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.]

Offer Week 10, Day 1 to review basic characteristics of circle, square, triangle, and rectangle.

Engage children in playing I Spy to identify classroom items that represent basic shapes.

Explain that some things in our room have the outlines of a shape we know. Point to and describe how the classroom door is the shape of a rectangle. Hold up a rectangle cutout in front of the door. Describe how the door has four straight sides and four corners. Two of its sides are very long and two of its sides are shorter.

Today we will play the game called I Spy. You will say the name of a shape and look in the direction of what you spy. Children will try to guess what you are looking at (spying). Example: Say “I spy a rectangle” as you look at the classroom door. Draw children’s attention to the focus of your eyes (what you might be looking at).

Items you may wish to include in an I Spy game include the following:

• Rectangle: classroom door, windows, clipboards, puzzle, book, posters
• Circle: clock, play food hamburger bun, plate, cup, goldfish bowl, globe
• Square: blocks, tabletop, face of die, tile of floor, large carpet area
• Triangle: play food pizza slice, face of triangle block, play food cone (such as ice cream cone), roof of dollhouse

After a shape has been identified, hold the appropriate cutout in front of or near the item and ask children to describe how the item looks like the stated shape.

Invite all children to participate. Encourage children who are quick to correctly respond to all “I spy” statements, to give other children a chance to point to or say the name of a shape.

Add challenge by describing a shape’s characteristics rather than saying the shape name. Example: “I spy a shape that has four straight sides and four corners. Two of the sides are very long, and two of the sides are shorter. What do you think I spy?”

This week we learned that walking, a wheelchair, and animals can be used for transportation. We also learned that more than one type of transportation may be needed to get items or people from one place to another.

On Day 1, we learned that walking is a type of transportation. We learned that people with a disability may use a wheelchair to get from one place to another. We looked at a map of our program’s neighborhood for places we can walk to.

Let’s look at our map.

[Display map.]

• What is one place a person can walk to?

On Day 2, we learned that animals can provide transportation.

[Display pictures of animals providing transportation.]

• What types of animals are used for transportation?
• What do we call an animal that carries heavy loads? (pack animal)

On Day 3, we learned that different types of transportation are used to get toys or other items from a factory to our homes or other places, such as our program.

• What types of transportation can move items from a factory to a warehouse?
• What is a warehouse? (place where items are stored)

Yesterday we learned that when people take a trip, they may use different types of transportation. We talked about taking a long trip and the different types of transportation we might use to get there.

What types of transportation did we talk about yesterday for our pretend trip?

This week we learned about two more types of transportation. We talked about walking. We also talked about how animals can provide transportation. We also learned that more than one type of transportation can be used to get people or things from one place to another. We talked about how something made at a factory gets to the place where it will be used. We talked about a pretend trip that involved different types of transportation.

Offer the Week 21, Day 5 activity to provide practice in jumping over an object.

Support children in alternating jumping and hopping.