On Day 2 we read the book The Cat in the Hat. Please listen carefully as I say the two parts of a word from the title of the book. The two parts of the word are “ha-t.” What is the word? (hat) We know that a hat is something we wear on our head.

Today we are going to read our book again. This time we are going to listen to the two parts of some more words. We can figure out the words when we put the two parts of the words together.

[As you read the book, highlight the two parts of words you have chosen (see Be Prepared). Pause briefly between the two parts. Example: “My tricks are not ba-d.” Encourage children to figure out the word by putting its two parts together.]

We heard the two parts of many words in our book. We can figure out a word when we put its two parts together!

Let’s learn more about the letter W.

[Display letter W card.

If a child(ren) whose name begins with the letter W was identified on Day 2, invite the child(ren) to again pop up. Say the first name of the child(ren). Emphasize the sound of the letter W when you say the name.]

Maybe someone in our group has the letter w somewhere else in their name. The letter might be in the middle or at the end of their name. It will be a lowercase w and it will look like this.

[Point to the lowercase w on the letter card.]

Pop up if you have the letter w somewhere else in your name (not at beginning).

[If a child has the letter w somewhere else in his/her name, point to the name and to the letter w on the list of children’s first names so all children can see the name and the letter w.]

What is our word that begins with the letter W? (weight)

The letter W says /w/, just like at the beginning of the word “weight.” /w/, /w/, weight. Let’s say that together: /w/, /w/, weight.

I have two pictures of things that begin with the letter W. I wonder what they could be?

[Hold up one picture card and invite children to identify the animal/item in each picture. After children have an opportunity to guess or say the pictured animal/item, point to and say the word written at the bottom of the card. Example: “This word says wagon. The letter w is at the beginning of the word.” Repeat this procedure with a second picture card.]

Let’s think of some other words that begin with the letter W and write them on our chart. Remember, the letter W says /w/, /w/.

[Help children by suggesting other words that begin with w. Examples: water, word, waffle, window.

Invite one or more volunteer children to find the letter w in words on the chart. Children may point to the letter at the top of the chart and then find it in one of the words below.

Demonstrate and describe how to mark the uppercase letter W on your chart paper.]

We use four lines to make an uppercase W. We begin by making a straight line down, then a line up, then a line down, then another line up.

[Give each child his/her letter journal.]

Now we are going to write the letter W in our letter journal. Please write the uppercase (big) letter W in your journal. Write as much of the letter as you can.

Today we read the book The Cat in the Hat again. We listened to the two parts of some words in the book. We can figure out a word when we put its two parts together.

We also learned that the letter W says /w/, just like at the beginning of the word “weight.” We made the uppercase (big) letter W in our letter journal. Let’s say together the sound the letter W makes (/w/).

[Hold up a ruler. Put one finger on the numeral one and another finger on the numeral two.]

I have one finger on the number one and another finger on the number two on my ruler. What do we call the length of space between my fingers? (inch)

Yesterday we learned that we can use the inches on a ruler when our ruler doesn’t end up exactly at the end of the item we are measuring. Today we will use inches to measure things that are shorter than a ruler.

[Display a crayon in your hand.]

• We know that a typical ruler is one foot long. Do you think this crayon is longer than one foot, or shorter than one foot?
• How could we find out for sure?
  [Display a ruler next to the crayon.]

A crayon is shorter than one foot. We need to use inches when we measure a crayon. Watch as I measure this crayon in inches.

[Measure the crayon by lining up the end of the crayon with the end of a ruler. Point to the inches on the ruler as you count them. Make sure all children can see your actions.]

This crayon is about __ inches long.

We are going to measure some items with a ruler.

[Display a basket of items to measure.]

I have several items in this basket we will measure together. Each of these items is shorter than one foot. Each item in the basket will need to be measured in inches. Each time we measure an item, we will write the number of inches on this chart. When we are finished measuring each item, we will compare the different sizes.

[Invite one child at a time to help you measure an item. Measure one dimension only of each item. As you count the number of inches together, write the measurement on the chart. Restate the number of inches when you are done counting. Example: “This _____ is about ___ inches long.” Be sure to include a different item for each child. Examples are listed on the chart below:]

Now we will compare some of the items we measured. Remember, when we compare things, we look for ways they are similar or different. Today we will compare the size of the items. Let’s begin by looking for the item that is the largest. We can find the largest item by looking for the largest number of inches on our chart.

Which item on our chart is the largest?

Now let’s look for the item that is the smallest. This item would be the smallest number of inches on our chart.

Which item is the smallest?

Let’s hold the two items close to each other and compare them.

Can we tell which item is largest when we look at the two items next to each other?

