Oral language
Children will understand basic information, including the meaning of several novel words, presented in a book read aloud.
New:
Be Prepared: Today’s reading focuses on children’s understanding of basic information presented in a book. The plan described below is for a single reading of the book. Select 3–5 novel words in the book to define for children. See the Language/Literacy section of the ELM Curriculum User Guide: 3–5 Years for additional information. Write the following at the top of the chart paper: Words We Understand. See Language/Literacy Week 2, Day 1 for guidance on the first-time reading of a book with children.
Open the session by reminding children that books help us learn new words. Point to the chart, read its title, and write and defined the words you identified for children to learn (see Be Prepared).
Display the book cover and read the title and names of the author(s) and illustrator. Engage children with the book, using a strategy focused on the book’s front cover. See Week 46, Day 5 for examples.
Read the book without inviting talk until you have finished reading. Point to and describe illustrations directly related to the text. During and/or after the book reading, explain characters, events, or words that may be challenging for children to understand. Ask questions or offer descriptions that help children focus on key parts of the story. See Week 46, Day 5 for examples.
Ask questions such as the following to help children remember important aspects of the book:
Use children’s responses to provide a quick recap of the story. See Week 46, Day 5 for examples.
Review new words introduced today. Point to and read each word on the chart. Help children remember how the word was used in today’s book.
Offer a book-related transition to children’s next activity. See Week 46, Day 5 for examples.
Extra support
Enrichment
Pattern knowledge
Children will strengthen their understanding of patterns.
Review:
Offer the Week 19, Day 2 activity to review other kinds of patterns.
Engage pairs of children in making an ABCABC pattern with blocks.
Be Prepared: Gather six blocks of three different kinds per pair of children (total: 18 blocks per pair of children). Example: six triangle blocks, six square blocks, six rectangle blocks. If there is an insufficient supply of blocks, use different art materials. Examples: crayons, scissors, glue.
Explain that today we will use blocks to a make pattern with a partner. Display six blocks (two of three different shapes or colors). Demonstrate how to make an ABCABC pattern. Invite children to say the pattern as you point to each block. Example: triangle, square, rectangle, triangle, square, rectangle (or: crayon, scissors, glue, crayon, scissors, glue).
Arrange children in pairs. Give each pair 18 blocks as described in Be Prepared. Encourage children to work with their partner to make an ABCABC pattern. Encourage children to say aloud their pattern.
Inquiry skills, Knowledge of living things
Children will understand how scientists determined whether a dinosaur walked or ran.
Review:
Be Prepared: Ask another adult in your room to help with the activity when you demonstrate taking a walking step and taking a running step. The other adult will put two strips of masking tape on the floor to help children compare the distance between walking feet and running feet (but do not run in the classroom).
We are learning about differences between dinosaurs that ate meat and dinosaurs that ate plants. We know that dinosaurs that ate meat had really strong jaws.
[Use your fingers outside of your mouth to point to the location of your jaws.]
Remember, jaws are the upper and lower bony parts of a mouth. Dinosaurs that ate meat used their strong jaws to bite down on an animal and to pull meat off of an animal.
Why did dinosaurs that ate meat need sharp teeth? (to chew on meat, parts of other animals)
We know that dinosaurs that ate meat ran faster than dinosaurs that ate plants. Scientists think that dinosaurs that ate plants moved as fast as elephants.
Why did dinosaurs that ate meat need to run fast? (to catch dinosaurs and other animals they wanted to eat)
Scientists believe that some dinosaurs that ate meat could run as fast as people drive their cars in town. One of the fastest dinosaurs was small. This dinosaur was as big as a cat. Dinosaurs that ate meat ran on two legs.
We know that dinosaurs lived many, many years ago. Scientists use bones and other types of fossils to figure out what dinosaurs looked like and how they lived. Remember, some fossils are the remains of an animal, like bones or teeth. Some of the fossils that scientists find are footprints of a dinosaur.
