Unit 6: Building Structures

Sing the greeting song and signal a child to say his or her name. Repeat until every child is included.

Open a discussion about building materials and compare their different properties.

Allow children to freely explore the building materials. Invite them to make different structures they have learned about.  

Review the materials the three pigs used to build their house. Discuss that materials people use to build things depend on where they live in the world.

Read another version of the folktale The Three Little Pigs. Compare this story to other versions.

Have children compare similarities and differences about two versions of a story. Chart results.

Use the Target Letter and Word Routine to introduce children to the letter “Tt” and the word tool.

Have children tiptoe along a large uppercase “T” on the floor.

Send a Family Connection letter home with children.

Hold up a name card and have children figure out whose name it is. Repeat the song until every child is included.

Introduce the idea of building higher. Have children reflect on how they can make their structures higher.

Have children build towers out of blocks. Have them draw a picture to record their tower.

Play the video PEEP and the Big Wide World “Chirp Builds a Nest.” Focus on how Chirp builds his nest.

Have children compare the tools in the book to the tools in Building a House.

Point to a tool in Tap Tap Bang Bang and call out a child’s name. Have that child find the tool that matches the picture and act out using the tool.  

Have children work together to make tool riddles. Have them describe a tool and use their description to create a riddle.

Use the Letter in Our Names Routine to help children find the letter “Tt” in their names.

Children take turns picking up an object, naming it, and saying whether it begins with the /t/ sound and belongs in the /t/ bag or not.

Have children color in an uppercase “T” and then find magazine pictures that begin with the /t/ sound to decorate their “T.”

Spell the name of a child and have that child place his or her name on the greeting song chart. Repeat the song until every child is included.

Revisit building strong structures. Discuss children’s building and how they made them stronger.

Children continue to build towers using different materials. Test each tower’s stability.

Play the video Between The Lions “Huff and Puff.” Ask children to think about why the last pig’s house was so strong.

Reread The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell. Help children make connections between the pigs’ houses and structures they have built.

Have children use puppets to retell the story.

Recite the chant with finger motions that represent the three javelinas.  

Create riddles with words that start with the /t/ sound and relate to the week’s theme (tool words, construction words).

Repeat the sentence “Tommy took tools to town.” emphasizing the beginning sound /t/. Challenge children to say the sentence faster and faster.

Have children practice shaping the letter "T" with their family members.

Sing the greeting song. Point a measuring tape at a child and instruct him or her to say his or her name. Repeat until every child is included.

Have children share a structure they built. Have them describe the materials used.

Have children continue to explore using different materials to build towers.

Play the video PEEP and the Big Wide World “Chirp Builds a Nest” and ask children to identify problems Chirp is having while building his nest.

Read the story again and focus on the tools and the sequence they have in building the kart.

Recite the chant and have children act out the movements with you to the counting rhyme.

Play the listening game to help children recognize the /t/ sound at the end of words.

Make sentence strips and count the number of words in the sentence.

Write the uppercase alphabet letters on the ground in a circle going clockwise. Sing the song and have children walk around the circle.

Say a child’s name and emphasize the ending letter sound. Sing the greeting song with that name. Repeat until every child is included.

Discuss the photos you took of children building towers. Have children work together to strategize new ways to make their structures stronger and higher.

Have children continue building towers. Encourage them to explore using the materials in new ways.

Read aloud The Three Little Javelinas, another version of The Three Little Pigs, or a new book about building.  

Invite children to create riddles that describe materials and tools.

Reinforce recognition of the letter “Tt” and the word tool by having children hunt for them in the room.

Play the video Between The Lions “Words Beginning with ‘t’.” Have children identify the instruments that begin with the letter "t."

Recite the poem “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” and act out the motions with children. Ask children to identify words that begin with /t/.

Revisit the charts, objects, and pictures from the week.  Review towers and building strong structures, “Tt,” /t/, and tool.

Send structures and photos home with children to share with family members.