A Fish Out of Water, by Helen Palmer

When a boy does not follow the directions on how to feed his fish, things turn into a big problem. This is a good book to use to introduce a new fish tank into your room, or to help the children notice the fish you have. It is also a reminder about the importance of following directions.

Materials

Animals for pet graph
Fish bowl and five simple fish
A live fish in a tank or even just a simple bucket

Vocabulary

Veterinarian (a doctor who takes care of animals)
Big, bigger, biggest/smaller, smallest

Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about pets that they might have. Make a graph of pets that the children have. Use the animals for the pet graph but make sure to leave a space or two incase someone has an unusual pet.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Reading the Story

As the boy keeps moving the fish to different containers, ask what is happening (the fish is getting bigger). When the boy puts the fish into the bathtub and says this tub holds my father… ask the children what they think is going to happen. After the tub scene, let the children make some suggestions on what to do next.

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

Continue your discussion about pets that the children might have. Ask them if they help care for their pet. (My Daddy and I walk my dog after we eat dinner. I put my cat in my room at night. My sister’s lizard has to have the light on when it is cold outside). Talk about how we have to be gentle with pets so that we do not hurt them.

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

Discovery

If you have fish in your room, this would be a good day to let the children record/draw the fish. Help them notice all the details of the fish (its fins, its little flippers. How he opens and closes his mouth). If you do not have fish in your room, consider setting up a tank or bowl. A beta fish is very easy and goldfish are not expensive. I have also gone fishing and brought in a 4-6 inch catfish for the children to observe for a day or two.

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

Music and Movement

Sing Bubble, Bubble, Bubble, Pop! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTlbZL8XKa8 Make a fish bowl and five fish. With each verse remove a fish.

Five little fish are swimming in the water

Swimming in the water, swimming in the water

Five little fish are swimming in the water

Bubble, bubble, bubble, POP!

Four little fish are swimming in the water

Swimming in the water, swimming in the water

Four little fish are swimming in the water

Bubble, bubble, bubble, POP!

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

Ask the children to make themselves big. Now make themselves bigger, and biggest. Make yourself small, smaller, and now smallest. Make yourself long, longer, longest.

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

Blocks

Otto grows so big that he needs a very long and deep tank to hold him! Ask the children to use your blocks to build a tank that might hold Otto.

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

Art

Give the children a copy of the fish bowl and encourage them to draw their own fish inside. After they are finished with their drawing, ask them if they would like to tell you anything about their fish. Write their response on the bottom of the page. (My fish name is Sparkles. I feed my fish just a little, my fish swims in the circle).

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.

Library and Writing

Write each child’s name onto an index card. Try to use the same size letters for each child. Put the name cards on the table and encourage the children to put in order from shortest name to longest name. For younger children just pick 2-3 names for them to put into order of shortest, the same, and longest.

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

Sand and Water

Water Play today. Add measuring cups and bowls of various sizes. Ask the children if they can guess which container will hold the most water? Encourage the children to count how many scoops of water it takes to fill a container or bowl. Encourage them to scoop and count.

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

Dramatic Play

Encourage the children to be animal owners for any stuffed animals you might have. What does this animal need for food? Where will it sleep? Does it need any special equipment to help take care of it? Can the child use his/her imagination to figure out what is needed? (My dog needs a leash, can I use the red yarn? My cat wants a toy, can I get the ball from the block center? My tiger needs to be in this cubby/box because he bites).

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Math and Manipulatives

Encourage the children to use building manipulatives today. As they build make comments about how big their structure is, can you build it bigger? Who can build is the biggest one on the table?

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

Outdoor Play

Pretend to be fish swimming in the water. Then do other animals that the children have as pets. Let the children suggest what other animal walks they would like to do.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities. AND Physical Health & Development; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise to that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

Make several shapes that you are working on (oval, rectangle, and triangle). Cut out the shapes in three sizes, big, bigger, biggest. As the children move to the next activity ask them to show you a shape and a size. (Kerry, can you find the big triangle, Roger can you find a bigger triangle)?

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

Resources

Olive & Pekoe in Four Short Walks, by J. Davis & G. Potter

Pekoe and Olive are friends even though they are very different. Olive is old and Pekoe is young. They find they have many opposites but they can still be friends and enjoy spending time together.

