Tuesday, December 17, 2013

K16: Mittens

After last week's ice storm, staying warm is a big topic here in Texas.  Kindergarteners enjoy a storytime based on cold hands and a warm heart with these two tales (and activities) about children who lose -- and find -- their mittens.

THIS WEEK’S TEKS:  
                            1 a, b, f, g               Print Awareness
                            2 b, c, e, i                Rhymes & Phonological Awareness
                            3 a                          Phonics
                            4 a, b                      Prediction & Reading Strategies
                            6 a                          Story Elements
                            7                             Poetry
                            8 a, b                       Retell Stories, Story Elements
                            9                              Author’s Purpose
                           10 b, c, d                  Predict, Evaluate & Retell Stories
                           18 a                         Oral & Written Conventions
                           19 a                         Generate Questions
                           20 a                         Whole Group Research
                           21 a, b                      Library Procedures
                           RC(fig19) a,b,d,f,e     Read Assorted Literature, Generate Questions,
Whole Group Research, Predictions/Inference,
Pair Fiction & Non-Fiction, Retell and Summarize Stories
Reading Comprehension
n/a                         Book Selection

               
Intent: STAY WARM IN THE WINTER WONDERLAND… WEAR YOUR MITTENS!  A STORY TIME FULL OF FUN AND SONGS AND STORIES… ALL ABOUT COLD HANDS AND WARM HEARTS.

1. INTRODUCTION
a.      a.  Welcome Song:  Welcome to the Library (To “London Bridge is Falling Down.”)
Welcome to the library, library, library.
Welcome to the library, please come inside and read.
We’re glad to have you here today, here today, here today.
We’re glad to have you here today, today’s a special day.

b.      Finger Play: Five Little Peas

5 little peas in a pea-pod pressed (fist)
One grew, two grew, and so did the rest (raise fingers individually)
They grew and grew and did not stop (cup hands, start expanding)
Until one day, they all went POP! (expanding… on POP, clap hands, throw out arms)
c.  Set Library Behavioral Expectations: (reinforce / commend examples )
d.       Mystery Bag :  a pair of big, fluffy mittens.  (light, squishy)

e.      Word of the Week:  (Forms a cornerstone of the lesson, aids in understanding and connecting text themes)
i.                    English: Mittens
ii.                  Spanish Mitones (me TONE ehs)
iii.                ASL (American Sign Language.)  Sign language is a real language where people use their hands to communicate.  Here is the sign for mittens (http://www.handspeak.com/word/search.php?wordID=mitten&submitword=FindPut your left hand out and draw a line first around your thumb, then your fingers.  It’s like you’re drawing a mitten on your hand!  That’s it!

f.        Intent & Agenda:  Today, we’re going to spend some time talking about staying warm in winter!  Our story time is about mittens.  First, we’ll read a funny story about some animals who find a mitten in the woods.  Then, we’ll watch a video about winter and finally, we’ll make our own mittens with yarn and construction paper before we get books and head back to class.  Ready?  OK!


2.  STORY/RESOURCE #1: The Mitten by Jan Brett (1989, G. P. Putman)
a.  Pre-reading: Look at cover, predict what book is about by title and picture.

b.  READ:  this is a great book for prediction skills.

c.       Reflection: Why is mitten a different size at the end of the book?

d.  Extension Activity:  Second time we read it, kids have cards with pictures of each of the animals… they get into the mitten (masking tape outline on the ground…)

e.  Jokes:  Who Am I winter riddles
  • I can swim or walk for miles.
    I’m big with thick, white hair.
    I live up in the Arctic.
    I am a ________
    POLAR BEAR
·         I’m usually made of colored yarn,
By someone who is knittin´.
Unless one’s lost I come in pairs.
Of course I am a ______
MITTEN
·         My antlers tower above my head.
Where I live--- it’s cold all year.
I can pull a sled or pack a load.
You call me a ______
REINDEER
·         I’m big and white and made of snow,
So I’ll never have a tan.
When the sun comes out, I melt away.
Each year, I’m a new ______
SNOWMAN


3.  POEM:   Antartcica, Antarctico bu Heidi Lee Roemer from Poetry Friday Anthology

Enrichment ideas for poem this week:  Pantomime while reading – raise hand at long O sound – what is best/worst thing about cold weather?

