[Display letter K card.]

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

Letter K says /k/, just like in “kick.” /k/, /k/, kick. Let’s together say /k/, /k/, kick.

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 more about how to add and subtract.

• What happens to our group when we add? (it gets larger)
• What does it mean to subtract? (to take away something from a group of things)

We know how to add and subtract when we listen to stories. Let’s use our fingers as we listen to some stories!

[Invite children to use their fingers as you tell two short stories about addition and subtraction. Demonstrate with your own fingers.]

• Once there was a boy with four crayons on his table.
  [Hold up four fingers as you encourage children to do the same.]
  He gave one crayon to his friend.
  [Put down one of the four fingers as you encourage children to do the same.]
  How many crayons did the boy have left? How do we know?
• Let’s try another story! Once there was a dog with one bone.
  [Hold up one finger as you encourage children to do the same.]
  A girl gave the dog three more bones.
  [Hold up three fingers on your other hand as you encourage children to do the same.]
  How many bones did the dog have all together?
  [Count on as you begin counting with the largest group: 3, 4.]
  Now the dog has four bones all together!

This week we practiced adding and subtracting when we read the book Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.

• Were we adding or subtracting while Pete the Cat was losing his buttons? (subtracting)
• What happened to the number of buttons on the shirt when we subtracted? (it got smaller)

We also played a game with buttons to practice adding and subtracting. Each time we rolled a die, we took away buttons from a T-shirt. Then we added buttons to the T-shirt. Let’s practice adding and subtracting with buttons again.

[Display a flannel board with eight felt circles on it.]

Let’s pretend these circles are buttons. Let’s count them together.

[Lead children in counting the buttons as you point to each.]

Now let’s find out what happens to the group of buttons when we subtract two buttons.

[Take away two buttons from the flannel board.]

• We subtracted two buttons. Did our group of buttons get larger or smaller? (smaller) We know that a group of items gets smaller when we subtract.
• How can we find out the number of buttons left in our group? (count them)

[Lead children in counting the remaining number of buttons. Then remove all buttons from the flannel board.]

Now we are going to practice adding buttons.

[Place six buttons on the flannel board.]

How many buttons are on our flannel board now?

Let’s add two more buttons.

[Place two buttons in a group near the group of six buttons.]

Let’s count on to find out how many buttons we have all together. Remember, when we count on, we begin with the number of buttons in our largest group. Our group of six is larger than our group of two. Let’s begin with our group of six. “6 . . . 7, 8.”

[Point to each button as it is counted.]

• How many buttons do we have all together? (eight)
• Did our group of buttons get larger or smaller when we added buttons? (larger)

We are learning so much about adding and subtracting. There are many ways we can add and subtract.

Yesterday we read a book about what it was like long ago for Laura’s family to move and build a new house from logs.

Laura’s family moved to a prairie. We learned that a prairie is a large area of land with lots of grass and very few trees. Two mustangs pulled the family’s wagon. We know that a mustang is a kind of horse.

Pa hauled logs. What does it mean to haul something? (to move something heavy)

The people who lived during the time of Laura’s life were called pioneers. A pioneer is one of the first people to explore or settle a new country or area. Children were pioneers along with their adult family members. Laura’s family was a pioneer family in exploring the prairie.

Today we are going to read our book again and compare how Laura’s family did things long ago to how we do those same things now.

[As you read the book, pause briefly to ask the following questions as you encourage children to compare how Laura’s family did things to how the same things are done now:]

• Traveling in a wagon—How do people travel from place to place now?
• Breakfast of cornmeal mush—Cornmeal mush is like a pudding made from cornmeal. What kinds of things do we have for breakfast now?
• Pa got a load of logs from the creek bottom—A creek bottom is a low, flat area of land made by water. Where might we get wood if we wanted to build a house now?
• Pa played a fiddle after supper—A fiddle is a musical instrument with strings. It is also called a violin. What do you do after you eat supper?

[After reading the book, ask the following questions about how Laura felt:]

Laura felt a little frightened when Pa left with the wagon to get logs.

• What did Laura want to do when she felt frightened? (she wanted to hide in the grass)
• What did Laura do instead? (she helped Ma)
• Why do you think Laura helped Ma when she was feeling frightened? (to focus on something other than missing Pa and the wagon)
• Do you think Laura felt less frightened when she helped Ma? Why? (doing something with someone else can help us feel better when we feel upset)

Laura’s family was a pioneer family that built a little house on the prairie. Would you have liked living when the pioneers did? How was it different living long ago?

Yesterday we learned about ways to protect our skin when we are in the sun. We know that protect means we keep something from being harmed or hurt. What is a way we can protect our skin? (hat, long sleeves, shade, sunglasses, sunscreen)

People work and play in the sun. We play outside, and there are many people who work outside.

What kind of workers do their job outside? (construction worker, farmer, police officer)

We can get hot when we play or work outside in the summer.

Do you remember a time you got really hot playing outside? Tell us about it.

Sometimes we get sweaty or tired when we are outside on a really hot day. We might get sick if our bodies get too hot. We might feel dizzy, or our head might hurt.

We need to protect our bodies when we are in hot weather. We know some ways to protect our skin from getting burned. There are some other things we can do to protect our bodies in hot weather.

[Display water bottle.]

This is one way we can protect our bodies in hot weather. We can put water in a bottle like this and drink the water to keep our bodies strong. Or, we can use a cup or get a drink from a water fountain.

• What part of our body tells us we are thirsty? (our mouth)
• Do you think our body would want a small sip of water or a big drink of water when we are thirsty in hot weather?

Our mouth and throat can get dry when we are in hot weather. Our bodies need water to keep healthy. We can feel tired when our body does not have enough water. Our bodies lose water when we get sweaty.

People who play sports or work in hot weather usually have a bottle or jug of water nearby, so they can drink water when they feel tired or thirsty. Many playgrounds and parks have a water fountain for people to use.

[Engage children in a discussion of their observations of or experiences with drinking water in hot weather.]

Another thing we can do to protect our bodies in hot weather is to take breaks from what we are doing. We stop doing something when we take a break. We rest our body. If it is sunny outside, we might want to take our break in some shade. Drinking water while we are taking a break is good for our bodies.

• What could we do to rest our bodies when we play outside in hot weather? (sit, lean against a wall or fence, lie on the ground, stand in a relaxed position)
  [Invite a volunteer child to demonstrate rest options mentioned by children.]
• What part of our playground would be a good place to take a break from what we are doing in hot weather?
• Sometimes our bodies tell us it is time for a break or a drink of water but we don’t want to stop what we are doing because we are having fun. Has this ever happened to you? Tell us about it.

Drinking a lot of water and resting our bodies are good ways to keep healthy in hot weather. Where can we find a drink of water in our classroom (or playground)?