The Water Hole, by Graham Base

The animals are thirsty. Count your way 1-10 and watch what happens to the water hole! Oh, and look for the hidden frog on each page.

Materials

Cut out paper fish in several colors. Put a number on the fish 1-5 or 1-10. On the backside of the fish add the corresponding dots. On each fish, add a paperclip. Use a stick or ruler and attach a piece of yarn about 1 foot long. On the end of the yarn, tie a magnet. These will be the fishing poles (2 poles should be enough).
A variety of materials that will absorb water and those that will not. (cotton ball, paper towel, coffee filter, baby doll dress, cup of sand, cup of dirt, block, plastic toy)
Several eye droppers

Vocabulary

Delectable (another word for delicious or tasty).
Wallowing (stumbling about)
Floundering (splashing about)
Lumbering (bumping into each other and being clumsy)
Absorbed (to be sucked into or taken into the dry sand or other material)

Introducing the Story

Talk about the importance of drinking water everyday. Explain that we need to drink water to help our bodies and brains for playing and thinking. Explain that all living things need water. Ask the children if they think a dog is a living thing, a rock, a plant, a fish, a bed, a tree, and a car?

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

Reading the Story

Hold up fingers that correspond to each page. Don’t forget to look for the frogs. On page three after reading, “But something was happening”, stop and see if the children can see what is happening (the water hole is getting smaller). When you get to page 10 and there is no water left, ask the children again what they think will happen?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates abilities to retell aand dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story. AND Language Development/listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

After reading the Story

Ask the children ways in which they use water besides drinking it. Get out a piece of paper and list their responses. (I take a bath in water, I play in my sprinkler, My big brother washes the car, the fireman’s got water). Talk about the importance of drinking water throughout the day to stay hydrated.

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Music and Movement

Do animal walks with the children. Can they fly like a bird? Jump like a kangaroo? Hop like a rabbit? Gallop like a horse? Slither like a snake?

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

Discovery

Put out a variety of materials that will absorb water and several that will not. Add a small cup of water and several eyedroppers. Challenge the children to suck up some water into the eyedropper and squirt onto the various materials. Did the water absorb into the item or not? Can the children guess into which items the water will absorb before doing?

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 Science/Scientific Methods & Skills; begins to uses senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Take the children outside and pour a cup of water onto the sidewalk. Take a piece of chalk and draw all around the edges of the puddle you created. Ask the children what they think will happen. Check back several minutes later, what happened to the water? Were the children able to predict correctly?

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

Blocks

Put out your animals today and encourage the children to build a waterhole for all the animals to drink. Encourage them to sort the animals by like kinds or from smallest to largest.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; 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

Encourage the children to draw animals using magic markers.

Creative Arts/Art; progresses in abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other art creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic. AND 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

Today just put out water and any materials that you have to just move the water from one container to another. Examples; funnels, pitchers, measuring cups and spoons, tubing, squeeze bottles, basters, and sponges.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Library and Writing

Put the number fish on the floor and show the children how to use the fishing pole with the magnet to ‘catch’ a fish. Can the child name the number on the fish? This can also be done with letters that you may be working on with your children.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Any kind of counting manipulatives and small cups marked 1-5 or 1-10. The children then use the counters to fill the cups up with the correct amount of counters.

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

Give each child pieces of paper, 1-5 or 1-10 depending upon the age of your children. On the top of each piece of paper write a number 1-5 or 1-10. Challenge the children to cut out shapes or draw objects 1-5 or 1-10 depending upon how large a number book you are making per child. If Juan is working on numbers 1-5, he should have 5 pieces of paper with a number written at the top of each.

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

Outdoor Play

Bring any animals you might have out onto the playground. Have the children dig a large water hole and position the animals all around. If you have access to water you can have the children carry buckets of water to dump into the water hole. Ask the children what is happening to the water as it is dumped (it is being absorbed into the sand). Encourage the children to talk about the story and act out with the animals that you have. Remind them about the importance of drinking water everyday. Tell them, “Be Smarter, Drink Lots of Water”.

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.

Bring drinking water out onto the playground. Several times throughout your play, call the children over to the ‘water hole’ and ask them if they would like a drink. Tell them, Be Smarter, Drink Lots of Water”.

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.

Transitions

Name an animal and the child makes the corresponding animal sound. For older children challenge them to recall some of the animal sounds in the story.

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

Resources

Dear Parent-today we read a story about animals drinking from the water hole. Encourage your child to drink plenty of water as they play, especially on hot days. Remind them that they need water to keep their bodies lubed and hydrated.

