Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, by Margaret Chodos-Irvine

Ella Sarah needs to get dressed but no one in her family agrees upon what she wants to wear.

Materials

15 index cards cut in half the long way. On 20 of the halves, make a small circle of color using a crayon or marker. On the remainder 10, make a bean shape with arms and legs (jumping beans)
Paint swatches from local paint store. You will need two to three of each color swatch you choose.
Clothing pattern, enlarge for children to color individual items.
An assortment of larger buttons, about 20-25 in all.
A parachute or large flat sheet. Colored scarves.

Vocabulary

Naming articles of clothing (short sleeves, t-shirt, blouse, long sleeves, sandals, sneakers, slippers, etc.)

Introducing the Story

Wear something that is one or more of your favorite articles of clothing to school today. Introduce the story by saying’ “I wore my favorite (socks) to school today because (they have cats all over them and cats are my favorite animal). If you know of a child who has a favorite article of clothing, mention it (I see Roger is wearing his baseball shirt, he told me once that he loves baseball. Roger is it one of your favorite shirts?). Let the children share their favorites if they choose to.

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

Reading the Story

As you read the story, use your voice to show Ella Sarah’s displeasure at being told not to wear her favorite outfit. Note to the children after these pages that you think Ella Sarah really wants to wear her pink polka-dot pants, her dress with orange and green flowers, her purple and blue striped socks, her yellow shoes, and her red hat! On the page where Ella Sarah looks in the mirror and feels her outfit is just right, ask the children to look at her face and tell you what they think she might be feeling.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books, and poetry. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that Ella Sarah really had on a variety of colors. Ask them if they can remember some of the colors that she was wearing. Then say, “Let’s play a color game”. Get out your jumping bean cards directions on how to make is under materials. Hold the cards face down so the children cannot see the marks/colors on the opposite side. Let the children take turns picking a card and naming the color. If they get a jumping bean card they shout ‘Jumping Bean!” and everyone jumps up and down. Continue playing until all the children have had a turn or they lose interest.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take interactions; to take turns in games or using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

Music and Movement

Sing What Are You Wearing Today? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vmhPxdR_do

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

Discovery

Put out the paint color swatches on the table and encourage the children to find the matching cards. For older children you can get several hues in the same color family. For younger children, use swatches that are more defined. When they have matched the color swatches, ask the child if he/she can name the colors.

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

Blocks

Put out colored blocks today. Encourage them to sort the blocks by colors or to match the blocks to colors that they are wearing. As they build ask them to name some of the colors they are using or if they have a favorite color.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; 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

Ask each child if they have a favorite article of clothing at home. Challenge them to draw their favorite outfit or give the child a clothing pattern to match their choice and markers or crayons to color them. As they work encourage them to talk about the article with detail., just like Ella Sarah and her family did in the story today.

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

Sand and Water

Bring the baby doll clothes over to the center today and fill the water table with soapy water. Let the children wash the clothes. As they wash, talk about the articles of clothing. Can they name them? Do they wear these at home? When do you wear the article of clothing? (I have pajamas at my house for nighttime. I have a fancy dress to wear when I go to parties. My baby has one of these.)

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

Library and Writing

Put the book in the center today. With one or two children at a time take a picture walk through the book. As you go through the pages ask the children what happened first, next, and last. Can they remember what Ella Sarah’s favorite outfit was?

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.

Dramatic Play

Get out all the dress up clothes today. Add jewelry and scarves if you have them. Suggest to the children to dress for a party. Comment on how lovely they look (Alison I love your blue striped skirt and green lace blouse, you look marvelous for the party!).

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex. Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills

Math and Manipulaties

Call several children over to the table to play a counting game with you. Give each child a copy of the large shirt pattern and put a bowl of buttons in the middle. The children take turns rolling a dice and adding that many buttons to their shirt pattern. After their turn they put the buttons back into the bowl for the next player’s turn. Continue rolling the dice and counting out buttons until each child has had several turns or loses interest.

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

Outdoor Play

Bring your parachute and colored scarves out onto the playground. Spread the parachute out flat and have the children stand all around the edges. Give each child a colored scarf. Have them name the color/s of their scarf and toss it onto the parachute. Once all the scarves are on the parachute, the children pick up the chute by the edges or handles and make the scarves dance by shaking their arms up and down. Repeat giving each child a different color scarf.

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

Transitions

Call the children to the next activity or to line up by what they are wearing. (If you are wearing a shirt with buttons, shoes with laces, pants with a zipper, etc.)

