Abiyoyo, by Pete Seeger

Children always seem to delight in this scary story about a giant that comes to town and a small boy who thinks outside the box to save the people.

Materials

2-3 flashlights
Bubbles and a bubble blower
Several small bars of soap, like the kind you would get in a hotel, or soft soap.
8-10 small boxes (shoe box sized and smaller)
2-4 dozen rubber bands big enough to fit snugly around the largest of your small boxes
Paint brushes and buckets

Vocabulary

Ukulele (an instrument kind of like a little guitar)
Ostracized (to be kicked out or excluded from the group)
Precious possessions (most important and loved things)
Disappear (make something vanish or go away)
Brave (to challenge something and show courage doing so)
Hygiene (how to keep oneself clean)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know what the word brave means. Explain that being brave means doing something even if it feels scary. Ask the children if they can think of any time that they were brave. (I stayed in my bed when there was thunder, I rode my bike on two wheels and fell down but now I can do it, I climbed to the top of the bars). Introduce the story by telling the children that it is about a very brave boy and his father who saved the whole town from a scary giant named Abiyoyo.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences. AND Language Development/Speaking and Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

Reading the Story

As you read, stop and ask the children how the townspeople are feeling on different pages. Why do you think they are feeling that way?

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

Encourage the children to join in with you singing Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo. Become more vibrant, loud, and bouncy until you finally stop abruptly to end the story.

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

After Reading the Story

Talk to the children about what Abiyoyo looked like. Did he have good hygiene? What should you do to keep your fingernails from getting long and dirty? How do you keep your feet from getting all stinky? When is it important to wash your hands, why? Ask the children why they think it is important to bath? Explain to them that when they are clean, other people enjoy more to be around them.

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

Discovery

Try doing shadow play today. Shine a flashlight on the wall and let the children try making hand shadows or whole body shadows. Does it make a difference if there is a lot of light in the room, if you stand in front or behind the light? Can you make a whole body shadow or an animal using your hands?

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to participate in simple investigations to test observations, discuss and draw conclusions, and form generalizations.

Music and Movement

Put on some classic guitar music and have an air band while you play and dance to the music.

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

Sing Momma Don’t Allow No Guitar Playing Around Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ODoOHoNyQ

Momma don’t allow no guitar playing around here.

I don’t care what Momma don’t allow

Gonna play my guitar any how

Momma don’t allow no guitar playing around here.

(Momma don’t allow no hand clapping, jumping, foot stomping, etc.)

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

Encourage the children to clap out the syllables as they sing Abiyoyo. Start slowly and then speed up.

Literacy/Phonological Awareness; shows growing ability to hear and discriminate separate syllables in words.

Blocks

Challenge the children to build something really gigantic out of the blocks today. If using wooden blocks, remind them about any height rule you may have.

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

Art

Encourage the children to draw big scary giants. Older children might enjoy drawing different parts of the story. Remind them about the giant in the story, can they draw slobbery mouths and dirty fingernails?

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play. Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading related activities, such as asking to have a favorite story read, choosing books to look at, drawing pictures based on stories, and engaging in pretend reading with other children.

Sand and Water

Encourage the children to take turns practice washing their hands so they don’t get all yucky like Abiyoyo. Talk about the importance of hand washing and when children should wash their hands.

Physical Health and 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

Paint with water on the sidewalk. The water will disappear. Can you write your name with this magic water paint before it disappears?

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 name.

Dramatic Play

Add a stringed instrument and a magic wand to the center. Encourage the children to act out the story.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Put out a variety of small boxes, minus the tops. Show the children how to wrap rubber bands around the box and make plunking instruments. Do all the boxes make the same sound?

Scientific/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops increased ability to observe and discuss common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects and materials.

Outdoors Play

Take some bubbles outside today. The teacher can blow the bubbles and children can use a small stick or their finger to pretend to be a wand a “zoop”/pop the bubbles to make them disappear.

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

Transitions

Play “which is” during transitions today. Ask the children, which is… bigger, louder, scarier, taller, etc. depending upon the age of your children. Which is bigger, a cat or a goat? Which is taller a person or a house?

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurements; begins to make comparisons between several objects based on a single attribute.

Dear Parent, It is important for children to learn to bath and clean themselves independently. As you go through your evening routines with your child, monitor his/her washing and brushing and give encouragement as they practice these skills. When they are all clean and ready for bed, comment on how nice and clean they smell.

The Monster at the End of this Book, by Jon Stone

What did that say? There’s a monster at the end of the book? Poor Grover is SO scared! What will he do to keep from reaching the end of the book? Will it work? And what will become of Grover when he meets the monster?

Materials

Front and back cards
Many Lengths of yarn about 12 inches long
Monster Head, one per child

Vocabulary

Embarrassed-self conscious, uncomfortable with self

Before Reading the Story

Go over all the parts of the book today. Do the children know which is the front of the book and the back of the book? The spline? Do they know were the cover page is? Introduce the story by author, illustrator and title.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; progresses in learning how to handle and care for books; knowing to view one page at a time in sequence from front to back; and understanding that a book has a title, author, and illustrator.

Reading the Story

Open to the title page and use your finger to underline the title, The Monster at the End of this Book. Make sure to read Grover’s response to this page before turning the page. On the page where Grover builds a brick wall, stop and ask the children do they think that we will be able to turn the page?

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

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they were afraid? Ask the children who was afraid (Gover)? Why? (there’s a monster at the end of the book) Why was Grover embarrassed? (He is a monster, the monster at the end of the book).

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

Discovery

Put out a hammer and nail type activity today. These can be home-made using a block of Styrofoam, golf tees, and half arch blocks or small hammers.

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

Use the front and back match cards to play a musical chairs type game. Put a chair for each child into two lines that are back to back. Give each child one half of a front and back set. Tape the other side onto the back of a chair. The children walk/march/jump around the chairs until the music stops and then they must find the other half of their set and sit on the chair. Collect the halves the children are holding and repass them out. Continue to play until the children grow tired.

Blocks

Remind the children that Grover built a heavy, thick, solid, strong brick wall. Encourage the children to build a wall with the blocks today?

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

Art

Put out markers today. Give each child a Monster head and let the children create their own monsters.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; approaches tasks and activities with increased flexibility, imagination, and inventiveness.

Sand and Water

Add some blue food coloring to the water in the table today. Put out scooping toys along with funnels and pieces of plastic hosing that fit the funnel end. As the children pour and scoop, they can see how the water moves from high to low and container to container.

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

Library and Writing

M is for Monster. Ask the children to practice writing M’s on paper.

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers.

Put out many alphabet magnets and shapes. Challenge the children to go through the letters and pull out all the M’s. How many did they find? This works best if you have several sources of alphabet letters that you can dump onto the table or int a bin for sorting.

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

Dramatic Play

Put your puppets in the center today and encourage the children to make up a story. The Monster at the end of this Book often gives children a good jumping off place to start.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Remind the children that in the story Grover tied pages together. Show the children how to take the lengths of yarn and tie them to the legs of your classroom chairs or side of the easel. Show the children how to tie a knot. For older children they can practice tying bows such as on lace shoes.

Outdoor Play

The teacher can pretend to be a monster and chase the children about the playground. When she catches a child she can say that she is a lovable monster and give the child a hug or kiss and then chase after someone else.

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

Again use the front and back cards. Give children either a front or back card. They must find the child who has the matching card, give them to you, and then go off to the next activity. As they hand the cards to you, ask them, “Is this a picture of the front or back of the ____”?

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

Resources

Go Away Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley

This fun book makes learning facial parts and colors easy. This book can easily be made into a flannel board story for the children to enjoy over and over.

Materials

Paper plate per child
Styrofoam cup per child
Potting soil and a handful of grass seed per child.
Multiple colors of sidewalk chalk

Vocabulary

Imagination (to be able to see or think up things that are not really true or real)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they know what the word “imagination” means. Talk about how sometimes we imagine things that are not really true or real. Sometimes we might imagine that we are a superhero or a doctor but we are just pretending. Sometimes we imagine scary things like monsters under the bed. Let the children talk about some of their imaginary thoughts. If the children do not begin their own talk, help them out by telling your own story (I used to imagine that there were snakes under my bed at night).

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.

Reading the Story

Have the children help with the line “Go away big green monster!”

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading-related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book rea; 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.

After Reading the Story

Play Big Green Monster says…. Touch your two long legs, your triangle shaped nose, your round knees, your two pointy elbows etc..

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; understands an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary.

Discovery

Give each child a Styrofoam cup that they can draw a monster face on. Then let the children fill it with potting soil and add some grass seed on top. When the grass begins to grow, they will have their own monster heads to take home. Observe and record how long it takes for the grass seed to grow.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the Scary Eyes poem.

See these big and scary eyes,

It’s a really big surprise

BOO!

Touch fingers to thumb to make two small circles. Put these by your eyes and say the poem slowly. At Boo! pop hands open.

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

Sing I’ve Got Two Eyes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyMRGeT_SRI

I’ve got two eyes, one two.

They’re both the same size, one two

I’ve got two eyes and they’re both the same size.

I’ve got two ears, one two

They help me hear, one, two

I’ve got two ears and they help me hear.

I’ve got two hands to wave good-bye

I’ve got two arms to swing up high

I’ve got two knees as round as you please

I’ve got feet to walk down the street.

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

Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eueDYPTIg

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

Blocks

Ask the children if they can build a house that is very dark inside. Encourage them to include a door so that you can see how dark it is inside.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through on plans.

Art

Put out green finger paint. Challenge the children to make a big green monster face.

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

Let the children paint a paper plate to be a monster head. When it dries they can collage on the face. Show them how to punch holes with a hole puncher across the top and use yarn or pipe cleaners for hair. Have many colors of paper available for the children to cut out eyes, mouths, and noses.

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

Encourage the children to dictate and illustrate any monster story or dream story that they would like to share.

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.

Sand and Water

Add cornstarch and a small bit of water to the table today. Explain to the children that sometimes it may appear to be one way but really it is not (The cornstarch looks like you should be able to pick it up but when you do it melts into and off of your hand). https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/quicksand-goo/

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.

Dramatic Play

Put out dress ups of community helpers or ones that encourage the children to use their imaginations to be someone that they are not.

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

Math and Manipulatives

Encourage the children to use any manipulative toy/s that you have that encourage them to sort by colors.

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.

Outdoor Play

On the cement draw circles about six inches round. Have the children each color a circle using a variety of colors of chalk. When the circles are all colored in, have the children start at one end and jump from circle to circle naming the colors as they go.

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

Transitions

As the children move to the next activity ask them to show you a body part they have two of, one of, many of, ten of or a body part that is big, small, on their front, on their back, etc.

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