Letter knowledge
Children will identify and name the letter V.
Review:
Today we are going to learn a different letter of the alphabet.
[Display letter V card.]
Does anyone know the name of this letter?
This is the letter V. We can write the letter V in two ways. We can write the letter V like this.
[Demonstrate writing an uppercase V at the top of a chart paper.]
This is an uppercase V.
We can also write the letter V like this.
[Demonstrate writing a lowercase v at the top of a chart paper.]
This is a lowercase v.
Several weeks ago we played a game in which we pretended to make the noise of different vehicles. Remember, a vehicle is something that takes us from one place to another.
The word “vehicle” begins with the letter v. I will write the word “vehicle” on our chart. I am going to write “vehicle”with a lowercase (small letter) v.
[Say each letter as you write the word. Emphasize v.]
Let’s all say the word “vehicle.”
[Invite a volunteer child to point to letter v in the word “vehicle.”]
Let’s look at the very first letter of our name. Pop up if you have the letter V at the beginning of your name. Remember, names begin with an uppercase (big) letter.
[Encourage children to look at their name cards. Say the first names of children who have a V at the beginning of their name. If there are children whose name begins with the letter V who do not stand, point to the letter V on their name card. Compare the letter V in their name as you hold the letter V card next to their name card.
If no one in the group has a first name beginning with the letter V, say “No one popped up because no one has a name that starts with the letter V.” Encourage children to look at the list of children’s first names. Point to some first letters of names. Explain that no one’s name begins with the letter V.
If a child indicates there is a letter V in his/her name, but not at the beginning of the name, fully recognize the name and invite the child to pop up. Day 4 gives attention to the letter v that appears somewhere else in a child’s name.]
Today we learned about the letter V. What word begins with the letter v? (vehicle)
Extra support
Enrichment
Provide children with items to make a pretend vegetable stand. Supply a cash register, bags, and toy vegetables. Invite children to pretend to sell vegetables in the vegetable stand.
Serve vegetable soup for lunch. Encourage children to name the vegetables they find in their soup.
Number knowledge
Children will broaden their understanding of numbers.
Clothespins (see Be Prepared)
Review:
Self-Regulation
Offer the Week 1, Day 2 activity to review how to verbally count from 1–5.
Engage children in a fun song in which they fall down according to the number on a clothespin they are wearing. This option includes children identifying the number of dots on their clothespin.
Be Prepared: Prepare a sufficient number of clothespins so each child can wear one. With a marker, draw one dot on a clothespin, two dots on a different clothespin, etc., up to five dots on a clothespin. Some children will have the same number of dots on their clothespin. Example: In a group of 10 children, two children will have a clothespin with one dot, two will have a clothespin with two dots, etc.
Teach children the adjacent song while walking in a circle holding hands. Invite children to fall down at the end of the song.
Display clothespins. Explain that each clothespin has a different number of dots on it. Provide each child with a clothespin. Encourage children to count and say aloud the number of dots on their clothespin. Help children affix the clothespin to a part of their clothing that they can readily see.
Arrange children in a circle in random order. Explain that we are going to change the song a little bit. Instead of everyone falling down at the end of the song, only children wearing a clothespin with a certain number of dots will fall down. We need to listen carefully to the song. The end of the song will say the number of dots that fall down. Offer an example: “Round and round the circle we go, all around the town. Round and round the circle we go, and then three dots fall down.” Encourage children wearing clothespins with three dots to fall down. Continue singing the song, ending each version with a different number (1–5).
The Option 2 activity plan is an adaptation of Activities #2c, #10b, and #16 in Math Is Everywhere, a preschool math curriculum compiled from a variety of resources by David Arnold, Jennifer Dobbs-Oates, Greta Doctoroff, and Paige Fisher at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The Arnold et al. group cites the following source for Activities #2c and #10b: Cryer, D., & Harms, T. (1988). Active learning for threes. Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. The Arnold et al. group cites the following source for Activity #16: Copley, J. V. (2009). The young child and mathematics (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Knowledge of creative processes, Skills that support creative expression
Children will understand how to tell a story using body movements only.