What is a footprint? (the mark of a foot that is left in the dirt or rock)
Scientists look at dinosaur footprints to figure out whether a dinosaur was walking or running. Scientists can also use the footprints to figure out how fast a dinosaur was running.
[Display picture of dinosaur footprints.]
Here is a picture of the footprints of a dinosaur. Scientists need to find at least two footprints in a row of the same dinosaur to figure out how fast a dinosaur was moving.
Scientists measure how far apart the footprints are from one another. Remember, we measure things to find out their size. We can tell how long something is when we measure it.
Footprints that are far apart from each other tell scientists that a dinosaur was running. Footprints that are closer together tell scientists that a dinosaur was walking.
Let’s find out how far apart our feet are when we walk and when we run. I will show you with my feet.
[Take a walking step and then freeze as you describe the following:]
I am taking one walking step with my foot. I am moving my leg like I am walking. I am going to freeze in place so (name of other adult in classroom) can put a piece of masking tape on the floor between my two feet. The tape will tell us how long it is from one step to another step when I walk.
[The tape should run from the toe of the shoe on the first leg to the back of the shoe on the foot that took a walking step. After the tape is affixed to the floor, stand about 6–12 inches from the tape, with both feet next to each other and aligned with the beginning of the tape. Then take a running step and freeze as you describe the following:]
Now I am taking one running step with my foot. I am not going to run because we do not run in our classroom. I am moving my leg like I am going to run. I am going to freeze in place so (name of other adult in classroom) can put a piece of masking tape on the floor between my two feet.
[Again, the tape should run from the toe of the shoe on the first leg to the back of the shoe on the foot that took a running step. After the tape is affixed to the floor, stand back so children can see differences in the length of the two strips of tape (see picture).]
One piece of tape is longer than the other piece of tape. Why? (because we take a longer step when we run)
[Point to shorter and longer pieces of tape as you describe each.]
We take shorter steps when we walk. The shorter piece of tape shows how far it is from one foot to the other when I walked.
We take longer steps when we run. The longer piece of tape shows how far it is from one foot to the other foot when I started to run.
Scientists used the footprints of the same dinosaur to measure how far apart their feet were when walking and when running.
[Invite children to stand with their feet next to each other. Lead children in taking one step (moving forward one leg/foot) and then freezing. Encourage children to look at how far apart their feet are.
Encourage children to again stand with their feet next to each other. Lead children in taking a larger step (moving forward one leg/foot) and then freezing. Encourage children to look at how far apart their feet are with a larger step.]
Dinosaurs that ate meat could run fast. They ran to catch animals to eat. Scientists used dinosaur footprints to figure out whether a dinosaur was walking or running. Animals take bigger steps when they run. We used tape to compare a walking step and a running step.
Extra support
Enrichment
Leave the pieces of tape from the footprints on the floor. Provide children with a variety of toy dinosaurs. Encourage children to guess whether a dinosaur usually walked or could also run. There may be distances between the legs/feet of the toy dinosaurs that give some clues. Guessing or pretending is fine. Children can place dinosaurs they think could run on the longer strip of tape and dinosaurs that probably walked on the shorter strip. The follow-up activity offered as an Extra Support tip also could be done in a center activity.
School-age children in your setting may enjoy affixing the masking tape and perhaps using a measuring tape to compare the two lengths.
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Understanding Feelings
Social-Emotional
Skill and Goal
Emotion knowledge
Children will strengthen their understanding of how to calm down and positively manage angry feelings.
Materials
Needed
Key
Concepts
New:
Review:
Offer the Week 12, Day 3 activity to review how to positively manage feelings of anger.
Engage children in a book-related discussion of how to calm down when we are feeling mad (angry).
Remind children that sometimes we feel angry about something. Invite children to suggest some reasons a person might feel angry. Remind children that we are learning ways to calm down when we feel angry. Explain that today we will read a book about a mouse who feels mad. Explain that mad is another word for angry.
Read the book without inviting discussion. Explain concepts that seem confusing to children. Use your own words to describe illustrations. At the end of the book reading, engage children in a discussion focused on questions such as the following: