[Display letter F card.]

The word “frog” begins with this letter. What is the name of this letter?

Letter F says /f/, just like in the word “frog.” /f/, /f/, frog. Let’s together say /f/, /f/, frog.

Who would like to tell us another word that begins with the letter F?

Now let’s read a book!

[See Week 3, Day 1 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 encourage children to discuss what the book might be about.
• Explain that reading a book is a good way to learn new words. We will talk about some words each time we read the book this week. Remind children of the Words We Understand chart.
• Read title of book as you point to each word. Point to and say the names of the author and illustrator.
• Introduce and provide child-friendly descriptions of two novel words included in today’s book. Write words on the chart as you point to and say each again.
• Point to the first text word and explain this is where we begin reading the book. Read the book verbatim. Pause to discuss words, events, or characters that seem confusing to children. Point to and describe illustrations directly related to book text.
• After reading the book, engage children in recalling main parts of the book and novel words emphasized today:
  • What is our book about?
  • Who were the main characters?
  • What happened first? What happened next?
• Engage children in a brief discussion of novel words emphasized today. Display and discuss book pictures that pertain to each word.
  • What does each word mean?
  • How was each word used in today’s book?]

Today we will begin learning about the size of things. Do you remember what size means?

Remember, the size of something is how big it is. We can find the size of something in different ways.

The height of something is how tall or short it is.

[Point out the height of the door compared to the height of a book.]

The door is much taller than the book. The door has more height than the book.

A while ago we learned about skyscrapers in big cities. Are skyscrapers really tall or really short buildings?

Let’s think about our own height. Some of us are taller or shorter than others. We are all different heights.

[Invite a child to stand next to you.]

We can see that we are different heights when we stand next to each other.

Which one of us is taller?

We can compare different things to see which one is taller or which one is shorter. We just compared (child’s name) height to my height. We know that when we compare things, we look for ways they are the same or different.

If one of us is taller, then the other person is shorter. When we compare the height of two things, we can say which one is taller or we can say which one is shorter.

When I say “Go,” please find a partner and stand next to him or her. We will make sure everyone has a partner. Go!

Now I am going to ask each pair of children to tell us who is taller or who is shorter.

[Ask each pair, one at a time, to say who is taller or who is shorter.

When you have finished talking with each pair, invite children to sit down.]

Another way we can find the size of something is to look at its width. The width of something is how wide or narrow it is.

[Move your arms and hands far apart and then close together, but not touching, when you describe the following:]

Some things are wide. Other things are narrow.

[Point out the side-to-side width of a book compared to a pencil.]

The book is wider than the pencil. The pencil is narrower than the book.

Let’s compare the width of some items.

[Display a tissue box and marker side by side.]

Is this tissue box wider than the marker?

[Move your finger across the tissue box and then across the marker to point out the width of each.

Display a pencil and a block side by side.]

Is this pencil narrower than this block?

[Move your finger across the pencil and then across the block to point out the width of each.]

If the pencil is narrower, then our block is wider. When we compare the width of two things, we can say which one is wider, or we can say which one is narrower.

This time when I say “Go,” please look around the room to find one item that is wider than another item. When you find one item that is wider than another item, hold them both in your hands and tell us which item is wider.

[Observe children as they look for two items of different width. Help if appropriate.

Move around the room and invite each child to share what he/she found. Ask each child which item is wider (or narrower).]

Today we learned two ways to talk about the size of something. We learned the height of something is how tall or short it is. Let’s all make ourselves a little taller by standing on our toes! We also learned the width of something is how wide or narrow it is. Let’s stretch out our arms as wide as we can!

Today we will play a new game. This game will help us practice how to focus and to take turns. Our game is called Mystery Bag.

[Display bag with item secretly placed inside.]

What does the word mystery mean?

A mystery is something that is unknown. The game is called Mystery Bag because we do not know what is in the bag.

I put something in this bag. We will ask questions that will help us figure out what is in the bag. We might ask whether the mystery item is something to eat or something to play with.

We will take turns asking a question about the mystery item until someone figures out what it is.

