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plant
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vegetable
MA Standards
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1a: Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in a group (e.g., taking turns in talking, listening to peers, waiting to speak until another person is finished talking, asking questions and waiting for an answer, gaining the floor in appropriate ways).
Head Start Outcomes
Social Emotional Development/Self-Regulation: Follows simple rules, routines, and directions.
Logic and Reasoning/Reasoning and Problem Solving: Classifies, compares, and contrasts objects, events, and experiences.
Language Development/Receptive Language: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 1: Observe and use appropriate ways of interacting in a group (taking turns in talking; listening to peers; waiting until someone is finished; asking questions and waiting for an answer; gaining the floor in appropriate ways).
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 12: Listen to, recite, sing, and dramatize a variety of age-appropriate literature.
Talk Together: If I Could Have a Garden
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Plants grow in many places; Many foods that animals, including humans, eat come from plants; We eat certain leaves, roots, fruits, and seeds; Plants exhibit diversity and variation
ELA Focus Skills: Listening and Speaking, Phonological Awareness (Rhythm and Rhyme), Vocabulary
Talk about the end of the story The Ugly Vegetables. Review with children how all the neighbors decided to plant some vegetables in their gardens the next spring.
Then tell children you are going to read them a poem. Recite “If I Could Have a Garden” for children. Say, I am going to recite it again, and when I finish I want you to tell me which vegetables you would plant in your garden.
If I Could Have a Garden
If I could have a garden,
What should I grow?
Beautiful flowers
Blooming, row after row?
Or should I plant carrots,
Peas, and tomatoes,
Onions, and cabbage,
And bright red tomatoes?
It’s so hard to decide . . .
Oh, what shall I do?
I know . . . I’ll plant flowers
And vegetables too!
Social Emotional Tip: Having children express their ideas helps them develop and support personal preferences while understanding that others have different, valid views.