My Puppy is Born, by Joanna Cole

This story shows the life of a brand new baby dachshund from birth until it is ready to be adopted. The photographs are in black and white and show great detail to what a puppy really looks like.

Materials

Balance scale
Several small dog bones

Vocabulary

Nurse (to drink mother’s milk from her breast or nipple)
Weak (muscles are not strong enough)
Howling (making loud noises)
Solid food (food you have to chew)
Adopted (to make a new home for a pet or child).

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children how many of them have a dog at home? What is a baby dog called? Did anyone ever have a puppy at home? What other kinds of pets do the children have? Ask them about how they must care for their pets, their pet’s names, and any special things that their pet does.

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

Show the children the cover of the book and explain that baby animals must spend time with their mother’s before they can be adopted to a new home. Let’s find out about puppies.

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

After Reading the Story

Ask the children to help you list some things that you know/learned about puppies. (They are tiny, they get their milk from their Mom, He has cute ears).

Discovery

Bring in a balance scale. Fill a sock with sand to weigh 3 ounces. Give the children manipulatives (cubes, bears, etc) to balance the scale. How many cubes equal the weight of the baby puppy?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures for length and area of objects. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Music and Movement

Sing How Much is That Doggie in the Window , First verse only https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AElJuZJTOdk

How much is that doggie in the window?

The one with the waggly tail

How much is that doggie in the window?

I do hope that doggies for sale, ruff ruff.

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

Sing I’ve Got a Dog His https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpkRfD9ZFQwName is Rags Have the children do the actions.

I have a dog, his name is Rags

He eats so much that his tummy sags.

His ears flip-flop and his tail wig-wags

And when he walks he goes zig-zag.

He goes flip-flop, wig-wag, zig-zag

He goes flip-flop, wig-wag. Zig-zag

He goes flip-flop. wig-wag, zig-zag

I love Rags and he loves me.

I love Rags and he loves me!

(Make motions to go flip-flop, wig-wag, and zig-zag)

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

Have the children try to sing Ruff Ruff to a tune that they know well, for example ABC or Jingle Bells.

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

Blocks

Bring in any small dog toys you may have and encourage the children to build a dog house with a fence around it.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; increases abilities to sustain interactions with peers by helping, sharing, and discussion.

Art

Give each child a copy of the ‘dog’ page. Ask them to cut around each dog and then glue them to a sentence strip in a line. They can decorate the dogs if they choose. If you staple the sentence strip these can be worn as dog crowns.

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 a picture of a pet that they have or a pet that they would like to have. Have them describe their pet and write their dictation down under their illustration.

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play.

Sand and Water

Put dirt or sand into the table today along with several small dog bones. Explain to the children that dogs like to bury bones and then undig them later. Encourage one child to hide/bury the bones in the dirt and the next child to dig up the bones.

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

Dramatic Play

Pet Store Play. Bring in stuffed animals of pets. Add several boxes or milk crates to be the cages. The children can either bring pet food containers to school or you could have them make them out of play dough and let them dry. Don’t forget to use the cash register and money to purchase pet or pet supplies.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Copy and cut out the pictures of the animals. Show one at a time to the child and ask them where is the animal? Or ask, what animal is under the hat? Encourage the children to name the animal and a word that rhymes with it.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects, and words such as up, down, over, under, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind. AND Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

Outdoor Play

On the playground the children can pretend to be dogs. The teacher can call out dog commands such as roll over, fetch (throw a ball), lie down, bark, and sit. The children can follow the directions.

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

Transitions

Ask the children to think of a good dog name for themselves. Challenge older children to think of a name that starts with the same letter sound or has the same amount of syllables as their name.

