[Display letter G card.]

What is the name of this letter?

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

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

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 grows 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 know that a group of items gets larger when we add items to the group.

What happens to a group of items when we take away some of the group’s items? (gets smaller)

Today we will practice taking away items. When we take away items from a group, the group gets smaller. Let’s say the rhyme “Ten Little Monkeys” as we practice taking away.

[Say the rhyme together using your fingers as the monkeys. Each time a monkey bumps its head, put down a finger. Then count the number of fingers left.]

Our group of fingers got smaller each time we took away a monkey!

Today we will use blocks to play a game. I have a tray, some blocks, and a die.

[Place 10 blocks of the same color on the tray.]

Let’s count the number of blocks on the tray.

[Point to each block as you lead children in counting together the number of blocks on the tray.]

Today we will take turns rolling the die and taking away blocks from the group of blocks on the tray. The number of dots on the die will tell us how many blocks to take away. 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 take away ___ blocks from the group of 10 blocks on the tray.

[Count aloud the number of blocks that matches the number of dots on the die. Remove one block each time a number is said aloud. Example: “A four was rolled on the die. Four blocks need to be taken away from the tray.” Count aloud four blocks as you remove them one at a time: “One” (remove a block), “two” (remove a block), “three” (remove a block), “four” (remove a block).]

Now we need to determine how many blocks are left on the tray.

[Point to each block remaining on the tray as you lead children in counting together.]

• How many blocks do we have left?
• Is our group of blocks smaller than it was before we took away ___ blocks?

[Again, place 10 blocks on the tray.]

Now we need a volunteer to roll the die so we can practice taking away.

[Invite a volunteer child to roll the die and point to the dots rolled as each dot is counted aloud.]

• What number did you roll?
• How many blocks do we take away from our group of 10 blocks?
  [Encourage the volunteer to remove one block each time a number is said aloud.]
• How many blocks are left on the tray?
• How do you know?
• Is our group of blocks smaller than it was before we took away ___ blocks?

[Continue asking a new volunteer to roll the die and help take away the blocks as all children count together. Continue as time allows.]

Today we practiced taking away blocks from a group by playing a game with blocks and a die. What happens to a group when we take away items? (the group gets smaller)

Today we will talk about how people might feel when they can’t have something or do something like other people.

• Have you ever wished you could have something that other people have?
• Have you ever wished you could do something that other people get to do?

[Display book cover.]

We are going to read a book today about a boy named CJ. Our book is called Last Stop on Market Street. It was written by Matt de la Peña.

On the cover of our book, CJ is waiting for a bus with his grandmother.

• What do you think CJ might be thinking?
• What do you think his grandmother might be thinking?

We know that sometimes people can be doing the same thing but have different feelings about what they are doing. Let’s see if CJ and his grandmother feel the same way about going somewhere.

[Read the book. Point to and describe illustrations directly related to the text. After reading the book, explore questions such as the following:]

• CJ and his grandmother walked and stood in the rain. CJ saw his friend getting in a car and asked his grandmother why they didn’t have a car. How do you think CJ felt when he saw his friend getting in a car? (sad, disappointed) CJ’s grandmother was happy to have a bus to ride.
• CJ felt sorry for himself as he looked out the window while riding the bus. Why do you think he felt sorry for himself? (because his friends never had to go somewhere after church) Have you ever had to go somewhere you didn’t want to go?
• When CJ saw two older boys get on the bus listening to music, he wished he had a music player too. Have you ever wanted something you couldn’t have?
• CJ’s grandmother said he didn’t need a music player because he could listen to the man playing his guitar. How do you think CJ felt as he listened to the man playing the guitar? (happy, thankful)
• Sometimes we can understand how someone is feeling because we also have felt that way. Do you have empathy with CJ? Why?

Today we talked about what CJ was thinking and feeling as he traveled somewhere with his grandmother. CJ felt sorry for himself. Did his grandmother feel sorry for herself?

We are pretending to imitate characters in nursery rhymes. What do we do with our bodies when we imitate someone or something else? (make facial expression, make voice sound like someone else, move our body in different ways)

Today we are going to imitate characters in the “Three Little Kittens” nursery rhyme.

[Display and read the card for “Three Little Kittens.” Point to each of the kittens, the mother cat, and the mittens when you mention each.]

• Who are the characters in this nursery rhyme?
• What happened? (lost mittens, found mittens)
• How could we imitate the mother cat?
• How could we imitate the kittens?

The kittens had mittens on their paws but lost them. Then they found their mittens.

[Display mittens.]

Sometimes we use something called a prop when we do drama. A prop is an object that helps us tell a story. A mitten can be a prop for the “Three Little Kittens” nursery rhyme. We can use a mitten to imitate what happened in the rhyme.

• How could we use these mittens to help us imitate what happened to the kittens?
• How could we imitate the mother cat? (frown, smile)

We are going to imitate the characters in this nursery rhyme. Each of us can decide which character we want to imitate. We can be the mother cat or one of the kittens. Please raise your hand if you want to be a kitten so I can give you a mitten.

[If all children want to be kittens, an adult can imitate the mother cat, frowning and smiling at the appropriate time.]

[Encourage children to imitate the kittens/mother cat as you display and read the card.]

• What sorts of things did you do with your body as you imitated the characters in the nursery rhyme? (lost mittens, found mittens)
• How did you imitate the characters’ facial expressions?
• How did you imitate the characters’ voices?

Today we used mittens to help us to imitate losing and then finding mittens. The mitten was a prop that helped us imitate what happened to the kittens!