Strega Nona, by Tomie dePaola

What happens when Big Anthony does not listen to Strega Nona and does what she asks him not to?

Materials

A box of cooked spaghetti
Several different kinds of pasta that can be strung
Box of cornstarch
Two to three cookie sheets

Vocabulary

Pasta (another name for fancy noodles)
Grazie (thank you in Italian)
Confess (tell the truth)
Hero (someone who everyone admires and thinks is cool)

Before Reading the Story

Talk with the children about the importance of listening to adults. Why do you think they make rules for children? Have you ever disobeyed your parent, what happened? Explain that the story today is about a boy named Anthony who did not listen when an adult told him not to touch something.

Reading the Story

Sing song Strega Nona’s directions to the pot. Encourage the children to hum along with you. There is a great reading of this story on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=PGVXwMX0e5w.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they can recall some of the jobs that Big Anthony does for Strega Nona. Ask them if they ever help anyone at home or school? What kinds of jobs do they do for others? List on a piece of paper.

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

Put out cookie trays with a cornstarch and water mix. Put the cornstarch onto the tray and slowly add small amounts of water. You will know when the consistency is correct because you can scoop up the cornstarch mix in your hand but then the warmth of your skin makes it sort of melt between your fingers. Let the children experiment with this mix. Can they write their name in it? Talk about the cause and effect.

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. 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.

Music and Movement

Sing the Pasta Pot song to the tune of Are You Sleeping? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVnmz2t5q-k

Blocks

Encourage the children to build Strega Nona’s house. The children can build it and then destroy it pretending that they are the pot of spaghetti.

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

Art

Cut pieces of yarn about 8 inches long. The children can dip these into bowls of paint and then drag across a piece of paper. Add a spoon to the bowl of paint to help the children with dipping the yarn.

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 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 you center allows you to use food, add cooked noodles to the table. How do they feel?

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities.

Library and Writing

Use cooked pasta or pieces of yarn (pretend spaghetti) to draw letters and shapes with. You can draw the child’s name on a large piece of paper and the child can take glue, cover the lines and then attach yarn on top.

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.

Dramatic Play

Add a large pot to the center today and the children can act out the story. What else can you cook in your magic pot? Also add a kerchief and a small apron if available. Hang the picture of Strega Nona in the center.

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.

Math and Manipulatives

Bring in several different kinds of pasta that the children can string. Can they make a pattern with their pasta?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials. AND 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.

Outdoors Play

Weather permitting, give the children large buckets and add dirt, water, pine needles, rocks, sand, etc. Make bubbling pots of whatever.

Transitions

Re-read the magic chants that Strega Nona said to the pot. Ask the children if they can name the rhyming words. As the children go to the next activity, give them a word and ask them if they can make a rhyming word for it.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.

Resources

One Monkey Too Many, by Jackie French Koller

What happens when the monkeys do not listen? Watch the crazy adventures of these as they forget to follow the rules.

Materials

Barrel of Monkeys (I have found this game in the Dollar Store)
Pictures of safe/unsafe play

Vocabulary

Before reading the Story

Ask the children why they think that we have rules at school and at home? What do they think would happen if everybody ignored the rules and did what they wanted? Tell the children that the story today is about some monkeys who did not listen to the rules. Ask the children if they can guess what is going to happen in the story to the monkeys? Introduce the book.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiencecs; to act out stories in dramatic play; to predict what will happen next in a story.

Reading the Story

Stop on every page that talks about one monkey too many and let the children make comments if they choose.

After reading the Story

Were the monkeys being safe in this story? In the story it looks funny but what can really happen if we are not safe? What can you do if someone asks you to do something that you do not think is safe? Teach the children that they can say “No, no I won’t go!” Have them practice this several times and then ask them some questions and have them repeat, “No, no I won’t go!” What if your friend said let’s play in my Mom’s car (no-no I won’t go!). What if you wanted to cross the street and the light was red. What if a stranger said to come here because they had some candy they wanted to give you. What if someone you know says look I’ve got matches we can play with.

Discovery

Put out all the pictures of safe/insafe play. Have the children sort them and then talk about why a picture is unsafe.

