Literacy

* Group students in pairs (by passing out tongue depressor and having them locate their partner) and read story and have students share their thoughts on questions asked (click here) before, during and after reading, plus narrative questions (click for pdf)

* Things to share after reading book, singing and chanting song.

        a) Listen to the words I say and tell me if they rhyme: duck – hill / duck – truck.  Select words from the song (five, duck, out, day,  hill far, away) and a rhyming and non-rhyming word

       b) Tell me a word that rhymes with _____________(repeat this exercise with different words from the song)

        c) I am going to say a word from the song and you tell me what letter it begins with (select word from song)

        d) Listen to the word I say and lets count the syllables (clap, snap, pat or stomp syllables with the class)

        e) I am going to say a sentence from the story / song and you fill in the word that is missing

Example: Five little ducks went out one  __________ over the hill and far ______________.  (Continue)

        f) I am going to say part of a sentence and you finish the sentence.

Example:     (teacher) Five little ducks went out one day

                     (students) Over the hill and far away

                     (teacher) mother duck said, quack, quack, quack

                     (students) but only four little ducks came swimming back

                    (you can make the phrases longer or shorter)

      g) Once they are able to accomplish the task by phrases you can now do it by word. (T = Teacher  and S = Students)

Example: (T) Five  (S) little  (T) ducks (S) went  (T) out  (S) one  (T) day  (continue with song)

* Complete Venn diagram and compare a duck to another living animal with similar characteristics in the middle (click for pdf)

* Complete a story map: title, setting, characters, problem, and solution.

* Print out ducks and glue on tongue depressors and act out song. First have teacher narrate story, next have students act it out with song, followed by having them act it out by singing it without the music. (click for pdf)

* Use this song to practice echo reading, choral reading, buddy reading, and work on phonological awareness activities (click for example)

* Synonyms.  Chant song and substitute words to expand vocabulary. Example: (synonyms)  little = small, tiny, petite, etc.  big, large, huge, etc.    

* Create different ending to the story or talk about what the little ducks might be doing that caused them to forget the time.

* As a class, create silly alliterative sentences. Example:  Do ducks dive down for doughnuts?

* Write poem on chart tablet and identify (look) for letters, upper case, comma, and exclamation mark.   Chant poem with class.  First echo, then choral, and finish by taking turns with each sentence.

Duck in the water, quack, quack, quack!
Soft, white feathers on your back, back, back!
Duck in the water, splash and splish!
Dip in your bill and catch those fish!

Science

* Study the difference between ducks and other birds.

* Discuss the habits and habitats of ducks.

         —Topic questions: Where do they live?  Do they sleep in the water?  What do they eat? Do they lay eggs in nests? What are baby ducks called? 

* Discuss weather and migration.

         —Topic questions: Why ducks fly south for the winter?  Practice “V” formations and go outside and walk, jog, and run in “V” formation. (Click here) to download and print picture of ducks flying in “V”)

* Have students color, cut and glue ducks in “V” formation. (click for pdf)

* Do ducks get wet?  Do a science experiment where you test how water reacts to duck feathers.

* Place feathers inside a bowl and have students try to blow the feathers out using a straw.  Great way to develop oral muscles!

Math

* Print-out ducks and sequence by size on water (blue paper). (click  for pdf)

* Print-out boy and girl duck and pattern on sentence strip. (click for pdf)

* Pass out feathers and have students place feathers around the room to promote positional words : over, under, far, near, above, below.

* For a whole group activity, stamp the kids’ fingers to draw ducks on them. Have them fold a finger down every time one doesn’t come back to practice subtraction.

* Student rolls dye and counts number of dots and then student quacks the amount represented by the dots on the dye or the number on the dye.

* Hide a duck in the room. Count to ten while a child searches for it and comes back to the circle by the  time you say 10.

Social / Emotional

* Discuss family:  What are siblings?  Help the children count the siblings in their own families.  Create a graph to see if the students have more boy or girl siblings.

* Discuss safety: Have you ever been lost?  What did it feel like?  How do you think the mother duck felt?  Would your mom and dad be upset if you were lost?  What should you do if you get lost?  Whose responsibility is it to make sure you don’t get lost?

* Have children sing along to song with waddling and holding and flapping feathers.

* Act out the song using stick puppets, masks or by assigning roles. (click for pdf)

Physical / Outdoor

* Sing or chant “Five Little Ducks” while incorporating movement to the song. (visit movement link)

* Have feather races. Place two feather on carpet and have two students race by blowing the feather across the finish line without touching the feather.

* Teach students how to “waddle” – Hold a duck waddle relay races and individual races.

* Waddle in a circle with kids holding and flapping duck feathers in their hand and echo your chant:

– I saw a little duck waddle, waddle waddle

(students waddle while walking in circle)

– I told the duck to stop, stop, stop

(stop waddling)

– And it wagged its tail, tail, tail

(place hands with feathers in back to model tail)

– And it flapped its wings, wings, wings

(hold arms out like wings and flap them while holding feathers in hand)

You can repeat and change the first line to swimming, sleeping, eating, etc.

Allow students to act out the action they select.

* Play an adapted version of Marco-Polo by having the mother duck with her eyes closed (or can be blind-folded) try to find her little duck by following their quacks.

* Play “Duck, Duck, Goose”

* Migration: Practice “V” formation as a class walking, jogging, and running.