[Display letter A card.]

What is the name of this letter?

[Point to the uppercase letter A on the letter card.]

Am I pointing to the uppercase or to the lowercase letter A?

Now let’s spend some time with our book.

[See Week 3, Day 3 of Language/Literacy for a description and examples of how to approach today’s book reading. Key aspects are summarized below:

• Display book cover and say book title. Engage children in describing what they remember about the book:
  • What is our book about?
  • Who were the main characters in our book?
  • What happened first? What happened next?
• Remind children that reading a book is a good way to learn new words. Point to and say words introduced on Day 1 that are listed on the Words We Understand chart. Invite children to talk about what they recall about each of the words. Remind children of the meaning of each novel word.
• Point to where to begin to read on the first text page of the book. Pause during reading to briefly define words identified for today’s session. Use the following approach:
  • Read the sentence with the novel word. Repeat the novel word.
  • Repeat the sentence in which the word is used.
  • Define the novel word and connect the definition to the book.
• After the book reading, engage children in a discussion of each novel word targeted for today with one or more of the following strategies (plus writing the word on the chart):
  • Ask children to describe a picture related to the word.
  • Define a word without naming it and ask children to identify the word.
  • Encourage children to think about a novel word in another context.
• Encourage children to connect the book information to their own experiences. Below are some examples:
  • “Our book today was about worms. Have you ever seen or touched a worm? What was it like?”
  • “Our book today talked about roots. Roots are part of a plant that grow into the dirt. Have you ever seen the root of a plant? What was it like?”
  • “Today we talked about the word squeeze. We squeeze something by pressing things very close together. What kinds of things have you squeezed? How about a tube of toothpaste? How about a package or bottle of ketchup? Show us how you squeeze something.”]

Today we are going to play a memory game with shapes. We are going to place shapes in front of us for our game.

[Place two sizes of circles under a cloth on the floor. Place up to 10 shapes of different sizes on the floor in front of children.]

I have two shapes under my cloth. I am going to lift the cloth. Please take a good look at the shapes under the cloth. Then I will cover the shapes again. Please choose and lay out the same shapes from our collection of shapes on the floor.

If there are two circles under the cloth, what should you lay out in front of you? (two circles)

The shapes do not need to be the same size as the shapes under the cloth. But we should try to find the same shape. Remember, the size of something is how big it is.

[Demonstrate by placing two different sizes of a square under the cloth. Lift the cloth for a few seconds and then cover the squares again. Find two squares from the collection of shapes on the floor and place them in front of you. Remind children that the squares do not need to be the same size as the squares under the cloth.]

Let’s look at the shapes I’ve placed in front of me.

• Have I found the same kinds of shapes as the shapes under the cloth?
• Do I have the same number of shapes? (Yes!)

• [Begin the game by secretly choosing one or two different kinds of shapes to include in your group of two. See Extra Support tip on your shape selection.
• Lift the cloth and display the shapes for a few seconds and then cover them again with the cloth.
• Invite children to find examples of the hidden shapes by selecting from the collection of shapes on the floor. Size of shape does not matter.
• After children have selected shapes, display the shapes under the cloth and directly compare the hidden shapes to the shapes of items selected by children. Hold up (side by side or in front of each other) the hidden shape and the child-selected shape. Emphasize how the shapes are the same but maybe not the same size. If a child-selected shape is not the target (hidden) shape, indicate the selection is “a good guess” and point to and describe differences in relation to the target shape.
• Continue as time allows by choosing different shapes to place under the cloth.]

Today we identified shapes that were hidden under a cloth. We had to remember the shapes we saw when I lifted the cloth and then lay out the same kind of shape. Did we need to find shapes of the same size? (no) Was this game easy or hard to play? Why? What is your favorite shape? What do you like about your favorite shape?

Yesterday we talked about different kinds of emotions. Remember, an emotion is a feeling. Sometimes we can tell how a person is feeling by looking at the person’s face.

[Display a big smile on your face.]

Please look at my face.

• How might I be feeling right now? (happy, excited)
• What about my face tells you how I might be feeling right now? (you are smiling)

We can sometimes tell how people are feeling by looking at their faces. When someone smiles, it usually means that person is happy. We often feel happy when we are pleased about something or when we feel good inside. Let’s take a look at our poster and see if we can find the child who is feeling happy.

[If children point to other faces that are expressing positive feelings—such as thankful, excited, or proud—indicate that, yes, the child(ren) in the picture seems to be feeling good inside.]

Let’s all show what our faces look like when we are happy. Look at our smiling faces!

• How does it make you feel to see so many smiling faces?
• What are some things that make you happy?

[Display Taking a Bath book.]

I have a book that we are going to read today. This book is called Taking a Bath with the Dog and Other Things that Make Me Happy. It was written by Scott Menchin.

[As you read, discuss each pictured person’s face, using questions, such as the following:]

• Does this person’s face have a smile?
• Why is this person feeling happy?

[Encourage children to point to and discuss the item(s) in the picture that make each person feel happy.]

Silly is an emotion that is similar to happy. When people feel silly, they feel happy and playful.

Let’s read the page in The Way I Feel about feeling silly.

• Have you ever felt silly?
• What makes you feel silly?
• Can you make a silly face?

When people feel silly, they are usually happy too! Let’s take a look at our poster and see if we can find the child who is feeling silly.

[Invite children to point out on the poster which child might be feeling silly. Discuss facial features that children associate with being silly.]

Today we talked about feeling happy and feeling silly. We can sometimes tell how people are feeling by looking at their faces. Show us your happy face! Show us a silly face!

[Today’s session is an opportunity for children to explore three tools used by scientists: a balance scale (Day 1), magnifying glass (Day 2), and binoculars. Children’s familiarity with the tools may vary, depending on whether these items are consistently available in your classroom or in their homes.

Open the session by displaying each tool, one at a time, and inviting children to say the tool’s name and describe how we can use it. Remind children that a tool is an item that helps us do something.]

[Encourage children to engage in open-ended play with the tools. Alternatively, ask questions, such as the following, and invite different children to demonstrate and describe how to use a tool:

• Which tool could we use to look at this plastic insect up close? (magnifying glass) How would we use the magnifying glass to learn more about our insect? (invite a child to demonstrate)
• Which tool could we use to compare two rocks to find out which rock is heavier? (balance scale) How would we use the balance scale? (invite a child to demonstrate)
• Which tool could we use to look at something that is far away? (binoculars) How could we use the binoculars? (invite a child to demonstrate)]

Today we were scientists with tools that can help us learn more about things.