[Display letter W card.]

What is the name of this letter?

[Point to the uppercase letter W on the letter card.]

Am I pointing to the uppercase or to the lowercase letter W?

Now let’s spend some time with our book.

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

• Display book cover and say book title. 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?
• Remind children that reading a book is a good way to learn new words. Point to and say words introduced on Day 1 that are listed on the Words We Understand chart. Invite children to talk about what they recall about each of the words. Remind children of the meaning of each novel word.
• Point to where to begin to read on the first text page of the book. Pause during reading to briefly define words identified for today’s session. Use the following approach:
  • Read the sentence with the novel word. Repeat 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, engage children in a discussion of each novel word targeted for today with one or more of the following strategies (plus writing the word on the chart):
  • 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 in another context.
• Encourage children to connect the book information to their own experiences. Below are some examples:
  • “Our book today was about worms. Have you ever seen or touched a worm? What was it like?”
  • “Our book today talked about roots. Roots are part of a plant that grow into the dirt. Have you ever seen the root of a plant? What was it like?”
  • “Today we talked about the word squeeze. We squeeze something by pressing things very close together. What kinds of things have you squeezed? How about a tube of toothpaste? How about a package or bottle of ketchup? Show us how you squeeze something.”]

We are learning how to use a ruler to measure things. Today we will learn more about a ruler and how to measure things with a ruler.

[Display a ruler and point to one end and then the other end.]

The size of a typical ruler from one end to the other end is called a foot.

Why do you think we call the size of this ruler a foot?

Long ago people used their feet to measure things. They would walk toe to heel like this.

[Walk toe to heel and count five “feet.”]

This is how the size of a typical ruler came to be known as a foot. A typical ruler is about the size of an adult’s foot.

Do you think each person’s foot was the same size?

[Encourage children to put the sole of their foot (with shoe on) against the sole of a neighbor’s foot and compare sizes.]

Are our feet the same size?

Our feet are different sizes. Remember, our hands are different sizes, too. Long ago, people decided to measure things with something that was the same size. They began to use a ruler to measure things instead of their feet.

Sometimes when we measure with a ruler, our ruler doesn’t end up exactly at the end of the item we are measuring.

Today we will learn about another part of a ruler that helps us to measure when this happens.

[Give each child a ruler.]

Let’s look closely at our ruler. A ruler has numbers and lines on it. Watch as I point to and count the numbers at the top of my ruler.

[Encourage children to count with you as you point to and count numbers 1–12 on your ruler.]

Now let’s count together the numbers on the top of our ruler. We will begin with the number one. Please point to each number as we count together.

[Lead children in counting the numbers 1–12 on their ruler. Encourage children to point to each numeral as it is counted.

Place one finger on the numeral one and another finger on the numeral two on your ruler.]

The length of the space from one number to the next number is called an inch. Let’s put one finger on the number one and another finger on the number two.

[Help children place their fingers, if necessary.]

The space between both fingers is one inch. Now put one finger on the number two and another finger on the number three.

[Help children place their fingers, if necessary.]

The space between both fingers is also one inch. There are 12 inches on our ruler.

We use the inches on a ruler when our ruler doesn’t end up exactly at the end of the item we are measuring. We can also use the inches on a ruler when we are measuring items that are smaller than one foot. I will show you one way to use inches when measuring.

[Measure a large item that is not an exact number of feet. After measuring the last full foot, measure the remaining length using inches. Point to each inch as you count how many inches in the remainder of the item. When you are finished, say aloud the measurement of the item. Example: “This table is about three feet and six inches long.” Use the word “about” to again signify that the item is close to the number stated if the item is longer or shorter than the last inch measured.]

Now we are going to measure a person with our ruler. When we do this, we will first mark how tall the person is on the wall with tape. Then we will measure the tape to see how many feet and inches tall the person is.

[Invite a volunteer child to stand up against a bare wall. Mark the child’s height on the wall using masking tape. Place the tape on the wall from the floor to the top of the child’s head.]

Now we will use a ruler to measure how tall (child’s name) is.

[Begin measuring by placing the end of the ruler on the floor. Mark with your finger the number of feet as you measure the tape. Say the number of feet aloud as you count; one foot, two feet, three feet, etc. Restate the number of feet you counted. When you are near the top end of the tape, use inches to measure the remaining distance. Say the number of inches aloud as you point to and count each inch; one inch, two inches, three inches, etc. Restate the number of inches you counted.]

We used a ruler and we found that (child’s name) is about __ feet and __ inches tall.

Today we used a ruler to measure how tall (child’s name) is. Who can tell us what we can use to measure when our ruler doesn’t end up exactly at the end of the item we are measuring? (inches)

We are learning about many different emotions. What is an emotion? (the way we feel)

We are going to read our book The Way I Feel to remind us of some of the emotions we have talked about.

[After reading each page, use the following questions to engage children in a discussion of the emotion:]

• What do you notice about the child’s face?
• What do you notice about the child’s body?
• What kinds of things might make us feel _____?

[Follow-up prompts, if needed: “Why might someone feel _____?” “What might happen to make someone feel _____?”

Point to and identify the pertinent picture on the Our Feelings poster. You may wish to invite a volunteer child to do this for the feelings that are easy to identify on the poster.]

Sometimes it’s hard to tell how someone else is feeling. Let’s look at the picture of the child on the cover of our book.

[Display book cover, upside down.]

• Is it easy for us to figure out what this child is feeling?
• Why? Or why not?

We talked about many different emotions today. We can try to figure out how people feel by looking at their face and body, and also thinking about what might have happened.

This week we have been choreographers creating different dance movements. Each of us made up movements, first with our arms and then with our legs.

• Was it sometimes hard to move only your arms or only your legs when you danced to the music?
• Did you want to move some other parts of your body, too?

Today we will create dance movements using our legs and our arms. We can do movements we created earlier this week. We also can try different movements. Each of us can do different types of dance movements.

When we invent our dances, we will stay in our own space and try to stay out of other people’s space.

There are different ways we can put leg and arm movements together.

[Demonstrate and describe putting an arm movement and then a leg movement in sequence. Example: “I am moving my arms forward. I am holding my arms out in front of me. Now I am moving one of my legs forward.”]

Let’s practice putting together some arm and leg movements into a dance.

[Encourage children to try several combinations of arm and leg movements. Offer verbal support as appropriate.]

Now I will play the music we listened to when we created dance movements with our arms only; then with our legs only. This time we will use both our arms and legs. Remember, our dance does not need to look like anyone else’s dance.

[Play part of Track 12 on the My First Classical Music Album CD.]

Today we created some dance movements using our arms and our legs. What was it like to dance with more than one part of your body?