Born in the Wild; Baby Animals and Their Parents, by Lita Judge

The illustrations help emphasis how baby animals are cared for by their parent. The pictures give children a clear look at what these animals look like and endnotes provide additional details. This book shows that all creatures need food, shelter, love, and family no matter how big or small they might be.

Materials

Loofa, nail brush, soap to make bubbles
many gingerbread shapes in several colors
Baby and parent animal cards

Vocabulary

Protection (to be kept safe)
Shelter (a place to go to get out of the weather)
Caressed (another word for hugged)
Groomed (cleaned and dressed)
Family (a group of people who live together)

Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about families. Explain that every child lives in a family but not all families are the same. Encourage the children to share about their families. (My Mommy and Grandma live at my house with me, I have a Mommy, a big brother who bosses, and my Daddy).

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.

Reading the Story

As you read, stop on the pages and allow the children to share any insights of how their parent helps them when they are hungry, protects them from danger, etc..

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

Pass out the parent and animal pictures. Go back through the book but this time as you turn the page; ask the children if they know the name of the animal. The child with the picture can then come up and tape it on the wall.

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

Discovery

The web site 1+1+1=1 has some wonderful baby and mommy animal cards that can be turned into puzzles. http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/Preschool_Pack_Baby_Animals_PART_ONE.pdf

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

Music and Movement

Remind the children that in the story it said that all parents and babies need to move. Explain that another word for move could be exercise. Take turns making up exercise moves and doing them to ten. (10 jumping jacks, 10 toe touches, 10 leg kicks, etc.).

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increasing ability to count in sequence to 10 and beyond.

Or give the children scarves and move to the music (can you make a circle over your head with the scarf? In front of you? By your feet? Can you throw the scarf up into the air and catch it?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Blocks

Remind the children that in the story, animals provide shelter for their babies. Put out any animals that you have and encourage the children to build shelters for them. Do all the animal houses look the same, why/why not?

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

Art

Encourage the children to draw pictures of their family using colored pencils or markers. Ask them if they would like you to write each family members name under their picture. As they work, talk about how all families are different and talk about the names of family members (mother, father, brother, sister, younger, older, uncle, aunt, grandparent, cousin).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition.

Sand and Water

Remind the children that in the story it stated that babies need to be groomed, cleaned and dressed. Put water in the table today along with hard plastic baby dolls that the children can wash. Add a washcloth and several dish towels for drying.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Creative Arts/Drama; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Add bubbles to the water today. Include a nail brush, loofa, or any other bathing equipment.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, washing hands, brushing teeth, and toileting.

Library and Writing

Put the animal cards into the center today and encourage the children to copy their names onto paper using pencils or markers. If they want, they may draw a picture to represent the animal.

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.

Put out magnet letters and the In My Name-Not In My Name cards. The child picks up a letter and then puts it on the correct side of the page by following the rule at the top.

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

Dramatic Play

Remind the children that in the story it stated that animals are part of a family. Encourage the children to play as a ‘family’ today. Help them decide on their roles if they cannot do on own. (Jason, why don’t you be the uncle and Lamar you can be the big brother).

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.

If possible, ask the parents to send in pictures of their families. Put these in page savers and tape to the wall of your dramatic center.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Community; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition.

Math and Manipulatives

Make a bulliten board or designated spot on wall with a sign that says “How many people are in your family”? On an index card write each child’s name and tape it to the wall/board under the title. Cut out many gingerbread type people and help the children put the appropriate number beside their name. Use this board to talk about who has more, or less people. How many people are in your family? Do you see another child with the same amount?

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

Outdoor Play

Remind the children that babies grow strong through active play. Bring out balls today for kicking, throwing, bouncing, and rolling.

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

Sing the following lyrics to the tune of to Johnny Pounds. As you sing the verse, the appropriate children run from point A to point B on the playground.

Who can be a Mommy, a mommy, a mommy. Who can be a Mommy in a family?

Who can be a daddy, a daddy, a daddy, who can be a daddy in a family?

Who can be an uncle, sister, sibling, auntie, baby, grandparent, cousin, nephew, etc..

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Community; develops ability to identify personal characteristics, including gender and family composition.

Transitions

Make riddles using the animals in the story today. “I’m thinking of an animal that has a long neck and spots all over its body”. The child who answers the riddle goes off to the next activity.

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

Resources

Can You Growl Like A Bear? By John Butler

The illustrations are both large and lovely allowing the children to get a close up view of a variety of animals. The children will enjoy making the animals noises as you read through the pages. My classroom enjoyed using this book before naptime as the children and animals settle down for sleep.

Materials

Pictures of animals
A scarf for each child
Several boxes shoebox sized to one large enough a child could sit in
Counting bear instruction sheet. Make several copies

Vocabulary

Tramping (walking with big heavy steps)
Basking (lying in the sun enjoying how it feels)
Slinking (creeping, tiptoeing)

Before Reading the Story

Go through the book ahead of time and make sure you have thought how you will present each animal sound to the children.

