[Display letter T card.]

What is the name of this letter?

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

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

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.”]

Let’s count to 20 as we march in place! We will count once each time our foot touches the floor.

[Lead children in counting to 20 while marching in place. Emphasize one step for each number.]

We know that people and things come in different sizes. People and things can be taller, shorter, wider, narrower, or longer than other people and things.

Today we will measure the size of some different things. We measure something to find out its size. We can measure the height of something, the width of something, and the length of something.

Today we will use our hands to measure the length of something. We know that length means how long something is.

[Use a table that is no longer than 5–10 of your hands. Sit next to the table so all children can watch your hand actions.]

Please watch me use my hands to measure the length of this table. I am going to count each time I put a hand on the table. I want to know how many hands I can put in a line on the table. Please count with me.

[Demonstrate by laying one hand on the edge of the table and putting your other hand at the fingertips of your hand on the table. Move your hands across the table, fingertips to palm, as you count together how many “hands long” the table is.]

How many hands did we count?

The table is ___ hands long. I put a hand on the table ___ times. I put my hands on the edge (side) of the table, one at a time. The table is as long as ___ of my hands.

Now let’s measure the table again using someone else’s hands.

[Invite a child to measure the table with his/her hands. Encourage children to count along. Help as appropriate.]

• How many hands did we count with (child’s name) hands?
• How many hands did we count with my hands?
• Why was the number of hands different for each person? (different sized hands)

Our hands are different sizes. If your hand is a different size than your neighbor’s hand, then each of you will have a different number of hands for the length of the table.

Please look at the size of my hand and the size of someone else’s hand.

[Hold up your hand next to (beside) a volunteer child’s hand.]

My hand is bigger than (child’s) hand.

Let’s each measure one or two items in our classroom with our hands. Remember to place one hand after the other hand, and to count the number of hands you put on the item. Counting will tell you how many “hands long” something is.

[Items that may be especially beneficial for children to measure with their hands include: a bookshelf, small rug, seat of a chair. Observe children as they measure items in the room with their hands. Help as appropriate. Encourage children to count as they measure. How many “hands long” was the item?

After all children have measured one or two items, invite them to join you again in a group.]

What did you measure? How many hands long was it?

[Emphasize the number of “hands long” when discussing length of items measured.]

Today we practiced measuring things with our hands. Remember, we measure something to find out its size. We count when we measure something. We used our hands to find out how many “hands long” something was.

We are learning about emotions. We know that an emotion is the way we feel inside. Today we will talk about an emotion called thankful. What do you think it means to be thankful?

[Encourage children to think about and describe what it means to be thankful.]

We can feel thankful about things we have or something someone has done or said to us. We can feel thankful if someone says something like “you are a great helper!” We can feel thankful when someone does something like let us play with a toy we really like. We can feel thankful for a friend moving over so we can sit next to him/her. We can feel thankful when someone shares a crayon with us.

I am thankful for my family and friends and for the food I eat. There are many things we can be thankful for.

A polite way to tell someone you are thankful is to say “thank you.” Let me show you what it looks like to be thankful.

[Pretend to drop a book. Enlist another adult to pick the book up and hand it to you.]

Thank you for picking up my book for me! I am thankful you could help me.

Let’s find out what our book, The Way I Feel, says about feeling thankful.

[Read the page in the book about being thankful.]

The boy in the book is thankful because his dad fixed his truck. What do you notice about the boy’s face? (smiling, happy) We feel good inside when we are thankful.

Let’s take a look at the child who is feeling thankful on our poster.

[Point to the child on the poster who is feeling thankful.]

• Why do you think this girl might be feeling thankful? (someone gave her an apple)
  [Follow-up prompt, if needed: “The girl is holding an apple. Do you think the apple might be part of why she is feeling thankful? How?”]
• What makes you feel thankful?
  [Invite children to share things they are thankful for.]

Today we learned what it means to be thankful. We can be thankful for many things.

This week we are listening and moving to music that was written to remind us of different animals. We have moved our bodies like a lion, elephant, fish, and bird.

We know that music can be fast or slow. Today we will listen to music that will help us think about two different animals.

The composer of the music wants us to imagine how the animals move. We know that a composer is a person who writes music.

Let’s practice moving fast and slow.

[Invite children to stand and move their feet while standing in place.]

• Please show us how you move your feet quickly.
• Please show us how you move your feet slowly.

[Display picture of dinosaur fossil.]

These are the bones of a dinosaur. Dinosaurs were animals that lived on land a very long time ago. Let’s listen to music that was written to help us think about how dinosaurs moved.

[Play part of Track 13 on the Carnival of the Animals CD.]

Did the music move fast or slow?

A choreographer creates dance movements. We know that when we move our body or part of our body from one place to another place it is called a movement.

I wonder what kind of a dance a choreographer would create for people who are pretending to move like a big dinosaur. Let’s look at the big dinosaur with long legs and a big head and think about what kind of dance we could do.

• What do you think this dinosaur did with its long legs? (ran)
• Would we move slowly or quickly in a dance about a dinosaur moving?

Let’s listen to our music again and move our bodies like a dinosaur.

If the music sounds like a dinosaur is running, we can move our legs quickly. If the music sounds like a dinosaur is walking, we can move our legs slowly. We can pretend we are the dinosaur the music helps us imagine. We will dance like a dinosaur!

We need to use the personal space around our bodies so we do not bump into each other.

[Play part of Track 13 again on the Carnival of the Animals CD. Encourage children to move like a dinosaur to the music.

If time and child interest permit, offer the following opportunity to move to music:]

[Display picture of a swan. Point to the body of the swan when described.]

This is a swan. A swan is a bird with a long neck that is usually white. Maybe you have seen swans in a movie or television show or on a lake. A swan uses its feet and body to slowly swim through the water.

What parts of our own bodies could we use to pretend we are a swan slowly swimming in the water? (feet and legs moving slowly)

[Invite children to stand and pretend they are a swan in the water.]

Let’s listen to music that was written to help us think about a swan swimming in the water.

[Play part of Track 14 on the Carnival of the Animals CD.]

• Did the music help you think about a swan swimming?
• What kind of dance movements might a choreographer create for a song about a swan?

Let’s listen to our music again and move our bodies like a swan. We can dance like a swan!

[Play part of Track 14 again on the Carnival of the Animals CD. Encourage children to move like a swan to the music.]

The dinosaur song was fast so we moved our bodies fast. The swan song was slow so we moved our bodies slowly.

Today we listened to two songs. One song sounded like a dinosaur moving and the other song sounded like a swan moving. We moved like each animal to the music. We danced to music!

[Encourage children to describe how the music helped them move like a dinosaur or swan. Offer an observation to prompt children to reflect on their movements. Example: “I saw Adrian move his legs fast, like a dinosaur running, when the music moved fast. I saw Malia move her body slowly as she pretended to swim slowly like a swan. How did the music give you ideas of how to move your body?”]