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

Resources

Whistle for Willie, by Ezra Jack Keats

Peter wants to be able to whistle. He practices and practices and practices. This book is a good example of the idea that practice makes perfect or if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

Materials

One paper plate per child.
A bright light that will make shadows on the wall
Several sponges cut into one-inch pieces and attached to a clip clothes pin.
Dachshund dog page for length or sorting

Vocabulary

Proud (to feel pleased with yourself)
Pride (to feel pleased or proud of yourself)
Whistle (to make a sound by blowing through your lips)
Whirl (to spin around and around)
Shadow (a darkened shape of something made by bright light, like the sun)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know how to whistle. Let them experiment. Talk to them about how you have to try and try and try. That to keep trying is called practice. Explain to the children that something’s take lots of practice. Introduce the story by stating that today’s story is about a little boy named Peter who really wanted to be able to whistle. Can you guess what he did (he practiced)? Have the children repeat the motto; practice makes perfect.

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

Reading the Story

As you go along, let the children try to whistle with Peter.

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

After Reading the Story

Ask the children how they think Peter felt after he finally learned to whistle (happy, proud, special)? Ask them if they have ever practiced and practiced something and then finally learned how to do it. Did it make them feel proud? (I learned to ride my bike without trainer wheels on it. I can write my name but I couldn’t when I was three, I can almost make my bed) Write a list of the children’s ideas.

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

Discovery

Find a place in your school where the children can easily see and make shadows. Show the children that their shadow does what they do although the shape of it might be different. Let the children experiment with shadows and shadow play.

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

Do the following poem with the children.

I’m whirling, I’m twirling, I’m whirling all around

Faster and faster then I sit upon the ground.

I’m whirling, I’m twirling. I’m whirling all around

Slower and slower them I sit upon the ground.

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

Practice whistling!

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

Bring in a whistle. Explain to the children that when you blow the whistle they are to walk forward. When you blow it again, they are to walk backward. Do this several times and see if they are able to follow the directions. Or blow once to jump and twice to skip, etc..

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

Blocks

Depending upon the size of the blocks in your center, encourage the children to build a structure that the can hide inside of or a structures that a people/animal manipulatives can hide inside of. As you go over to check on the children play Teacher Says. Teacher says hide inside your structure. Teacher says stand beside your structure. Teacher says make your body lower than your structure. Teacher says hide behind your structure.

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

Art

Show the children how to print by using a sponge. Pinch a piece pf sponge with the clip clothespin. SHow the children how to dip the sponge into paint and then print (up and down, up and down) across their paper or around the edges. This will get some of the same effect as the illustrations in the book.

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

Library and Writing

Explain to the children that you are going to make an I Am Proud book. Have the children review things that they have done that make them feel happy and pleased with themselves. Ask them to draw what their face looks like when they are proud onto the paper plate. On the back of each plate write what makes them proud. Punch holes in the plates and attach together with a piece of yarn. (My Mom let me feed my brother said Kerry, I did my own seatbelt yesterday said Tammie, I buttoned all my buttons, even the little one said Roger)

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

Sand and Water

Dramatic Play

Remind the children that in the story Peter wanted to feel grown-up so he put on his father’s hat. Ask the children what clothes in your dramatic center could make them feel grown up? Encourage them to try the clothes on. Challenge them to do their own buttons, zippers, velcro, and snaps.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, washing hands, brushing teeth, and toileting.

Math and Manipulatives

Cut out the dashund dogs and challenge the children to arrange them from shortest to longest. Or cut out several of each length dog and sort them.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size.

Outdoor Play

If you have any whistle or whistle slides (think Dollar Store) bring them in for the children to enjoy.

Take colored chalk outside and let the children color on the sidewalk. Can they write their name? Can they draw various shapes? If you do not have a place to use colored chalk, try writing in the dirt with sticks.

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

In the story there was a girl jumping rope. For older children encourage them to practice this skill.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, and galloping.

Transitions

As each child leaves the group, ask them to try to whistle. After their attempt, remind them that practice makes perfect.

