Twinkle. Twinkle, Little Star adapted by Kristi Fisher

This classic song has been transformed into a gentle book about animals settling in for the night.

Materials

Glitter or colored salt (in a bowl add a cup of salt and several drops of food coloring, mix well)
Food coloring
Flashlight or laser pointer
1-5 stars, cut out

Vocabulary

Twinkle (to flicker and shine)
Gaze ( to look at something for a long time)
Dusk ( the time of day when the sun is going down and it is almost dark outside)

Before Reading the Book

Tell the children that you are going to hum a song and see if they can guess the name of it. Start off humming one or two songs that you know your children are familiar with. Then hum, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Can the children name it? Sing the song Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with your children. Explain to the children that the time of day when stars come out is called dusk. Ask the children if anyone ever stands outside and looks/gazes at the stars with their parent? What do they look like? How do they make you feel? Introduce the book by telling the children that they can help you read today by singing along with you.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, needs, opinions, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Reading the Story

Practice ahead of time so that you can sing the words to the story. When you get to the last sentence on each page, Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are, point to the words with your finger. Encourage the children to sing”Twinkle, twinkle little star” as you point to the words.

Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes. AND Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of musical activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and musical performances.

After Reading the Story

Go back through the pages and ask the children if they can name all the animals. Name each habitat as you look at the animals. Show them how all the animals are gazing at the star.

Discovery

Let the children experiment with a laser pointer or flashlight that has easy on-off so they can make twinkling patterns on the ceiling and walls. Challenge them by placing the flashlight taken apart so that before they can use it the children must put it together.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills;develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as stapler, paper punch, scissors, and hammer. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to take apart and put together shapes.

Music and Movement

Sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or change it up. Sing about;

Twinkle, twinkle great big star, Teeny tiny star, Gargantuan star, miniscule star, humongous star, etc. Show size of sta with hands and arms while singing. (Try to use or hear the children using the various size descriptors throughout the day).

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

Sing, 5 Little Stars Shining Down on Me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIwyDUfDVzE

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

Blocks

Put out many plastic animals. Encourage the children to match like kinds.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Art

Cut out large star shapes on yellow construction paper (older children can cut out their own stars). Show the children how to make glue designs on their star by holding the bottle upside down and moving it over the paper. Let the children use glitter or salt that has been mixed with food coloring to cover the glue on their paper. Gently shake the excess glitter/salt off of the paper.

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

Give each child a blackened page with star shapes. Put out colored chalk and small bowls of water. The child dunks the chalk into the water and colors a star. Fill in the night time picture with colored chalk, magic markers, or crayons.

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

Sand and Water

Put dry sand into the table. Add drops of food coloring throughout and let the children mix it. What colors did you make?

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

Library and Writing

Teach the children the poem, Star Light, Star Bright. Ask them what they would wish for. Encourage them to draw a picture about their wish and write their wish underneath. Tonight I wish for_______. Or write their wishes on star shapes and make a bulletin board.

Star Light, Star Bright

Star light, star bright,

first star I see tonight

I wish I may, I wish I might

Get the wish I wish tonight.

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

Give a child a star making sheet. The child uses a pencil or marker to draw from 1-2,2-3,3-4,4-5,and 5-1 in order to make a star. (This tends to be difficult at first but once a child gets the hang of it, they have been known to make LOTS of stars by tracing a circle and marking across. Best for older children).

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding;shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.

Math and Manipulatives

Put the 1-5 star cutouts on the table with a basket of small animal counters. Have the children place the correct number of animals on each star. For younger children put the stars in 1-5 order. For older children mix the order around and see if they can recognize the numbers and add the correct number of counters.

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

Outdoor Play

Bring out the bouncing balls today. Show the children how to bounce and catch, bounce and catch. count 1-10 catches. Let the child try, count along with them. Bounce and catch 1, bounce and catch 2, etc..

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills;demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing balls, and using a swing and slide.

Transitions

Cut out mother animal and baby cards. Out them into a bowl or bag that the children can not see through. The children take turns pulling up a card and naming the animal and also the letter otr letter sound that the animal name begins with.

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

Resources

Bat Jamboree, Kathi Appelt

The bats are putting on a show that you won’t forget. Count along with the bats as they present their amazing Jamboree.

Materials

Bat wings for toilet tubes
Index cards
A bag of rice or birdseed

Vocabulary

Jamboree ( a celebration with special entertainment)
Pyramid (A three dimensional triangle shape)

Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about what is a Jamboree. What other name could we use instead? (Talent show, RIF celebration, parent night) If you have had any of these ask, “Do you remember when we sang to our parents at the PTO meeting/RIF celebration?”

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Reading the Story

As you read have the children count the bats on the pages from 1-10.

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

After Reading the Story

Ask the children what they might like to do if they were part of the Jamboree show. Teach them the song, Funny Bat. Call each child into the center of your circle and let them do a funny trick while everyone else sings.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Discovery

Bring in pictures and books of real bats for the children to examine. Look for how they are alike and how they are different.

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

Sung to the Farmer in the Dell Funny Bat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivw83QQk-Dk

As each child comes into the circle to take their turn, encourage them to do a trick. My children like to take a large pillow and do somersaults and log rolls.

There was a funny bat,

His/her name was____________

Watch him/her do a funny trick

At the jamboree.

