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 M, T, R, F, and W 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 M on the letter mat.]

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

The letter M makes the sound /m/, like at the beginning of the word “music.” Let’s together say the sound of letter M: /m/.

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

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

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

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

Let’s try another letter!

[Point to letter T 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 T manipulative and place it on the letter T on the letter mat. Continue until you have said the name, sound, and matched each letter on the letter mat in order.]

Today we learned more about letters M, T, R, F, and W. We matched letters from our cup to the same letter on our letter mat. We also said each letter name and sound.

Yesterday we learned that we can find the exact weight of something by measuring it with a scale.

[Display container of apples and kitchen scale.]

We have a container of apples.

How can a kitchen scale tell us how much our container of apples weighs? (the dial tells us how much something weighs)

[Invite a volunteer child to place the container of apples on the scale. Draw attention to how the pointer moves when the container of apples is put on the scale.]

The pointer moved when we put the container of apples on the top part of the scale. The pointer moved close to one of the larger numbers on the dial. The larger numbers tell us how many pounds an item weighs. Remember, the word pound describes how much something weighs. We can also use ounce to describe how much something weighs. We know that an ounce is smaller than a pound. Each smaller mark on our scale is one ounce.

We count both pounds and ounces to find the exact weight of something. Our container of apples caused the pointer to move beyond the number ___. The number ___ means pounds. Now we count the number of small marks that are between the number ___ and the pointer.

Please count with me. One ounce, two ounces, three ounces, etc. We counted ___ ounces. Our container of apples weighs ___ pounds and ___ ounces.

Now let’s remove some apples from our container. Please watch the pointer on the dial move as we remove some apples.

[Invite a volunteer child to remove 2–3 apples from the container and place them next to the scale. Draw children’s attention to the moving pointer on the dial.]

Our container of apples weighs less now. We know this because the pointer moved up (to a lower number) when we removed some apples.

[Invite a volunteer child to remove the container of apples from the scale.]

We are going to use our kitchen scale and container of apples to help us pretend to make an apple pie. We need about two pounds of apples for our pretend pie.

Where do we find two pounds on the dial of our scale?

[Invite a volunteer child to point to two pounds on the dial of the scale.]

We need our group of apples to weigh about two pounds. This is how much we need for our pretend pie. The pointer on our scale will need to be close to the number two. We do not need exactly two pounds of apples, but we need to get as close to two pounds as we can.

[Invite a volunteer child to place an apple on the scale. Draw children’s attention to the pointer moving down (to a higher number) when the apple is added. Invite additional volunteer children to add apples, one at a time, until the pointer on the dial is near the numeral two.]

Oh my! I read the recipe wrong. We need one pound of apples for our pie, not two pounds of apples.

• What should we do? (remove some apples from the scale)
• Now we want the pointer to get to number one. Where do we find one pound on our scale?

[Invite a volunteer child to point to the numeral one on the dial of the scale and begin removing one apple at a time until the pointer is close to the numeral one. Draw children’s attention to the pointer as you emphasize that the group of apples weighs less each time an apple is removed.]

We know how to find one pound of apples for our pretend apple pie!

Yesterday we weighed some items from our classroom that weighed less than one pound. Let’s compare the weight of some of the items we weighed yesterday. We will count ounces when we weigh them. Remember, an ounce is smaller than a pound. We count ounces when something weighs less than a pound.

[Invite children to identify two classroom items to weigh. Weigh each item on the scale, one at a time. Invite children to help you count the ounces—smaller marks on the dial—as you point to each. Repeat the last ounce counted. Example: “We counted three ounces. Our toy weighs three ounces.” If an item suggested by a child weighs more than a pound, draw children’s attention to the location of the pointer on the dial when the item is on the scale. Example: “The pointer moved past the number one. Our book weighs more than one pound.”]

Which of our two items weighs more?

Today we used a kitchen scale to measure some apples for a pretend apple pie. How did we know when we had one pound of apples? (the pointer was on the numeral one) We also weighed some items from our classroom and then determined which item weighed more.

Today we are going to talk about rules for adults in our child development center. We know that a rule tells us how to behave. Rules at home or in our classroom keep us safe and help us to get along with each other. Adults follow rules just like we do.

Who would like to remind us of one of our classroom rules?

Our family members and people who work in our center follow rules. These rules help keep children in our center safe. Let’s talk about some of the rules adults follow in our center.

Have you ever seen someone who works in our center wearing gloves to change a diaper or help someone who got hurt?

Adults must wear gloves to help us with food, to help us when we are hurt, and to change a diaper. This is a rule. Adults in our center wear gloves so they don’t spread germs or get germs from a child.

What can germs do to our bodies? (make us sick)

We know it is important to wash our hands to help keep us clean and protect us from germs.

What might happen if an adult did not wear gloves to change a baby’s diaper?

Our family members also follow rules in our center. Our family member signs us in at the front desk each day when we arrive. This lets the people in our center know we are here. Our family member also signs us out when we leave our center each day.

Why do you think our family member signs us out each day? (so people in our center know we have left for the day)

It helps us stay safe when adults know where we are.

[You may wish to continue discussion of other rules for adults that are pertinent to children in your center. Examples: parking in a certain place for drop off/pick up, entering/exiting through the front door only, staff counting children to make sure everyone is accounted for.]

Rules that help keep us safe are important in our classroom and in our center. Adults in our center follow rules to help keep us safe.

We know how to stay safe in our classroom. We know that staying safe means we do not get hurt or sick or get into danger. We have rules that help us stay safe. What is one of our classroom rules that helps keep us safe? (walk)

We want to stay safe wherever we are. Today we will read a book about things some pretend dinosaurs did that were safe and some things the dinosaurs did that were not safe.

[Display book cover.]

Our book is called How Do Dinosaurs Stay Safe? The author is Jane Yolen and the illustrator is Mark Teague.

• Is the dinosaur on the front cover of our book doing something that is safe?
• What is happening?

[Read the book, pausing to respond to children’s questions or comments.]

• What are some things each dinosaur did that were not safe?
  [Turn to the book illustration of each unsafe action identified by children. Repeat and expand on what children say, drawing attention to the illustration. Ask what might happen to the dinosaur in each situation. If not mentioned by children, include discussion of the following if time permits:
  • climbed up high (pp. 2–3)
  • jumped on the bed (pp. 4–5)
  • raced bike with no helmet on (pp. 6–7)
  • stood on chairs (pp. 8–9)
  • ran down the stairs (pp. 10–11)]
• What things did each dinosaur do that were safe?
  [Again, turn to the book illustration of each safe practice identified by children. Repeat and expand upon what children say, drawing attention to the illustration. Ask why the action is safe. If not mentioned by children, include discussion of practices listed below that you think are especially important for children in your group to consider:
  • held hands while crossing the street and looked closely at the lights (pp. 14–15)
  • was careful with forks, knives, and spoons (pp.16–17)
  • never went with strangers (pp. 18–19)
  • swam where dad could see him (pp. 20–21)
  • wore a good helmet when riding bike (pp. 22–23)
  • brought water to drink when hiking (pp. 24–25)
  • knew how to dial 911 (pp. 26–27)]

Today we talked about doing things that are safe and not safe. We want to do only things that keep us safe.