Abuelo and The Three Bears, by Jerry Tello

This is the classic Three Bears but with a multi-culture twist. Read the original story and then use this to compare.

Materials

Tortillas, beans, salsa
Popsicle sticks
Bear Masks
Hot and cold cards

Vocabulary

At the end of the story all the Spanish words are translated.
Grumpy (grouchy and in a bad mood)
Stubborn (very determined and going to do it your way no matter what)
Family Reunion (when all the members of an extended family get together for a party)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they ever have large family meals or meals where relatives and friends come to eat. What kinds of things do your parents make for these meals? (My Dad cooks spaghetti and Uncle Mark comes to my house, When Grandma came at Christmas we had turkey and cookies).

Reading the Story

Make sure you stop and help the children understand the Spanish words.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands a n increasingly complex and varies vocabulary.

After Reading the Story

Make a venn diagram and compare this story with the traditional Three bears. What are the similarities, what are the differences?

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

Discovery

Bring in some tortillas and salsa for the children to try. Make some frijoles to put onto the tortillas. If a child is a picky eater, encourage them to try a new food.

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

Music and Movement

Sing People in a Family, sung to Frere Jaques. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FXH36epPnY

People in a family, people in a family

Eat together, eat together

People in a family, eat together

All day long, all day long.

People in a family, people in a family

Laugh together, laugh together

People in a family, laugh together

All day long, all day long

(ask the children to help think of other things that families do together.

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. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Tap out patterns in sets of three and see if the children can copy you. (3 claps or 1 clap, 2 stamps, etc.)

Creative Arts/Movement; shows growth in moving in time to different patterns of beat and rhythm in music.

Blocks

Challenge the children to make a bed and/or a chair for blocks big enough for a stuffed animal and then themselves.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through on plans. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning and Problem Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, in trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.

Art

Remind the children that Abuelo said Trencitas came back later to glue Ositos chair back together. Put out Popsicle sticks and glue and ask the children if they can build something from wood.

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

Have the children dictate a recipe that their parent cooks to you. They can either draw the food or find a picture and cut it out. (My Mom makes me tuna sandwiches. She opens the can and puts it in a bowl. Put in 5 spoons of mayonnaise and some little pickle pieces. She puts a shake of that stinky stuff and mixes it all together. I like to eat it on bread with cheese).

Sand and Water

Add dampened sand to the table today and some cooking utensils and plates. The children can pretend to cook various foods.

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

Dramatic Play

Add three bear masks and encourage the children to act out this or the traditional version of the three bears story. Add three bowls, three chairs and three blankets to represent beds.

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

Sort things by those that are hot and those that are cold.

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

Outdoor Play

Encourage the children to have a family reunion. Help them figure what role they will play (aunt, grandparent, cousin, baby, father, etc).

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.

Transitions

As the children go off to the next activity, play categories. Have them name one of their favorite foods, a food they eat for breakfast, a food their parent cooks, or a food they like to eat at a restaurant.

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

Resources

All About Seeds, by Susan Kuchalla

This book uses simple pictures and words to describe how plants grow. It is a good introduction book to spring and planting.

Materials

Materials for planting flower or vegetable seeds.
Variety of produce and a knife to cut them in half.
Plastic lids from cool whip type containers.
A variety of larger seeds (beans, split peas, popcorn)
A journal for recording a seed sprouting and growth cycle.
A good sized piece of contact paper (2-3 feet long)
A small bag of birdseed

Vocabulary

Planted (to put something into the ground to grow)
Produce (fruits and vegetables).

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if their family has ever planted a garden? Let the children discuss what they planted, where they planted, and how they planted. Afterwards, introduce the book.

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

Reading the Story

As you read, point to the corresponding pictures and allow the children time to comment on anything that they see.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships. AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books and poetry.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if you planted an acorn, what kind of a plant would it grow? What if you planted the seeds from an apple, could it make a peach tree? Give each child a bean seed, a damp paper towel and a ziplock baggie. Have the children place their bean seed on the damp paper towel and seal it in the baggie. Tell them that you are going to watch the seeds for the next several days to see what happens. Use the recording log in library/writing to track the seeds development for the next few days.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving;grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.