I’m cold as a snow cone
My toes are like lead
My ears, they’re both frozen
My nose? Rosy red.

Im chilled to he bone
As polar winds blow
The thermometer tells me
What I should have known

It’s zero degrees!
I wish I’d stayed home.



4.  STORY/RESOURCE #2:  (Missing Mitten Mystery by Steven Kellogg, Dial Books, 2000)
a.      Pre-reading  Who do you think has the mitten (from pics on the cover)

  1. READ
c.       Reflection

d.      Extension Activity #2:  Snowkey Pokey (sung to Hokey Pokey)

Put your Left Mitten in…
Right mitten, scarf, boots, snow suit (snow self)


5. ACTIVITY (pick one)

            a.  craft : make-your-own mittens.  Students pick color and yarn and decorate/tie together their own cardboard mittens.

6.  Check out books


7.  Conclusion

a. Circle:
    i.  review intent
    ii.  word of week in English, Spanish, and ASL.
iii.                Open, shut them open shut them raise your hands up high.  Open, shut them open shut them wave and say good bye.

b.      Pet the Puppet (lamb)


c.       Line Up By… color of your mitten you made.

Monday, December 2, 2013

K 14: Sheep!

'Tis the season of cold weather, so stories about knitting, yarn, sweaters and mittens will be most appropriate!

This is a two-week lesson: part one is about sheep and their fleeces, and how a fleece becomes yarn.  Part two will be about what we do with yarn (specifically knitting, since this librarian and her assistant love to knit!)  


KINDERGARTEN LESSON PLAN                                                         Week of December 3
SHEEP
THIS WEEK’S TEKS:  
                                                1 a, b, f, g             Print Awareness
                                                2 b, c, e, i             Rhymes & Phonological Awareness
                                                3 a                        Phonics
                                                4 a, b                     Prediction & Reading Strategies
                                                6 a, c                     Story Elements, sensory details
                                                7                            Poetry
                                                8 a, b                     Retell Stories, Story Elements
                                                9                            Author’s Purpose
                                                10 b, c, d               Predict, Evaluate & Retell Stories
                                                18 a                       Oral & Written Conventions
                                                19 a                       Generate Questions
                                                20 a                       Whole Group Research
                                                21 a, b                   Library Procedures
                                RC(fig19) a,b,d,f,e                Read Assorted Literature, Generate Questions,
Whole Group Research, Predictions/Inference,
Pair Fiction & Non-Fiction, Retell and Summarize Stories
Reading Comprehension
                                                n/a                         Book Selection

               
Intent: This is a 2-week lesson.  First week focuses on sheep and fleece and how you get a fleece to become yarn.  Second week will be all about what to do with that yarn – weaving and knitting and crochet.  ‘Tis the season of cold weather, so stories about knitting, yarn, sweaters and mittens will be most appropriate!  

1. INTRODUCTION
a.      a.  Welcome Song:  Welcome to the Library (To “London Bridge is Falling Down.”)
Welcome to the library, library, library.
Welcome to the library, please come inside and read.
We’re glad to have you here today, here today, here today.
We’re glad to have you here today, today’s a special day.

b.      Finger Play: Five Little Peas

5 little peas in a pea-pod pressed (fist)
One grew, two grew, and so did the rest (raise fingers individually)
They grew and grew and did not stop (cup hands, start expanding)
Until one day, they all went POP! (expanding… on POP, clap hands, throw out arms)

c. Set Library Behavioral Expectations: (reinforce / commend examples )
ii.  Graphic CHAMPS reminder (weeks 4-) https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B3dpaiUKs9aAMHVaT2otdC1Kb1U

d.       Mystery Bag:  three items, a sheep puppet, some roving, and a spindle.

