Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, by Margaret Chodos-Irvine

Ella Sarah needs to get dressed but no one in her family agrees upon what she wants to wear.

Materials

15 index cards cut in half the long way. On 20 of the halves, make a small circle of color using a crayon or marker. On the remainder 10, make a bean shape with arms and legs (jumping beans)
Paint swatches from local paint store. You will need two to three of each color swatch you choose.
Clothing pattern, enlarge for children to color individual items.
An assortment of larger buttons, about 20-25 in all.
A parachute or large flat sheet. Colored scarves.

Vocabulary

Naming articles of clothing (short sleeves, t-shirt, blouse, long sleeves, sandals, sneakers, slippers, etc.)

Introducing the Story

Wear something that is one or more of your favorite articles of clothing to school today. Introduce the story by saying’ “I wore my favorite (socks) to school today because (they have cats all over them and cats are my favorite animal). If you know of a child who has a favorite article of clothing, mention it (I see Roger is wearing his baseball shirt, he told me once that he loves baseball. Roger is it one of your favorite shirts?). Let the children share their favorites if they choose to.

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

Reading the Story

As you read the story, use your voice to show Ella Sarah’s displeasure at being told not to wear her favorite outfit. Note to the children after these pages that you think Ella Sarah really wants to wear her pink polka-dot pants, her dress with orange and green flowers, her purple and blue striped socks, her yellow shoes, and her red hat! On the page where Ella Sarah looks in the mirror and feels her outfit is just right, ask the children to look at her face and tell you what they think she might be feeling.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books, and poetry. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that Ella Sarah really had on a variety of colors. Ask them if they can remember some of the colors that she was wearing. Then say, “Let’s play a color game”. Get out your jumping bean cards directions on how to make is under materials. Hold the cards face down so the children cannot see the marks/colors on the opposite side. Let the children take turns picking a card and naming the color. If they get a jumping bean card they shout ‘Jumping Bean!” and everyone jumps up and down. Continue playing until all the children have had a turn or they lose interest.

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

Music and Movement

Sing What Are You Wearing Today? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vmhPxdR_do

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

Discovery

Put out the paint color swatches on the table and encourage the children to find the matching cards. For older children you can get several hues in the same color family. For younger children, use swatches that are more defined. When they have matched the color swatches, ask the child if he/she can name the colors.

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

Blocks

Put out colored blocks today. Encourage them to sort the blocks by colors or to match the blocks to colors that they are wearing. As they build ask them to name some of the colors they are using or if they have a favorite color.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; 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

Ask each child if they have a favorite article of clothing at home. Challenge them to draw their favorite outfit or give the child a clothing pattern to match their choice and markers or crayons to color them. As they work encourage them to talk about the article with detail., just like Ella Sarah and her family did in the story today.

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

Bring the baby doll clothes over to the center today and fill the water table with soapy water. Let the children wash the clothes. As they wash, talk about the articles of clothing. Can they name them? Do they wear these at home? When do you wear the article of clothing? (I have pajamas at my house for nighttime. I have a fancy dress to wear when I go to parties. My baby has one of these.)

Library and Writing

Put the book in the center today. With one or two children at a time take a picture walk through the book. As you go through the pages ask the children what happened first, next, and last. Can they remember what Ella Sarah’s favorite outfit was?

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.

Dramatic Play

Get out all the dress up clothes today. Add jewelry and scarves if you have them. Suggest to the children to dress for a party. Comment on how lovely they look (Alison I love your blue striped skirt and green lace blouse, you look marvelous for the party!).

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex. Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills

Math and Manipulaties

Call several children over to the table to play a counting game with you. Give each child a copy of the large shirt pattern and put a bowl of buttons in the middle. The children take turns rolling a dice and adding that many buttons to their shirt pattern. After their turn they put the buttons back into the bowl for the next player’s turn. Continue rolling the dice and counting out buttons until each child has had several turns or loses interest.

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

Outdoor Play

Bring your parachute and colored scarves out onto the playground. Spread the parachute out flat and have the children stand all around the edges. Give each child a colored scarf. Have them name the color/s of their scarf and toss it onto the parachute. Once all the scarves are on the parachute, the children pick up the chute by the edges or handles and make the scarves dance by shaking their arms up and down. Repeat giving each child a different color scarf.

