Wood Pieces with Music

Wood Piece Play starts with music because children learn so naturally and respond so positively to mu­sic.
Music serves them emotionally and cognitively. When you sing to children, you know that they follow routines,
co-operate, and engage more readily. Teach the Wood Pieces with music!

Materials/Setup Activity
• Sing Along CD 1. Introduce children to the names of the Wood Pieces.
- “Golden Slippers,”
This is a Big Line. Hold it up in the air.
track 20
Can you show me a Big Line? Children hold it up in the air.
- “Wood Piece Pokey,”
track 25 2. Repeat for other shapes.
- “Tap, Tap, Tap,” track 19 This is a Little Line. Can you show me a Little Line?
• Rock, Rap, Tap & Learn CD This is a Big Curve. Can you show me a Big Curve?
- “Hey, Hey! Big Line,” This is a Little Curve. Can you show me a Little Curve?
track 4
3. P
 lay songs from the CDs and have children participate as the music plays.
- “Big Line March,” track 6
Note: For “Golden Slippers,” use two Big Lines. Children follow as you
• Wood Pieces move the Big Lines in different ways.

Grouping
✔ Check
Whole group; small group
Check handedness (which hand does the tapping?). Observe as children listen
Suppor t/ELL
and follow directions.
For “Wood Piece Pokey,”
use the CD just for familiarity.
Then sing without CD at the
More To Learn
Make up your own verses to extend a song. For Wood Piece Pokey, the ideas are endless.
right tempo for your children.

 Video Lesson
View the video lesson,
Tap, Tap, Tap Song: HandwritingwithWithout Tears ®

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer

Body Awareness, at
™
getsetforschool.com/videos

Sing Along
Songs and Fingerplays
To Promote School Readiness

Look What We’re Learning Vocabulary

Foundation Skills Sensory Motor big
• Imitate teacher’s body movements • Use large muscle groups to maintain posture/ little
• Listen to oral directions to attend to a simple task position and mobility
line
• Listen to and repeat songs • Use both sides of the body in activities
• Tolerate motion in activities curve
Oral Language
• Learn words linked to content being taught • Handle play materials without an avoidance response
• Notice and attach meaning to visual information

© 2012 Get Set for School

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 Wood Pieces Set
Wood Pieces Set for Capital Let ters
Set includes 26 pieces:
• 8 Big Lines • 6 Big Curves
• 6 Little Lines • 6 Little Curves
I’m a Big Line!
Buy from Get Set for School®
or make your own.

I’m a Big Curve!

I’m a Little Curve!

I’m a Little Line!

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© 2012 Get Set for School
 Polish, Sort & Trade Wood Pieces
Children love to feel like they belong. Spread the Wood Pieces on the floor and have children sit around them
as a group. Show them how.

Materials/Setup Activity
• Wood Pieces 1. Show children how to polish, stack, and sort the Wood Pieces. This is
• Old socks or paper towels a friendly, relaxed, and worthwhile activity that they love.

Grouping 2. T alk about the pieces. Gradually, they will pick up the important words
Whole class (Big Line, Little Line, Big Curve, Little Curve) along with the pieces.
You can say:
Suppor t/ELL
You have a Big Curve. I have a Big Curve. We picked the same pieces.
Make up songs as children
You have a Big Line. I have a Big Curve. Do you want to trade?
rub the pieces to reinforce
Let’s polish lines. Do you want to polish a Big Line or a Little Line?
the various concepts you are
teaching. Try this one that
It’s time to collect the Wood Pieces. Who has a Big Line?
goes to “Row, Row, Row
Your Boat”: ✔ Check
Observe children to see which hand they use to rub the Wood Pieces.
Rub, rub, rub Big Line
Rub your Big Line
Generally, it will be the dominant hand. Do children name the Wood
Rub, rub, rub Big Line Pieces correctly?
It looks just like mine

Rub, rub, rub Big Curve

It is nice and round
More To Learn
Rub, rub, rub Big Curve Collect and put away pieces by type and size. Finding the right pieces among others is a
Now put it on the ground figure-ground activity. Stacking requires turning and positioning.

