Letter knowledge
Children will understand the name and sound of the letter V.
Review:
Today we are going to learn more about the letter V.
[Display letter V card.
If a child(ren) whose name begins with the letter V was identified on Day 2, invite the child(ren) to again pop up. Say the first name of the child(ren). Emphasize the sound of the letter V when you say the name.]
Maybe someone in our group has the letter v somewhere else in their name. The letter might be in the middle or at the end of their name. It will be a lowercase v, and it will look like this.
[Point to the lowercase v on the letter card.]
Pop up if you have the letter v somewhere else in your name (not at beginning).
[If a child has the letter v somewhere else in his/her name, point to the name and to the letter v on the list of children’s first names so all children can see the name and the letter v.]
What is our word that begins with the letter V? (vehicle) We know that a vehicle is something that takes us from one place to another.
The letter V says /v/, just like at the beginning of the word “vehicle.” /v/, /v/, vehicle. Let’s say that together: /v/, /v/, vehicle.
I have two pictures of things that begin with the letter V. I wonder what they could be?
[Hold up one picture card and invite children to identify the item in each picture. After children have an opportunity to guess or say the pictured item, point to and say the word written at the bottom of the card. Example: “This word says violin. The letter v is at the beginning of the word.” Repeat this procedure with a second picture card.]
Let’s think of some other words that begin with the letter V and write them on our chart. Remember, the letter V says /v/, /v/.
[Help children by suggesting other words that begin with v. Examples: very, vacation, vegetable, vote.
Invite one or more volunteer children to find the letter v in words on the chart. Children may point to the letter at the top of the chart and then find it in one of the words below.
Demonstrate and describe how to mark the uppercase letter V on your chart paper.]
We use two lines to make an uppercase V. We begin by making a straight line down and then a straight line up.
[Give each child his/her letter journal.]
Now we are going to write the letter V in our letter journal. Please write the uppercase (big) letter V in your journal. Write as much of the letter as you can.
Today we learned that the letter V says /v/, just like at the beginning of the word “vehicle.” We made the uppercase (big) letter V in our letter journal. Let’s say together the sound the letter V makes (/v/).
Extra support
Enrichment
Encourage children to look for letters they know in the classroom. As children find letters they know, invite them to write the letters on a clipboard. Be sure to positively recognize all forms of writing, including scribbles and letter-like scribbles.
Invite children to use a large cardboard box and pretend it is a van. Explain that a van is a vehicle that begins with the letter V. As children pretend to ride in the van, tell a story using words that begin with the letter V. Enunciate the /v/ sound in each V word. Example: Once there was a group of villagers who wanted to go on a vacation and find a very violet vase. They ventured off and drove through a very low valley where they saw a very large volcano! The volcano was surrounded by vultures. The villagers were very scared of the volcano, so they turned their van and drove back to their village.
Number knowledge
Children will practice making groups of 1–10 items.
Review:
Offer the Week 2, Day 3 activity to review making groups of two.
Engage children in making groups of 1–10 counters.
Display a plastic cup and a counter (circle). Invite children to pretend the cup is a small pond and the counter is a small frog. We also will pretend that the floor (or table) around our pond is soil (dirt). Our frogs like to sit on the soil around the pond. They also like to jump in the pond (cup). Demonstrate your descriptions. Sometimes one frog jumps into our pond. Sometimes ten frogs jump into our pond.
Provide each child with one cup and 10 counters. Encourage children to put the pretend frogs (counters) next to their pretend pond. Then invite children to pretend that two frogs jumped together into the pond. Encourage children to make a group of two frogs on the pretend soil (table or floor) and then help the two frogs jump together into the pond. Forming the group and having the group “jump” together are important features of the activity.
Explain that the two frogs have had a fun time in the pond and now want to get back on the soil to dry off. Encourage children to help the two frogs in their pond jump together from the pond to the soil.
Continue this procedure with children forming groups of 1–10 frogs in random order. Draw attention to each time children make a group of frogs. Example: “We made a group of five pretend frogs. Now we will help our group of five frogs jump into the pond.”
Good health practices
Children will strengthen their understanding of vegetables and how they are grown.
Review:
Vegetable
Offer the Week 19, Day 4 activity to review how food is grown on farms.
Engage children in reading a book about vegetable soup and discussing whether familiar vegetables are grown above or under the ground.
Open the session by reminding children that vegetables (sometimes called veggies) are part of a plant that we can eat. Explain that our book today will tell how vegetables can be used to make a soup.
Introduce and read Growing Vegetable Soup, giving emphasis to above-ground and below-ground differences in where the edible part of a plant (the vegetable we eat) grows. Also remind children that we have talked about how plants and other living things need water, sun, and soil (dirt) to grow (Science Week 12, Day 3). Children may benefit from a brief description of what it means to weed a garden. Explain that weeds are plants that usually grow fast and can climb over or push out plants that we want to keep. We pull weeds out of the soil/dirt when we weed a garden.
After reading the book, display and describe six pictures of vegetables. Indicate whether the plant that produces the vegetable grows above or below ground. Sort the pictures into these two categories. The vegetables for this activity include the following:
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Exploring Where We Live
Social Studies
Skill and Goal
Knowledge of social and physical environments
Children will understand basic characteristics of freight trains.
Materials
Needed
*Printables provided
Key
Concepts
Review:
Freight train
Optional
Reading
We are learning about trains. Yesterday we talked about a train that carries people. It is called a passenger train.
Today we will talk about trains that move items. Items are carried in railroad cars. Each railroad car might carry a different kind of item.
What do we call a train that moves items? (a freight train)
Today we will read a book about a freight train. The book will show us different kinds of railroad cars that might be part of a freight train. The title of the book is Freight Train. The author and illustrator is Donald Crews.
[As you read the book, use your own words to describe illustrations.]
[Display picture of train with more than one engine.]
How many engines does this train have?
[Point to each engine as you lead children in counting.]
We are going to make our own freight train book. Each of us can make a page for the book. You can decide which kind of railroad car you want to draw. You can also draw what your railroad car is carrying. We will put our pages together to make our own freight train book.
[Invite children to draw a railroad car of their choice and include what the car is carrying. Encourage each child to tell you what the railroad car is carrying so you can add this information to their drawing. Some children may wish to write some or all of the key word(s) (with your support). Assemble the book and place it in a prominent location in the classroom.]
Today we learned more about a freight train. We know that freight trains carry items from one place to another place. Some freight trains are so big they have more than one engine to pull it. We read a book about a freight train and then made our own book.
Scaffolding Tips
Extra support
Enrichment
Center Activity
Add geometric felt pieces (rectangles, squares, circles, triangles) to the flannel board area. Place a copy of the book Freight Train by the felt pieces. Encourage children to use felt pieces to create their own train on the flannel board. Encourage children to make a train by connecting different railroad cars.
Family Child Care
Invite children to create their own train with empty food boxes, craft rolls, and other scrap art materials. Ask children what they want to transport, and encourage them to create a train that would carry the thing they want.