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

Resources

Kitten’s First Moon, by Kevin Henkes

This is the story about a kitten who just wants a bowl of milk. This a sweet story told in a simple manner which makes it a favorite to many.

Materials

Toilet paper tubes, about 6-8 for a class
Cat stuffed animal/s and shoe box for each
Cut out circles in small, medium, and large sizes.

Vocabulary

Full moon (when the moon is like a circle in the night sky it is called a full moon)

Moon phases (full moon, half moon, quarter moon, cat’s claw)

Before Reading the Story

Draw a circle on your dry erase board and tell the children that you are thinking of something that is round like a circle and can sometimes be seen in the sky. Let them try to guess what you are thinking of. Talk about how the moon comes out at night and the sun comes out during the day. Show the children the Phases of the Moon photo and ask them if they can guess which is called a full moon. Point and show them. Name the other moon types. Hold up the cover of the book and read the title. Show the children the picture of the full moon.

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

Have the children repeat, “Poor Kitten!” in the appropriate spots.

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

When kitten thinks that thing in the sky is a bowl of milk, ask the children if they know what it really is? Look at Kittens face when she opens her mouth and licks, bugs. Ask the children what they think Kitten might be thinking? Why do you think Kitten was scared when she climbed so high in the tree?

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

After Reading the Story

Ask who, what, where ,when , why questions.

Who is the story about? What was the kitten trying to get to? Where did she see the bowl of milk? When does the story take place? Why was she scared? Where does milk come from? What shape is the full moon? Kitten thought the moon looked like a bowl of milk, what does the moon look like to you? What are some things that kitten sees in the night? What are some ways that kitten tried to goet to the moon?

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other various purposes. AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in ability 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 out pictures of day and night for the children to sort.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; develops growing awareness of ideas and language related to attributes of time and temperature.

Put out the picture of the Cycles of the Moon and ask the children if they can recall the different names for each phase.

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

Pretend to be Kitten and follow some of her actions. Close your eyes, stretch your neck, open your mouth, stick out your tongue, lick your finger, wiggle your bottom, spring forward, tumble onto the floor, run in place (to the tree), climb a tree, reach up high, leap, leap across the pond, go back to home, drink your bowl of milk.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in ability 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.

Teach the children the song, 10 Little Kittens. Make 10 kittens and use them to help sing the song. On your dry erase board draw a tree and a chair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84hel7_NTSE Once the children are comfortable with the song, they can help move kittens from the tree to the chair.

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

Blocks

Encourage the children to build tall, to the moon but not past their shoulders if using wooden blocks. How many high can they build before their tower falls over?

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

Art

Ask the children if they can remember the shape of the moon in the story (circle). Tell them that today you are going to do circle art. Cut toilet paper tubes in half and put out small plates of paints. The children can dip the toilet tube in the paint and make circles on their paper by moving their hand up and down, up and down. Add anything else you may have in your class that will print circles.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops in strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, hammer.

Sand and Water

Bowls of various sizes and measuring cups. How many 1 cups does it take to fill the bowl? Which bowl holds more liquid?

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to determine whether or not two shapes are the same size and shape. AND 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.

Library and Writing

Give the children white chalk and black construction paper to use to practice writing their name on.

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.

Dramatic Play

Add any stuffed cats and shoe boxes that you might have. If you do not have stuffed cats, encourage the children to become cats. Put out some night time themed supplies such as blankets, small lamp, box beds, and encourage the children to carry out the theme.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Go on a circle hunt about the room.

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

Put out all the circles that you cut out. Have the children sort them by small, medium, large. Have the children line them up by color and size.

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

Outdoor Play

In the story the kitten climbed a tree to get closer to the moon. If you have a climbing apparatus on playground, pretend that you are the kitten climbing high to reach the moon.

Transitions

Give each child a picture of a cat or one of the circles that you cut out for Math & Manipulatives. Have each child near a chair. Ask them to put their kitten on the chair, under the chair, next to the chair, etc..

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, behind.