Today we are going to play another game with words. We will play this game by taking away a sound from a word to make a completely different word.

[Be sure to pause briefly between the two parts of each word offered below.]

Listen carefully as I say a word: /b/-all. I’ll say it again: /b/-all.

What word am I saying? (ball)

Now I will take away the beginning sound of the word “ball” to make a new word. Remember, we call the first sound we hear the beginning sound of a word. The beginning sound in the word “ball” is /b/. I will take away the /b/ sound from the word “/b/-all.” Listen to the new word: “all.” I took away the /b/ sound from the word “ball” to make the new word “all.”

Let’s try another word. Listen carefully as I say “/p/-in.”

What is the word? (pin)

Now let’s take away the beginning sound of the word “pin” to make a new word. The beginning sound is /p/.

What new word do we make when we take away the /p/ sound from the word “/p/-in”? (in)

Our new word is “in.” We took away the /p/ sound from the word “pin” to make the word “in.” Let’s try some more.

[Continue the above procedure for children to make a new word by taking away the beginning sound of a word. Offer as many of the following words as possible, depending on time and child interest. Use a mixture of ending sounds (all, in, ice) based on children’s responses.]

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

[Display letter G card.]

Does anyone know the name of this letter?

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

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

This is an uppercase G.

We can also write the letter G like this.

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

This is a lowercase g.

We are learning about making a graph in math. We know that a graph is used to organize and present information. The word “graph” begins with the letter g. I will write the word “graph” on our chart. I am going to write “graph”with a lowercase (small letter) g.

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

Let’s all say the word “graph.”

[Invite a volunteer child to point to the letter g in the word “graph.”]

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

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

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

Today we took away a sound from a word to make a completely different word.

We also learned about the letter G. What word begins with the letter g? (graph)

Today we will practice making a group of blocks larger. Remember, when we add items to a group, the group gets larger.

[Organize blocks by color. Set them next to the tray.]

I have a tray and some blocks. There are two different colors of blocks: red blocks and blue blocks. I also have a die. Remember, each side of a die has a different number of dots.

[Display different sides of the die and point to the number of dots.

Place one red block on the tray.]

How many blocks are on the tray? (one)

We have a group of one red block. We will take turns rolling the die. The die will tell us how many blocks to add to our group of blocks. Remember, when the die stops rolling, we count the number of dots on the side that is facing up. The number of dots on the die will tell us how many blocks to add. We will add blue blocks.

We will count out the number of blue blocks that matches the number of dots on the die. Then we will add the blue blocks to our tray and count how many blocks we have all together. I will go first so you can see how to play.

[Roll the die and count the number of dots on the die you rolled. Say the number aloud.]

I rolled a ___. I will make a group of ___ blue blocks.

[Count aloud the number of blue blocks that matches the number of dots on the die. Place the group of blue blocks next to the one red block on the tray.]

We have two groups of blocks on our tray. One group has one red block. Our other group has ___ blue blocks.

Let’s find out how many blocks we have all together on our tray.

How can we do that? (count them all together)

We find out the number of blocks on our tray by counting on. When we count on we start with the largest group of items and then count the number of items in the other group.

[Point to each block as you lead children in counting the blue blocks.]

How many blue blocks do we have?

Let’s begin with the number of blue blocks and count on to add our red block.

[Begin with the number of blue blocks and count on to add the red block. Example: “We have two blue blocks. We will start counting with two. 2, 3.”]

How many blocks do we have all together?

[Remove the blocks from the tray.]

Now we will try it again. Each of us can have a turn. This time let’s start with our red blocks. We can make a group of red blocks larger by adding blue blocks. Let’s roll our die for each group of blocks.

[Invite a child to roll the die.]

• What number did you roll?
• Let’s make a group of red blocks that matches the number of dots on the die. How many red blocks do we need?

[If appropriate, help child create a group of red blocks by encouraging child to count each one.]

• Let’s put the group of red blocks on the tray.
• Now we need to roll the die to determine how many blue blocks we need.

[Invite a second child to roll the die.]

• What number did you roll?
• Now we are going to make a group of blue blocks that matches the number of dots on the die. How many blue blocks do we need?

[If appropriate, help child create a group of blue blocks by encouraging child to count each one.]

Let’s put the group of blue blocks on the tray.

Now we need to find out how many blocks we have all together. We will first count the largest group of blocks.

