We are going to again practice finding some letters we know by looking for them in a sentence. When we find the letters, we will also say the sound the letters make.

[Write the following sentence on a chart or whiteboard. Read each word as you write the sentence:

We have some railroad tracks in our community.]

We want to find lowercase letter r and uppercase letter W in our sentence. Let’s begin with the letter r.

[Display letter card R. Point to the lowercase r on the card.

Encourage a volunteer child to look for and point to the lowercase letter r’s in the sentence as you display the R letter card.]

What sound does the letter R make?

Yes! Letter R says /r/. Let’s together say the sound of the letter R: /r/.

[Repeat the above procedure with the letter W.]

Now let’s spend some time with our book.

[See Week 3, Day 5 of Language/Literacy for a description and examples of how to approach today’s book reading. Key aspects are summarized below:

• Display book cover. Explain that we have read our book two times this week. Each time we read the book we learn something new. Point to and say title of book. Engage children in describing what they remember about the book:
  • What is our book about?
  • Who were the main characters in our book?
  • What happened first? What happened next?
• Point to and say the names of author and illustrator. Point to where to begin reading.
• During the reading, pause on pages that include a word defined in the prior two readings of the book. Ask or remind children what the word means. Also pause during the reading to define the 2–3 words identified for today’s session, using the following approach:
  • Read the sentence with the novel word. Identify the novel word.
  • Repeat the sentence in which the word is used.
  • Define the novel word and connect the definition to the book.
• After the book reading, write the 2–3 words targeted for today on the chart and engage children in a discussion of each word, using one or more of the following strategies:
  • Ask children to describe a picture related to the word.
  • Define a word without naming it and ask children to identify the word.
  • Encourage children to think about a novel word or phrase in another context.
• Explain that different types of things happened in our book. Facilitate a discussion of children’s interpretations of events and/or characters in the book, especially events or characters related to one or more words defined this week. See Week 3, Day 5 for examples.]

We are learning how to compare and measure the weight of items. We know that weight is how heavy something is. This week we used a balance scale and a kitchen scale to compare and measure the exact weight of items.

We know that we can compare the weight of two items by using a balance scale. A balance scale can tell us whether one item is heavier than another item.

[Display a balance scale.]

How does a balance scale tell us which thing is heavier? (the side that goes down farther is heavier)

We used a balance scale to compare the weight of items from our classroom.

Let’s compare the weight of a doll and a pencil.

Which do you think will be heavier?

[Invite a volunteer child to place the item children predicted to be heavier on the balance scale first. Then place the other item on the balance scale.]

• Which item was heavier?
• How do we know? (the side that is lower holds the heavier item)

We also learned that we can find the exact weight of something by measuring it with a scale that tells us how heavy it is. We know that a pound and an ounce are words that describe how much something weighs. We also know that an ounce is smaller than a pound.

We found the exact weight of some items in our classroom. We also weighed some apples to make a pretend apple pie.

Let’s weigh some items again. This time we will weigh some blocks on our scale. Let’s pretend we need four pounds of blocks to build a building.

[Invite a volunteer child to place a block on the scale. Draw children’s attention to the pointer moving down (to a higher number) when the block is added. Invite additional volunteer children to add blocks, one at a time, until the pointer on the dial is near the numeral four. Count the number of pounds together as you point to each line. Then say again the number of pounds.]

Now let’s pretend we only need one pound of blocks to build a doghouse. Right now we have four pounds of blocks on our scale.

What should we do? (remove some blocks from the scale)

[Invite a volunteer child to point to the numeral one on the dial of the scale and begin removing one block at a time until the pointer is close to the numeral one. Draw children’s attention to the pointer as you emphasize that the group of blocks weighs less each time a block is removed.]

Now we have one pound of blocks to pretend to build a doghouse!

This week we learned more about measuring. We know how to compare things to determine which thing is heavier. We also know how to find the exact weight of something.

We are learning about rules. Yesterday we talked about some of the rules for adults at our center.

Some rules are called laws. A law is a rule made by people in charge of our community or country. Laws are made to keep people safe and to help us to treat people fairly.

Let’s talk about some of the laws in our community.

[Display a picture of a child in a car seat and an adult using a seat belt.]

In most communities there is a law that people must wear a seatbelt when riding in a car or truck. There also is a law that young children must sit in a child’s car seat when riding in a car or truck.

Why do you think we have laws about seat belts and car seats? (because people could get hurt if there is an accident or the car stops suddenly)

These laws help keep us safe.

Let’s look at some other pictures of people following laws.

[Display three photos, one at a time, of people following laws. Encourage children to discuss ideas about the law and how the law helps keep us safe.]

• This car is stopped at a stop sign. What law do you think the driver of this car is following? (stop at stop signs) How does this law keep people safe? (keeps cars from crashing into each other, cars can take turns to go) It is also a law that cars drive slowly near a school or center in our community. What might happen if a car drove quickly near a school or our center?
• This person is throwing trash into a trash can. What law do you think this person is following? (use trash cans, do not litter) How does this law keep people safe? (keeps things clean so that people don’t get sick)
• This parking space is for people with a disability. A parking space for a person with a disability is closer to an entrance of a building. The law says only people with a disability can use these special parking places. What would happen if people did not follow this law? (a person with a disability might have to park further from the building and have difficulty getting to a building)

Laws also help us to treat people fairly in our community. All people must follow the laws of a community. Would it be fair if people who use wheelchairs could not go to a concert or sport’s game at the center/school because they could not park close to the building?

Today we learned that some rules are called laws. A law is made by people in charge of our community or country. Why are laws important? (they keep us safe, help us to treat people fairly)

Yesterday we talked about different things a dinosaur did to stay safe. One of the ways the dinosaur stayed safe was to know how to dial 9‑1‑1. Today we are going to talk about how we can stay safe during an emergency. We know that an emergency is a dangerous situation that needs action right away.

There are different kinds of emergencies. A fire can be an emergency.

What do we do if there is an emergency in our classroom or center? (leave the room or center)

[Review your center’s emergency procedure. Remind children of signals that tell us there is an emergency.]

We practice our fire drill (or other evacuation procedure) so we know what to do if there is an emergency.

We do what an adult at our center tells us to do if there is an emergency at our center. Sometimes we need to move (leave our classroom) to a different space if there is an emergency. We pay attention to what we are asked to do. We use our listening ears.

What might happen if we did not use our listening ears and do what an adult tells us to do if there is an emergency?

Sometimes we might need to tell a grownup about an emergency that we see. A grownup can get help from people like the police or fire fighters.

Today we talked about ways to stay safe in an emergency. We need to listen carefully and do what an adult tells us to do.