On Day 2 we matched letters on letter cards to letters on our letter mats. Today we are going to match letters again.

What is a letter? (a special mark used to make words)

[Display letter manipulatives.]

Each of us will use uppercase letters X, S, P, E, and H and a letter mat to do our activity.

[Pass out a letter mat and cup of letter manipulatives to each child.]

I will say the name of the first letter on our letter mat and then we will say the letter name together. Next I will say the sound the letter makes, and we will say the sound together. Finally, we will find the letter from our cup that matches the letter on our letter mat and place the letter on top of the letter on our letter mat.

Let’s look at the first letter on our letter mat.

[Point to the letter X on the letter mat.]

This is the letter X. Let’s together say its name.

The letter X makes the sound /ks/, like at the end of the word “fox.” Let’s together say the sound of letter X: /ks/.

Now we want to find the letter X in our cup.

[Help children find the letter X manipulative, if necessary.]

Now let’s place the letter X on our letter mat.

[Place the letter X manipulative on top of the letter X on the letter mat.]

Let’s try another letter!

[Point to letter S on the letter mat. Say its name and ask children to together repeat its name. Next say its sound, a word that begins with the same sound, and then ask children to together repeat its sound. Finally, encourage children to find the letter S manipulative and place it on the letter S on the letter mat. Continue until you have said the name and sound and matched each letter on the letter mat in order.]

Today we learned more about letters X, S, P, E, and H. We matched letters from our cup to the same letter on our letter mat. We also said each letter name and sound.

Today we are going to make our own patterns again. We will use the same items we used on Day 2.

[Lay out bowls of different small counting items. Each bowl should have the same type of item.]

I am going to use some buttons and blocks to make a simple pattern. My simple pattern will be button, block, button, block. We know that a simple pattern uses two things that repeat themselves. Please watch carefully.

[Place the buttons and blocks in an ABAB pattern in front of you for children to see. Point to each button and block as you invite children to say the pattern with you.]

Now I am going to make another kind of pattern with the items. Please watch carefully as I make another kind of pattern.

[Make an AABAAB pattern. Name each item as you place it in the pattern.]

Let’s together say the pattern.

[Lead children in saying the pattern as you point to each item.]

We are going to work with partners to make patterns. We can use any two types of items we’d like.

[Actively monitor and help children select two types of items only. Observe and help children as they make ABAB patterns or AABAAB patterns.]

Today we worked in pairs to make patterns. What kinds of patterns did you make with your partner?

We are learning about communities. Remember, many neighborhoods together make up a community. What is the name of our community?

Today we are going to talk about the geography of our community. Geography is a big word. Let’s together say geography: ge-og-ra-phy.

The geography of a community includes things like hills, ponds, bridges, streets, and railroad tracks. These things are called characteristics of a community’s geography. Remember, a characteristic is something special about a living thing or a thing that is not living.

We are going to look at some pictures of things that might be found in the geography of a community. We will decide whether our community has any of the things shown in a picture.

[Display chart paper.]

I will write on our chart the characteristics that are a part of our community’s geography.

[Display pictures of your community’s geographic characteristics (see Week 17, Day 4). If you were unable to take pictures of your community’s geographic characteristics, display provided pictures, one at a time. Ask questions, such as the following, to promote children’s discussion of each:]

• Pond: A pond is a small body of water. Sometimes a pond is used for swimming or fishing. Is there a pond in our community? If yes: Have you ever seen people swimming or fishing there? Tell us about it.
• Bridge: A bridge is built by people so we can cross over a road, river, railroad tracks, or something else. Is there a bridge in our community? If yes: What does our bridge go over? Have you ever walked or been driven across the bridge in our community? Tell us about it.
• Hill: A hill is a high area of land. Is there a hill in our community? If yes: Have you ever walked up or down the hill in our community? What was it like?
• Railroad tracks: Trains use railroad tracks to travel from one place to another place. Are there railroad tracks in our community? If yes: Have you ever seen or heard a train go on the railroad tracks? Tell us about it.

Today we learned more about our community. We talked about some of the characteristics of the geography of our community. Which characteristic is your favorite? Why?

We are learning ways to keep our body healthy. We know that our bodies need exercise and sleep. We also know that it is important to wash our hands before we eat and after we sneeze or cough.

Another way we can keep healthy is to eat things that are good for us. Today we will talk about where good food comes from.

A lot of the food we eat comes from farms. Remember, a farm is a piece of land used for growing plants or raising animals.

[Display book cover.]

This book will help us learn about the food that comes from farms. The book is called Food from Farms. The author is Nancy Dickmann.

[Read the book, pausing to describe illustrations.]

• Have you ever visited a farm? What was it like?
• Have you eaten any of the foods that were described in our book? Which ones?

Trucks can carry the food grown on a farm to stores where people can buy it. Farmers can also take food grown on their farm to a place called a farmer’s market where a group of farmers sell their food to people.

[Display picture of a farmer’s market.]

• Here is a picture of a farmer’s market. What types of food do you see the farmers selling in this picture? (oranges, bananas, potatoes, etc.)
• What type of food would you like to grow if you were a farmer?

Today we will make a class book called If I Were a Farmer. Each of us will have a page in the book. We can draw on our page the type of food we would like to grow if we were a farmer. Some of us might want to grow fruits or vegetables. Some of us might want to raise animals. You can choose the type of food you would like to grow on a farm.

[Encourage children to draw one or more types of food on their sheet of paper. Take dictation as time permits. Invite children to write as much of their name as they can on their page.]

A lot of the food we eat is grown on farms. Different types of farms grow different kinds of food. We made a class book about what type of food we would like to grow if we were farmers. Where should we put our class book so everyone in our classroom can look at it?