Splish-Splash (pages 22 to 25)
- If you’ve been to a water park, ask your child to talk about what he or she liked best about the park. Then look at the illustrations and ask your child if the water park in this story looks like the one you visited.
- Before reading the story, explain that the children speak Spanish. As you read the story, encourage your child to use the pictures to guess what the Spanish words mean.
- After reading the story, ask your child to use the pictures to retell the story.
If you want to check your pronunciation of the Spanish words and phrases, you can listen to this story on our free audio edition. But don't worry about making mistakes. By saying the words, you're showing kids that you're willing to try to learn some Spanish. You're setting a good example!
*Social & Emotional Development: Knowledge of Families & Communities (Progresses in understanding similarities and respecting differences among people, such as race, language, culture, and family structures.) *Literacy: Book Knowledge & Appreciation (Demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences, to act out stories in dramatic play, and to predict what will happen next in a story.)
My First Hidden Pictures™ (pages 10 and 11)
- If your child has difficulty finding an object, offer hints. For example: "The sailboat is green. Where do you see green in the picture?"
- After your child has successfully found all the objects, read the poem. Ask your child to listen for the rhyming words. Think of words that rhyme with four and with eight.
- If your child is beginning to recognize individual letters, use the labels below each picture to focus on letters and words. You could ask: "How many words begin with the letter P? How many words begin with the letter B? What word has 10 letters? What words have three letters?"
*Approaches to Learning: Engagement & Persistence (Shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task.) *Literacy: Alphabet Knowledge (Identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially letters in the child's name.)
Look at the Bison! (page 35)
- Read the text and talk about the picture.
- If your child is interested in learning more about bison, a number of zoo Web sites can provide additional information and photos.
This small amount of text may be just right for children not yet interested in listening to longer stories read aloud.
*Literacy: Book Knowledge & Appreciation (Shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing nonfiction.) *Science: Scientific Knowledge (Expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.)
*Early-childhood standards based on the U.S. Head Start Child Outcomes Framework.