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

Transitions

Call the children to the next activity or to line up by what they are wearing. (If you are wearing a shirt with buttons, shoes with laces, pants with a zipper, etc.)

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

Dear Parents, Today we read a story about a little girl who wanted to choose what she was going to wear, even if it did not match well. Encourage your child to help pick out their clothes for school. As they do, mention the colors or the patterns on the clothing. Give your child a few extra minutes to practice dressing themselves in the morning. This is good not only for their self-esteem but is a wonderful way for your child to develop large and small muscles.

Resources

Mouse Count, by Ellen Stoll Walsh

What do snakes eat for dinner? Mice! This simple story is about a snake who is gathering mice for his dinner but will the mice become his supper? Read and count your way through this cute story.

Materials

10 simple house shapes numbered 1-10 or 1-5
Mouse shape
Ahead of time, paint 2 stones (small enough to fit in their hand) per child in a tan type color
Bag of pompoms
Pictures of mice
Rhyming cards
Dice
Basic shapes cut from a manilla folder (see resources)
Snake picture

Vocabulary

Before reading the Story

Hold up the cover and ask the children if they know what animals are in the story today? Read the title and have the children count the mice with you. Tell them that today is going to be a number day. Count to 10 and back again holding up the appropriate fingers as you count. Encourage the children to join in.

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

Reading the Story

On the first page where the mice are careful watching for snakes, ask the children why the mice needed to be careful? Ask them what they think is going to happen in the story, will the mice be eaten? Let’s find out. Continue to read.

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.

Have the children count along with you. Use the picture of the mouse and tape to the wall or flannel board for the children to help count.

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

After Reading the Story

Put your houses labeled 1-10 or 1-5 in order on the floor where the children can see. Have one child close their eyes and put the mouse under one of the houses. The child then opens his eyes and must guess which house the mouse is under using their words. Help them count the houses if they do not know the numbers. Give each child 3 tries. Then the child who hid their eyes is the next person to hide the mouse and another child guesses. Continue until everyone who wants a turn gets one.

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

Discovery

Print out the pictures of the mice in similar size. Cut off each mouse’s head. Put the bodies in one pile and the heads in another. Challenge the children to match the correct head to it’s body.

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

Music and Movement

Have the children take turns showing an exercise (jumping jacks, hopping on one foot, touching toes). Do these to the count of ten.

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

Ask them to pretend that they are a snake and do the following movements; Can you make your body a curled shape? Can you stretch your body out long? Can you wiggle only your one foot? Can you stretch one part of your body and curl another? Can you twist your body all around? Can you move only your head? Can you slither on the ground like a snake? Can you twist more than one body part?

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands increasingly complex and varied vocabulary. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Recite the following poem and have the children act out. I’m Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd0cX1dogtk

Blocks

Cut out 5-10 snakes and add them to the block center. Ask the children if they can measure how long each block or block structure is using the snakes as the measuring device.

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

Art

Draw the basic mouse shapes onto a manilla folder and cut out. The children can then trace around the shapes and cut them out with scissors and put together to make a mouse.

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.

Library and Writing

Put the animal and their rhyming word cards out for the children to match.

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

Sand and Water

Fill the table with pompoms today. Give the children bowls or cups marked with the colors of the pompoms on the outside. Encourage the children to sort the pom poms into the correct cup using tongs, tweezers, or chopsticks. Which cup has the most, least?

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

Dramatic Play

If you have a doll house add several little toy mice (found in cat toy department) instead of people today.

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

Cut out mouse ears from construction paper and attach to sentence strips that the children can wear on their heads and pretend to be mice today. Add large boxes if you have them and the children can pretend that they are theri mouse house.

Math and Manipulatives

Use the mouse shape and make 10 in each of several colors. The children take turns rolling the dice and collecting that many mice. After each turn, they count the number of mice in their pile. When all the mice are collected, the child with the most mice wins.

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

Outdoor Play

If possible ahead of time take your tan painted rocks and hide-scatter them about the playground. If you cannot do ahead of time, nonchalantly scatter them while the children are busy playing. Gather the children and show them one of the rocks. Tell them that you are pretending that it is a mouse. Explain that you saw many mice on the playground. Let’s pretend to be snakes and look for our supper. Have the children search the playground for tan rocks/mice. They can then bring them to you and count them out loud. (Riley, how many mice did you find? Who found more? Who found the most?).

