[Display letter T card.]

What is the name of this letter? What sound does the letter T make?

Letter T says /t/, just like in “take turns.” /t/, /t/, take turns. Let’s together say /t/, /t/, take turns.

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 are learning how to measure the size of different things. What does size mean? (how big something is)

We know how to compare our height to the height of someone else or to something around us. Height means how tall or how short something is.

We can compare our own height (how tall we are) to some things in our classroom.

[Invite several volunteer children to find things in the room that are taller or shorter than they are. Encourage children to stand next to the items as they compare.]

We can also compare the width of items. Remember, the width of something is how wide or narrow it is from side to side.

[Display a book, pencil, toy, and glue stick. Compare items as described below. Move your finger across each item to demonstrate the width of each.]

• Which item is wider, the pencil or the toy?
• Which item is narrower, the book or the glue stick?

We know how to use our hands to measure things. The number of “hands long” of something might be different for each person because our hands are different sizes.

We measured a table in our room and compared the number of “hands long” it was with my hands, and the number of “hands long” it was with (child’s name) hands.

Let’s measure a different table today. First let’s see how many “hands long” the table is when I measure it with my hands.

[Measure the table by laying your hand on the edge of the table and putting your other hand at the fingertips of your hand on the table. Move your hands along the table, fingertips to palm, as you count each hand. Then say how many “hands long” the table is.]

Now let’s see how many “hands long” it is with someone else’s hands.

[Measure the table again with a volunteer child placing his/her hands on the edge of the table and moving his/her hands along the table to measure the table. Encourage children to count as the child moves his/her hands.]

• How many “hands long” was the table with (child’s name) hands?
• How many “hands long” was the table with my hands?

The number of hands was different because our hands are different sizes.

[Display a measuring tool made of connected cubes.]

This week we used Unifix^® cubes to make a measuring tool. We counted cubes to find out the length and height of some items in our classroom.

Let’s each work with a partner to use a measuring tool made from connected cubes. The tool can be used to measure two different things in our classroom. Each person in a team can pick one thing to measure with their partner. Pick things that are shorter than your measuring tool. Remember to count the number of cubes when you put the measuring tool next to the item you are measuring. We can talk later about the size of things you measured.

[Facilitate children’s use of the measuring tool with a partner. Emphasize selecting items that are shorter than the measuring tool. Reminders about counting each cube may be appropriate. Encourage children to remember the number of cubes they count.]

[Invite volunteer pairs of children to say what items they measured and how many “cubes long” or “cubes tall” or “cubes wide” they were.]

Yesterday we looked at uniforms worn by different community helpers. Remember, a uniform is clothing worn by members of the same group. Which uniform was your favorite?

Some community helpers have a patch on their uniforms. A patch is a badge that people earn. Some people have more than one patch on their uniform.

[If possible, display and describe a patch from your collection as you describe patch purposes below. Also, if patches in your collection provide an example of some other purpose of a patch, share this information with children.]

A patch can tell us different things. Some patches tell us about the job someone does. Some patches say the name of the community where someone works. Some patches tell us about special things someone has done.

A patch is different from a tag or badge that tells us someone’s name. Many people wear a name tag when they work. A name tag tells people who is helping them. Usually a patch does not have someone’s name.

[Display and describe a name tag. Ask children whether they have noticed a name tag on people who work at a restaurant or other place in the community. Compare the name tag to a patch that does not have someone’s name.]

[Invite children to hold and describe the patches. Use questions, such as the following, to encourage children to look closely at the patches:]

• How are the patches the same?
• How are they different?
• Have you ever seen patches like these?

Today we learned that some community helpers have patches on their uniforms. We looked at some patches from different uniforms and compared them. Which patch was your favorite?

We are learning about food that helps us keep our bodies strong and healthy. Today let’s talk about things we eat for a snack. We eat a snack every day at our center. You probably eat snack food at home too.

[Display picture.]

Here is a picture of some snack foods that are healthy for us to eat.

• What types of food do we see in this picture? (apple slices, grapes, yogurt, cheese cubes, carrots, celery)
• Which of these snack foods have you eaten?
• There are many other kinds of healthy snack foods. What do we eat for a snack at our center?

Some types of snack food are not healthy. They have a lot of things like sugar, salt, or fat that do not help our bodies stay strong. A candy bar has a lot of sugar and fat. A candy bar is not a healthy snack food.

What are some other snack foods that are not healthy for us to eat? (potato chips, soft drinks, donuts, cookies)

Yesterday we read a story about a goat named Gregory. At the beginning of our story he was a picky eater. He would eat only healthy food for people. He would not eat things that goats eat.

What does it mean to be a picky eater? (a person who eats certain things only; does not try to eat other types of food)

Remember, Gregory’s parents wanted Gregory to eat things that goats eat. But Gregory said goat food is revolting. We know the word revolting means something is disgusting. By the end of our story, Gregory liked to eat goat food and people food. Gregory started to eat goat food slowly. He ate one small amount of goat food and decided he liked it. Then he ate a small amount of a different type of goat food, and he liked it. Soon Gregory was eating all kinds of goat food. And he also kept eating people food.

I want to tell you about Beth. She is a picky eater of snack food. She eats only carrots for a snack. Beth says that other healthy snack foods are disgusting. She will not eat grapes or cheese or celery sticks or anything else. She wants to eat only carrots for her snack.

What could we do to help Beth try eating other kinds of healthy snack foods?

[Follow-up prompt, if needed: “Gregory learned to like goat food by eating small amounts of different goat food. He liked the food and started eating many different types of goat food. How could we use this idea to help Beth try different healthy snack foods?”]

Today we talked about healthy snack foods and how we can try different types of healthy foods by eating small amounts. Have you ever tried eating a small amount of a healthy food you thought you would not like? What happened?