That Fruit is Mine By Anuska Allepez When five fruit-loving elephants spot a scrumptious hard-to-reach fruit high up in a tree, it's a race to see who can claim it first! But after one too many fumbles, the elephants begin to lose their cool, and the highly coveted fruit is whisked away by the teeny-tiniest of all jungle creatures—mice! The elephants soon realize they have a lot to learn from this cooperative little bunch. Key Message for Parents Children’s self-regulation is critical for learning, responsibility and relationships Children learn and take in new experiences best when they are calm and feel safe. Self regulation is important as it helps to control emotions and to cope with the unexpected. Some ideas to share with parents are:

Self-regulation is the ability to adapt one’s behaviour, emotions and thinking according to the situation. It includes the ability to start or stop doing something even if one does not want to do so.

The development of self-control is critical to school success. It includes being able to maintain attention, confidently and enthusiastically try new activities, restrain impulsive behaviour, follow directions, take turns and show empathy for others.

Children are not born knowing what acceptable and unacceptable behaviours are. They learn self-control by modelling the behaviour of the people around them. They also need to be given appropriate boundaries so they can make safe choices, develop responsibility and experience success.

Learning Outcomes | Outcome 4: Children Are Confident and Involved Learners During Story Time we can help young children become confident and involved learners by

Providing good examples to learn and practise appropriate behaviour

Providing a supportive environment for children to explore and experience their emerging

social skills

Reading a range of books that deal with different emotions and experiences helps children

learn the ‘names’ for what they are feeling

Providing an established routine that helps children develop self-control, positive self-

regulation and relationships

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Welcome Ask carers to write nametags for themselves and their children. Welcome everyone, introduce yourself, remind adults to turn their mobile phones off and that there will be time for adults to chat after the story and songs.

Welcome Song (or your preferred song) Have the words available as a handout or written on a board or butcher’s paper for the adults to read and join in.

Good Morning Good morning to you

Good morning to you

Good morning everybody

and welcome to you! Song Elephants Balancing Invite children in your group to hold up one hand (the elephant), walking it along their opposite arm (the string) as you sing the song. To Listen to the words visit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBqS8NbilkSong Lyrics/actions

One grey elephant balancing

Step by step on a piece of string

He thought it was such a wonderful stunt

That he called for another elephant

Two grey elephants balancing

Step by step on a piece of string

They thought it was such a wonderful stunt

That they called for another elephant

Three grey elephants balancing

Step by step on a piece of string

They thought it was such a wonderful stunt

That they called for another elephant

Four grey elephants balancing

Step by step on a piece of string

They thought it was such a wonderful stunt

That they called for another elephant

Five grey elephants balancing

Step by step on a piece of string

They thought it was such a wonderful stunt

That they called for another elephant

And what do you think happened?

They all fell off.

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Before Reading Before showing children the front cover of the book, begin by introducing the title only. Tell them ‘the story today is called That Fruit is Mine.’ Ask them what they think it might be about just from listening to the title. After hearing a few ideas (and being positive about them all) show the front cover. ‘Often when we read a book the pictures help us understand what the story might be about. What do you think the story is about now?’ Have their ideas changed? Take time to talk about the author as well as the right way to hold the book when reading.

During Reading The detailed illustrations in this book add so much to the story that it is important to allow time for children to ‘read’ the pictures. ‘Perhaps we could go on a picture walk through this book before I read any of the words to you.’ Ask the children, what can they see? What is the picture telling us? ‘Sometimes pictures say more than words and we can make up our own story about a book’. Keep the suggestions open ended as there are many possibilities and the children can be as creative and imaginative as they like. By pretending, imagining and creating children are building and strengthening the executive function (self-regulation) of their brain. (The executive function is a set of mental skills that help you get things done - e.g. manage time, pay attention, switch focus, plan and organize, remember details, avoid saying or doing the wrong thing, do things based on your experience, multitask, etc).

After Reading Ask the children ‘What is team work? Did the elephants use team work? When have you had to work together to solve a problem? What did you think of the mice?’ Alliteration examples: Go back to the second page and ask the children if they notice anything when you read ‘Elephant One munched on mangoes’, Elephant Two craved coconuts’, etc. Try some alliteration with children’s names. (e.g. jumping Jill, magic Martin, creative Carol, running Roger, etc.) By doing this you are focusing on phonological skills that are a prerequisite for successful beginning readers. It also gives them a head start with spelling.