Make up riddles about animals that the children are familiar with. Give several hints and then use the animals’ voice/sound as the final clue. (I’m thinking of an animal that likes to be pet, has long whiskers, and says meow. I’m thinking of an animal that lives near the water and catches insects with its long tongue. It says rivett).

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

Reading the Story

On the very first pages where the author asks us to “Listen to the animals…Speak up loud and clear”, ask the children if they can name all the animals on the two pages. After each page, stop and allow the children to make the animal noises as they present themselves on each page. Give the children an opportunity to comment about any animal page (I saw an elephant at the zoo and he was really, really, big).

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

After Reading the Story

Tape the pictures of the real animals onto the flannel board. Keep them in an orderly fashion and close together as you are going to cover all the pictures and remove one so the children cannot see which you have removed. Show the children the board with one removed; can anyone identify the removed animal? When it has been identified, have all the children make the animals sound and continue playing Who’s Missing? Until the children grow tired of it.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

Discovery

Put the book and the picture cards from After Reading the Story into the center today for the children to look at and talk about. Add any other animal picture cards that you might have. Ask the children to sort the cards by those animals with four few and those who do not have four feet, those with fur, or those that are carnivores.

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

Music and Movement

In the book the bear was rolling in the snow. Put out a nap mat, large pillow, etc. and tell the children that they are going to do rolls like a bear in the snow. Have one child at a time come up and roll across the nap mat/pillow. After they have had a turn rolling, ask if anyone would like to try to do a somersault? https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&ei=lGYPXdm2OeHl_Qbo-br4Bw&q=how+to+do+a+somersault+kid&oq=how+to+do+a+somersault&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0l10.3413.10293..12878…0.0..0.101.1557.21j1……0….1..gws-wiz…..0..0i67j0i131.lISOND5GaPE#kpvalbx=1 You might have to help a child by gently pushing them over once they are in a safe position.

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

Find a CD that has a variety of musical tempos. Give each child a scarf to hold and turn on the music. Show the children how to use the scarf to move up and down to the music. Can they make a circle with the scarf above their head that moves with the music? What other ways can they use to scarf and move to the music? Can they throw the scarf up in the air and catch it? Explore using scarfs to music.

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

Blocks

Put out any wild animals you have today and encourage the children to make a zoo. Can they put all the like kinds of animals in one pen? Which pen has the most animals? Which has the least?

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.

Art

If you have plastic animal stencils tape these to your easel paper today. The children can fill in the shapes with paint.

Sand and Water

Put dry sand in the table today and add any small objects that you have that are made with metal (colored disks with metal edges, magnet marbles, magnet alphabet letters/numbers, old keys, or large washers). Bury the objects in the sand and give the children magnet wands to search through the sand for objects. Put out a small bowl for them to put their collection into. If using letters/numbers, can the child identify the items that they found in the sand? If using disks/washers, can the child count how many objects they found in the sand?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects. AND Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Library and Writing

Play word lines with the children. Give each child a piece of blank paper and a marker. Explain that you are going to practice making lines that go from the left side of the paper to the right side of the paper. On each child’s paper mark an L for the left, and an R for the right. Now tell them that they are going to have to listen carefully for the direction and then make a line as you call it. You should do the same thing so that the children can have a model. Say, draw a line from L-R that is dotted. Draw a line from L-R that is wavy. Continue making different kinds of lines. You can then have the children take turns suggesting what kinds of lines to draw. Kinds of lines include; dotted, wavy, thin, zigzag, diagonal, straight, curved, spiral, thick, parallel, straight, vertical, horizontal.

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

Dramatic Play

Encourage bedtime rituals by adding boxes that the children can use for beds and blankets. Add stuffed animals and books for the children to read to each other and their animals.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations. AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book read; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books home; going to the library; and engaging in pretend-reading with other children.

Math and Manipulatives

Use counting bears to play a sorting game. Make copies of the instructions and read them with the children. Then let the children begin. Can they follow the directions without teacher direction?

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions. AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting n a series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Outdoor Play

Do lots of animal’s walks outside today. If you have a climbing structure, swing like the chimp, pretend to swim quickly around the playground like a dolphin, float from one spot to another like the bee, tramp with big steps like the elephant, and slink slowly like the leopard. What other animal walks can you include? Ask the children to help think up other animal movements. (How might a horse move, or a squirrel?).

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

Transitions

Play Which is Bigger? Use two animals and ask the children to name, which is bigger, a bear or a cat? A bumblebee or an ant? Use, which is smaller, taller, and shorter.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.