MA Standards:
English Language Arts/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.
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.
Greeting Song: “Who’s on the Hill?” #1
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Follow Directions, Name Recognition, Small Motor Skills
Have children stand in a circle around you. Show them how to form make-believe binoculars with your thumb and forefinger. Tell children they are going to use their binoculars to search for children.
- Say, Let’s pretend we are up on a hill. Demonstrate searching the hillside with your binoculars as you recite “Who’s on the Hill?”
- Stop searching when your binoculars are on one child and say his or her name. Then ask the rest of the class to chant the child’s name three times and cheer “Hooray!”
Continue until each child has been recognized.
Who’s on the Hill?
Up on that hill,
Who do you see?
I see <child’s name>
Looking at me!
<child’s name>, <child’s name>, <child’s name>! Hooray!
Adaptation: For very young children, chant one line at a time, and then ask them to repeat it after you.
Social Emotional Tip: Help children build their concept of self by offering ample opportunities for them to say their names aloud.