The itsy bitsy spider

“The Itsy Bitsy Spider”

“The Kids Place” Home Daycare and

Preschool

Present…

Focused and Reflective PracticeStep 1 and 2

• We needed to choose a children’s book that had a simple storyline, familiar among the children, and had several characters.

I choose:

I knew this was familiar to them because they were able to recite the first verse of the book prior to

reading.

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Step 3• Prepare for the acting out.

First we needed to find out what characters we needed in order to act out the story. The children helped me figure out the various characters/props we would need for the story and we listed them on the marker board.

As I slowly read the story the children listened for the various roles/props we would need to act out the story. The spider/rain/sun were very easy for the children to identify for themselves… they needed a little hint to pick up on the waterspout. We then discussed who would take what role and decisions were easily made with the group of three. They decided no one needed to be the waterspout because it doesn’t move which I thought was good critical thinking. We placed names next to each role and no name next to the waterspout. (problem solving/critical thinking)

Step 3• Making the props.

I brought in numerous materials for them to choose how to make their props. And this is what they did.

The part of the “rain” decided to take a piece of poster board and make raindrops. She then used do-a-dot markers to fill them in. When she was finished she said, “Look at all the raindrops, Miss Rose. It sure is a rainy day!” I believe she used critical thinking because she new she needed more than one

raindrop and she used image-based representation by creating

a picture of rain.

Step 3• Making the props.

The part of the “sun” went along the same lines as the part of the rain. She choose poster board, drew a sun, and used do-a-dot markers to fill in the sun. (Can you tell they love those do-a-dot markers?) She used

image-based representation by creating a picture of the sun.

Step 3• Making the props.

The part of the “spider” changed things up a bit. He wanted the poster board and black construction paper to make his spider. He decided to glue black paper to the poster board to make his spider. He drew a spider and asked for eyes and we brainstormed together for something for his mouth and wiggle eyes

and yarn is what we came up with. He used critical thinking deciding that he needed eyes and a mouth and what materials would work best with some of the ideas I gave. He also used image-based representations for his spider.

Step 3• Making the props.

The waterspout was a needed piece in order to act out the story. They decided they needed a big tube… so I helped them make a big tube. Getting it to stand was the other trick which they needed some help here. They worked together in creating their waterspout which had to be decorated! Again… creative thinking and image-based representation went into the water spout.

Some notes I took while they were creating their props…

“The Sun”• Sun’s are yellow so

I will use the yellow dotter marker. (critical thinking)

• This sun is sure big… it is taking a long time to fill in. (critical thinking)

“The Rain”• I think I will hold

up my rain and say “down came the rain and washed the spider out.” You do your part like that. That’s how we should do it. (everyone agreed and tried) (problem solving)

“The Spider”• I need something to

put the spider on so I can make it go up and down the waterspout so everyone can see. (we brainstormed as a group) (problem solving)

• I need eyes and a mouth (we talked about ideas and he choose) (problem solving)

Their final production after practicing looked like this…

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Later in the day we used our journals to draw our favorite part of the production…

My favorite part was when Mya held up the sun.

My favorite part was the spider.

My favorite part was Aubrey holding up the rain.

• They had so much fun that they begged to do another one… so we took the next verse in the book and proceeded the way we did yesterday.

They weren’t familiar with this verse like they were with the first verse… but naming the characters/props needed

was not a problem (they even got the kitchen wall without needing any

prompting) and they wanted to do it like yesterday… so we did.

They also had no problem picking their role in the second verse production.

(critical thinking/problem solving)

• They each made their props for the production.

Spider

Wind

Fan

Observations: The fan and wind spent very little time putting their prop together even though their were numerous things out for them to use. The spider needed help cutting but told me how to cut (paper was thick) and spent at least 10 more minutes making the spider.

(image-based and symbol-based representations)

Their final production after practicing looked like this…

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