We are going to again practice finding letters we know by looking for them in a sentence. When we find the letters, we will also say the sounds the letters make.

[Write the following sentence on a chart or whiteboard. Read each word as you write the sentence:

I am excited because I am looking forward to the hockey game.]

We want to find the lowercase letter e in our sentence.

[Display letter card E. Point to the lowercase e on the card.

Encourage a volunteer child to look for and point to the lowercase letter e’s in the sentence as you display the E letter card.]

What sound does the letter E make?

Yes! Letter E says /e/. Let’s together say the sound of the letter E: /e/.

[Repeat the above procedure with the letter h.]

Now let’s spend some time with our book.

[See Week 3, Day 5 of Language/Literacy for a description and examples of how to approach today’s book reading. Key aspects are summarized below:

• Display book cover. Explain that we have read our book two times this week. Each time we read the book we learn something new. Point to and say title of book. 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?
• Point to and say the names of author and illustrator. Point to where to begin reading.
• During the reading, pause on pages that include a word defined in the prior two readings of the book. Ask or remind children what the word means. Also pause during the reading to define the 2–3 words identified for today’s session, using the following approach:
  • Read the sentence with the novel word. Identify 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, write the 2–3 words targeted for today on the chart and engage children in a discussion of each word, using one or more of the following strategies:
  • 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 or phrase in another context.
• Explain that different types of things happened in our book. Facilitate a discussion of children’s interpretations of events and/or characters in the book, especially events or characters related to one or more words defined this week. See Week 3, Day 5 for examples.]

We made and found patterns this week. We know that a pattern is something that repeats itself.

Let’s try a pattern with boys and girls in our room today.

[Line up one-half of children in a boy, girl, boy, girl pattern. Lead children in saying the pattern as you point to or lightly tap each child. When finished, repeat with the other half of the children.]

We know how to make patterns with motions, words, and sounds.

Let’s say a “Quack” and then “Waddle” pattern. Let’s try it together. Quack, waddle, quack, waddle, quack, waddle. . . .

Now let’s think of a pattern we can do with motions.

[Invite children to think of motion patterns. Example: flap, jump, flap, jump. Encourage children to try patterns mentioned.]

We can also make patterns with different kinds of items.

Please watch carefully as I make a simple pattern with two different types of items.

[Form an ABAB pattern with items used yesterday. Name each item as you place it in the pattern.

Invite children to think of other simple patterns that can be made with the items. Encourage children to help you make the patterns mentioned.]

Let’s make other kinds of patterns with these items.

[Begin an AABAAB pattern by placing the first three items in front of you. Say each item name slowly as you point to it. Then invite children to help you continue the pattern. Example: “We have a button, button, block pattern. Let’s say the pattern together: button, button, block. What comes next in our pattern?”

Invite children to think of other AABAAB patterns that can be made with the items. Encourage children to help you make the patterns mentioned.]

This week we practiced making simple patterns and other kinds of patterns. We can make patterns with sounds, motions, and items.

We are learning about some characteristics of a community’s geography. We know that geography includes things like hills, ponds, bridges, streets, and railroad tracks.

[Display chart from Day 4.]

Let’s look at our list of geographic characteristics we talked about yesterday.

[Review characteristics recorded on the chart. Discuss each characteristic and how it can be used. Example: “We can go fishing or swimming in a pond.”]

Today we are going to talk more about bridges. We know that a bridge is built by people so we can cross over a road, river, railroad tracks, or something else.

Bridges help people get from one place to another place. Let’s look at some pictures of different kinds of bridges.

[Display three pictures of bridges. Ask questions, such as the following, to promote discussion of each:]

• What does the bridge cross? (road, water)
• For a bridge that crosses water: How could people get from one side of the water to the other if there was not a bridge? (maybe swim or use a boat or a canoe)
• If your community has a bridge discussed in Day 4: Does the bridge in this picture look like a bridge in our community?

Today we learned more about bridges. Bridges help people get from one place to another place by crossing over something.

Yesterday we learned that a lot of the food we eat is grown on a farm. Some farms have animals that give us food.

[Display class book made on Day 4. Point to book title when described.]

We made a class book that shows what food each of us would like to grow or what animal we would like to raise if we were a farmer. The title of the book we made is If I Were a Farmer.

We know that cows are animals that live on some farms. Let’s see if there are any pictures of cows in our class book.

[Display a few of the pictures in the class book and draw attention to any pictures of a cow(s).]

• What comes from cows? (beef, milk)
• Do we get milk to drink every day in our classroom (at our center)?

Milk is an important type of food. Today we will learn how a farmer gets milk from a cow and what happens to the milk. A farmer who works with cows is called a dairy farmer. The word dairy means milk or food made from milk.

[Display cover of book for today’s session.]

This book will tell us about milk. The book is called From Grass to Milk. The author is Stacy Taus-Bolstad.

Our book has some words we may not know. One word we will hear and see in the book is udder. An udder is a part of the cow where the milk is made. Another word in the book we may not know is teats. Teats are the part of a cow that provide milk when they are pulled. Teats hang from an udder. We will see pictures of an udder and teats when we read our book.

[Read the book, pausing to describe illustrations and respond to children’s questions or comments.

At the conclusion of the book, use questions, such as the following, to emphasize key points in the book:]

• Grass helps a mother cow to live and grow. What does grass help the mother cow make? (milk)
• There is a special machine that removes something small that may be in milk. What are the small things that are removed from milk that can make our bodies sick? (germs)

When milk comes out of a cow it is white. We can add chocolate syrup to milk to make chocolate milk.

Milk is also used to make other kinds of foods.

[Display picture of yogurt.]

This is a picture of yogurt. Yogurt is made with milk.

• Have you ever eaten yogurt?
• Do we have yogurt at our center?

[Display picture of cheese.]

This is a picture of cheese. Cheese is another food made with milk.

• Have you ever eaten cheese?
• Do we have cheese at our center?

Today we learned about how cows make milk. Milk is a dairy food that comes from cows. The word dairy means milk or food made from milk. Many people drink milk every day. Is there a special cow that makes chocolate milk? (no! milk that comes from a cow is white; chocolate syrup is added to milk to make chocolate milk)