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal to. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Transitions

Play 1,2,3 How Many Do You See? As you go to the next activity. Make two fists with your hands. Knock them together and say, 1-2-3 how many do you see? On the word ‘see’ hold up 0-10 fingers and ask a child to tell you how many there are. Continue until all the children have had a turn.

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

Resources

Rhyming word cards

The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds

Materials

White coffee filters and a spray bottle
Water washable markers
Alphabet dot cards, 1 per child
Dot stickers-lots or BINGO daubers
Ahead of time; a note to parents collecting CLEAN tin cans and old CD’s.
Water Beads
Several boxes of DOTS candy and a box of toothpicks

Vocabulary

Round (shaped like a circle, sphere, or cylinder)

Before Reading the Story

Show the children a picture of a circle, sphere, cylinder, dot, polka dots. Explain to the children that these are all called round shapes. Ask them if they can think of any objects that are round. As they name, tell them that what they named is a round circle shape, a round sphere shape, a round cylinder shape, a round polka dot shape, or a round dot shape. The idea is to put round with these basic shapes to help the children better visualize.

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

Reading the Story

Begin the story reading with the emotional anger that Vashti feels. On the page where it starts, “the next week when Vashti walked into art class…”, point to the picture and ask the children what it is. On the last page, ask the children why Vashti asked the boy to sign his line picture? Explain to the children that ALL artists sign their work. Have the children help retell the story by asking questions. WHy was Vashti angry at the beginning of the story? (She thought she could not draw and was not an artist). What did the teacher do? How did that make Vashti feel? What did Vashti do? Why did Vashti tell the boy to sign his line picture?

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.

After Reading the Story

Explain to the children that in the story Vashti thought she was not a good artist but her teacher knew that if she tried, she could be amazing. Ask the children to think about something they are really good at. If they are unable to think of something, tell them something that you see them doing well. (I like how well you can peddle the tricycle, I like how well you always clear your lunch plate and never spill food on the floor, I like how well you can cut with scissors, I like how well you play with your friends).

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

Discovery

Put out a variety of marker colors, bright colors work best. Have the children color white coffee filters using the markers. Once they are ‘finished’, fold the coffee filter in half and give it three sprays of water from the spray bottle. Open it up and the colors will have run together. Hang it to dry.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in an increasing variety of tasks and activities.

Put the DOTS candy into one bowl and the toothpicks in another. Demonstrate how to make squares, triangles, and pyramids by attaching the toothpicks to the DOTS.

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

Music and Movement

Teach the children the chant, Round and Round.

Round and round and round again.

I have no beginning and I have no end.

Can you guess what I am?

A circle, a circle, a circle!

(Encourage the children to name items in the shape of a circle).

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

Put on the Bert & Ernie Circle Song and encourage the children to dance to it by spinning their bodies or body parts in circles. Give each child a scarf to use while dancing.

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

Dance the Polka Dot Pants Dance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chejyOzlv1U

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

Blocks

Ahead of time ask the parents to donate CLEAN tin food cans and old CD’s. Add these to the block center for extra building materials.

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

On a piece of paper per child, make a small black circle/dot near the center of the page. On the bottom write,”One small dot can become a _________”. Give the children drawing materials to make something from the dot.

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; Approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Library and Writing

Make copies of the Alphabet Dot cards and add dots. The children can peel the dots and attach to a letter. https://easypeasylearners.com/free-alphabet-do-a-dot-printables/

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

Add water beads and water to the table today along with scoops and bowls. Remind the children that the beads need to stay in the table.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; demonstrates increasing capacity to follow rules and routines and use materials purposefully, safely, and respectfully.

Dramatic Play

Math and Manipulatives

Help the children make number charts. On a piece of paper (per child) write numbers 1-5 or 1-10 down the side of the paper. Let the children use the dots or the BINGO daubers to make the appropriate number of ‘dots’ beside each number.

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

Outdoor Play

Make a simple obstacle course using a crawl tunnel, hoola hoops, and circles drawn with chalk or any things that you might have that are a circle shape, like a dot.

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