Who would like to go first in thinking of a question to ask about the item in the bag?

[Encourage children to take turns thinking of questions that will help them figure out what is in the bag. Help them think of questions, if appropriate. Examples: “What color is it? Is it a toy animal?”

As children learn some information about the item in the bag, write or draw pictures of what they’ve learned on a large piece of paper. Example: If they’ve learned it is a food, write the word “food” or draw a picture of a kind of food. This will help remind children of what they already know about the item. After children have guessed the first item, continue with 1–2 more items secretly placed one at a time in the bag. Make sure children who did not take a turn asking a question about a previous mystery item have an opportunity to ask a question.]

Today we played a new game. The game helped us practice how to focus and how to take turns. We asked questions to help us figure out what was in the bag.

• Does all music sound the same?
  [Follow-up prompt, if needed: “Does one song sound just like another song?”]
• Does all dancing look alike?
  [Follow-up prompt, if needed: “Do we move our bodies in the same way each time we dance?”]

We know there are lots of differences in music. Songs can be loud, quiet, fast, or slow. Different types of musical instruments make different kinds of sounds.

We also know that we can dance in different ways. We can move our bodies quickly or slowly when we dance. We can take big steps or smaller steps with our feet. We can stretch our arms and move our hands in different ways when we do dance movements.

Today we will listen to some music that was written to help us think about different animals. The person who writes music is called a composer. The composer of the music we will listen to wants us to imagine how an animal moves and the sounds an animal makes while it moves.

[Display picture of lion.]

Let’s listen to music that was written to help us think about a lion.

What kinds of sounds does a lion make? (roar)

Maybe part of the music will sound like a lion’s roar! Let’s imagine how a lion might sound and walk when we listen to our music.

[Play part of Track two on the Carnival of the Animals CD.]

• Did the music help you think about a lion?
• How might we walk if we were a lion?
  [Invite several volunteer children to show how they might walk like a lion.]
• How might we stretch if we were a lion?
  [Encourage children to stretch like a lion.]

Let’s listen to our music again and move our bodies like a lion.

If the music sounds like a lion is jumping, we can jump. If the music sounds like a lion is walking slowly, we can move our legs slowly. We can pretend we are the lion the music helps us imagine. We will dance like a lion!

We need to use the personal space around our bodies so we do not bump into each other.

[Play part of Track two again on the Carnival of the Animals CD. Encourage children to move like a lion to the music.

If time and child interest permit, offer the following opportunity to move to music:]

[Display picture of elephants. Point to elephant trunks when described.]

The composer of the music we are listening to today also wrote a song to help us think about elephants.

Maybe you have seen elephants in a movie or television show or at a zoo. Elephants have trunks. We can see the trunk of each elephant in our picture. An elephant uses its trunk to breathe, smell, touch, pull things, and make sounds. The trunk is at the front part of an elephant’s body and can move from side to side and above the elephant’s head.

What parts of our own bodies could we use to pretend we have a trunk like an elephant’s trunk? (arms together with hands clasped)

[Invite children to stand and pretend they have an elephant trunk.]

Let’s listen to music that was written to help us think about an elephant.

[Play part of Track seven on the Carnival of the Animals CD.]

• Did the music help you think about an elephant?
• How might we walk if we were an elephant?
  [Invite several volunteer children to show how they might walk like an elephant.]

Let’s listen to our music again and move our bodies like an elephant. Maybe the music will help us move our pretend trunks and our big legs. We can dance like an elephant!

[Play part of Track seven again on the Carnival of the Animals CD. Encourage children to move like an elephant to the music.]

Today we listened to two songs. One song sounded like a lion moving, and the other song sounded like an elephant moving. We moved like each animal to the music. We danced in different ways to music!

[Encourage children to describe how the music helped them move like a lion or an elephant. Offer an observation to prompt children to reflect on their movements. Example: “I saw Sophie jump like a lion when the music suddenly moved fast. I saw Aaron move his pretend elephant trunk high above his head when the music hit a high note. How did the music give you ideas of how to move your body?”]