Unit 9: Wonderful Water

Stand in a circle and sing the greeting song. Shake each child’s hand and say his or her name.

Talk about when it rains and water collects in a pool.

Explore the flow of water. Have children collect materials to change the water flow and form pools.

Play the PEEP and the Big Wide World live-action clip “Watching Water Move Things.” Have children compare their experiences to the children’s in the video.

Read the story, focusing on words children might use in their explorations during the week.

Divide children into two groups and sing the song as a round.

Play a game of Duck, Duck Goose, but change the words to Bear, Bear, Fish.

Play the listening game to help children recognize the /r/ sound at the beginning of words.

Play the Between the Lions video “Rocket-Doodle-Doo.” Have children name the /r/ words in the video.

Help children practice writing the letter “Rr.”

Send a Family Connection letter home with children.

Sing the greeting song and hold up name cards. Have each child stand up and say his or her name.

Review with children what a waterway is and how to make a waterway full of channels and obstacles.  

Take children outdoors again to continue exploring the flow of water, this time to make waterways.

Read Toy Boat by Randall de Seve. Help children track the movements of the boat as it floats in the water.

Recite the poem and have children act out the motions.

Have children create a story together about a trip on the ocean in a boat.

Play the Between the Lions video “Words Beginning with ‘d.’” Have children repeat the /d/ words.

Give hints for children to guess the words that begin with the /d/ sound.

Help children practice writing the letter “Dd.”

Sing the greeting song. Name one child and let him or her choose the next until all children have had a turn.

Talk about dams and what happens when they put things in water to block its flow.

Take children outdoors again to continue exploring the flow of water, this time to make dams.

Play the PEEP and the Big Wide World video “Building Dams.” Relate children’s experiences with dams to the video.

Reread the book. Point out the beavers building a dam.

Recite the poem “Busy Beaver” and invite children to act it out.

Say the parts of some words slowly and have children put the word parts together.

Say two rhyming words and have children think of another word that rhymes with the pair of words.

Help children practice writing the letter “Rr.”

Sing the greeting song and hold up name cards. Have those children say their names and clap the word parts. Repeat until every child is included.

Show children clear plastic tubing. Have them predict what might happen as water is poured through the tube.

Have children continue to explore moving water. Add plastic tubing to the set of materials that children can use to move water.  

Reread Toy Boat by Randal de Seve. Help children visualize the action of the story

Explain the difference between sea and see. Recite the chant and have children clap hands on each beat.

Have each child choose a boat character in Toy Boat and continue the story.

Play the listening game to help children recognize the /d/ sound at the beginning of words.

 Have children clap words in a sentence.

Help children practice writing the letter “Dd.”

Have children decide which way they want to sing the song.

Discuss with children what tools they might combine to transfer water.

Group children into teams to figure out ways to move water from one tool to another.

Replay the video Between the Lions “River Story.” Talk with children about where the river’s journey ends.

Read a story or concept book about water. Make connections between the book and children’s own explorations with water.

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

Help children practice writing the word dam.  

Have children look for the letters “Dd” and “Rr” and the words dam and river in the classroom.

Revisit the charts, objects, and pictures from the week.  Review pools, waterways, and dams, “Dd,” “Rr,” /d/, /r/, dam, and river.

Send a Family Connection letter home with children.