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

Dear Parents, Today we read a story about a little girl who wanted to choose what she was going to wear, even if it did not match well. Encourage your child to help pick out their clothes for school. As they do, mention the colors or the patterns on the clothing. Give your child a few extra minutes to practice dressing themselves in the morning. This is good not only for their self-esteem but is a wonderful way for your child to develop large and small muscles.

Resources

A Color of His Own, by Leo Lionni

Every animal has his own special color/s except the chameleon. He changes colors wherever he goes. This is the story of a chameleon that wanted to have a special color like all the other animals. It was not until he met another chameleon did he learn how special he really was.

Materials

Seek and find letter C
Several sponges cut into small pieces.
Chameleons for hiding

Vocabulary

Chameleon (a kind of lizard that can change his color)
Heather (a kind of flowery bush)
Camouflage (to be able to hide or change color into the environment)

Before Reading the Story

Tell the children that you are going to play a same and different game today. Have two children (a boy and a girl) come up to the front of the group. Ask the other children to name ways that the two children are different. (He’s a boy, she has darker hair, he’s wearing pants and she’s wearing shorts). After the children have exhausted how the two children are different, ask them to tell you ways they are the same. (They both have arms and hands, they both are smiling, they are both tall).

Scientific Knowledge and skills; observes and discusses common properties, differences, and comparisons among objects.

Ahead of time, make a simple graph labeled, “Our Favorite Colors” and a name card for each child to stick on. Explain to the children that we are all alike in some ways but each of us is also special and different. Not all people like the same things. Pull out your Favorite Color Graph and hand out the name tags. Ask the children to come up and put their name beside their favorite color. When everyone has done so, talk about the colors and how some people like one color better than another.

Literacy Knowledge and skills; recognizes print in everyday life, such as numbers, letters, one’s name, words, and familiar logos and signs. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Reading the Story

Pause on each page so the children can name the colors.

After Reading the Story

After reading the story ask the children why the chameleon was unhappy at the beginning of the story? (He did not have his own special color). What happened to make the chameleon know he was perfect just the way he was? (The other chameleon said that that was the nature of chameleons). How did the story end? (Happily ever after) If you were a chameleon, what color/s would you like to be?

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

Discovery

Put out red, yellow, and blue stamp pads or paint in shallow dishes. Tell the children that when you mix two colors of paint together you get a new color. Give each child a sheet of white paper. Ask them to dip their left hand in one color and their right hand in another color. Have them print their left hand on the left side of the paper and their right on the right. Ask them what color they think it will make when they mix the two colors together. Then have them make a left hand print and put the right hand on top and mix. What new color did you make? On the bottom of the paper write color left + color right =_____. Have the child repeat the sentence back. Have the children wash their hands before they try two other colors together and see what new color you can make.

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

Music and Movement

Explain to the children that chameleons move slowly. Put on some slow music and have the children move slowly about the room while looking for an object that is a color on their shirt. Find the object and slowly bring it back to the carpet. Name the color. Put the music back on and the children can slowly go and put the object away.

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

Blocks

If you have colored blocks or cubes, feature these in your center today. As the children clean-up their structure, encourage them to clean by colors. (Ryan you put all the red blocks away and Paula you can put the green blocks away).

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in series, and regrouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Art

Explain to the children that the illustrator of the story made his pictures by doing sponge printing. Put out small trays of red, blue, yellow, and white paint. Show the children how to sponge print by dipping the sponge lightly in the paint and then moving the sponge up and down, up and down on the paper.

Creative Arts /Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Library and Writing

Chameleons are very good at hiding because they blend/camouflage right in. Ask the children what letter chameleon starts with. Give children a Seek and Find page and ask them to take their favorite color and find all the C’s on the page.

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

Sand and Water

Put water in the table today. Ask the children at the table what color food coloring they would like you to add. After they name the color, find a corner of the table and add their color. As you add the second color in a different corner, ask the children what they think is going to happen to the colors when they get mixed.

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

Dramatic Play

Add many colorful dress-ups today (scarves, hats, jewelry)

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; increases abilities to sustain interactions with peers by helping, sharing, and discussion.

Math and Manipulatives

As the children are using the manipulatives today, encourage them to make patterns using color and naming the colors in their patterns.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials.

Outdoor Play

Make a number of chameleons in colors that are on your playground. Before the children go outside, hide these outside yet in plain view (put a yellow chameleon in a yellow bucket, a brown chameleon in the sand)). Tell the children that there are chameleons camouflaged about the playground today so while they are out they can be on the lookout for them. Bring out a pen and as the children find the chameleons and bring them to you, you can write their name on it. When you go back in the classroom, you can count who found the most.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions and interruptions.