Look What We’re Learning Vocabulary

Oral Language • Participate in school routines big
• Learn words linked to content being taught • Listen to oral directions to attend to a simple task little
• Communicate thoughts with words • Observe and sort
curve
• Speak in sentences made up of three or more words Sensory Motor
line
Foundation Skills • Use same hand consistently to hold crayons
• Imitate teacher’s body movements • Look at hands and use visual cues to guide reaching
• Share with peers and adults for, grasping, and moving objects

© 2012 Get Set for School

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 Positions & Body Parts with Wood Pieces
It’s so much fun to follow you, “Big line UP in the air, UNDER your chair, OVER your head, UNDER your arm.”
All can play, and as they do, they learn POSITION words and body parts. Children need words like top, middle,
bottom for a future lesson. They need other position words to follow directions. And as they follow you, they learn
to imitate, focus, and respond quickly.

Materials/Setup Activity
• Wood Pieces 1. Say the name of each position or body part as you demonstrate.
Have children join in.
Grouping
Whole class; small group 2. T each other position words such as: BEHIND my back, BETWEEN
my fingers, BESIDE me, THROUGH my arm (put hand on hip first),
Suppor t/ELL ON my lap, ON my shoulder.
Point to body parts with
a Wood Piece. Slowly say
3. W
 hen teaching TOP, BOTTOM, MIDDLE, use a big line. Hold the big line
the body part name. Have with just one hand at the BOTTOM, then changes hands and positions,
children repeat with you. naming the position each time. Children imitate.

✔ Check
Name positions and see if children can move their Wood Piece to that position.

More To Learn
Play “Teacher Says” (just like Simon Says) and move Wood Pieces in different positions.

Big Line. . .UP in the air Big Line. . .UNDER my chair

UP and DOWN UNDER my arm
OVER my arm

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 Big Line. . .OUT to my side Big Line in FRONT of me
AROUND in circle BEHIND my back, BETWEEN my fingers
Hold it at the BOTTOM, It’s VERTICAL

Climb UP and DOWN Big Line is HORIZONTAL

Hold it at the TOP, MIDDLE, Move it SIDE to SIDE
and BOTTOM

Look What We’re Learning Vocabulary

Foundation Skills Oral Language top under
• Name body parts • Repeat teacher’s words middle on
• Recognize and use common prepositions in speech • Learn words linked to content being taught
bottom between
• Imitate teacher’s body movements Sensory Motor
• Listen to oral directions to attend to a simple task above head
• Tolerate motion in activities
Comprehension • Use both sides of the body in activities below eyes
• Listen to perform a task • Move naturally and place body to perform tasks over hands

© 2012 Get Set for School

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 Curves & Circles
By imitating you, children prepare for capitals made with curves: B C D G O P Q R S U. Children learn that
O can be letter O, number 0, or an O shape. When children rotate their arms to make circles, they prepare to
write O and draw anything with a circular shape: snowmen, wheels, faces.

Materials/Setup Activity
• Wood Pieces: 1. Give each child two Big Curves or two Little Curves.
2 Big Curves or 2 Little
Curves per child 2. Say the name of each position as you demonstrate. Have children say
it too.
Grouping
3. Teach O as a letter, a number, and a shape.
Whole class; small group

Suppor t/ELL
✔ Check
One symbol O has three
Are the children able to distinguish circle, O, and zero?
different names: circle,
zero, letter O. Help children
understand that all three More To Learn
names belong. Focus on With “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” children learn the rainbow shape and the concept
each concept individually. OVER. Go on an O Hunt around the room.

APART TOGETHER
Hold the Big Curves apart. Bring them together.

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 O or ZERO RAINBOW
Say “O” or “Zeeeero.” Hold UP a Big Curve.
Children hold two Big Curves up Hold the Big Curve and then
to their faces. Look at a friend’s O. trace OVER the rainbow with
Make circles in the air now. the other hand.

SMILE SQUIGGLE—WIGGLE
Hold Big Curve UP to make a Hold curves with just one end
happy face. Turn it DOWN to touching. Move them alternately
make a sad face. UP or DOWN.

Look What We’re Learning Vocabulary

Foundation Skills Sensory Motor apart letter
• Imitate teacher’s body movements • Tolerate motion in activities together O
Comprehension • Use both sides of the body in activities
rainbow number
• Listen to perform a task • Handle play materials without an avoidance response
• Notice and attach meaning to visual information smile zero
Oral Language
• Repeat teacher’s words squiggle shape
• Learn words linked to content being taught wiggle circle

© 2012 Get Set for School

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 Vertical, Horizontal & Diagonal Positions
By imitating you, children learn the concepts of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. They need to know how to
place lines horizontally and vertically for letters E F H I L T. Diagonals prepare children for capitals A K M N
R V W X Y Z.