Now let’s find out if any of our items are the same number of inches. Remember, when things are the same, they are equal.

Are any of the items listed on the chart an equal number of inches?

[Display items that have equal measurements next to each other.]

Each of these items is about ___ inches.

Today we used a ruler to measure some items that were each less than a foot. What part of the ruler did we use to measure the items? (inches)

Last week we looked at uniforms and the patches some people wear on their uniforms. Remember, a uniform is clothing worn by members of the same group.

[Display uniforms used in Week 24, Day 4 or pictures of uniforms.]

Which uniform do you like the most? Why?

Today we will talk about how different parts of a uniform are used.

[Display uniforms from Week 24 or provided pictures, one at a time, and point to a part of the uniform, such as a hat, belt, or particular pocket. Invite children to offer ideas about how this part of the uniform might help people who wear the uniform to do their job.

Examples (from pictures):

• • Cook: The cook is wearing a hairnet. What does a hairnet do? (keeps hair on the cook’s head from falling into the food she is preparing; even clean hair can have germs) Why is the cook wearing gloves? (keep germs on her hands from getting into the food she is preparing)
  • Policeman’s uniform: What is in the shirt pocket? (pens; police officers use pens to write things) What is hanging from the police officer’s belt? (keys)
  • Firefighters’ uniforms: What are the firefighters wearing on their heads? (helmets that keep their heads safe) Why are the firefighters’ boots so heavy? (so they can walk through damage from a fire) The firefighters’ uniforms are heavy. Why? (to protect the firefighters from fire) What do firefighters do with the masks hanging from their uniforms? (breathe clean air because it is dangerous to breathe smoke)
  • Construction worker: Why is the construction worker wearing a hard hat? (to protect her head from heavy things that fall from above) 
  • Nurse: Why is the nurse wearing gloves? (to protect the patient from getting germs from the nurse’s hands; gloves also protect the nurse from getting germs from the patient)]

Today we talked about how different parts of uniforms are used.

We are learning how to choose healthy foods to eat. We know it is important to eat different kinds of healthy foods. There are five different types of foods that are good for us.

Today we will make a pretend pizza! Making a pizza will help us think about foods that are healthy for us to eat. Each of us will make our own pretend pizza.

Do you like pizza with a thin crust or a thick crust?

We will begin making our pretend pizza with a food made from grain. We know that grain comes from the seeds of plants. Pizza crust is made from grain. We also will begin making our pizza with a dairy food. We know that most dairy foods are made of milk that comes from cows. Cheese is a dairy food. We will pretend a paper plate is our pizza crust with cheese on it.

[Give each child a paper plate.]

Now let’s think about the toppings we want on our pretend pizza. A topping is a food we put on top of another kind of food. There are many kinds of healthy toppings for pizza. We have vegetable, protein, and fruit toppings for our pizza.

We can use clothespins to place our toppings on our pizza. We may not want our hands to get messy!

[Give each child a clothespin.]

Let’s practice opening and closing our clothespin. To open our clothespin we squeeze the top together. Let me show you.

[Demonstrate how to open the clothespin with your fingers. Invite children to practice opening their clothespin. Help, if appropriate (see Extra Support tip).]

Our first topping will be a vegetable. Remember, a vegetable is the part of a plant that we can eat.

[Display bowl of vegetable toppings (mushrooms and peppers).]

We can choose one or two vegetable toppings for our pizza. We can use our fingers to pick up the toppings and then place them in our clothespin if we’d like. Watch as I show you.

[Pick up the edge of a topping and place it in the clothespin. Use the clothespin to place the topping on your pretend pizza. Invite children to use their fingers or their clothespin to place their vegetable topping(s) on their pizza.]

Now let’s think about the type of protein we want on our pretend pizza. We know that protein is a nutrient that helps our muscles, bones, and other parts of our body grow and stay strong.

[Display bowl of protein toppings (pepperoni and sausage).]

We can choose one or two protein toppings to put on our pizza.

[Invite children to use their fingers or their clothespins to place their protein topping(s) on their pizza.]

Many people like to have fruit on their pizza. A fruit grows on a bush or tree. Have you ever had fruit on your pizza?

[Display fruit toppings (pineapple and apples).]

We can put fruit on our pizza or have it as a pretend dessert. Let’s place some fruit toppings on our pizza or next to our pizza if we’d like to have the fruit for a pretend dessert. We can choose one or two fruit toppings to put on or next to our pizza.

[Invite children to use their fingers or their clothespins to place their fruit topping(s) on or next to their pizza.]

Today we made a pretend pizza with each of the five healthy types of foods. Healthy food is yummy!