[Display letter U card.]

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

Letter U says /u/, just like in the word “umbrella.” /u/, /u/, umbrella. Let’s together say /u/, /u/, umbrella.

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

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?]

Offer the Week 1, Day 1 activity to review the concept of numbers.

Engage children in counting dots as part of different items illustrated in a book.

Introduce the book. Draw attention to the numeral 10 on the book cover. Invite children to say the two numerals (1, 0) that are part of the number 10. Trace each numeral with your finger. Ask children for their ideas about the book’s question, “What can be done with 10 black dots?”

Point to (or invite a volunteer child to point to) each of the dots on a page as you count them together. Describe any items that may be unfamiliar or confusing to children, such as portholes (windows in the shape of a circle on a boat).

Explain how the dot(s) is part of an item, such as the eyes of a fox. Help children connect items to their experiences. Some items may be a focus of your room’s past or forthcoming activities. Example: freight trains are featured in Week 41, Day 3 (Social Studies).

Draw attention to the rhyming words at the end of each sentence on each set of pages, such as sun/done and coat/boat. Invite children to repeat the rhyming words with you.

Invite children to count together the lines of dots at the end of the book as you point to each dot.

Today we are going to learn about different types of buses. A bus can carry lots of people from one place to another. Buses travel on roads.

• Have you ridden on a bus?
• What was it like?

Let’s look at some pictures of different types of buses and think about the special job each bus does.

[Display picture of school bus. Point to lights and stop sign as you describe each.]

What special job does this bus do? (take children to/from school, on a field trip)

A school bus takes children to and from school. It also takes children on a field trip. School buses have special lights and stop signs that let people know when the bus is going to stop so children can get off the bus or on the bus. Cars near the bus stop moving when the lights and stop signs are on.

Why is it important for cars near a school bus to stop moving when the lights and stop signs are on? (so children are safe)

[Display picture of a school bus interior.]

The seats on a school bus usually look like benches. Have you ever seen bus seats that look like this?

[Display picture of touring bus. Point to doors for lower-level storage space as you describe this area.]

What job might this type of bus do? (take people on trips)

A touring bus takes people and their things on trips. People can ride on a touring bus to see a special place like a farm or a park or a museum. People put their things inside the bus or in a storage place under the bus.

[Display picture of accessibility bus.]

This bus helps people who have a physical disability get from one place to another place. People who use a wheelchair can ride on this type of bus. This is called an accessibility bus. Accessibility is a big word. Accessibility means that something can be reached. People with a disability can reach (get to) where they want to go on an accessibility bus.

[Display picture of accessibility bus ramp.]

We know that a ramp has a slope that makes it easier to walk on or move a wheelchair on.

How might this ramp help people get on and off the bus? (no steps to climb)

Buses take people and their things from one place to another. Each type of bus does a different job.

Several weeks ago we imitated the voices of the characters in the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Remember, a story is something we tell to let people know about something that happened. This week we will practice telling more stories.

Stories can be real or pretend. Remember, when we pretend we act as if something is true or real when it is not.

Is the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears real or pretend? (pretend)

Some stories have a lot of characters. Other stories have only a few characters. We know that a character is a person or an animal (or creature) in a story or book.

Today we will listen to a story called The Three Little Pigs.

 Pop up if you’ve ever heard this story!

[Encourage children to sit down after you have commented on the number of children that have heard the story of The Three Little Pigs.

Use the flannel board and cutouts to tell the story of The Three Little Pigs. Change the tone of your voice to represent each of the characters in the story.]

• Was the story of The Three Little Pigs real or pretend? (pretend)
• Who were the characters in the story? (the three pigs, wolf )

We know that the story of The Three Little Pigs is a pretend story about three little pigs and a wolf.

All stories have something called the plot. The plot is the order of events (things) that happen in a story. Let’s think about the plot of The Three Little Pigs.

[Refer to flannel board cutouts as you describe events.]

• First the three little pigs moved out of their parents’ house and decided to each build a house at the edge of a forest.
• What happened next in the story? (the pigs each built a house)
• Did each of the three pigs make a house with the same thing? (no) Let’s all stand and pretend to build a house, just like the three little pigs.

[Encourage children to pretend to build a house for several seconds.]

• What happened after the three little pigs finished building their houses and relaxed for a while? (a wolf came by and blew down the house made of straw) Let’s stand and pretend we are the big bad wolf trying to blow down the house made of straw!

[Encourage children to pretend to blow down the house of straw for several seconds.]

• Then what happened when the first little pig ran to the second little pig’s house? (the wolf blew down the second pig’s house made of sticks) Let’s stand again and pretend we are the big bad wolf blowing down the house made of sticks!

[Encourage children to pretend to blow down the house of sticks for several seconds.]

• When the wolf blew down the house of sticks, the two little pigs ran to the third pig’s house. Then what happened? (the wolf tried to blow down the house made of bricks, but he could not blow it down) Let’s stand one more time and pretend we are the big bad wolf trying to blow down the house made of bricks!

[Encourage children to pretend to blow down the house made of bricks for several seconds.]

• What was the last thing that happened in the story? (the wolf left, the little pigs lived happily ever after)

The story of The Three Little Pigs would be very different if we changed the order of events.

How would the story be different if the wolf tried to blow down the house made of bricks first? (he wouldn’t be able to; he might go away)

The order of events in a story is important. The story would be changed if the plot was different.

Today we learned that a plot is the order of events that happen in a story. We listened to the story of The Three Little Pigs and remembered the order in which events happened.