Oh, The Thinks You Can Think!: Thinking Theme: Traditional Tales

Letter of the Week: Ll

Number of the Week: 3

Bible Verse of the Week: "Love is patient. Love is kind." 1 Corinthians 13:4

Books:

* There is a different story for each day this week with an activity that goes along with it. I have flannel board stories for the traditional tales that I used in my classroom so you will see pictures of that for each day. You may use books, print out your own story pieces here, or go to you tube and find fun story tellings of these tales. Whatever you want to do!
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Lesson 1: The Three Little Pigs
Objectives:
* To read the story of The Three Little Pigs and answer questions about the story in order to demonstrate reading/listening comprehension
* To understand the moral of the story (You have to work hard, always do your best, and not be lazy!)
* To practice the concept of sequencing with the three houses of the little pigs
* To use the fine motor skills involved with taping, gluing, cutting, and drawing

Materials:
* book or flannel board story of The Three Little Pigs
* 3 small boxes
* dry grass or straw, sticks, and small rocks
* plastic Ziploc bag
* yellow, brown, and red construction paper
* scissors
* glue
* tape
* black crayon or marker

Procedure:
1. Read or tell the story of the Three Little Pigs. Talk about the three houses and the sequencing order they were built in (1st-straw, 2nd-sticks, 3rd-bricks). Ask your child why the first two houses blew over and the third house didn't. Talk about the moral of working hard, doing your best, and not being lazy!

2. Collect dry grass or actual straw, sticks, and a few small rocks from the backyard, and place them in a plastic bag.

3. Cover one box with yellow construction paper and glue the dry grass or straw onto it. (We just put grass on the front of the box for time purposes!)

4. Cover the second box with brown construction paper, and glue sticks on it.

5. Before you cover the third box, place the rocks inside of it. Since it is hard for rocks to be glued onto something, you can place them inside and it will be strong like the brick house. Then cover it with red construction paper and have your child draw lines on it to represent bricks.

6. Now you have the three houses. Have your child retell the story and actually blow the houses over. The third house should stay up because of the strong rocks inside of it!

Lesson 2: The Gingerbread Man
Objectives:
* To read the story of The Gingerbread Man and answer questions about the story in order to demonstrate reading/listening comprehension
* To understand the moral of the story (Don't be prideful!)
* To understand how to follow directions in a recipe
* To bake gingerbread playdough and use the fine motor skills involved with stirring, pouring, kneading, etc.

Materials:
* book or flannel board story of The Gingerbread Man
* Ingredients from the recipe from Kinder Themes

Procedure:
1. Read or tell the story of The Gingerbread Man. Talk about the sequence of events and the repetition in the tale. Discuss the moral of the story in not being too prideful or arrogant about yourself.

2. I am not going to take credit for this recipe, so I will let you follow the directions here, but below are the pictures we took doing each step. Have a blast!

Sawyer's Gingerbread Man!

He loved it! We stored the playdough in a plastic container, and he continues to play with it all the time!

Lesson 3: Jack and the Beanstalk (coming soon)

Lesson 4: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Objectives:
* To read the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and answer questions about the story in order to demonstrate reading/listening comprehension
* To understand the moral of the story (Don't use/take things that don't belong to you, and only go into someone else's house if you have permission to do so!)
* To recognize the different sizes of the characters and objects in the story and sort them into 3 groups (small, medium, large)

Materials:
* book or flannel board story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears
* printout of story pictures from Kidz Club
* scissors

Procedure:
1. Read or tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Talk about the sequence of events and the different sizes of the objects. Discuss the moral of the story, as well, and talk about how it applies to your child.

2. Cut out each bear character from the printout, as well as each object (bowls, chairs, beds)

3. Mix up the pictures and have your child sort the items according to size. (ex: Baby Bear will have the small bowl, small, chair, and small bed) Talk about the three different sizes, as well as the characteristics of each one (Papa Bear's porridge was too cold, Mama Bear's bed was too soft, etc.) Your child can even retell the story using the paper cut-outs!

Lesson 5: The Little Red Hen
Objectives:
* To read the story of The Little Red Hen and answer questions about the story in order to demonstrate reading/listening comprehension
* To understand the moral of the story (Always help your friends!)
* To understand how to follow directions in a recipe
* To bake cheese bread and use the fine motor skills involved with stirring, pouring, kneading, etc.

Materials:
* book or flannel board story of The Little Red Hen
* ingredients from this recipe from Cooking With Kids

Procedure:
1. Read or tell the story of The Little Red Hen. Talk about the sequence of events in planting, harvesting, baking, etc. Discuss the moral of the story, as well, and talk about how it is always important to help others.