We are going to practice finding a letter we know by looking for it in a sentence. When we find the letter, we will also say the sound the letter makes.

[Write the following sentence on a chart or whiteboard. Read each word as you write the sentence:

I waited patiently to play the game.]

We want to find the lowercase letter p in our sentence.

[Display letter card P. Point to the lowercase p on the card.

Encourage a volunteer child to look for and point to the two lowercase letter p’s in the sentence as you display the P letter card.]

What sound does the letter P make?

Yes! Letter P says /p/. Let’s together say the sound of the letter P: /p/.

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.”]

We are learning to make patterns. We know that a pattern is something that repeats itself. We can make word or sound patterns, patterns with our bodies, and patterns with different items. Today we will go on a pattern hunt. We will look for patterns outside!

Where might we find patterns outside? (playground, sidewalk, etc.)

Patterns can be found many places outside. We can find patterns in leaves and even in rocks. We need to look for all kinds of patterns when we look for patterns outside.

We can use some of our five senses to find patterns. Remember, our senses help our body get information from things near us.

What are some of our five senses? (hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, tasting)

We may hear patterns. A bird can make a pattern as it sings.

[With your own voice, offer an example of a bird singing two different “notes” in a pattern. “Tweet, tweet.”]

We also might see a pattern when we walk. Watch me walk. Left, right, left, right, left, right. I can make a pattern by walking!

What sense do we use when we feel something? (touch)

We also might find patterns we can feel. A leaf can be bumpy, smooth, bumpy, smooth.

[Take children on a pattern hunt. Point out patterns as you see, hear, or feel them.

Some examples of patterns you may find include: lines on a leaf (line, space, line, space), lines in a flag, lines and spaces on a sidewalk, fences(board, space, board, space), bricks on a building. When you have finished the walk, gather children to talk about the different patterns that were found.]

Today we looked for patterns outside. We saw patterns with our eyes, heard patterns with our ears, and touched patterns with our hands. Patterns can be found many places!

Let’s pretend I just did something that is hard to do. Watch me carefully to see if you can guess what I am feeling.

[Stand up very tall with your shoulders back and a smile on your face.]

What emotion do you think I am feeling?

I am feeling proud. We usually feel good about our actions or ourselves when we feel proud. We may feel proud of something we can do or just learned to do. We can feel proud when we learn how to write our name, zip up our jacket, or play a sport like soccer.

We also can feel proud of someone else. Maybe our little brother or sister just learned how to hold a cup or a spoon. This could make us feel proud of our little brother or sister. We feel good inside when we feel proud.

Have you ever felt proud of yourself? Tell us about it.

Sometimes other people, like our parent or teacher, will feel proud of us too. They might say, “I am so proud of you!”

How do we feel inside when someone is proud of us? (good)

Let’s read the page in our book, The Way I Feel, that tells us about feeling proud.

How can we tell the girl in the book feels proud? (she’s giving a thumbs up, she is smiling)

Let’s take a look at our poster and see if we can find a child who is feeling proud.

[Invite children to point out on the poster which child looks proud. Discuss facial features and body postures that children associate with being proud.]

We are going to make a class book about being proud. The title of our book will be “I Feel Proud.” Each of us will draw a picture of ourselves doing something that makes us feel proud.

[Give each child one piece of paper and drawing materials. Observe and ask children to talk about their drawings. If possible, write some dictation at the bottom of children’s drawings. Compile the pages into a book.]

Today we learned what it means to feel proud. We can be proud of ourselves or of someone else for many reasons. We made a class book about something that makes us proud.

[If time permits, invite children to share their page of the book with the rest of the class. Ask them to describe the illustration and tell what makes them feel proud. Place the book in the library center for children to enjoy.]

[Display pictures of kitten and adult cat and puppies and adult dog from Day 2.]

We know that living things grow and change over time. Remember, we call this a life cycle. These two pictures show part of the life cycle of cats and dogs.

Living things go through different stages in their life cycle. A stage in a life cycle has its own characteristics. We know that a characteristic is something special about a living thing or a thing that is not living.

Each stage is different than other stages in a life cycle. The characteristics of a baby are different than the characteristics of an older child.

[Display individual and sets of pictures of different stages as you talk about each.]

Let’s look at some pictures of different stages of a person’s life cycle. Here is a picture of a baby. Being a baby is a stage in a life cycle.

What can you tell us about the characteristics of a baby?

Here is a picture of a person’s stage as a child.

How is the child different from the baby?

Here is a picture of a person’s stage as a teenager.

What are your ideas about how the teenager has changed since she was a child?

Here is a picture of a person’s stage as an adult.

What are your ideas about how the adult has changed since she was a teenager?

Here is a picture of a person who is a grandparent.

How has the grandparent changed since she was a younger adult?

We are learning that some living things grow and change very fast. Baby persons take much, much longer to become adults than baby cats and baby dogs.

Let’s think about another type of living thing. Plants are living things.

Plants grow much quicker than most animals. A plant takes a few days or weeks to grow. Let’s think about how long it takes for a kitten and person to become adults.

[Use a familiar example to illustrate how long it takes for some living things to grow and change. Use a special occasion or center event. Example:

“Patrick joined our classroom last week. In the time since Patrick joined our class, a plant could have sprouted. But could a kitten have grown into an adult cat since the time Patrick joined our class? No, it takes longer for a kitten to become an adult cat. Could a baby person have grown into a child your age in that time? No! It takes much, much longer for a baby person to become a child your age.”]

Today we learned that living things go through different stages in their life cycle. A stage in a life cycle has its own characteristics. Each stage is different than other stages. We also talked about how some living things grow and change faster than other living things. All living things grow and change over time, but some grow and change very quickly and others take a long, long time.