Highlights High Five® March 2013 Parent/Teacher Guide

The Adventures of Spot (page 5)

• As you read the captions for the first four frames, add the words "like a ____." Help your child look at the illustrations to fill in the blanks.
• After you've read the story, ask your child to think of other things that Spot can do. If your child enjoys drawing, have him or her draw pictures to show Spot doing those things. Then you can write the words below each picture, and your child can read his or her story.

"The Adventures of Spot" stories are easy to read and easy to remember. Each month, help your child use the illustrations to retell the story.

*Literacy: Book Knowledge & Appreciation (Demonstrates progress in abilities to retell stories.)

*Literacy: Early Writing (Develops an understanding that writing and drawing are ways to communicate for a variety of purposes.)

Shampoo (pages 20 to 23)

• This dear little story begs to be read again and again. Soon, your child will be able to chime in as you reread it.
• After you've read the story, ask your child to imagine what the mouse and the cat will do next. Then go back through the text to find and count the number of times the word dear appears.

As children hunt for a specific word in the text, they will begin to notice that some words have only a few letters and others have many more. They will also discover that words in a sentence are separated by spaces. Learning how print is organized to convey meaning is a key emergent-literacy goal.

*Literacy: Print Awareness & Concepts (Recognizes a word as a unit of print, that letters are grouped to form words, and that words are separated by spaces.)

*Mathematics: Number & Operations (Demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.)

 

Daisy Do (page 31)

• Daisy do is fun to say. But your child will also enjoy hearing you substitute his or her name for Daisy as you reread this rhyme.
• Be sure to pause as you read each sentence to get your child’s heart rate up when he or she turns, marches in place, and does some jumping jacks. Get your heart rate up by joining in!

Action rhymes are a great way to help children listen for and identify rhyming words as they follow directions and move to the beat.

*Literacy: Phonological Awareness (Progresses in recognizing matching sounds and rhymes in familiar words, games, songs, stories, and poems.)

*Physical Health & Development: Health Status & Practices (Participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.)

 

*Early childhood standards based on the U.S. Head Start Child Outcomes Framework.