seven, eight, nine, ten

La solte brincando otra vez Then I let him go again.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops ability to count in sequence to 10 and beyond.

Play the piano piece, Butterfly in the Rain and let your children dance and move to the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVXmtckavDQ

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

Blocks

Put out a few paper butterflies, or draw several small ones on a manila folder and cut out. As the children build structures they can hide the butterflies within or on the structure. Then ask you or another child to come and find them. Older children might like to cut out their own butterfly to hide.

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

Give each child a clean manila folder. Have them dab small amounts of paint onto one side. Fold the other side over and press with their hands. Open back up and let it dry. When it is dry, refold it and then draw a butterfly pattern on one side. Older children can cut these out but the teacher will have to cut for younger children. Cut both sides together. If your center allows, hang the butterflies from the ceiling with the painted side facing the floor.

Give each child a white coffee filter and tell them to color it with water soluble markers. When they have finished coloring the entire coffee filter have them use a squirt bottle to spray their coffee filter 3 times. This will cause the marker to run and the colors to melt into each other. Use a clothespin for the body and put half the coffee filter through to make wings.

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

Put sand in the table today and hide magnet letters in it. The children can scoop and sift in search of the letters. Make an alphabet chart and as the children find the letters, they can match them to the chart.

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

Library and Writing

On the bottom of each piece of drawing paper write; If I were a butterfly I would hide from the rain _______. Read this sentence to the children and then ask them to illustrate it. You can collect all the pictures and make a book, Where Would We Butterflies Hide From the Rain?

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.

Dramatic Play

Many Dollar Store sell butterfly or fairy wings in theri toy department. If your center has a budget, ask them to purchase enough so that everyone in the dramatic center can have a pair of wings to wear.

Math and Manipulatives

Make a butterfly pattern matching game. Make two copies of each butterfly pattern, cut, color and cover with contact paper. The children then match the butterfly’s that are the same.

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

Outdoor Play

Give the children the large paint brushes and buckets filled with water. Show them ow to paint the building, the sidewalk, and the tree. If you have a lot of cement, challenge the children to write thier names with the water before it evaporates.

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as markers, crayons, and computer. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Transitions

On pieces of paper write 2 and 3 step directions. Put the pieces of paper into a bowl. The children take turns pulling one out and then must follow the instructions. (Put your hands on your head and hop forward 3 hops, Tell your neighbor hello, clap your hands and then turn around. Jump 2 times and touch your toes. Jump 2 times, clap your hands 2 times, and turn around. Nod your head yes then shake your head no. Jump and turn 4 times. Etc.).

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

Two Bad Ants, by Chris Van Allsburg

A colony of ants discover delicious crystals in a far off place. As they go to gather the crystals, two ants decide not to return with their fellow ants but to stay and eat crystals forever. The illustrations depict the story from an ants point of view which makes this a wonderful first mystery story for young children.

Materials

Several small pitchers or pouring containers and plastic cups with lines marked at various heights.
Large box of raisins.

Vocabulary

Mystery (something that you must figure out)
Deemed (thought or to consider something)
Dew (condensation or water that forms when the water meets cold air, like on a glass of water with ice or on the grass when it gets cold at night).
Battered (beaten up)
Garbage disposal (chews up food products in some people’s sinks)

Before Reading the Story

Hold up the cover of the book and ask the children what insect that is? Spend a few minutes talking about ants. Where have you seen ants? What color were the ants you saw? Do ants bite? Have you ever seen an anthill? Are ants dangerous?

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

All along the way stop and ask the children what is happening? Can they tell by the illustrations what is happening or where the ants are?

Read the text to the children and then ask them to guess where the ants are

Pg 4=what do you think that crystal might be?

Pg 7=they walked through the woods, what are they really walking through?

Pg 10= Do you think this is really a mountain? What else could it be?

Pg 18=what did the two bad ants fall into?

22=can you guess where the two bad ants are now?

24=What is the fountain really? Where would you find one of these in your home?

26=explain that this is called a garbage disposal. This is not a toy, very dangerous.

28=never stick anything in an electric socket. You can get very hurt!

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

After Reading the Story

The two bad ants finally decide to go back home to their family of ants. What prompts their decision? What matters to them about their home community? What matters to you about your home community?

Talk about safety, especially plugs. What happened to the ants that went into the plug?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules and by responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Discovery

Print the close up cards for the children to look at and discuss. Are they able to name all the items? Make two sets of the close-up cards and use them to play Memory by turning all the cards upside down and the children take turns trying to find matched pairs.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a stask, 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 take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

If you are lucky enough to have a class camera, show the children how to use it and then allow them to take 2-4 pictures each of anything in the classroom that they choose. Print these and hang them on the wall for all the children to see. or make them into a classroom book.

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

Music and Movement

Make an obstacle course for the children to follow. Include crawling under a table, over a chair, around the easel, along the wall, behind the bookshelf, etc..

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

March in an ant line to various tempos of music.

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

Blocks

Use the many cut out ants and the blocks. The children can build a structure and then put an ant line on.

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

Art

Add salt to easel paint to make shiny-crystals

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

Cut out many 1” circles. Show the children how they can put three together to make a simple ant shape. Encourage them to glue sets of circles all over their picture. When they are through gluing, show them how to add ant features (2 antenna, 6 legs, and big eyes)

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

Sand and Water

Let the children practice pouring from pitchers today. On plastic cups draw lines. Show the children how to pour stopping when they get to the line.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks,putting puzzles together, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Library and Writing

Tell the children that you are going to make letters using ants today. Show them the raisins and explain that they are going to use the raisins for pretend ants. On a piece of construction paper write the first letter of the child’s name in large print. Give the child a bottle of glue to follow the lines and then use raisins to go over the glue.

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

Dramatic Play

Explain to the children that ants come into kitchens looking for food and water. Suggest to the children that they clean the center today to make sure there is no food about. Let them use spray bottles with water and paper towels to wipe down the shelves and toys. Encourage them to put the toys away in their proper place and to show you any toy that might be broken or ripped.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Curiosity; grows in abilities to persist in and complete various tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Math and Manipulatives

Use the close-ups and items pictures to match those that belong together.

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

Make many copies of the ant page. Have the children roll a dice and add that many ants to their ant hill.

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

Outdoor Play

Look around your playground for something heavy or awkward to lift (a small table, a wagon, a lounge chair). Tell the children that you would like to move the object to the otherside of the yard. Have the children work together to move the object from one side of the playground to another.

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

Bring out some food scraps and look for ants. When you find them, put the food down near their path. Come back later and see if there is any ant activitiy. Observe and talk about what you see happening.

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

Transitions

Use the close-up cards and see if the children can guess what each item is. Later put the cards into the Math & Manipulative center for the children to use individually.

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