Day and Night

Morning Circle

1. Invite the children to come to school in their pajamas. Ask, "What is wrong with having your pajamas on now?"
2. Make a list of night things and day things. Tell the children that day and night are description words.
3. Ask the children what they think is the biggest difference between day and night.
4. Sing "Mister Sun" (Appendix p. 295) and "Mister Moon" (Appendix p. 295) with the children. Ask what things are alike in the songs and what things are different.
5. Tell the children that today's activities will be about day and night.

Story Circle

City Night by Eve Rice
Dark Day, Light Night by Jan Carr
Good Morning, Good Night by Michael Grejniec
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger
Into the Napping House by Audrey Wood
It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw
The Napping House Wakes Up by Audrey Wood
Night in the Country by Cynthia Rylant
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Petey's Bedtime Story by Beverly Cleary
Shine Sun by Carol Greene
What the Sun Sees, What the Moon Sees by Nancy Tafuri

Music and Movement

• Sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" (Appendix p. 306) or "Itsy Bitsy Spider"(Appendix p. 291).
• Do morning exercises.
• Take children outdoors in the sunlight to chase their shadows.
• Sing "Sing a Song of Opposites" (Appendix p. 301).

Learning Centers

Art (Spatial, Intrapersonal)
Place white butcher paper on the top of a table shiny side up. Spray with shaving cream and invite the children to mix in blue tempera paint to create a blue (day) sky. Show them how to use theirfingers to make designs (skywriting). (Supervise closely at all times!)
Fine Motor (Bodily-Kinesthetic)
Provide tweezers and rock salt (stars). Using a piece of black felt, encourage the children to use the tweezers to move the stars from a small bowl to the
night sky. Provide white chalk and a chalkboard and invite the children to design a night sky.
Games (Logical-Mathematical, Naturalist, Interpersonal)
Provide a large set of wiggle eyes. Have the children take turns tossing the eyes into a box. Are there more sleepy eyes (eyes facing down) or more wakeful eyes (eyes facing up)? Show the childrenhow to match them one to one.
Language (Spatial)
Provide felt suns, clouds, moons, and stars. Encourage the children to create night skies and day skies.
Language (Linguistic, Intrapersonal)
Invite the children to make a list of things they like to do during the day, and a list of things they like to do at night. Transcribe their list into a book (folded sheets of drawing paper stapledtogether) and encourage them to illustrate the activities.
Music (Musical, Linguistic)
Provide lullabies for the children to listen to and bedtime storybooks for them to enjoy.

Closing Circle (Reflections on the Day)

Ask the children:

1. Do you enjoy the day or the night best? Why?
2. What is the first thing you think of when you think of the day? What about the night?
3. What was your favorite activity today? Why?