e.       Word of the Week:  (Forms a cornerstone of the lesson, aids in understanding and connecting text themes)
i.                    English Wool
ii.                  Spanish la Lana (LAH-nah)
iii.                ASL (American Sign Language.)  Sign language is a real language where people use their hands to communicate.  Here is the sign for sheep.  Hold your left arm up, and you’re your right hand into a letter “v.”  You’re your right hand is the scissors, and the left hand is the sheep.  Pretend to cut its fleece.

f.        Intent & Agenda:  Today we’re going to learn all about sheep.  It’s almost winter now, and getting cold outside.  The hair on the sheep, called its fleece or wool, is used to make hats, mittens, sweaters and blankets.  We’re going to listen to some stories and sing songs about sheep today, then we’re going to watch a video about how a sheep’s hairy coat, its fleece, is made into yarn!  At the end of class today, I’m going to show you how you can make yarn out of sheep’s wool with this spindle.

2.  Story #1: Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski (Harper Collins, 2008) or  Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep: A Yarn about Wool by Terri Sloat, (Dorington Kinserly, 2001).
a.  Pre-reading:   Action on the front of the book: what’s going on?

b.  READ:  note rhyme and rhythm in this picture book.

c.  Reflection:  What were the steps to make sheep’s fleece into sweaters?

d.       Extension Activity: “The Lamb Went” (by Storytime Katie)
The lamb went around the cow in the corn (trace circle in palm)
Under the haystack (go under the hand)
Up the hill and down the hill (go up the arm and down the arm)
Over the fence (go above the hand)
Through the door (slide hands and clap)
And back in time to meet the teacher!! (trace circle in palm)

e.      Jokes:  
a.      Why couldn’t the lamb play at recess?  He was being baaaa-d.
b.      Where does a sheep go for a haircut?  The baa-baa shop.
c.       What do you call a dancing sheep?  A baa-lerina.


3.  POEM:  Mother Goose’s Baa Baa Black Sheep.
            Baa, baa black sheep, have you any wool?  Yes, sir, yes sir, three bags full. 
One for my master, one for my dame, one for the little boy who lives down the lane.


4.1  RESOURCE #2:  (Reading Rainbow, “Let’s Spin Wool”, accessed from Discovery Streaming)
a.      Pre-reading So, we just read a book about what it takes to make a sheep’s fleece turn into wool for yarn.  Let’s see that happen on video now, and check to make sure we understand each of the steps.
  1. INVESTIGATE Resource

4.2 Video clip: Shaun the Sheep “Fleeced” (Running Time 5 minutes)
            Shaun and his flock get sheared, in a comic version of what we discovered today.  So sue me for having a little fun right before holiday break!

5. ACTIVITY 
a.      Spindle and loom demonstrations:
Fortunately, I have a drop spindle and a loom!  Students will see how the drop spindle works in a demonstration, then get to use the loom with their choice of yarn to create a class project.  “Drop Spindle Demonstration” gets you plenty of hits on YouTube: here’s one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjoFt4-02A4.  If you don’t have a loom of your own (mine is a 12x18 Harris Loom I found at thrift store years ago) you can make one: making your own spindle with a CD and a little metal hook is another project you could try.

6.  Check out books


7.  Conclusion

a. Circle:
    i.  review intent: sheep give us wool, which we can make into all sorts of things. 
    ii.  word of week in English, Spanish, and ASL.
    iii. closing song 
             (Open shut them open shut them raise your hands up high.  
              Open, shut them, open shut them wave and say good bye.)

b.      Pet the Puppet (The lamb!)

c.       Line Up By… Every week, we line up according to different criteria, makes kids pay attention, work on grouping, differentiating among options. (People wearing sweaters!  Then people wearing scarves or other knitted/woolen items!)

d.      High Five the Word of the Week FLEECE


Additional Resources:
·         Shaun the Sheep “Fleeced” (Season 1)
·         Shaun the Sheep “We Wish Ewe A Merry Christmas” (Season 3)
·         Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski
Counting Ovejas by Sarah Weeks
·         Hide and Sheep by Andrea Beatty
·         Charlie Needs a Cloak Tomie de Paola (book or video on Discovery Streaming)