A fun game that could be played if you have an older group of pre-schoolers is ‘Fruit Salad’. Movement helps young children with physical development, social interaction and language growth and after sitting for a while it also helps the brain ‘change gears’ for new learning.

Form a circle of chairs that is one chair fewer than the total number of players.

Nominate a player to be 'in', that player stands in the centre of the circle.

Divide all players into three groups of fruit by going around the circle and naming them either apple, orange or pear. You can make a ‘fruit’ name tag or a card with an image of the fruit on it for the children to hold.

The player who is 'in', calls the name of a fruit. If he calls out apples, everyone who is that fruit must get up quickly and change places. Players who are not apples remain seated.

The person who is 'in' tries to sit in an empty spot whenever players swap positions.

If they manage to sit in a chair, the player not sitting in a chair is then 'in'. The person in the middle can also call 'fruit salad' and everyone who is seated has to change spots.

The game can finish whenever you like. There are no winners or losers.

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Activity Time

To bring children together again before explaining the activity, you could chant a rhyme of some sort together.

Tic, tac, too (join fists together and chant very loudly)

Mend an elephant’s shoe,

A black shoe, a black shoe

Tic, Tac, Too.

Tic, tac, too (join index fingers together and chant very softly)

Mend a mouse’s shoe,

A white shoe, a white shoe

Tic, Tac, Too.

Elephants Balancing

What you need

Template (see last page of this learning time)

Wooden chopsticks or pop sticks or straws

Coloured paper

String

Playdoh, blu tack or plasticine

What to do:

1. Decorate and cut out the elephants and add extra colour or collage materials if you wish. 2. Balance them on the straws with a bit of playdoh to hold them up. 3. Add some fun flags to your tightrope by cutting out diamond shapes, folding them in half

and hanging them over the string. For younger children you can simplify this activity, by cutting and arranging yourself and assist your child in sticking the pieces down, recalling where they went and the order they get stuck down while singing the song. To extend this activity, allow your child to do the cutting, arranging, memory recall, sticking etc. as they are able. Figuring out the process and order to stick down the pieces will be challenging for young children so continue to communicate with them throughout the activity. Below is a YouTube video of the song with elephant puppets to compliment the activity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QXkFtdFy0A&feature=related

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Extension Activities: Use wooden blocks and rope to create a play about the elephants. Children could use their

puppets or plastic animals. They might like to make a home, too.

Pre-schoolers should be almost over the stage of ‘MINE’ but parents may appreciate the following

poem, especially if they still have toddlers. Older siblings may also appreciate the humour in this and

can discuss what they thought of the elephants’ behaviour while trying to get the fruit.

STEM Focus

Engineers want to know how and why things work. Engineering is solving problems, using a variety of materials, designing and creating, and building things that work. Block play allows children to create constructions during their explorations. Preschool children often create 3- dimensional structures, such as ‘piles’ of blocks that do not have an “inside” (they have no interior space, it is a solid pile of blocks). More complex structures follow – including bridges and walls that enclose a space (there is empty space inside the structure). Making the elephant puppets balance on a piece of string is an engineering feat!

Goodbye

Conclude the session with some suggestions of books that parents might want to share with their children. The Little Big Book Club suggests the following books to support learning in this area. If your library has copies, make them available for families to borrow or include them in your story time session. For some more stories to share, we recommend the following titles: Annie to the Rescue by Deborah Niland

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

Whatcha Building by Andrew Daddo and Stephen Michael King

The Lion and the Mouse (Timeless Fables) by Teresa Mlawer and Olga Cuellar

Goodbye Song Depending on the size of your group, you may wish to insert each child’s name in the place of ‘you’ as it develops a more personal relationship between yourself, the child and the family. Sung to the tune of (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush) or your choice.

Goodbye This is the way we say goodbye (wave) say goodbye, say goodbye

This is the way we say goodbye to all our library friends (or) (to our friend……)!

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Balancing Elephants Activity