Discovery

Bring in a variety of produce. Cut the produce in half and let the children count the seeds of each. Let the children guess if a produce will have a large or small seed/s inside. Good produce includes an apple, an avocado, a squash plant, a banana, etc. Talk with the children about the seeds that they see. What size, shape and quantity.

Mathematics/Number & operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in a meaningful way.

Music and Movement

Dig a Little Hole, act out as recite

Dig a little hole and you put the seed in.

You cover it with dirt and let the sunshine in.

Add a little water and keep it fed,

Pretty soon a little plant will show its head.

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

Sing Where Oh Where Are All The Children? act out as you sing or recite

Where oh where are all the children? clap to rhythm

Way down yonder in the apple orchard. point thumb towards back

Picking apples, put them in the basket climb ladder and pick apples

Picking apples, put them in the basket. climb ladder and pick apples

Picking apples, put them in the basket, climb ladder and pick apples

Way down yonder in the apple orchard. point thumb towards back

How would you act out; cutting lettuce, twisting tomatoes, carrying pumpkins, etc?

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances. AND Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles.

Blocks

Try something different today. Tape a good size sheet of contact paper to the wall with the sticky side out. Put out your smaller/lighter blocks and let the children experiment ‘sticking’ them to the wall. Challenge them to make a flower or a tree using the small/light blocks.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; demonstrates growing confidence in a range of abilities and expresses pride in accomplishments. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take shapes apart.

Art

Have the children pour glue into the plastic lid. Let them use the “seeds” (beans, split peas, popcorn) to make a mosaic in the glue. When it is dry, punch a hole and hang them with a piece of string.

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

Library and Writing

Help the children make a blank book for them to record how a seed begins to sprout and grow. The recording will be an on-going project over several days depending upon what type of seed you choose to sprout. The book does not have to be big or fancy, several pieces of paper stapled together will work.

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 birdseed and allow the children to pour and scoop. (Note: from my own experiences, the children seem to want to pour this up high and splash it into the table. Remind them about your safety rules of seed must stay in the table and not on the floor).

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

Dramatic Play

As the children play in the kitchen with the food, encourage them to name the foods that have seeds.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Count the number of seeds inside a variety of produce. Draw a picture of each produce and then have the children help count how many seeds were inside. Write the number next to the picture and let a child draw seed representations.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness if numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Outdoor Play

Bring you planting supplies outside and let the children plant flower or vegetable seeds.

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

Transitions

Play I’m thinking of…. A fruit that grows in a tree and is round and orange and sweet to eat. A vegetable that grows on a vine and we had it for lunch yesterday. A vegetable that grows under ground and it makes french fries. A fruit that you drink in a juice. A vegetable that is crunchy when you bite it.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasing complex and varied vocabulary. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Dear Parent- today we read a book about seeds and how they grow. Planting a garden with your child can be lots of fun and encourages healthy eating. You do not have to grow a big garden, try a single tomato plant or a simple row of green beans.

The Hungry Thing, by Jan Slepian and Ann Seidler

When the Hungry Thing comes to town, he wants food! But the people are confused as to what to feed him. This is a fun book for the children to help solve the mystery of what the Hungry Thing wants to eat.

Materials

Hungry Thing container
Cut out circles (see directions at end)
Several colors of yarn

Vocabulary

Before Reading the Story

Tell the children that your story today is about rhyming words. Does anyone know what a rhyming word is? (2 words that sound the same). Let the children practice making rhymes to words such as log, bat, and dish. Introduce the story.

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

Reading the Story

As the little boy in the story begins to sound out the words that the Hungry Thing is trying to say, slow down and allow the children to see if they can find the correct answer.

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

As you dismiss the children from the rug time, make up a silly rhyme that goes along with their name. Can they figure out whose name you are calling? Werry, Herry, Kerry! Pom, Dom, Tom!