Review:
Language / Literacy
Yesterday we listened to the story of The Three Little Pigs. We talked about the story’s plot. We learned that a plot is the order of events that happen in a story. Let’s try to remember the plot of The Three Little Pigs.
[Use flannel board and cutouts to show what children describe.]
Today let’s try using our bodies to tell the story. We will not use our voices! In the first part of the story, the little pig builds a house made of straw. Please watch closely as I move my body to tell the first part of the story.
[Pretend to pick up the straw and form it into a house. Remain silent.]
How could we pretend to be the wolf trying to blow down the house made of straw?
Let’s try it together.
[Encourage children to use their bodies to pretend to be the wolf trying to blow down the house made of straw.]
Now let’s tell the whole story of The Three Little Pigs. I will tell the story with my voice. You tell the story with your body.
We will stay in our personal space when we tell the story using our bodies. Remember, space is the area around our body that is empty and available for us to use.
[Invite children to stand. Tell the story of The Three Little Pigs with your voice as you encourage children to tell the story with their bodies.]
Is our voice the only way to tell the plot of a story? (no)
Today we told the story of The Three Little Pigs using our bodies. Were any parts of the story easy or hard for you to tell by using your body only? Which one(s)?
Extra support
Enrichment
Provide *nursery rhyme cards. Encourage children to take turns telling the nursery rhymes using their body movements only. Suggest the center be a “no talking zone.” Encourage other children to guess the nursery rhyme they are telling.
*Printables provided
Play charades with children. Make a list of everyday activities that can be demonstrated by using body movements only. Take turns demonstrating the activities as you encourage other children to guess the activities. Examples: brushing teeth, sleeping, writing.
Source of The Three Little Pigs nursery rhyme: Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O. (1886). The Nursery Rhymes of England. London: Frederick Warne and Co.
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Exploring Where We Live
Social Studies
Skill and Goal
Knowledge of social and physical environments
Children will understand basic characteristics of bicycles, tricycles, and motorcycles.
Materials
Needed
*Printables provided
Key
Concepts
New:
Review:
Also
Promotes
Language / Literacy
Under this blanket is a form of transportation we can use in our center. We know that transportation is a way people or things move from one place to another. What do you think is hidden under the blanket?
A tricycle is a kind of transportation that has three wheels.
[Point to pedals and handlebars as you describe each.]
We use two parts of a tricycle to make it go places. We move our feet on the pedals of the tricycle to make the wheels go around. We use our hands and arms to move the handlebars. We use the handlebars to point to where we want to go. The handlebars move the front wheel of the tricycle.
This is a bicycle. A bicycle is a kind of transportation with two wheels.
[Point to and count wheels with children.]
Bicycles and tricycles have some things that are the same and some things that are different.
[Display pictures of tricycle and bicycle side by side.]
[Display picture of a motorcycle. Point to motor and handlebars when you describe each.]
This is a motorcycle. A motorcycle is a kind of transportation with two wheels and a motor. All motorcycles have a motor. That is why the word “motorcycle” has the word “motor” in it.
The word “motorcycle” is a compound word.
What two words do we hear in the word “motor-cycle”? (motor, cycle)
A motor moves the wheels on a motorcycle. People who ride a motorcycle do not use their feet to make the motorcycle move. People use their arms and hands to point the handlebars to where they want to go on a motorcycle.
There are two more parts of our body that people use when they ride a tricycle, a bicycle, or a motorcycle.
[Point to your eyes and ears.]
[Display helmet]
Today we learned that bicycles, tricycles, and motorcycles are kinds of transportation that can get people from one place to another place.
Scaffolding Tips
Extra support
Enrichment
Center Activity
Provide materials in the art center for children to create a transportation collage. Examples: magazines with transportation pictures, scissors, glue, markers, paper.
Family Child Care
If possible, show a bicycle as part of the description and discussion of how a bicycle works. Displaying both a tricycle and bicycle will enhance discussion of similarities and differences of these two common forms of transportation.