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. 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 Monkey See, Monkey Do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdCLvwK8I6c Have everyone stand in a circle. The teacher is the first leader and the children are the monkeys. As you chant or sing the verse, everyone follows the leader. At the end of the verse the leader points to another who then becomes the new leader.

When you clap, clap, clap your hands

The monkeys clap, clap, clap their hands.

Monkeys see and Monkeys do,

Monkeys do the same as you!

(Jump up and down, twirl, hop on one foot, hoot out loud, make a silly face)

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

Sing There Were 5 in the Bed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1_dxT7efcs. Hold up the appropriate number of fingers for each verse and make a fist rolling your knuckles on the floor when you sing roll over, roll over.

There were 5 in the bed and the little one said,

Roll over, roll over.

So they all rolled over and one fell out

There were 4 in the bed and the little one said,

Roll over, roll over….

There were 2 in the bed and the little one said,

Roll over, roll over

So they all rolled over and one fell out,

There was one in the bed and the little said Goodnight!

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

Tell the children that they are going to pretend to be driving cars. Remind them to fasten their seatbelts. Turn on music and the children can move around pretending to drive. tell them that when the music stops that they must quickly freeze so that they will not have an accident. Put on the music again and drive, then freeze, etc..

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

Blocks

Put out any transportation vehicles you might have. As the children build, encourage them to count how many. Can they add one more? (I see that you have 5 cars in the garage, is there room for one more? Now how many)? For older children you can ask, “If you have 5 cars and 2 more drove into the garage, now how many are in the garage?

Mathematics/Numbers & Operations; develops increased abilities to combine, separate and name “how many” concrete objects.

Art

Encourage the children to just collage using a variety of materials.

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Sand and Water

Put sand and pouring toys in the table today. When it is clean-up or if too much sand gets on the floor, remind the children to sweep it up because sand can be slippery. Safety first.

Library and Writing

Make a graph of letters in your name. Write each child’s name on an index card. Ask them first if they can name the letters and then ask them to count how many letters are in their name. Write their name above the correct number of letters. As you share this with the children you can say. Kerry has 5 letters and Tammie has one more. How many letters does Tammie have in it? Help the children to count.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Ask each child to show you two counters (these can be anything you have lots of; links, cubes, bear counters). Ask them to take one more and now tell you how many they have. Ask them to take one more, now how many? Continue to 10 then ask them to take away one. Now how many? Ask them to takeaway one more, now how many? Go all the way down to zero.

Mathematics/Numbers & Operations; develops increased abilities to combine, separate and name “how many” concrete objects.

Put out the game Barrel of Monkeys and encourage the children to make long monkey chains. How many monkeys are on your chain?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increasing ability to count to ten and beyond. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills;grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, string beads, and using scissors.

Outdoor Play

Practice different kinds of rolling. Can you make you body long and roll? Can you curl like a ball and roll, can you roll without using your arms, can you roll very fast?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; progresses in physical growth, strength, stamina, and flexibility.

On the way to the playground, stop and pretend that you are crossing a street. Have the children look left, any cars? Now look right, any cars? Check left one more time and then cross the pretend street.

Transitions

Give each child a picture of safe/not safe cards. Ask them to tell you if it is safe or not safe. Ask them to tell you why.

Resources

Franklin is Lost, by Paulette Bourgeois

Franklin is playing outside with his friends when suddenly he becomes lost in the dark and scary woods. How will he ever get home and what will his parents do when they find him?

Materials

Paper plates, enough for 2 per child.
Paper plate clocks made ahead of time but do not add the numbers to the face.
Body coverings match game
Fingerprint poem. Here are my fingerprints, they belong to me, No one has these same prints, they are special to just me.

Vocabulary

Woods (an area of many trees, another name for the forest)
Annoyed (when you get irritated at someone or they get irritated at you)
Worried (to feel like something bad might have happened to someone)
Knoll (a little hill)
Lost (to not know where you are)

Before Reading the Story

Hold up the cover of the book and tell the children that this turtle’s name is Franklin. Ask them to look at Franklin’s face and ask them how they think Franklin is feelin, why? Read the title of the book and ask the children if any of them have ever been lost? How did you feel? If no one has ever felt lost and afraid, make up an example that the children can respond to (Once when I was little I went to the store with my Dad and when he was paying I hid behind a shelf. My Dad did not know and walked out of the store without me. When I ran after him, I could not find him and I was so scared. I cried and then he realized I was not behind him and came back and found me. I was scared and never hid in a store again).