Materials/Setup Activity
• Wood Pieces 1. Give each child two Big Lines.
- 2 Big Lines per child
2. U
 se position words VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL, and DIAGONAL and have
- 1 Little Line per child
children say them as they imitate you.
Grouping 3. Introduce the capitals V T A X as they make them with you.
Whole class; small group
✔ Check
Suppor t/ELL
Observe handedness as children play. Do most move their Wood Pieces with
Encourage children to speak
their dominant hand?
with you. The words vertical,
horizontal, and diagonal are
fun to say with the motions.
Teach tactile and kinesthetic More To Learn
concepts one at a time. Show two children holding V how to make them touch for W.

Hold two Big Lines Open them! Hold them out. Hold two Big Lines END to END
TOGETHER in Say, Voilà! It’s a V. diagonally. Move and say,
one hand. Help children finger trace V. DIAGONAL, DIAGONAL.

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 Make a Big Line stand up. Now it’s tired. One Big Line is standing UP.
It’s VERTICAL. Make it walk Make it lie down. One Little Line ACROSS the TOP.
on your arm. It’s HORIZONTAL. It’s capital T.

Hold one big line in Put them TOGETHER at Together at the MIDDLE—
each hand. the TOP. Looks like a tee- It’s X! X marks the spot!
They are VERTICAL. pee or the start of A.

Look What We’re Learning Vocabulary

Foundation Skills • Learn words linked to content being taught verticle
• Recognize and use common prepositions in speech • Use new words linked to content being taught horizontal
• Imitate teacher’s body movements Sensory Motor diagonal
Comprehension • Tolerate motion in activities
letter names: A T V W X
• Listen to perform a task • Use both sides of the body in activities
Oral Language • Handle play materials without an avoidance response
• Repeat teacher’s words • Notice and attach meaning to visual information

© 2012 Get Set for School

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 Hands-On Letter Play
Hands-On Letter Play is the child friendly way to teach four-year-olds to write. They can learn to write before
they write. They can learn how to make letters right-side up and facing correctly. Hands-On Letter Play provides
all the fun of multisensory play with the bonus of enabling you to teach correct writing habits from the start.

Here’s Hands-On Letter Play! Children learn letters with....

Letter Cards Mat for Roll-A-Dough Stamp and Slate A-B-C Touch &
Wood Pieces Letters® See Screen® Flip® Cards
I 2
RAKE

© 2003 Jan Z. Olsen

Handwriting Without Tears®

Smile and teach good habits! The smiley face in the top left corner helps children orient
letters to make letters right-side up and facing correctly. The teacher uses the smiley face
as a cue to show where to start and how to build letters correctly.

Capital Let ter Cards for Wood Pieces

Each card shows a different letter made with Wood Pieces. Children use real Wood Pieces, to cover the letter,
in the correct order, piece by piece. These cards are ideal for teaching the first letters in children’s names. Each
child has his/her own letter. The teacher helps each child choose the correct Wood Pieces and place them in
order. The teacher and children always use the correct Wood Piece words. Letter R is made with a Big Line,
then a Little Curve, then a Little Line.

I 2
RAKE I 2
RAKE I 2
RAKE I 2
RAKE

3 3 3 3

© 2003 Jan Z. Olsen © 2003 Jan Z. Olsen © 2003 Jan Z. Olsen © 2003 Jan Z. Olsen
Handwriting Without Tears® Handwriting Without Tears® Handwriting Without Tears® Handwriting Without Tears®

The set includes 26 double sided 8.5" x 11" cards. One side has a capital letter. The other side has related
letter and picture matching activities.

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 Capitals on the Mat for Wood Pieces
The Mat is a place to build Wood Piece letters. It has a smiley face in the top left corner. That is the cue
children need to place the Wood Pieces and make letters correctly. You build each letter correctly step by step
and children imitate.

Sometimes you may keep the name of the letter a secret. Children like a surprise. This is an easy way for
four-year-olds to learn letter names and good habits for making letters and is a favorite Hands-On Letter Play
activity. You’ll see it on most letter pages in My First School Book.

Teacher first:
BIG LINE + LITTLE CURVE + LITTLE LINE

Child imitates each step.

BIG LINE + LITTLE CURVE + LITTLE LINE

The blue, fabric covered mat has a yellow smiley face in the top left corner. It measures 8" x 11".
The Wood Pieces Set for Capital Letters includes 26 pieces:
8 Big Lines 6 Big Curves
6 Little Lines 6 Little Curves

© 2012 Get Set for School

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