Even though four-year-olds may not develop a full awareness of the print on each page of a book, they are cued by the pictures and are enjoying the pattern of the story. These positive experiences with books helps students to internalize early reading behaviors and establish a love of reading. Our big book The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins inspired some fun filled activities revolving around cookies.
For math we worked on our counting and number recognition using cookies. Being able to count includes both procedural skills and conceptual understanding. First of all, children must be able to follow the procedure of saying the number words in the correct order. They must also demonstrate one-to-one correspondence by saying only one of these counting words as they point to each item. Finally, children must understand conceptually that when counting is done correctly, the final number is the answer to "how many." Today we practiced all three of these skills as we made a batch of delicious chocolate chip cookies. Nothing motivates quality counting practice more than a giant bag of chocolate!