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

Discovery

Take a piece of food from your meal and put it in a baggie. Ask the children what they think will happen to the food if you left it out for a day or two? Let the children make predictions and then hang the baggie on the wall so that you can check it daily. (It’s gonna stink, that’s gross, it will get mushy, it will turn yellow).

Science/Scientific Methods & Skills; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Science/Scientific Methods & Skills; begins to describe and discuss predictions, explanations, and generalizations based on past experiences.

Music and Movement

Sing Rhyming Words Sound The Same sung to Here We Go Looby Loo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwPo1anFhXg

Rhyming words sound the same,

Rhyming words sound the same.

Rhyming words sound the same,

Rhyming words sound the same.

Now slowly chant; If I say log……you can say_______.

Repeat using different words to rhyme.

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

Do a rhyming name chant.

Paula, Paula, bo Boula. Bonana fana foe Faula. Me mi mo Maula, Paula!

Ryan, Ryan bo Byan. Bonana fana foe Fyan. Me mi mo Myan, Ryan!

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

Blocks

Put several strips of masking tape onto the floor. Each should be a different length from 1-4 feet long. Encourage the children to lay blocks along the tapeline. How many blocks did it take to cover the line? Or have the child walk heel to toe down the line. How many steps did it take you? Which line is longest? Which line took the most blocks to cover? Why?

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

Art

Make one circle for each child (see Resources). Cut the circles from cardboard or poster board. Cut out slits about ¼ inch from edge towards center. Let the children cut bits of yarn to weave around the circle and slip into the slots. When the children are finished you can punch a hole into each circle and hang them from the ceiling.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name. 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.

Sand and Water

Put damp sand and play pots and pans into the table today so the children can pretend to make food. As you pass by the center, ask the children to make you ‘thicken’ or ‘goup with whackers’. Encourage the children to make rhyming words as they play.

Library and Writing

Tell the children that you want to play a joke on the cook today. Write on a piece of paper; Feed Me. Give the children each a piece of paper so that they can practice copying the letters. Then punch holes and add string. Have the children put on like bibs for lunch before the cook comes in with the food. Then the children can all say together, “We’re Hungry Things”!

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 name.

Give each child a piece of paper and a marker. Tell them that you are going to make Hungry Things. Ask them to first make a great big circle to be the head. With younger children you can do it with them and they can follow your drawn example. Put a long oval nose in the middle of the circle. Add two little eyes. Now give your Hungry Thing a great big mouth. Add some teeth and some curly hair. For older children you can show them how to write ‘Feed Me’ under their Hungry Thing.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions. AND Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computer.

Dramatic Play

As the children play in the center today, encourage them to cook foods for the Hungry Thing. Ask them if they can make some ‘regehtti’ or ‘wackcaroni with meese’.

Math and Manipulatives

Put out play dough and a dice today. Or make cards with the numbers 1-6 written on them. Have a child roll the dice/pick a card and name the number. Then they roll that many playdough meatballs. Put out a small paper plate to stack the meatballs on to. When it is full let the children pretend to be Hungry Things. Count and eat (smash) the meatballs and begin again.

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

Outdoor Play

If you have a piece of equipment such as a slide, stop the children before they got down and say a word and have them make a rhyming word to it. The rhyme can be a real word or a made up word. Then pretend to open the gate so they may slide. Continue until the children loose interest.

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

Transitions

Attach the Hungry Thing face to a box or bag. Place many triangles, circles, and squares on the floor in front. Say the following poem and allow the children to take turns feeding the shape monster.

Shape Monster, Shape Monster

Munch, munch, munch.

What shape would you like for lunch?

(Make a monster voice and ask one child to feed a specific shape to the monster. “Alison, I would like a blue triangle please”. The child then finds the correct shape and feeds it to the shape monster. My children like this when the monster occasionally burps, says thank you or gracias”

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

Dear Parent-today we played with many rhyming words both real and make believe. This is a part of literacy development that will be important to reading someday. We encourage you to make rhymes with your child and read books with rhyming words. Playing with rhymes helps your child to hear and decipher the sounds of letters and words.

Resources