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

Reading the Story

On the page where Franklin is looking for Fox and walks into the woods, stop and ask the children what they think is going to happen next?. On the page where Franklin’s parents get worried, ask the children if they know what it means to be worried? Why do you think his parents worried?

After Reading the Story

Ask the children, Why was Franklin not allowed to go into the woods alone? Are there places your parents tell you, you are not allowed to play? Why do you think they tell you that? Explain to the children that sometimes parents yell when they are worried or scared for their child (Franklin’s Mom might have yelled at him for going into the woods) but it does not mean that they do not love you. You scared them and even though it’s not nice, they sometimes just yell.

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

Discovery

Put the body covering match cards out and see if the children can find which animals have which kind of body coverings.

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

Look at pictures of animals and talk about how they are alike and different from people. (People have hands, bears have paws/people have skin, birds have feathers/people have two eyes, and so do most animals!)

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

Music and Movement;

Sing Hickory Dickory Dock ,use your paper plate clock to move the hands about. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMNOZ7rC5hU

Hickory Dickory Dock, tick tock

The mouse ran up the clock

The clock struck one

This made him run,

Hickory Dickory Dock

The clock struck 2, he lost his shoe/the clock struck 3, he scraped his knee/ the clock struck 4, he went back for more/ the clock struck 5, he jumped off with a dive/ the clock struck 6, he gave his paws a lick/ the clock struck 7, he ______/ the clock struck 8, he felt great/ the clock struck 9, he hurt his spine/ the clock struck 10, he ran down again/ the clock struck 11, he wished it was 7/ the clock struck 12, he was tired and went to sleep.

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

Count to 10 and Back Again holding up and taking down fingers as you do so. On the way down when you get to zero, call out blast off! and let the children jump up.

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

Blocks

Tell the children that while they are building a structure, to see if they can hide an animal within. Then they can call you over to see if you can find it.

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

Art

Let the children paint paper plates with green, yellow, and white paint. After they dry, they can cut out 4 legs, a tail, and a head to make their own turtles.

Creative Arts/Art; develops growing abilities to plan, work independently, and demonstrate care and persistence in a variety of art projects.

Library and Writing

Give each child a piece of white paper and have them trace around both their left and right hand. Then help them to use a stamp pad in a darker color to carefully put their fingerprints in the coordinating finger. Make copies of the fingerprint poem that can be glued to the back of the page. After you have finished, give the children magnifying glasses and let them look at their prints and their friends to see that they really are all different.

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.

Sand and Water

If you have small animals, put them into the sand and let the children bury them and then hide and seek them. Give them a small bowl to put their animals into and a plastic fork for scraping the sand. If you have multiple kinds of an animal, encourage the children to collect all of the same kind first. (Annie, can you find all 6 of the cows, and Lee you look for the 4 tigers).

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

Dramatic Play

Franklin was lost and scared. When he comes home he is very hungry. Can the children make a meal nutritious meal that would help Franklin to feel better? Ask the children what they are preparing. Write their nutritious meal plans down.

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

Math and Manipulatives

In the story, Franklin was told to be home at 6 o’clock. Have a paper plate clock made ahead of time and show the children what 6 o’clock looks like. Give each child a paper plate clock. Show the children on a clock how the numbers go around the face of the clock. Encourage the children to copy numbers onto their own clocks. (They will probably not get it exact but the activity is to practice copying/writing numbers more then making a clock).

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

Outdoor Play

Use a familiar classroom toy animal and hide it somewhere on the playground. Tell the children what you have hidden and that they will need to follow your directions to find it. Give 2-3 part directions and let them see if they can find the toy. Do with each child individually or in small groups. Hide the toy in different spots between children. (I have hidden our little toy cow. Go over to the red tricycle and then look down by the ground and you will see the cow. Go around the big tree two times and then to the chair by the water table and you will see the cow)

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

Transitions

Ask questions about the story. What kind of an animal is Franklin? Whose house did he go to? What did his parents tell him about the woods? What game was he playing when he got lost? Who was he playing with? How did he feel when he got lost in the woods? Etc..

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates 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.