Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit: OPPOSITES Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit: OPPOSITES AUTHOR Dr. Janice Wood Crawford Early Literacy Faculty Fellow The Instructional Units presented here were funded in part by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Fund for the Improvement of Education as part of the Virtual School Readiness Incubator Project, the Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida, and the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Inc. These materials are still in the refinement phase and should be used with this caution in mind. The content of these units does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of or imply endorsement by the U. S. Department of Education, the University of North Florida, and/or the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Inc. No claim is made on those materials that are in the public domain. ©2013 Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida Reproduction of these materials for resale or distribution is prohibited. University of North Florida • University Center • 12000 Alumni Drive • Jacksonville, Florida 32224–2678 (904) 620–2496 • FAX (904) 620–2454 • http://www.unf.edu/fie/Family_Childcare_Homes_Instructional_Units_(FCCH).aspx Family Child Care Home Instructional Units The Family Child Care Home Instructional Units are curriculum resource units for Family Home providers and teachers. The Instructional Units are standards-based and are strongly rooted in an evidence-based framework. The Instructional Unit topics were determined by the needs of professional development providers and teachers. They are easily adaptable to the needs of children, ranging in age from two years through four years, in a variety of learning environments and inclusive settings. Instructional Unit Topics Colors Shapes Letters Numbers Counting All About Me - Body Parts/Senses All About Me - My Feelings My Family and Friends Weather My Community Transportation Care of the Earth Plants Day and Night Opposites Water Animals Air Animals Land Animals Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 3 Opposites Ages 2+–3 Oral Language Experiences Learning Experiences # Listens to and responds to songs and books about opposites # Matches and sorts objects that are alike and different # Says opposite words # Differentiates between objects in the environment # Talks about opposite concepts # Listens to vocabulary words # Identifies opposites Sing a Song of Opposites By Pam Schiller Core Vocabulary Words big/small tall/short up/down in/out fast/slow Rich Vocabulary Words opposites Additional Children’s Books Big Dog, Little Dog, P.D. Eastman My First Book of Opposites, Kim Deegan My Little Opposites, Bob Staake Rainbow Fish Opposites, Marcus Pfister Slide and Seek Opposites, Chuck Murphy Spot Looks at Opposites, Eric Hill Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 4 Oral Language Activities # # # # # Materials Needed Book: Sing a Song of Opposites by Pam Schiller Cut out Vocabulary Words from Activity Pictures #1 Cut out Take-Home Bracelets from Activity Pictures #5 Sets of objects that are the same, objects that are different Small blocks (one for each child) Activities # Tell the children they are going to be learning about opposite words. Introduce the Opposite Song to the children. Introduce the Vocabulary Words big, small, tall, short, up, down, in, out, fast, and slow. Point to and say the Vocabulary Word cards from Activity Pictures #1. Tell the children you are going to sing about some opposite words and you want them to sing with you and make the motions with their hands and bodies. Model the motions as you sing. Use the following Vocabulary Word cards while singing. Opposite Song Make yourself big, (hold arms in circular fashion) Make yourself small. (form a small ball with your body) Make yourself tall, (stand up tall) Make yourself short. (stand on your knees) Hold your hands up, (hold hands up) Hold your hands down. (hold hands down) Put your tongue in, Put your tongue out. Can you run fast? Can you walk slow? Sing along with me. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 5 First Reading of the Book # Show the children the cover of the Sing a Song of Opposites book. Point to and read the title of the book and the author’s name. Tell them that this is a book about opposites. Ask the children to look at the picture on the cover of the book. As you point to the cheetahs, tell them that cheetahs run very fast. Point to the turtle and tell the children that turtles move very slowly. Ask the children to run fast, and to move slow. Tell them that “fast” and “slow” are opposite words. Turn the page and point to the big elephant and point to the small elephant. During the first reading of the book, display the opposite words Vocabulary Word cards while reading. big/small up/down fast/slow tall/short in/out After reading the book, highlight the sets of opposite words by completing the following actions: big/small short/tall up/down in/out fast/slow Ask one child to take off one shoe as you are taking off one of your shoes. Place the shoes side by side. Point to the adult shoe and say the word big. Point to the child’s shoe and say the word small. Ask one child to stand next to the teacher. Point to the standing child and say the word short. Point to yourself and say the word tall. Ask the children to stand up. Say the word up. Ask the children to sit down. Say the word down. Place a large box on the floor for this activity. Ask one child to get in the box. Say the word in. Ask the child to get out of the box. Say the word out. Gather the children in the center of the room and tell them to move to the wall fast. Say the word fast. Ask the children to move slowly and come back to the center of the room. Say the word slow. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 6 Second Reading of the Book # Show the children the cover of the book and remind them that the cheetahs run fast and the turtles move slow. Point to the fast cheetahs and the slow turtle. Continue reading the book and point to and say the names of the opposite words and pictures throughout the book. big/small up/down tall/short in/out fast/slow # After reading the book, highlight the sets of opposite words by completing the following actions: big/small short/tall up/down in/out fast/slow Point out one big object in the room and say big. Point out one small object in the room and say small. Place a doll next to a child and say the doll is short. Say the word short. Point to the child and say tall. Ask the children to use their fingers to point up and say the word up. Ask the children to point down, and say the word down. Place a small object inside a box and say the object is in the box. Take the small object out of the box and say the word out. Ask the children to use one arm to make a fast circle in the air. Say the word fast. Ask the children to stop and use one arm to make a slow circle in the air. Say the word slow. # Read the book several times throughout the week. # Read the books suggested in the Additional Children’s Books section. # While reading the book, point to the CORE and Rich Vocabulary words. When you introduce the words, identify the first letter of each word and emphasize the beginning sounds of the words. # Give each child a Take-Home Bracelet from Activity Pictures #5. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 7 Activities # Begin the Same and Different activity by having children sort like objects such as balls, blocks, and books. Gather sets of like objects and place them on the table. Ask the children to sort the items – place all of the balls together, the blocks together, and the books together. Tell the children that each pile is the same. After the children have had practice with like objects, make two piles: one pile with like objects (all books) and one pile with different objects (different colored balls). Point to the like objects and tell the children that all of the objects are the same. Point to the different objects and tell the children that all of the objects are different. Tell the children that words that have different meaning are called opposite words. As you go through the week, point out opposite objects to the children. # Tell the children that they are going to look around the classroom and name things that are big and things that are small. Ask the children to look around the classroom for items that are big. Ask them to go and stand next to one big item. Ask each child to name the big item. After all children have had a chance to identify and name at least one big item, ask the children to look around the classroom and go and stand next to one small item. Ask each child to name the small item. # Tell the children that the opposite of white is black. Show them a white item and a black item. Write the words white and black on two index cards and place the cards on the table. Ask the children to look around the classroom and find white and black items and place them next to the white word or the black word. # Sing the We Know Opposites song with the children. We Know Opposites The opposite of white is _____. (let the children answer) Black and white, black and white. The opposite of black is white. Continue the song by changing the words. Day and night Hot and cold New and old Walk and run Open and closed Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 8 Activities # Give each child a small block. Give the following directions and ask the children to follow the directions. • Place the block on top of your head. • Place the block under your foot. • Place the block in front of your face. • Place the block in the back of your head. • Place the block over the table. • Place the block under the table. • Walk forward with the block. • Walk backward with the block. # Give each child a piece of paper and some crayons. Tell the children that the opposite of day is night. Talk about what you see and what happens in the day time and in the nighttime. Ask the children to draw a day time picture on one side of the paper and a night time picture on the other side of the paper. # Bring in several items that are opposite to each other. Some suggestions for items are something long and short, big and small, old and new, white and black, hard and soft, wet and dry. Place all of the items in a box. Call on the children, one at a time, and call out an opposite word. Ask them to find the opposite item in the box. Continue this activity until all children have had several chances to identify opposite items. Learning Activities Materials Needed # Cut out Activity Pictures #1 # Cut out Activity Pictures #2 Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 9 Activities # Cut out the Activity Pictures #2 and give one picture to each child. As you are giving the pictures to the children, describe the picture, such as, “This is a big elephant.” Tell the children to look at their pictures. Ask them to find a small elephant. Say the following sentences to the children and tell them to hold up their picture if it matches what you say in the sentence. Give each child one of the picture cards from Activity Pictures #1. Ask them to find the opposite picture card. Give the children the following directions: Show me a tall tree. Show me a short tree. Show me a child that is up the slide. Show me a child that is going down the slide. Show me a picture of puppies in a box. Show me a picture of puppies out of the box. Shoe me a picture of cheetahs running