Transitions

Go back to your Favorite Color Graph and dismiss the children to the next activity by the colors that they chose.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Resources

Katy and the Big Snow, by Virginia Lee Burton

Materials

Small bag of flour
Small cars or construction vehicles
Extra hats, mittens, and scarves
Stack of newspaper ripped in half
cotton balls and several pinching clothespins

Vocabulary

Crawler Tractor (a tractor type vehicle that has a continuous roller instead of wheels)
Steadily (slowly and gradually not stopping along the way)

Introducing the Story

Ask the children to raise their hands if they like to play I the snow. Let them talk about some of the things they like to do in the snow. Next tell them that some people have to work in the snow. Getting to work can be very hard if there is a lot of snow on the ground. Our story today is about a helper named Katy who moves all the snow from the roads. I wonder how she does it? Let children have a chance to respond if they choose to.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; develops growing awareness of ideas and language related to attributes of time and temperature. AND Language Development/Speaking & Understanding; 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

While reading, stop on the page after you read, “Katy had to stay home, not enough snow”. Ask the children how they think Katy might have felt. As Katy begins shoveling out the town, encourage the children to repeat ‘Follow me!” along with Katy.

Language Development/Speaking & Understanding; 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

Tell the children that Katy was big and strong and moved all the snow so that the adults could go to work and the buses and cars could bring children to school. Katy is kind of a hero and a good friend to the whole town. Ask the children if they have ever helped someone to do something hard. Listen as they tell about their own experiences. (One time I helped my brother to shovel the snow on our sidewalk. I helped my grandma to make a cake. I had to stir and stir. I was really good).

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Music and Movement

Play Follow the Leader; making an obstacle course. Have the children follow you around, under, over, beside, behind, across, and inside parts of your classroom, playground, and school.

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

Discovery

Bring in a container of snow and watch as it melts. Do you see any objects in the snow? What happens to the snow? When the snow has melted, tell the children that you are going to put it back outside. Ask them what they think will happen to the melted snow now? When it is frozen, bring it back inside for the children to watch it melt again. What happened to the melted snow? Did it turn back into snow?

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

Blocks

Add vehicles and encourage the children to make roads by laying blocks end to end for them to drive upon. Encourage the children to make some of the buildings that are in and around town (police station, library, grocery store, etc.). Bring index cards, markers, and tape over so that the children can make signs to go with the buildings if they choose to.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in the contexts of the classroom, home, and community. AND Literacy/Early Writing; progresses from using scribbles, shapes, or pictures to represent ideas, to using letter-like symbols, to copying and writing familiar words such as their own name.

Art

Give the children pieces of construction paper to draw houses. Encourage them to add windows and a door as well as write their name on their house. When all have finished making a house, put them together on a map type background and hang low on the wall. Label each child’s house so they can use their finger to trace how to get from their house to a friends house.

Literacy/Print Awareness & Concepts; recognizes a word as a unit of print, or awareness that letters grouped to form words, and that words are separated by spaces.

Sand and Water

Dump the flour into the sand and water table today and pretend that it is snow. The children can use small vehicles or even shovels to pretend to push the snow aside. I would recommend that the children wear smocks and though flour is easy to wash from clothes, it is messy. Remind the children to not add water to the table!

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

Library and Writing

Encourage the children to try to draw maps on how to get to the playground from your classroom or how your room is divided into centers (birds eye view)

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in the contexts of the classroom, home, and community.

Dramatic Play

Bring in extra hats, mittens, and scarves so the children can pretend to go play out in the snow. Give them ½ sheets of newspaper and show them how to crumple it up into a ball. These make fun and safe snowballs for a snowball/paper fight.

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

Math and Manipulaties

Put out a bowl of cotton balls along with a few clothespins or tongs. Label 5 plastic cups 1-5 with marker. Explain to the children that they must use the tongs to put the correct number of snowballs into each cup by using the clothespins or tongs. Encourage them to work in pairs. One child can put the snowballs into the cups and the other child can count them as they go in. When they have filled the cups, empty them back into the bowl and trade places as picker upper and counter.

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

Outdoor Play

If there is snow on the playground, challenge the children to roll really large snowballs (like you are making a snowman). As they work, tell them that they must be as strong as Katy like in the story.

Physical Health & Development/Large Motor Skills; demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements.

Transitions

Ask each child to name something they like to do on snowy days as they line up or move to the next activity (I like to eat snow. I like to watch cartoons.). Encourage the children to answer using complete sentences.

Dear Parents, Today we read a book about a helper named Katy who plowed all the snow from the streets of town. Encourage your child to be a helper around the house. Thank them for their service and let them know that they are appreciated.