Today we are going to work with words. Remember, words tell us important information about something.

Who remembers what words are made of? (letters)

Remember, some words are short with just a few letters. Other words are long with many letters.

We know there are lines of words in books and other things we read.

I am going to write a line of words on our chart paper.

[Write the sentence “We like to play” or a short sentence of your choice with simple words.]

I wrote, “We like to play.”

[Point to each word as you read the sentence aloud.]

Remember, when we read a line of words we go from one side to the other.

[Point to the sentence using a left-to-right motion with your arm and hand.]

This line of words is called a sentence. Let’s say that word together: sen-tence.

A sentence is a group of words that gives us information or tells us what to do. A sentence can also ask a question.

Let’s count together how many words are in our sentence.

[Point to each word as you lead children in counting.]

There are four words in this sentence.

Look at how there is a space between each word. Here is a space, here is a space, and here is a space.

[Point to the space between each word.]

The spaces tell us these are separate words. Here is our first word. Here is a second word. There is our third word. Here is our fourth word.

[Point to each word.]

Let’s all clap one time for each word. I will read the sentence while we clap once for each word.

[Lead children in clapping once for each word as you read the sentence.]

How many times did we clap? (four)

We clapped four times because there are four words in our sentence. Let’s say our sentence together.

Let’s look at the end of our sentence. Do you see the small dot after the last word of our sentence?

[Point to the period.]

This is called a period. The period tells us where the sentence ends. The sentence stops at the period.

Now we are going to learn about a letter of the alphabet. We know there are many letters in the alphabet.

[Display letter B card.]

Does anyone know the name of this letter?

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

[Demonstrate writing an uppercase B on the top of a chart paper.]

This is an uppercase B. Remember, uppercase letters are the big letters of the alphabet.

We can also write the letter B like this.

[Demonstrate writing a lowercase b on the top of a chart paper.]

This is a lowercase b. We know that lowercase letters are the small letters of the alphabet.

We are learning about books. We know that a book is something we read. A book has pages and a cover. Book is a word that starts with the letter b. I will write this word on our chart. I am going to write the word “book” with a lowercase (small letter) b.

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

Let’s all say the word “book.”

[Invite a volunteer child to point to the letter b in the word “book.”]

Now, let’s look at the very first letter of our name. Pop up if you have the letter B at the beginning of your name. Names begin with a big (uppercase) letter.

[Encourage children to look at their name cards. Say the first names of children who have a B at the beginning of their name. If there are children whose name begins with the letter B but do not stand, point to the letter B in their name card. Compare the letter B in their name as you hold the letter B card next to their name card.

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

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

Today we learned that a sentence is a group of words that gives us information or tells us what to do. There was a period at the end of our sentence. What does a period tell us? (where a sentence ends)

We also learned about the letter B. What is a word that begins with the letter b? (book, perhaps the name of a child in your group)

Let’s count how many people are in our small group today. Each time I point to a person we will say a number.

[Lead children in counting each person in the group. Point to or lightly tap each child on the shoulder as you count aloud.]

How many children do we have in our small group today? The last number we counted is the number of children in our group.

How many toy bears would we need if we wanted to give a toy bear to each child in our group?

Today we will read a book about three bears in a family. Our book is called Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

[As you read the book, engage children in counting the three bowls, spoons, chairs, beds, and bears.

Set out three bowls on a table where children can see them.]

We have three bowls set out on the table. Let’s count them.

[Encourage children to together count aloud the number of bowls.]

We are going to pretend to make breakfast for the three bears. Each of the bears needs a spoon.

• Who would like to put a spoon by each bowl?
  [Choose a volunteer child to place a spoon by each bowl.]
• How many spoons did we put out?

We have the same number of spoons as we do bowls! Our number of bowls and number of spoons is equal. Remember, equal means they have the same amount. We have three of each thing on our table.

Now, let’s put out one cup for each bear.

[Invite volunteer children, one at a time, to put one cup next to each bowl. Continue inviting children to set out other identical items, one for each bear. Examples: The same kind of play food item for each bowl, the same kind of napkin.]

Today we practiced our counting by pretending to make breakfast for the three bears. We placed one of each item at each bowl. Each group of items was equal. That means each group had the same amount.

We are learning how to wait patiently. Remember, when we are patient, we wait our turn without getting upset and without complaining.

Last week we learned some things we can do while we wait patiently.

Who can tell us about one of the things we learned to do while we wait? (singing, playing with another toy, saying a quiet rhyme)

Today we will learn another quiet thing we can do while we are waiting patiently.

When we are waiting patiently we can quietly play I Spy with our neighbor. Let me show you.

[Demonstrate quietly playing I Spy with another adult. Example: “I spy something big and brown on the floor. What is it?” Take turns as you demonstrate.]

Let’s practice waiting patiently while we play I Spy with our neighbor. Remember, we need to play the game quietly.

[Encourage children to play I Spy with a neighbor for approximately 30-60 seconds. If there is an odd number of children, play with the remaining child.]

Now let’s practice the rhyme we learned last week. We can say the rhyme quietly while we are waiting.

[Lead children in quietly saying the “Wiggle Rhyme” as they do the hand motions.]

Sometimes we need to wait patiently in our classroom or with our family. It can be hard to wait. Today we practiced two ways to keep our minds and bodies focused while we wait.

We are learning about things an artist can use to create art. We know that different kinds of paint may be used in a painting. Remember, art that is created with paint is called a painting.

Today we will talk about tools that can be used to create a drawing. A drawing is a picture created on paper using a pencil or marker or some other tool that is shaped like a stick.

[Display four pictures of drawings, one at a time, and hold up the tool used to create the drawing after you ask children their ideas.]

• What do you think was used to create this drawing? (colored pencils)
• What do you think was used to create this drawing? (crayons)
• What do you think was used to create this drawing? (markers)
• What do you think was used to create this drawing? (chalk)

Each kind of drawing tool looks different on paper. Let’s find out for ourselves what each tool looks like on paper.

[Display a prepared bag of drawing tools.]

I have some bags of different tools that can be used to create a drawing.

[Remove, display, and describe each tool in the bag.]

We can see what each tool looks like when we use it on paper.

We are going to work with a partner. Each pair will get one bag of tools.

[Arrange children in groups of two. Distribute the prepared bags. Invite children to use the different tools to draw lines on their piece of paper. Some children may wish to draw a picture of something.

Encourage children to try using different tools. Example: “Amanda and Talina are using the chalk, colored pencils, and markers. Remember to try the crayons, too!”

Encourage children to notice and describe differences in the marks made by the drawing tools.]

Today we learned about different tools that can be used to create art. We used colored pencils, markers, chalk, and crayons.