This is the story about a lost button and friendship. A Teddy Bear searches through a department store to find his lost button and ends up finding a new friend.

Materials

•   Large button shape and small corduroy bear for hiding game
•   A variety of buttons
•   Oil pastels and watercolors

Vocabulary

•   Overalls (pants with an attached bib on the front)
•   Escalator (moving staircase)
•   Palace (where the king and queen live)
•   Admire (to look at something you think is beautiful)

Before reading the Story

Talk about friendship.  How can you tell that someone is your friend?  What can you do for your friend if they are feeling sad? How does it make you feel when someone wants to be your friend?  What should you do if you want to be someone’s friend?

Social & Emotional Development/Social Relationships; progresses in responding sympathetically to peers who are in need, upset, hurt, or angry; and in expressing empathy or caring for others.  AND Language Development/Speaking & Understanding; progresses in abilities to initiate and respond appropriately in conversation and discussions with peers and adults.

Reading the Story

Make sure to use voice modulation to express the different emotions that Corduroy experiences.  Make the expressions on your face also so the children can see.

Social & Emotional Development/Social Relationships; progresses in responding sympathetically to peers who are in need, upset, hurt, or angry; and in expressing empathy or caring for others.

After Reading the Story

Check on your clothing and see who is wearing a button. Who is wearing the most buttons? Who is wearing a snap, a zipper, a hook, a buckle?  As you look for various items, talk about what they are used for.  Can you think of something else that has a button on it, a zipper, etc..  (My Mom’s purse has a zipper, my jacket has a zipper, my folder has a snap).

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.  AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Discovery

Bring in a button collection that the children can look at and sort by various attributes.

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, size, or shape.

  Bring in pictures of real bears.  Let the children look at these and use them for discussion.  Can they tell about where bears live, what they like to eat, etc.?

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge if and abilities ti observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.  AND  Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Music and Movement

The Bear Went Over the Mountainhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAW2GSwUnNo

The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
To see what he could see.
To see what he could see.
To see what he could see.
The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
The bear went over the mountain
To see what he could see.
And all that he could see
And all that he could see
Was the other side of the mountain
Was the other side of the mountain
Was the other side of the mountain
Was all that he could see.

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

Blocks

Add doll furniture and let the children build a department store with a furniture area.  Can you make an upstairs and a downstairs?  How can you make the stairs or the escalator? 

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

Add Teddy Bear counters; can you put a bear under the table, on the table, behind the table,etc..

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects, and words such as up  down, over, under,top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, behind.

Art

Give each child a large round circle in light colored paper.  Let them color their buttons using oil pastels.  When they are finished coloring their button, they can do a watercolor wash over it.  This causes the oil pastel to sort of pop through and can make a very lovely effect.  

Creative Arts/ Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences.

Library and Writing

Ask the children to draw a picture of where Corduroy’s button might be hiding.  After they have drawn the picture they can glue a small button (round circle) onto their picture.  Make sure to write their dictation underneath.  (The button was under the chair.  The button was in the grass next to the flower)

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 a book home; going to the library; and engaging in pretend-reading with other children.

Sand and Water

Put sand in the table today and add either buttons, counting bears, or another small item that the children can scoop, count, and sort.

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, size, or shape.

Dramatic Play

Add clothes that have buttons.  Encourage the children to practice buttoning and unbuttoning.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Play, Where’s Corduroy?  Cut out and color the large button.  Make 4-6 depending on how well your children know their colors. Each button should be colored a color that your children are working on.  Have the children take turns hiding their eyes and put the bear under one of the buttons.  The child whose turn it is must guess where Corduroy is by naming the color.  You can also play this game by making shape buttons or buttons with 1-6 dots on them.

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

Outdoor Play

 Pretend that you are bears.  Use your long claws to scratch a tree trunk.  Pretend the climber is a tree to sit in.  Throw balls and pretend that you are catching fish.  Find a place to crawl under like a cave.  Growl loud and try walking on all fours (hand and feet), not hands and knees.

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

Transitions

Ask the children to tell you or show you how they would feel if…, they lost something, like a button.  They were alone in the department store at night, someone said they wanted to be their friend, they fell down and bumped their head, your mother said you could not have something you really, really, wanted.  You got to buy a special toy at the store.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities to understand and use language to communicate informations, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Resources