fast. Show me a picture of a slow moving turtle. # Tell the children you want them to make some opposite movements while playing the Moving Opposites game. Say the following statements to the children and ask them to make the movements. Moving Opposites Show me your back, show me your front. Pretend you are hot, pretend you are cold. Walk fast, walk slow. Show me your right hand, show me your left hand. Show me a happy face, show me a sad face. # Walk around the room and point out and identify opposite items, such as: • • • • a baby that is asleep, a baby that is awake a short stuffed animal, a tall child an open door, a closed door a big ball, a small ball As you proceed through the week, continue to point out and identify opposite objects in the environment. # Fold a piece of paper in half and ask the children to draw two opposite pictures on each half of the page. Suggest a big ball and a small ball or a happy face and a sad face. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 10 Activities # Engage your children in an Opposite Dance activity. Put some instrumental music on and ask your children to do the following: • • • • • • • • Kick your foot high, kick your foot low. Jump to the front, jump to the back. Clap your hand loudly, clap your hands quietly. Take a big step, take a small step. Make yourself tall, make yourself short. Hold your hand up, hold your hand down. Walk fast, walk slow. Make a happy face, make a sad face. # Ask the children to sit in a circle. Tell the children that the opposite of fast is slow. Tell them you are going to be rolling a ball fast to one of them, and that child has to roll it slow to another child. Roll a ball fast to one child. Ask him/her to roll it back slow to another child. Continue the activity until all children have had a chance to roll the ball both fast and slow. # Place several sized plastic containers at the sand or water table. Tell the children that the containers are empty, but you want them to fill the containers with sand or water. Give each child a container and ask the children to fill the containers. When all of the containers are full, ask the children to empty the containers. Continue to plan plenty of opportunities to fill and empty containers. Coffee cans, baby food jars, and boxes make great items to fill. Remind the children that the opposite of empty is full. # Play the Simon Says game with the children to help them understand inside and outside. Use masking tape to make a large circle on the floor. Review with the children that the opposite of inside is outside. Start the game by saying, “Simon says for everyone to stand inside the circle.” Continue the game by calling out the names of individual children to stand inside and outside the circle. # Help your children see the difference between small and big. Use a large piece of construction paper for this activity. Help your children outline their handprints on the paper. Tell the children that their handprints are small. Then you, or someone bigger than you, outline your handprint next to their handprints. Tell the children that your handprint is big. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 11 Activities # Help your children feel the difference between warm and cold. Fill one container with warm water and one container with cold water. Have your children stick one hand in each container and experience the difference between warm and cold. Place a variety of warm weather clothes on a table. These might include coats, sweaters, scarf’s, mittens, hats, and jackets. Ask the children to put on the clothes and tell you if they are warm or cold. Place several ice cubes in a container. Give each child an ice cube and ask if the ice cube feels warm or cold. # Give your children many opportunities to learn about up and down throughout the week. Take your children to a set of stairs and walk up the stairs. Turn around and walk down the stairs. Ask the children to say the words with you. If there is a building with an elevator or escalator in it, take the time to ride up and down. Additional activities can be done at a playground or park. Take your children to a playground and ask them to climb up the stairs of the slide or other climbing equipment. Then ask them to come down. Use balls to throw up in the air, or bounce the ball down on the cement. # Use some of these opposite words in conversation throughout the week. back fast hot on hard day long right happy stand start easy new over push walk open inside yes high Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida front slow cold off soft night short left sad sit finish hard old under pull run close outside no low 12 Opposites Ages 3+–4 Oral Language Experiences Learning Experiences # Differentiates between opposites in the environment # Listens to and responds to books about opposites # Uses opposite words during learning activities # Reads opposite words # Writes opposite words # Uses opposite words in phrases and sentences # Uses vocabulary words in conversation Eric Carle’s Opposites By Eric Carle Core Vocabulary Words day/night up/down young/old short/long awake/asleep high/low wet/dry Rich Vocabulary Words opposite Additional Children’s Books Big Dog, Little Dog, P. D. Eastman Clifford’s Opposites, Scholastic Exactly Opposites, Dana Hoban Opposites, Brian Wildsmith The Humongous Cat, Joy Cowley Winnie the Pooh’s Opposites, A. A. Milne Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 13 Oral Language Activities # # # # # Materials Needed Cut out tickets from Activity Pictures #3 Cut out pictures from Activity Pictures #4 Cut out words from Activity Pictures #5 Cut out Take-Home Bracelets from Activity Pictures #6 Chalk Activities # Remind the children that they are learning about opposite words. Review the following opposite words with them: day/night, up/down, young/old, short/long. Tell them you would like them to sing the Opposite Song with you. Sing the following song with the children: Opposite Song If I say day, you say ______ (night). If I say up, you say ______ (down). If I say young, you say ______ (old). If I say short, you say ______ (long). Lots of words have opposites. Come along and sing with me. As the children learn the song, continue with the second verse. Review the following opposite words with them: awake/asleep, high/low, wet/dry, and yes/no If I say in, you say ______ (out). If I say inside, you say ______ (outside). If I say yes, you say ______ (no). If I say asleep, you say ______ (awake). Lots of words have opposites. Can you think of any more? Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 14 Activities # Continue to talk about opposite words with your children. Tell them that you are going to be reading about opposite words. Give them some examples of the words that are used in the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Use the Vocabulary Word cards from Activity Pictures #4 for this activity. Point to and say each word. Ask the children if they can think of some more opposite words. After the children have thought of some opposite words, tell them you are going to play the Opposite Game. You give them a word and they yell out the opposite word. Here are some examples: Opposite Game What is the opposite of over? (under) What is the opposite of stop? (go) What is the opposite of day? (night) What is the opposite of cold? (hot) What is the opposite of clean? (dirty) Play the Opposite Game with the children throughout the week. First Reading of the Book # Show the children the cover of the Eric Carle’s Opposites book. Tell them this is a book about opposite words. Remind them about some of the opposite words that they used in the Opposite Game. Display the words from Activity Pictures #4 during this activtiy. Point to and say each word. Read the title of the book and the author’s name. After you have read each page, stop and ask the children the following questions: • • • • • • • What is the opposite of day? (night) What is the opposite of up? (down) What is the opposite of young? (old) What is the opposite of short? (long) What is the opposite of high? (low) What is the opposite of awake? (asleep) What is the opposite of wet? (dry) # While reading the book, point to the CORE and Rich Vocabulary words. When you introduce the words, identify the first letter of each word and emphasize the beginning sounds of the words. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 15 First Reading of the Book # When reading the book, highlight and talk about the CORE and Rich Vocabulary words. # Read the book several times throughout the week. # Read the books suggested in the Additional Children’s Books section. # Give each child a Take-Home Bracelet from Activity Pictures #6. Activities # Give each child a ticket from Activity Pictures #3. There is a word printed on each ticket. Line up several chairs to create a bus. Put the following words on each chair: short, wet, black, and old. Pretend you are taking a bus ride and you are the bus driver. In order for the children to enter the bus, they have to tell you the opposite of the word on their ticket and find their correct seat. Once they tell you the opposite word, collect the tickets and let the children sit in one of the chairs on the bus. After all of the tickets have been collected, you say each word and ask the children to say the opposite word. The children will enjoy playing this game several times. # Sing the Opposites song with the children. Opposites Opposites, opposites all around, When I have a smile, you have a frown. When I jump high, you jump low. When I say “stop”, you say “go.” When I say “left”, you say “right.” Opposites, opposites all around, When I stand up, you sit down. # Tell the children that the opposite of happy is sad. Ask the children to tell you what makes them happy and what makes them sad. Give each child a piece of paper and provide the children with newspapers and magazines. Ask the children to print the word happy on one side of the paper and the word sad on the other side of the paper. Ask the children to find pictures of happy people and events and pictures of sad people and events. Cut out and glue the pictures on the paper. After the activity is completed, ask the children to tell you how each person feels. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 16 Activities # Plan a Sink or Float activity. Tell the children that the opposite of sink is float. Select several items that will sink and several items that will float. Some of the items might include, a marble, a small ball, a cork, a stone, a feather, a ball of clay, or a plastic lid. Place the items next to a container of water. Label the top of one piece of paper Sink and the top of another piece of paper Float. Tell the children that you want them to guess whether the items will sink or float. Hold up each item and ask the children to decide if they think the item will sink or float when placed in the water. Then test the items in the container of water. Ask the children to observe what happens when the items are placed in the water. Place the items on either the Float paper or the Sink paper. # Tell the children that the opposite of dry is wet. Give the children some examples of dry and wet, such as the following: When it rains, it is wet. When the sun shines, it is dry. Before you wash your hands, they are dry. While washing your hands, they are wet. Soak some chalk in a bowl of water. Give each child a piece of paper to use the wet chalk to draw with. Then allow the children to draw with the dry chalk. Ask the children