• Which group is the largest?
• How many blocks are in our largest group?

Let’s start with that number and count on to see how many blocks we have all together.

[Model counting on as you begin counting with the largest group of blocks. Example: “We have a group of four red blocks and a group of two blue blocks. We begin counting with the number four and then count on to our group of blue blocks. 4, 5, 6. We have six blocks all together!”

Repeat by beginning with zero blocks on the tray. Provide each child with a turn rolling the die and adding blocks to the tray. Encourage all children to count on. Continue as time permits.]

Today we worked with blocks and a die. We practiced adding blocks to a group. What happens to a group when we add items? (the group gets larger) We are learning how to count on. We started by counting the number of blocks in our largest group. Then what did we do? (kept counting the number of blocks in our other group)

Today we will play Conducting an Orchestra. This game helps us to concentrate on what we need to do.

How do we play Conducting an Orchestra?

Remember, an orchestra is a group of people who play certain kinds of musical instruments together.

What does someone do when they conduct an orchestra? (lead it)

So, when someone conducts an orchestra, they lead a group of people playing certain kinds of musical instruments.

[Give each child a musical instrument. Instruments may include drums, bells, triangles, rhythm sticks, etc. Provide children with a few moments to play their instruments.]

I will be the conductor, and you will be the orchestra. When I wave the baton slowly, we will play our instruments slowly. Then when I wave the baton quickly, we will play our instruments quickly.

What should we do when I stop waving the baton? (stop playing our instruments)

Let’s try it.

[Wave the baton slowly as children play the instruments slowly. After a few seconds, wave the baton quickly. Wait for children to begin playing quickly before you begin waving the baton slowly again. Continue for several minutes as children practice playing quickly, slowly, and stopping while watching the baton.]

Now we are going to change the game a little. This time when I wave the baton, we will stop playing our instruments. Then when I stop waving the baton, we will begin playing our instruments.

• What should we do when I wave the baton? (stop playing our instruments)
• What should we do when I stop waving the baton? (begin playing our instruments)

[Hold the baton still and encourage children to play their instruments. After a few seconds, begin waving the baton and encourage children to stop playing their instruments. Wait for children to stop playing their instruments before you stop waving the baton again. Continue practicing with the rule changes for several minutes.]

Today we again played Conducting an Orchestra. We changed the rules of the game.

• What part of our body did we use to pay close attention during this game? (eyes)
• What changed during the game? (played instruments when baton stopped, stopped playing instruments when baton was moving)
• What would happen if we didn’t watch carefully during the game? (we wouldn’t know when to start and stop playing our instruments)

Yesterday we imitated characters in nursery rhymes. We know that imitate means to sound like or look like someone or something else. We imitated with our voices, facial expressions, and body movements. What was one of the nursery rhymes we imitated?

Today we are going to imitate characters in two more nursery rhymes. One of our nursery rhymes for today has more than one character. We can choose which character we want to imitate.

[Display card for “Jack Be Nimble.” Read the nursery rhyme.]

• Who is the character in this nursery rhyme? (Jack)
• What does Jack do in the rhyme? (jump over a candlestick)
• How could we imitate Jack using our body? (pretend to jump over a candlestick)

[Encourage children to imitate Jack jumping over a candlestick as you read the rhyme again.]

Let’s listen to another nursery rhyme. This nursery rhyme has two characters in it. We can decide which character we want to imitate.

[Display card for “Jack and Jill.” Read the nursery rhyme. Explain that “fetch” means to go get something and bring it back, and “crown” is another word for head.]

• Who were the characters in this nursery rhyme? (Jack and Jill)
• What did the characters do in this nursery rhyme?
• How could we imitate Jack? (walk up a hill, fall down)
• How could we imitate Jill? (walk up a hill, tumble down)

Both of the characters went up the hill and both of the characters fell down. We can imitate Jack or Jill. It is your choice. All of us do not need to imitate the same character. Remember, we can use our body, facial expression, and voice when we imitate.

[Encourage each child to imitate his/her chosen character as you read and display the rhyme card.]

• What did we do with our bodies to imitate one of the characters in the rhyme? (walked up a hill, fell down)
• How did we imitate Jack or Jill’s facial expression?
• How did we imitate Jack or Jill’s voice?

Today we used two nursery rhymes to practice imitating different characters.