Offer the Week 8, Day 3 activity to provide practice with one-to-one counting in making a group of items.

Engage children in playing a game of Simon Says that involves doing an action for a specified number of times.

If appropriate, remind children of how we play Simon Says (Language/ Literacy Week 3, Day 4). Explain that today Simon will say an action and a number of times to do the action. Example: “Simon says make five circles with your arm.” Emphasize that we need to listen carefully for the number of times to do an action, and then count quietly to ourselves as we do the actions. Demonstrate quiet counting of a repeated action, if appropriate.

Offer action requests (as Simon Says) and provide verbal support to individual children as needed. Action examples: jumping, hopping on one foot, turning around. Complete each action along with children. Limit the number of repeated actions to 10, keeping in mind that a higher number of repeated actions is more challenging than a lower number.

Offer the Week 5, Day 3 activity to review how to solve a problem.

Support children in identifying problems and possible solutions in typical classroom situations.

Open the session by explaining that everyday each of us has a situation that can be hard for us to deal with. Remind children that we call this a problem. Sometimes our problem involves another child or children. Review each part of the Solving a Problem poster. Remind children that it is important to “think, think, think of some solutions” to a problem. Some solutions may be better than other solutions. We want a solution that gives everyone a chance to do something. We call this being fair. We also want a solution that is safe.

Explain that today we will talk about some situations. We want to figure out the problem someone is having in the situation. We also want to think of some different solutions.

Use your own words to describe some of the following situations. Select situations that may be especially pertinent to children in your room. Pursue as many situations as children’s interest and time permit.

Situation #1: Rosa wants to play in the block area. Four children are allowed to play in the block area in the classroom. Four children are already playing in the block area. What is Rosa’s problem? What are some different ways Rosa might solve her problem?

Situation #2: Marcus was drawing with a blue marker. He put it down and began using a green marker. He wants to use a blue marker again. Evan is now using the blue marker and there is no other blue marker. What is Marcus’ problem? What are some ways Marcus might solve his problem?

Situation #3: Ida built a tall tower with blocks. She was proud of her tower. Shane walked into the block area and tripped over Ida’s tower. The blocks fell down. What is the problem? How can Ida solve her problem?

Situation #4: Theron is playing with two dinosaurs. William wants to play with the dinosaurs. There are only two dinosaurs in the classroom. What is the problem? What are some ways William might solve his problem?

Situation #5: Santiago and Isabella are playing catch. Steven asks to play catch with them. Santiago and Isabella say that he can’t play because there is only one ball and they are using it. What is the problem? What are some ways Steven could solve his problem?

Today we are going to learn how scientists dig for dinosaur bones and other fossils that are buried in dirt and rocks. Remember, some fossils are the remains of an animal’s bones or teeth.

[Display picture of dig site.]

What do you think is happening in this picture?

This is an area where scientists are digging for dinosaur fossils. The scientists are digging in rock.

Different kinds of tools are used to remove bones and other types of fossils from hard rock and dirt.

Scientists may use a jackhammer to dig through rock. A jackhammer is a heavy tool used to break hard objects into pieces. A jackhammer pounds hard things over and over.

[Display picture of a jackhammer.]

• Have you ever seen someone use a jackhammer to break up cement in a sidewalk or street?
• What was it like?
  [Follow-up prompt, if needed: “Did it make a lot of noise?”]

Scientists also use shovels to move rocks or dirt away from a fossil.

Have you ever used a shovel to do some digging?

[Invite children to pretend to dig with a shovel.]

Big tools like jackhammers and shovels help scientists move rocks and dirt away from dinosaur fossils.

Bones and other fossils can be fragile. We know that fragile means something could break easily. A jackhammer or shovel could break a dinosaur fossil.

Scientists want to protect bones and other fossils. They use smaller tools to dig when they get close to a bone or other type of fossil that is buried in rock or soil.

Scientists may use a rock hammer to dig around a dinosaur fossil. A rock hammer is much smaller than a jackhammer and can break a rock that is next to a fossil.

[Display picture of a rock hammer.]

There are smaller tools that scientists can use to carefully dig around a fossil. A chisel is a tool with a sharp edge that scientists can use to chip or cut away rock that is near a fossil.

[Display picture of a chisel.]

Scientists use something called a plaster jacket to keep bones and other fossils safe when they are digging. The plaster jacket covers the fossil to help keep it safe.

[Display picture of dinosaur bone covered with a plaster jacket.]

Scientists can use a brush to carefully take dirt off of a fossil.

[Display picture of scientist using a brush to remove dirt from a fossil.]

What is happening in this picture?

Let’s pretend we are using a jackhammer.

[Encourage children to stand up and do repeated pounding movements with their arms.]

Now let’s pretend to use a brush to gently move dirt off of a dinosaur fossil.

[Encourage children to use small hand movements to gently brush a fossil clean.]

We need to move carefully when we work near fragile things. Was it easier to move carefully with your pretend jackhammer or your pretend brush?

Scientists may use other special tools to examine the fossils.

What tool can a scientist use to make something look bigger? (magnifying glass)

Remember, a magnifying glass helps us observe something by making it look bigger. Scientists might use a magnifying glass to see the details on a dinosaur bone. Scientists may also want to measure the fossils to find out how long they are.

What tool would a scientist use to measure the length of fossils? (a ruler)

We know that a ruler is a tool we can use to measure things.

Let’s imagine we are scientists who have found a dinosaur bone. The bone is fragile. We do not want the bone to break. We want to keep it safe.

We can pretend that some of the toys in our classroom are fragile dinosaur bones. We can wrap the toys in things that will help keep the toys safe.

Please watch me wrap this toy.

[Demonstrate how to wrap the toy so that all of the toy is covered. Demonstrate how to use tape to secure the materials.]

Now it is your turn. We have many different soft things to use for wrapping a toy so it is safe. We will pretend we are putting a plaster jacket on a fragile bone.

[Encourage each child to select a toy to wrap with bubble wrap, tissues, cotton balls, or similar soft items. Keep the scissors near you until needed by a child for cutting tape or other materials. Provide assistance as needed with cutting tape and securing the protective material to the toy.]

Today we learned about some of the tools that scientists use to dig up bones and other dinosaur fossils. We pretended to use some of the tools. We also pretended a toy was a dinosaur bone. We wrapped up the toy to keep it safe.