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

Blocks

Write the numbers 1-10 on index cards. Put them on the floor. Show the children how to stack 1 block on the 1 card, 2 blocks on the 2 card. Put out a blank card and ask them to see and count how many blocks they can stack onto it without the blocks falling. Graph the results. One inch cubes or small blocks works best.

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

Art

Let each child paint a toilet paper black or brown. Cut out wings and let the children glue them on top. When the bats are dry, attach a string and hang them from the ceiling.

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

Sand and Water

Use rice or birdseed in the table today along with scoopers and several smallish containers . Challenge the children to count how many scoops of rice/birdseed it takes to fill the various containers. Ask them to count aloud as they scoop. Which container holds more, container A or container B?

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

Library and Writing

Write the letters AT onto an index card. Explain to the children that this makes the /at/ sound. Give the children magnet letters and show them how to put one at a time in front of the AT. Can you tell what sound this new letter makes? Can you sound out the word that these letters make? Work closely with the children to help them see how letters make sounds and sounds make words.

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

Dramatic Play

Put out costume supplies so the children can pretend that they are going to put on a show. Fun hats, bright shirts, sequence outfits, and colorful scarves.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Math and Manipulatives

Give the children number lines written on a piece of paper. Encourage the children to copy the numbers onto their own paper using markers or crayons. They can then glue shapes beside the number making their own number graphs.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways. AND Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing materials and tools, such as crayons, pencils, and computer.

Outdoor Play

Swoop and fly to the playground like bats.

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

Transitions

On a whiteboard or chalkboard write several letters, shapes, and numbers. Call the children to come one at a time and circle either a letter, a shape, or a number with a chalk or marker.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

Resources

Creatures of the Night, by Judith E. Rinard

This book is part of a series from the; Books for Young Explorers National Geographic Society. It is full of wonderful close up photographs of many nocturnal animals, a great resource for any classroom.

Materials

Nature magazines with pictures of nocturnal animals.
American Sign Language pictures
Preparation of number charts, 1 per child.
Several flashlights

Vocabulary

Nocturnal (animals that come out at night and mostly sleep during the day)

Before Reading the Book

Ask the children if they know what the word nocturnal means. Ask the children if they can think of any animals that are nocturnal. Write these down on a large sheet of paper.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Reading the Story

This is a book that may be better to take a walk through versus reading with younger children. As you go through, allow the children to name the animals they recognize and to share any observations that they may have.

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

Look again at the list the children made of nocturnal animals. Can they add any others to their list? Did they think of any that were not in the book? (If someone has a pet gerbil they might have put it on the list though it is not in the book, congratulate them for thinking of something extra).

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.

Discovery

Put the book into the discovery center to allow the children to further investigate.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation;shows growing interest in reading -related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book read,; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books home; going to the library; and engaging in pretend-reading with other children.

Bring in a large box or put a scarf over your science center table to make a cave. Give the children nature magazines and have them cut out nocturnal animals and tape to the walls. The children can crawl inside and pretend that it is night time. Add a flashlight.

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

Music and Movement

Sing Nocturnal Animals-sung to Frere Jaqua

Nocturnal animals, nocturnal animals,

Come out at night, come out at night

You may see the owl, looking for food

In the night, in the night.

You may see the bat, flying in the sky

You may hear the frog, singing near the pond

You may see the firefly, twinkling his light

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

Blocks

Give each child two poker chips. Show them how to lay one down flat and to use the other to make it jump by rubbing it quickly over the edge of the first. Suggest to the children that these are frogs. Encourage them to make a pond out of blocks and then practice jumping their frogs into the pond. This can be challenging for some children, encourage them to keep trying.

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

Art

Let the children finger paint with a dark color to make a nighttime backdrop. Next have the children go through old nature magazines and cut out animals that come out at night. Glue these to the finger painting when it is dry. If you have no magazines, encourage the children to draw their own nocturnal animals.

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

Sand and Water

Fill the table with water. Add plastic foods. Note that raccoons look for fruits and vegetables at night and then wash them before they eat it. Encourage the children to pretend to be raccoons and wash the plastic foods, sorting out the fruits and vegetables.

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.

Library and Writing

Use the sign cards to show the children how to sign language some of the nocturnal animals. When they get good at these,you can incorporate them into the song Nocturnal Animals.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities ti understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes. AND 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.

Dramatic Play

See Discovery

Math and Manipulatives

Make number charts with the children. On a long piece of construction paper make 10 lines across going down the paper. On the left hand side write the numbers 1-10. Let the children glue the appropriate number of animals to each line. Older children can be shown how to use a ruler to draw the lines and numbers. Label the top, I Can Count Nocturnal Animals

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in a meaningful way. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials.

Outdoor Play

Can you jump like a frog? Can you hang upside down like an opossum/bat? Can you fly like an owl/bat? Can you run and hide like a mouse? Can you walk quietly like a leopard? Can you howl like a coyote? Can you leap like a flying squirrel?

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; grows is recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and in interactions with peers and adults. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

Play, I’m Thinking Of A Nocturnal Animal. Begin to describe one of the animals in the book and see if the children can guess. (I’m thinking of a nocturnal animal that flies at night and catches insects to eat. During the day this animals sleeps upside down some place dark and quiet).

Resources