Let’s all get ready to listen to a book.

[Display cover of book.]

This is the cover of our book. What do you think our book might be about?

[Follow-up prompt, if needed: “What do you see on the cover of the book?”]

We know that reading a book is a good way to learn new words. Books use some words we may not know. We will talk about some words each time we read our book this week.

I will write the words we learn on our chart. Remember, the title of our chart is: Words We Understand.

[Point to each word as you say it.]

The title of this book is _____.

[Point to words as you say them. If the book title includes one of today’s novel words, provide a definition now. Example: “Our book today is about a very small seed. It is a tiny seed. Tiny means very small or little.”

Point to and say the names of the author and illustrator.]

Today let’s talk about two words that are in our book. One word is _____. The word _____ means _____. Another word in our book is _____. The word _____ means _____.

I will write these two words on our chart.

[Point to and say each word as you write it.]

Now we will read our book. We will begin reading right here.

[Point to first text word.

Read the book without inviting talk until you have finished reading. Elaborate on words, events, or characters that seem confusing to children. Point to and describe illustrations directly related to the text.]

[Focus discussion of the book on recall and novel words introduced earlier in the session.]

• What is our book about?
• Who were the main characters in our book? Remember, a character is a person or an animal (or creature) in a book.
• What happened first? What happened next?

[Point to and read each word on your chart.]

• What does the word _____ mean? What does _____ mean?

[Promote children’s understanding of novel words introduced today by elaborating on children’s comments about a word’s meaning or again defining the word. Reread the book’s sentence with the novel word. Example: “We learned about the word ‘department.’ Remember, a department is a section of a large store. Corduroy once lived in the toy department.” Point to and describe any pictures in the book directly related to the novel word.]

Today we read a book about _____. We talked about the words _____ and _____.

[Lead children in counting together the number of fingers on one of their hands, holding up one finger for each number said together.]

We are learning how to make groups of two. We will practice counting and finding groups today.

Let’s all hold up two fingers.

Now let’s hold up three fingers and count our fingers to make sure we have the correct amount.

We know what groups of two and three look like. Let’s find a group of two in our classroom. (two chairs, two pencils, two children, etc.) We know that a group of two has two things.

Let’s find a group of three things in our classroom. (three books, three crayons, three toys, etc.) A group of three has three things.

We will read a fun book about counting. Our book is called Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. We will practice counting the monkeys while we read the book. We know how to count five things!

• [Introduce the book by pointing to the title of the book as you read it. Introduce the author and explain that the author is also the illustrator.
• Count the monkeys on the front cover. Point to each monkey as you count.
• Point to the text as you read.
• Pause on each page to discuss the picture and count the monkeys in the picture. After you count the monkeys on each page say the final number aloud. Example: On the page with the five monkeys lying in the bed say, “There are five monkeys! Let’s count them. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! See, there are five monkeys! Do you want to count them again?” Encourage children to count along with you.]

Today we read a fun counting book called Five Little Monkeys. We practiced counting out loud the monkeys on each page. Let’s hold up five fingers on our hand. Now let’s hold up a group of three fingers. Let’s hold up a group of two fingers.

We are working hard to remember our circle time and classroom rules. One of our rules is to listen.

• What part of our body helps us listen? (ears)
• How might our eyes help us listen? (we usually look at who is speaking or what is being described)

Let’s use our eyes and ears to practice listening. I am going to hold up a picture. Please look at the picture and listen carefully for the sound of the item in the picture.

The item in this picture sometimes makes a sound in our classroom. Quietly raise your hand when you hear the sound of the item in the picture. We will need to be very quiet so we can hear the sound of the item.

[Display picture of a door as another adult in the room opens and then closes a door.]

• Did you hear the door?
• How did you use your eyes? (to look at the picture)
• How did you use your ears? (to listen for the door)

[Display book cover.]

Today we are going to read a book called Listen and Learn. The author of the book is Cheri Meiners. Remember, the author of a book writes the words. The illustrator is Meredith Johnson.

Do you remember what an illustrator does? (draws or paints the pictures)

Our book will help us to learn more about listening.

[While reading the book, use questions such as those suggested below to engage children in the book’s content. You may wish to encourage children to raise their hand to respond so everyone gets a chance to speak and be heard.]

• pp. 4–5: What body parts do we use when we listen? (eyes, ears) When our body is quiet, it is not moving. This helps everyone to listen better.
• p. 11: What can we do if we don’t understand something someone says? (ask questions)
• pp. 14–15: What should we do when an adult in our classroom tells us something? (look and listen carefully) Why? (to know what to do, to learn something)
• p. 23: Do you like it when someone listens to you? Why?
• p. 29: Who are these children listening to? (teacher) Why are they listening to her? (she is telling them what to do next, she is talking about their field trip)

Today we read a book about listening. Why is it important to listen? (to learn, to know what to do) Show us how you listen!

Today we are going to be scientists with ice cubes.

• When does your family use ice cubes?
• Why do people use ice cubes? (to keep things cold)

[Give each child a small bowl with several ice cubes.]

Let’s all look at our ice cubes. We can learn about something by looking at it. Looking at something is called observing. When we observe something, we look carefully at it. We are going to observe our ice cubes. Sometimes we also touch and move what we are observing.

[Encourage children to touch, hold, and stir their ice cubes.]

Who would like to tell us about their ice cubes? (cold, hard, wet, slick)

I am going to record some of the things we say about our ice cubes on this chart paper. We record something when we write it down.

[Display chart. Point to each word in the title as you read it.]

The title of our chart asks a question: What Are Ice Cubes Like?

[Record children’s single word descriptions on chart paper. Say each word as you write it.]

We just told about our ice cubes. Telling about something is also called describing something. We describe something when we tell about it. We can describe what we see. We can describe what something feels like when we touch it. We also can describe what happens when we move what we are observing.

I wrote on our chart what we described about our ice cubes. Remember, we record something when we write it down. Our chart helps us remember what we observed.

We may be able to record some more things that we observe about our ice cubes.

Let’s look at our ice cubes again. I will record on our chart what we describe.

• What is happening to our ice cubes?
• Are any of the ice cubes changing?
• How are they changing? (melting, becoming water)

[Record children’s additional single word descriptions on chart paper. Say each word as you write it.]

We are answering a question when we observe and describe our ice cubes. We are answering the question, “What are ice cubes like?” Our answers are recorded on our chart paper.

[Point to chart paper and read some of the words as examples of how children answered the question, “What are ice cubes like?”]

We are doing what scientists do. Everyone can be a scientist. A scientist tries to understand things by asking a question and then answering the question by describing what was observed. Sometimes scientists try to change something so they can better understand it. Let’s together say the word scientist: sci-en-tist. Let’s say it again slowly so we hear all of the parts of the word: sci-en-tist.

• What was the first thing we did to learn what ice cubes are like? (observed)
  [Remind children that when we observe something, we look closely at it.]
• What was the next thing we did to learn about ice cubes? (described)
  [Remind children that when we describe something, we tell about something.]
• We used our chart paper to record what we described. What does it mean to record something? (write it down)

We learned about ice cubes by being scientists today. We answered the question, “What are ice cubes like?” We observed and described our ice cubes. I recorded what we described on our chart paper so we can remember what we learned about ice cubes. We will learn more about ice cubes this week. We will be scientists!