to describe the differences when drawing with the wet and dry chalk. Learning Activities Materials Needed # Red and green paper plates or red and green construction paper Activities # Play the Where is the Bear? game. Place a teddy bear and a box on the table. Tell the children you are going to place the bear in different positions and you want them to place the bear in the opposite position. Here are some examples: Where is the Bear? behind the box (in front of the box) inside the box (outside the box) on top of the box (under the box) Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 17 Activities # Gather objects in your environment and ask the children to select the opposites of each. See the following examples: long crayon (short crayon) big ball (little ball) heavy stone (light stone) wet wash cloth (dry washcloth) thick book (thin book) Continue to find objects in your environment that are opposites. # Talk about hot and cold weather and the type of clothes you wear in hot weather and the type of clothes you wear in cold weather. Give each child a piece of paper. Fold the paper in half and ask the children to draw a picture depicting clothes you would wear in hot weather on one side of the paper and clothes you would wear in cold weather on the other side. # Fold construction paper in half and give each child a piece of folded paper. Ask the children to print big on one side of the paper and to print small on the other side of the paper. Place newspaper ads and magazines on the table and ask the children to cut out pictures of big items and pictures of small items. Ask the children to glue the pictures on their construction paper. # Play the Stop and Go game with the children. Talk about the differences between stop and go. Get two paper plates and ask the children to help you color or paint one paper plate red, and one paper plate green. Use the plates for the Stop and Go game. Tell the children when you hold up the green paper plate, they can move all around the room. When you hold up the red paper plate, ask your children to stop. Repeat the activity several times while asking the children to change their movements. Sing the Stop and Go song with the children. Stop and Go This is a song about stop and go. You do it all the time. You see red and you see green. (hold up red and green plates) Red means stop, Green means go. This is a song about stop and go. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 18 Activities Remind your children to watch you while you are holding up the different colored plates. Repeat this many times. At the end of the game, remind the children that the opposite of stop is go. Take some time to talk about traffic lights. # Gather items with surfaces that are either rough or smooth. Items might include sand paper, velvet, glass, bark, paper, plastic or gravel. Tell the children that the opposite of smooth is rough. Place the items on the table. Ask the children to touch each of the items and decide if they are smooth or rough. Ask the children to sort the items into a smooth pile or a rough pile. # Gather several items that are considered heavy and several items that are light. Tell the children that the opposite of heavy is light. Place the items on the table and talk about their relative weights. Give two items to a child and ask which one is heavier, which one is lighter? Continue this activity until all of the children have had a turn. Place all of the items back on the table and ask the children to sort the items into a heavy pile or a light pile. Ask the children to look around the classroom and identify additional heavy items and light items. # Title chart paper Opposites. Ask each student to draw an opposite pair on the chart paper. Some of the opposite pairs could be, clean/dirty, black/white, long/short, thick/thin, empty/full, wet/dry, over/under, above/below, happy/sad, day/night, new/old, or high/low. This activity could last for several days. # Talk about the differences between day and night with the children. Tell them that they are opposite words. Gather several items that reflect either day or night. These may include the following: sunglasses, bathing suit, sun, pajamas, moon, flashlight, sleeping bag, stars, or pillow. Talk with the children about activities that they do in the day time and activities that they do at night time. Hold up one item at a time and ask the children if the item would be used in the day time or during the night time. Remind the children that the opposite of day is night. # Use some of these opposite words in conversation throughout the week. heavy – light black – white begin – end above – below here – there stay – go over – under Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida stop – go more – less shout – whisper float – sink thick – thin before – after forward – backward clean – dirty left – right first – last long – short empty – full now – later wet – dry 19 Opposites Activity Pictures #1 big small tall short up down in out fast slow Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 20 Opposites Activity Pictures #2 Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 21 Opposites Activity Pictures #3 short awake day high up wet young yes Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 22 Opposites Activity Pictures #4 day night up down young old short long Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 23 Opposites Activity Pictures #4 awake asleep high low wet dry Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 24 Opposites Activity Pictures #5 We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high. Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - Opposites Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida 25
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