This colorful book shows Mouse building the letters of the Alphabet. With plenty of new words, there is lots of room for conversation as you read. It comes with an alphabet poster to boot!

Materials

• Many small boxes, toilet tubes, pipe cleaners, and other building junk
• Several rolls of masking tape
• Tool pictures
• An old small appliance (toaster, wall clock, radio, hair dryer) Plug cut off!
• 10 paper plates

Vocabulary

Many unusual words look through the book ahead and make sure you can define words that you think your children might not know.

Before Reading the Story

Bring pretend or real tools to the rug. Ask the children to help you name the tools and what they are used for.

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

Reading the Story

As you read, draw your finger over the letter that Mouse is constructing. Take time to talk about each picture with the children as there are lots of unusual words. With the help of the children define what it is that Mouse is doing on each page.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shape and sound.  AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

After Reading the Story

Bring out your tools again and review what each is called and what it is used for.

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

Discovery

Bring in an old small appliance that you have removed the plug from.  Let the children disassemble it using small screwdrivers, pliers, and wrenches. (Make sure you pay attention to the children’s play as there may be small parts).

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 Physical Health & development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together pules, reproducing patterns and shapes, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Music and Movement

Sing the Alphabet Song with the children.  Ideally have an alphabet chart with you that you can point to as you sing the name of each letter.

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

On each of the 10 paper plates write a letter of the alphabet.  Scatter them about and have the children stand in a circle around the letters.  Let them take turns jumping from 1-5 letters as you call the letter name out.  Or call out the letter sound and have the child jump.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.

Blocks

Add tools to the center along with a couple construction hats.

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

Art

Let the children experiment with 3 dimensional building. Put out the boxes and building junk you collected along with various lengths of masking tape. The children can tape the boxes together and add pipe cleaners, Popsicle sticks, etc. Take these outside and drop paint onto them.

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

Sand and Water

Tell the children that shovels are also a tool. What do you use a shovel for? Fill the table with sand and include shovels for digging holes.

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

Library and Writing

Use the lines and circles that you cut out and let the children try construction their own alphabet letters. Can you make a letter in your name? Can you make one like this? As they make the letters, observe who is able to name the letter/s.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shapes and sounds.  AND Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take shapes apart.

Dramatic Play

If you have lots of play tools you can put some in here as well as the block center. If not, perhaps the children can pretend to call the plumber and a child from blocks can come make a repair or lend a tool.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Use the tools pictures and the small mouse. Hide the mouse under a tool while the child’s eyes are closed. The child must guess which tool the mouse is under.   Give the child clues as to where the mouse is hidden; “If I wanted to hammer a nail into the wood, which tool would I use, If I wanted to take apart that chair what tool would I use, If I wanted to make this block smaller which tool would I use”?

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.  AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.  AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Outdoor Play

Take out plastic hammers or some half arch blocks from your block center. Gather a variety of leaves or flower heads and show the children how to put the leaf under a piece of light colored paper. The leaf needs to be sandwiched in between the paper and a hard surface like the sidewalk or a board. The child hammers the paper on top of the leaf. Pick up the paper and you will see a design made by the leaf. Try doing several different kinds of leaves or flowers.

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

Transitions

Dismiss the children to the next activity by first letter in the children’s name.  Say (and write the letter), “If your name starts with the letter R you may go to the next activity.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; increases in ability to notice the beginning letters in familiar words.

Dear Parent- today we read an alphabet book.  You can help your child learn the letters of the alphabet by working with him/her to recognize and name the letters that make his/her name.  Magnet alphabets on the refrigerator are a fun way for children to play and with letters.

Resources