Materials

Young and old animal match pictures
Package of dot or star stickers
Sheets of sandpaper
Foil
Several shoebox sized boxes and stuffed animals of pets

Vocabulary

Appreciates (to understand and welcome the gesture)
Regrets (wishes had not done something)
Impressed (Interested or excited about something)
Chipmunk (a little animal kind of like a squirrel)

Before Reading the Story

Start a discussion about how no two people are just alike. Pick two children in your classroom and have them stand up. Explain that both the children might be the same sex and the same age but that does not mean that they are alike. Ask the two children several questions about themselves that you know will make for different responses. (Jamal says he likes broccoli but Andrew does not, Susan says she has two brothers but Lisa has only one sister). Explain to the class that these two can and are friends even though they are different. Ask the children if this is ok? Of course it is! Everybody is different and likes different things, that’s what makes having friends so much fun. Sometimes we like the same things and sometimes we do not. Introduce the story by saying that today’s story is about two friends who are different in many ways but are still good friends.

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 structure.

Reading the Story

On page 6 when Pekoe brings the stick to Olive, explain that Olive appreciates the gesture because she understands that Pekoe is just being a good friend even if she does not really like playing with sticks. On page 9, ask the children what they think the dogs will eat for snack? Then ask several children what they like to eat for snack, note that not everyone likes the same things but they can still be friends. On page 16, note the dogs faces, ask the children how do you think they are feeling? Introduce the word disappointed. Ask the children why they think Pekoe and Olive are disappointed. (They cannot play outside, They have to go home, They wanted to play together). On page 20 ask the children if they can see where the chipmunk went? Do the same on page 22 and 25. On page 28 ask the children to look at the dogs faces. Why do you think they look so angry? How does it make you feel when other children fight with you? On page 31 comment on how Olive is being a good friend to Pekoe by standing up to the bully dog with him.

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.

After Reading the Story

Explain again to the children that no two people, or dogs, are alike. Note that in the story Pekoe and Olive are opposite in several ways. Ask the children if they can recall any ways that the two dogs are different. (Pekoe is fast and Olive is slow, Pekoe likes sticks and Olive does not really like them, Pekoe is afraid of the thunderstorm and Olive just does like to get wet, Pekoe wants to chase chipmunks, Olive just wants to watch, Pekoe wants to play with the other dogs, Olive just wants to watch, Pekoe is a puppy and Olive is an old dog).

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.

Make a graph that includes all the pets that the children in your classroom have. Then ask the children if their pet is a puppy or an old dog, a kitten or an old cat, etc.? Mark each animal with a Y for young and an O for old. Count how many of each pet there is and then count how many are young versus old.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantities. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Give the children a few moments to talk about any pet that they might have. What does your pet like to do with you?

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

Discovery

Make a match game using pictures of young and old like animals.

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

Music and Movement

Remind the children that in the story, Pekoe and Olive were opposite in many ways. Sing the Opposites Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW4OQxUVjiE

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

Sing I have a Dog his Name is Rags. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjiH_pj1_Lw

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

Tell the children that they are going to go on a listening walk. Give a direction and see if the children can follow it. Walk in front of the window, walk past the door, walk along the wall, walk around the table, walk to a corner of the room, walk beside a friend.

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.

Blocks

Encourage the children to work cooperatively in their structures today. Remind them that nobody is the boss but that each child involved gets to help make decisions on how the structure will be built. As the children are building, ask them to point out the part of the structure that they helped design. Compliment the children on working together even though they all had different ideas and opinions.

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.

Art

Attach sheets of sandpaper and sheets of foil to the easel. Allow the children to experiment painting on the two surfaces; Rough and Smooth, opposites.

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

Sand and Water

Tell the children that float and sink are opposites. Put water in your table today along with a variety of objects that float or sink. Put out two containers, one to hold the objects that float and one to hold the objects that sink. Challenge the children to gather objects from around the room and hypothesis whether it will float or sink.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Library and Writing

Remind the children that today’s story was called Olive and Pekoe in Four Short Walks. Suggest to the children that they are going to take a pretend walk and to imagine where they might be going (to the park, the zoo, the beach, the grocery store). Give each child five to ten dots or star stickers. Have them stick them anywhere on their piece of paper. Now have them draw a line using a marker from dot to dot/star to star. As they connect the dots/stars, ask them to tell you what they might see on their walk. Write their responses on the bottom of the page or beside each dot/star.

