[Invite children to sit in a circle.]

We are learning how to listen to sounds. What does it mean to listen? (pay close attention to what we hear)

Yesterday we listened for sounds in our classroom and on a CD. We wrote the sounds we heard on a chart.

[Display chart.]

Today we will listen for more sounds! Let’s close our eyes as we listen for more sounds. Let’s be very quiet so we can hear sounds.

[Encourage children to sit quietly with eyes closed for several seconds.]

What sounds did you hear?

[On the chart, write any new sounds not previously listed. Repeat the name of the sound as you write it. If children name a sound also identified on Day 1, point to the name of the sound on the chart as you indicate the sound was heard yesterday, too.]

Let’s review all of the sounds we heard today.

[Read and point to the title of the chart, Sounds We Heard. Review sounds listed today on the chart as you point to each sound name. Example: “We heard people talking.” “We heard a fan.”]

Now we are going to listen for sounds again. If we hear any new sounds we will add them to our chart. Let’s close our eyes and listen.

[Privately ask another adult positioned several feet from the group to make several louder sounds. Examples: talking, moving things, singing.]

Did you hear any new sounds?

[On the chart, write names of any sounds not previously listed. Review new sounds by pointing to and reading each new sound listed.]

We have heard some quieter sounds. We also have heard some louder sounds. We heard (adult helper) making sounds.

• Do you think (adult helper) made quieter sounds or louder sounds? (louder sounds)
• Could we hear a quieter sound like water dripping from a faucet when there is also a louder sound?

Let’s try listening for a quieter sound when there is also a louder sound. Please close your eyes again and listen carefully.

[Ask adult helper to turn the faucet to an audible drip or quieter water flow.]

Who can hear the water dripping?

Let’s close our eyes and find out if we can hear the water dripping when there is a louder sound in our classroom.

[Ask the adult helper, positioned several feet from the group, to make a continuous louder sound.]

• Could you hear the water dripping when we listened this time?
• Why not?
• What was the quieter sound?
• What was the louder sound?

Today we listened again for sounds. We listened to a quieter sound and to a louder sound. We learned that it can be hard to hear a quieter sound when we can also hear a louder sound. I am going to make a very quiet sound. Listen carefully.

[In a quiet whisper, ask children to point to their ears.]

We are learning to be good listeners. We pay attention to what we are hearing when we listen.

[Place 1–5 books on a table where children can see them.]

Let’s count to find out how many books are on this table.

[Point to each book as you encourage children to count with you. When you finish, say the final number again.]

What did we do to find out how many books are on this table? (count)

[Display book cover.]

Today we will read a book about counting. Our book is called Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake. Our book will help us practice counting. We will say numbers to find out how many.

The author of a book writes the words. The author of this book is Eileen Christelow. The illustrator of a book creates the pictures. Eileen Christelow is also the illustrator.

[Point to text as you read. Pause on each page to describe the picture and encourage children to join you in counting the number of monkeys. After you count the monkeys on each page, say aloud the final number of monkeys. Example: “There are five monkeys on this page.”]

Today we read a story called Five Little Monkeys Bake a Birthday Cake.

What did we do to find out how many monkeys were on each page? (count)

[Sit in front of children with a toy. Begin playing with the toy.]

It is fun to play at center time in our classroom! There are so many things to do. This (toy) is one of my favorite things to play with.

[Demonstrate and describe some things to do with the toy.]

What is your favorite thing to play with at center time?

Sometimes we pretend when we play. We can pretend we are a parent or a firefighter or a teacher. We can pretend a tricycle we are riding on our playground is a car or a firetruck or a tractor. We can pretend we are building a barn with our blocks. When we pretend, we make believe we are a different person or we make believe a toy we are playing with is something different.

• Have you ever pretended you were someone else?
• Have you ever pretended a toy you are playing with is something different?

[Display a block.]

I have a block. We can pretend the block is anything we want it to be when we play.

What could we pretend our block might be? (car, telephone, horse, etc.)

[If a child has an idea of how to pretend with the block, hand him/her the block as he/she demonstrates while describing what it might be. Example: The child may move the block along the floor as he/she describes a pretend car.

Display each additional toy, one at a time, and ask what we could pretend the toy might be. Encourage a volunteer child to demonstrate and describe how he/she would pretend with the toy.]

Sometimes we like to play alone. We are not playing with anyone else when we play alone. We play by ourselves. I showed some things I like to do with (toy). I was playing alone with (toy).

What kinds of things do you like to do when you play alone?

Sometimes we like to play with another child or maybe two or three other children. It can be fun to share toys and ideas when we play with other children. Other children can have really good ideas about how to play.

What kinds of things do you like to play with others?

Let’s visit some centers in our room and think about how we could play in each center.

[Move as a group to 2–3 centers in the classroom (housekeeping, manipulatives, blocks, etc.) and ask children how they might play in the center. Example: “What could two children do together in this center?” Encourage children who offer suggestions to point to, hold, or put on whatever they are describing. This visit to centers is for discussion of play, not actual play. Emphasize playing alone, playing with another child(ren), and pretend play as you elaborate on children’s suggestions. There is an opportunity in Week 2, Day 2 to visit additional centers in your classroom.]

Today we learned about different ways we can play. We can pretend when we play. We can play alone or with others. There are many ways we can play in our classroom.

We are learning what it means to be creative. We are being creative when we use an idea to make or do something new.

There are many ways we can be creative. Today we are going to talk about being creative with music and dance.

Music is the sounds that we make when we sing or play a musical instrument. A musical instrument makes music when it is played. A drum and a piano are musical instruments. There are many kinds of musical instruments.

Let’s listen to the song “Wheels on the Bus.”

[Play “Wheels on the Bus” on the Best of Raffi CD. Invite children to sing along.]

The person who created this song had an idea about putting together words and music. She was creative when she put together the words and music.

A song puts words and music together.

We can say the words of our song without the music.

[Say the first line without singing: “The wheels on the bus go round and round.”]

Now let’s add music to the words.

[Sing the first line. Invite children to join you.]

Our words became a song when we added music.

We can also be creative when we move our bodies to music! We can dance by moving our bodies to music. Let’s stand and dance to a fun song called “Let’s Play.” Make sure we do not bump into someone else when we dance.

[Play “Let’s Play” on the Best of Raffi CD and encourage children to dance in their own way to the music.]

We were being creative when we moved our bodies to the music.

Can we dance without music?

Watch me do a little dance.

[Offer a simple dance movement without music.]

Many times people dance to music. But I just danced without music. We can dance with music and we can dance without music.

We create music when we make sounds by singing or playing a musical instrument. What do we add to words when we sing a song? (music) We can be creative with music and dance!