Today we are going to read a book called If You Give a Pig a Pancake. The author of the book is Laura Numeroff and the illustrator is Felicia Bond.

[Display book cover.]

• What do you think our book might be about?
• Do you think pigs really eat pancakes?

Let’s think about the title of our book.

[Read title again as you point to each word.]

We can hear the same beginning sound in the words “pig” and “pancake.” Remember, we call the first sound we hear in a word the beginning sound.

What beginning sound do we hear in the words “pig” and “pancake”? (/p/)

Let’s say the /p/ sound together.

The word “pig” has the “ig” sound at the end of the word. Let’s together say the “ig” sound we hear at the end of “p-ig.”

[As you read the book, highlight the beginning /p/ sound and the “-ig” sound each time it occurs. Example: “If you give a p-ig a pancake, she’ll want some syrup to go with it.”]

We heard the word “p-ig” many times when we read our book. I am going to write the word “pig” on our chart paper.

[Write the word “pig” at the top of a chart paper and display picture card of a pig.]

Let’s say together the beginning sound we hear in the word “pig.” (/p/)

We can make a new word if we begin the word with the /w/ sound instead of the /p/ sound.

Our new word is “w-ig.”

Let’s together say the word “wig.”

[Write the word “wig” on the chart below the word “pig.”

Display picture card of a wig.]

What letter makes the /w/ sound? (W)

The letter W makes the /w/ sound. We made a new word by changing the beginning sound of the word “pig.” We changed the /p/ sound to the /w/ sound at the beginning of the word “pig.” Our new word is “wig.”

Let’s say the words “pig” and “wig” several times. Please listen carefully to the beginning sound of each word.

[Lead children in saying “pig, wig, pig, wig, pig, wig.” Emphasize the beginning sound each time you say a word.]

[Display picture cards of pig and wig.]

We changed the beginning sound of the word “pig” and ended up with the name of a very different thing. Look at our pictures of a pig and wig.

What sounds do we hear at the end of the words “p-ig” and “w-ig”? (ig)

Pig and wig both have the “ig” sound! Making new words is fun!

Now we are going to learn a different letter of the alphabet.

[Display letter D card.]

Does anyone know the name of this letter?

This is the letter D. We can write the letter D in two ways. We can write the letter D like this.

[Demonstrate writing an uppercase D at the top of a chart paper.]

This is an uppercase D.

We can also write the letter D like this.

[Demonstrate writing a lowercase t at the top of a chart paper.]

This is a lowercase d.

We are learning different ways to use our body to dance. Last week we created dance movements by moving our arms and legs.

The word “dance” begins with the letter d. I will write the word “dance” on our chart. I am going to write “dance”with a lowercase (small letter) d.

[Say each letter as you write the word. Emphasize d.]

Let’s all say the word “dance.”

[Invite a volunteer child to point to the letter d in the word “dance.”]

Let’s look at the very first letter of our name. Pop up if you have the letter D 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 D at the beginning of their name. If there are children whose name begins with the letter D who do not stand, point to the letter D on their name card. Compare the letter D in their name as you hold the letter D card next to their name card.

If no one in the group has a first name beginning with the letter D, say “No one popped up because no one has a name that starts with the letter D.” 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 D.

If a child indicates there is a letter D 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 d that appears somewhere else in a child’s name.]

Today we read the book If You Give a Pig a Pancake. How did we change the word “pig” to the word “wig”? (changed the beginning sound to /w/) We made a new word by changing the beginning sound. Pig and wig are very different things. The words “pig” and “wig” have different beginning sounds. But the words “pig” and “wig” have the same remaining sounds. What sounds do we hear at the end of the words “pig” and “wig” (ig).

We also learned about the letter D. What word begins with the letter d? (dance)

Yesterday we split a group of items into two smaller parts. Remember, a part is a piece of something, but not all of it. Who would like to show us how to split a group of four blocks into two groups?

[Describe how the volunteer child split the group of four blocks. Point out that the two parts still have four blocks when counted all together.]

Today we are going to play a game with hula-hoops. We will practice splitting a group of children into two parts during our game. Remember, when we split something, we divide it into smaller parts.

[Lay two hula-hoops on the floor.]

We will need a group of four children to play the first round of the game.

[Invite a group of four volunteer children to stand next to the hula-hoops. Encourage the remaining children to remain seated on the floor.]

Let’s count the number of children in our group before we begin the game.

[Encourage all children to count together the group of four children as you gently tap each on the shoulder.]

How many children are in our group? (four)

We have four children in our whole group. A whole group contains all of something. Our whole group contains all of the children.

Now we will play some music. The group of four children will dance around the hula-hoops when the music is played. Each child in the group of four needs to stand in one of the hula-hoops when the music stops. You can stand in either hula-hoop. Let’s try it.

[Play music and invite the group of four children to dance around the hula-hoops. Turn off the music and encourage the group of children to split themselves between the two hula-hoops.]

Our whole group of four children is split into two smaller parts. Each hula-hoop is one part of our whole group.

• How many children are in the first hula-hoop?
• How many children are in the second hula-hoop?
• Are the two parts equal?

Let’s count the number of children we have all together.

[Encourage children to count as you gently tap each of the four on the shoulder.]

How many children do we have all together? (four) We still have four children!

Now we will try the game again with a different number of children.

[Choose a group of five volunteer children for the second round. Follow the procedure above as children play the game a second time.]

Today we used hula-hoops to practice splitting a group of children into two parts. What did we do each time our whole group of children split themselves into two parts? (counted each part, counted both parts together)

Today we will play a game we’ve played before called Listening Bingo. The game will help us practice how to focus and to take turns. What does it means to focus? (to concentrate on something)

What part of our body will we will use for this game? (ears)

I have recorded some sounds. We will listen very carefully to each of the sounds I’ve recorded. We will try to figure out what each sound is.

[Play the audio recording, pausing after each sound while children take turns trying to figure out the source of the sound. Be sure to remind children to sit quietly and raise their hand if they think they know the sound. Each child gets one chance to try to figure out a sound. Ask questions that include cues to help children think carefully about each sound. Examples:

• In what room of a house might you hear this sound?
• Have you ever heard this sound at our center?
• Is this a sound you might hear when we play outside?

Continue until each child has had a chance to guess a sound.]

Today we played a game called Listening Bingo. The game helped us practice how to focus and how to take turns. We focused on each sound in order to figure out what it was. Were any of the sounds hard to figure out?

Yesterday we learned that the desert is a very dry habitat where many plants cannot grow. Sand covers the ground of a desert. Today we will read a book to learn more about a desert habitat.

[Display book cover.]

Our book is called About Habitats: Deserts. The author of our book is Cathryn Sill.

What do we see on the front cover of our book?

[Read the book, pausing to describe illustrations, respond to children’s questions, and define novel words (see Extra Support tip). After reading the book, display specific pages in the book when asking the following questions:]

• What are some of the things animals in the desert do to survive? Remember, survive means something can live. (they go a long way to find water, burrow underground or find shade when it is hot, some hunt only at night, some wait until it rains to move around)
• How do plants survive in the desert? (their roots have special ways of gathering and storing water, some can store water in their stems, some are covered with wax to keep the water in their stems and leaves)

The desert is a dry habitat with very little rain.

One of the animals in our book today was a fennec fox. We learned that the fennec fox hunts and eats only at night when it is cooler outside.

[If time permits, teach the adjacent song:]