A little girl looks around to discover that shapes are everywhere! She sees different shapes in her home, her food, and all around her town. This is a nice book to reinforce and review shapes in the children’s world.
Materials
- Bubbles and bubble blowers
- Pack of tortillas, cheese block, cheese grater (you will also need a cookie sheet and access to an oven)
- Alphabet letters
- Plastic containers in various shapes and sizes
- Medium sized Shapes cut from a manilla file or thin cardboard (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, and oval)
- A basket with various items that will roll and not roll down a ramp. (car, small ball, pencil, plastic fruit, water bead, plastic container, etc).
Vocabulary
- There is an index at the back of the book which defines all the Spanish words in the story.
Before reading the Story
Go through the book and see if there are any shapes that the children in the room may not know. Introduce these shapes by drawing the on a whiteboard and talking about their attributes. Have the children draw the shapes in the air. (A circle has no corners, it just goes around and around and around. An oval is like a circle because it has no corners but it goes long and around and long and around).
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.
Reading the Story
As you read the story, use your finger to trace around the objects that are mentioned so the children can see the shape. Encourage them to draw the shape in the air with their finger.
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.
After Reading the Story
Go back through the book doing a picture walk. This time not talking about the shapes but about what is happening on each page. On each page stop and ask the children what is happening. (Look at these two people, can you tell what they are doing? (dancing). Yes, these musical notes coming out of the trumpet shows us they are making music. What are they dancing around? (hats). Can you tell what time of day it is? (It’s night because I see the moon). What is this man holding? What is he standing upon? Why do you think he climbed the ladder holding a camera?).
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.
Discovery
Explain to the children that you are going to make quesadillas today. Give each child a rectangle cube of cheese to grate onto their circle tortilla. Take these to the kitchen and ask the cook to put them into the oven until the cheese melts.
Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.
Music and Movement
Put out your musical instruments for the children to play/experiment with today. Can they see any shapes in the instruments? Can they make any interesting music/sounds with the instruments?
Creative Arts/Music; experiments with a variety of instruments. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.
Teach the children the fingerplay, Lines.
One straight finger makes a line. Hold up 1 index finger
2 straight lines make a ‘T’ sign. Cross index fingers
3 lines makes a triangle there, Form triangle with index fingers and thumbs
And one more will make it a square. Flip one hand and form a square
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take apart shapes.
Jack Hartmann has a shape naming game that you could copy and use with your class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaF84YHNQNg
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.
Put on the Shape Shifting video and have the children dance along with. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56PgJHYyEGE
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes. AND Creative Arts/Movement; expresses through movement and dancing what is felt and heard in various musical tempos and styles.
Blocks
If your shelves are not already labeled by types of blocks, do so and encourage the children to put them back in their proper space. Can they name any of the blocks by shape as they clean-up or play?
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to determine whether two shapes are the same size and shape.
Show the children how to make a ramp using the blocks, or make one before the children enter the center. Ask each child to gather three items from around the classroom that they think will roll down the ramp. Have them predict if the item will roll or not roll down the ramp. Ask them why they think an item rolls or not rolls. (It has a round side so it rolls. It only has flat sides so it cannot roll).
Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.
Art
Cut out many colored shapes ahead of time and let the children collage them onto a piece of paper. For older children you might encourage them to make objects using shapes.
Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences.
Library and Writing
Place the medium size shapes that you have cut from the manilla folder onto a paper and show the children how to use a marker to draw around (this is a stencil). After they have drawn the shape, encourage them to cut it out with scissors. Let them color the shapes they cut out if they choose.
Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, chalk, paint brushes, and various forms of technology.
Sand and Water
Bring in 6-10 plastic containers with lids. Try to bring in containers of different shapes. The children can then match bottoms to tops and fill with dampened sand. When it is full, have them take the top back off and show them how to 1-2-3 flip the container over to make a 3D shape from the dampened sand.
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to determine whether two shapes are the same size and shape. 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.
Hide your alphabet letters in dry sand today. The children can dig for letters. Can they find any letters in their name? Can they name any of the letters?
Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be named individually. AND Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.
Dramatic Play
As the children play in the center today, stop by and ask them if they can find something that is round or square. Don’t forget to ask them about 3D shapes such as cylinders, cubes, cones, and spheres. If they cannot find an item in the center, show them one and explain why it is called the shape it is called. (This soup can is a cylinder because it has circles on the ends and straight lines on the sides).
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes.
Math and Manipulatives
Put out a set of dominos for the children to play today.
Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.
Outdoor Play
Give the children bubbles and bubble blowers today. As they blow the bubbles ask them what shape the bubbles are. Show the children that if they stand with their backs to the breeze, they will get more bubbles that float longer.
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.
Play Jump Across the River. On the cement draw a variety of shapes large enough for a child to jump on. Make the shapes close enough for children to be able to jump onto several shapes from one spot. Have the children take turns trying to jump from one side of the river to the other by jumping on the shapes that you call out (jump onto the circle, jump onto a square, jump back onto the circle, jump onto a rectangle, etc).
Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; begins to recognize, describe, compare, and name common shapes, their parts and attributes. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.
Transitions
Play, I’m Thinking Of. Think of things around your school or home that are familiar to the children. Use descriptive words to help them figure out what it is. Ask them to wait to answer until you have finished explaining the object. (I’m thinking of something that is on our playground. It has petals that you put your feet on and make the circle wheels go round and round. I’m thinking of something that hangs on our wall. It is round and has numbers and tells us when it is time to go outside or eat our lunch or get up from our nap. I’m thinking of a kind of candy that is shaped oval like a bean. It comes in many colors and many flavors and I like the orange ones best).
Language Development/Listening & Understanding;demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.
Resources
Book Play Everyday 
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