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

Dramatic Play

Set up a pet store or veterinary clinic today using boxes and stuffed animals. Add a cash register for pet store or your doctor kit for veterinary play.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Explain to the child that more and less are opposites. Put out two sets of like objects and ask the child which has more? Which has less? Start with sets that are easy to see the differences (3 cubes and 7 cubes). Continue playing this way until the child seems comfortable being able to recognize which set has more and which set has less. Then put out one set of objects and ask the child to make a set with more and a set with less. With older children they can make sets for each other. Encourage the children to count the number of objects in each set.

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

Outdoor Play

If possible, take your children on a walk around the neighborhood or school. Talk about the many things that you see along the way.

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

Transitions

Ask a child to name their favorite food. Now ask the rest of the children to raise their hand if they like that food too. Ask a child to name their favorite color, now ask the class to raise their hand if that is their favorite color also. Continue asking the children to name a favorite something (animal, snack, TV show, song, center, etc.). After each, remind the children that for some it might be their favorite but for others it is not and yet, we can still all be friends.

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

Resources

Go Dog Go, by P.D. Eastman

This is a fun opposite story about a whole range of dogs on the go.

Materials

Roll of crepe paper
A dog breed book or many pictures of dog varieties.

Vocabulary

Opposite (two words that are totally different in what they mean)

Before Reading the Story

Give each child a small toy car. Tell the children that cars take people to where they want to go. Most cars travel on roads. Some roads take people under mountains or rivers. These are called tunnels. Ask the children if they can make a tunnel using their body for their car to drive under. Sometimes the road goes over rivers or railroad tracks, these are called bridges. Can they make a bridge with a part of their body for their car to drive over? Play a version of Simple Simon by asking the children to put their cars under, over, or on different body parts. (Can you put your car over your elbow? Under your knee? On your neck?) When you are finished, ask each child to drive their car back to you.

Reading the Story

When you get to the pages where the dog says he does not like the hat, say good-by with attitude. When you get to the page where the dogs are going up the tree and the book is asking why?, make sure you stop and let the children tell you why they think the dogs are going up the tree.

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

Go back through the book with the children and see if they can name the opposites. Show a page giving the first opposite in the set and see if the children can give the second word in return. (ie day and ____ are opposites).

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

Discovery

Bring in a book or pictures of real dogs. Let the children examine the likes and differences of different breeds. You could graph which kind of dog is the children’s favorite.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurements; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the song, Opposites, sung to All Around the Mulberry Bush.

Everything I always say,

You always the opposite.

When I say ______,

You say ______!

(Use opposites from the story; day/night, up/down, over/under, big/little, black/white, etc)

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

Play a repeat game with the children. Say, “The car moves”. The children repeat this back. Now say the same sentence but add another detail. “The car moves quickly”. Have the children repeat back to you. After they have repeated continue to add more details one at a time (the blue car moves quickly, the big blue car moves quickly, the big blue car moves quickly down the road). Continue until you run out of ideas or the sentence becomes too long for the children. Try another sentence.

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

Blocks

Ask the children to try to build a car wash for the cars.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through on plans.

Art

Put out large pieces of paper and shallow bowls of paint. Let the children use small toy cars to paint. Dip the wheels in the paint and then go back and forth and round and round on the paper. Go dogs go!

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

Library and Science

Have the children trace around a circle shape onto a piece of green, yellow, and red construction paper. Let them cut these out and copy the words; go- on green, slow on yellow, and stop-on red.

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

Sand and water

Water play. Put out boats or small Tupperware’s that float. Add several small animals. Ask the child to put the animal on the boat, under the water, and over the water.

Water play. Out out boats or small tupperware’s that float. Add many small animals. Ask the children how many animals will fit on the boat before it sinks.

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

Dramatic Play

Bring in a variety of hats. Ahead of time let the parents know that today is silly hat day and have everyone bring a hat from home. Add party making supplies to the center. A roll of crepe paper and some paper to make signs that say the party is here.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Tell the children that you are thinking about wheels. How many wheels does a car have, a bicycle, a tricycle, roller blades, a big truck, an airplane, a train? Look around your room for toys that depict modes of transportation and have the children count the wheels.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness if numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Outdoor Play

Encourage the children to be dogs racing in their cars. As they come around you call out Go ____Go! Or stop ____stop! Bring out a set of the traffic circles that were made. Hold them up as the dogs are driving.

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