Copyright 2016 by MindWorks Resources Incorporated

All rights reserved. The activities and illustrations within this manual may be reproduced
by the sole individual owner of this publication for single classroom or educational
purposes only and may not be redistributed in part or in whole. This work may not be
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Printed in the U.S.A.

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The wilder the range of possibilities we offer children, the

more intense will be their motivations and the richer their
experiences.
-Loris Malaguzzi
Word Wise is specifically designed to shape and mold the rapidly developing language skills of
preschool-aged children. Preschool years are a critical time for a childs speech and language
development. In fact, it is one of the most rapid periods of language development in a persons life,
and proper exposure to language-rich experiences has life-long implications. Language is an
extremely broad category that encompasses the way in which we produce ideas (expression),
understand concepts (comprehension), and use the social rules for communication (pragmatics). It is
the way in which human beings communicate with one another. Providing high quality opportunities
for students to explore language, as well as spending copious amounts of time talking with young
children, maximizes the language experience and both the short- and long-term development
milestones. These developmental milestones are a critical component in developing activities in a
preschool classroom and are the guideline used in developing Word Wise activities.

For more information on Word Wise and

other great MindWorks products:
1-888-440-6463
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Language Development Milestones

Three to Four Years Old:

Enjoys books, simple songs, nursery rhymes, silly words, and stories
Will start to tell more stories, often explaining things that have happened in their
environments
Has a vocabulary of 900 or more words
Most of what they say can be understood
Puts words together to form 3-4 word sentences
Asks and answers who, what, and where questions
Asks LOTS of questions
Likes to talk and have conversations with people
Uses proper grammar most of the time
Uses pronouns I, you and me
Knows their name, gender, street name, and a number of nursery rhymes
Knows some prepositions (position words) such as in, on, and under
Often makes mistakes with negatives and uses double negatives, ie: I dont not want to go
Follows a 3-part command
Begins to recognize some letters and words (e.g. recognizes stop sign, the M for
McDonalds, etc.)
Sorts (matches) objects by function (find something you play with, wear, etc); by size (big,
little); and by familiar colors.
Names one color
Is developing number concepts can give you 1, more, or all of something
May repeat sounds, words, or phrases (may sound like stuttering)
Stays with one activity for 8-9 minutes

Four to Five Years Old:

Continues to learn lots of new words very quickly

Vocabulary of 4,000 6,000 words
Uses sentences of 4-6 words
Talks a lot and about everything they are doing or thinking
Tells long stories about own personal experiences
Uses more descriptive words when speaking
Asks who and why questions
Interested in explanations for their how and why questions
May ask questions while reading a book
Understands and uses tomorrow and yesterday
Uses past, present and future tense, mostly, but not always, correctly
Begins to use plurals, past tense, and pronouns
Interested in written words, letters, and numbers.
Understands most requests made by adults
Matches and sorts objects in a large variety of ways
Understands prepositions (e.g. beside, behind, in front)
Stays with an activity for 11-12 minutes

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Listening and Comprehension

Its Written on My Face

Setting: Large groups and centers
Materials: Roylco Mix & Match Emotions, jumbo craft sticks, and Snow White and Seven Dwarfs; also provide
paper, scissors, glue or tape, and markers, crayons, or colored pencils. If doing the second MW Twist, you need
plastic eggs and pictures of emotion eggs from Appendix; and provide a permanent marker
Preparation: Read the insert included in the Mix & Match Emotion Masks to help guide the conversation about
emotions with students. Make copies of the head outlines included in the Roylco Mix & Match Emotions kit. Cut
out the head outlines, and glue or tape onto jumbo craft sticks. Make sure to prepare enough for each student
present. If doing the second MW Twist, prepare the plastic eggs by using a permanent marker to draw different
facial expressions illustrating different emotions; the Appendix has several examples. Note: Keep the plastic eggs
after this activity as they will be needed for another activity in this guide.

Expression
Emotion
Feeling

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Instructions:

Teacher asks students to make facial expressions that show

emotions. Examples are as follows: Show me your

o
Happy face

o
Sad face

o
Excited face

o
Angry face

o
Bored face

o
Scared face

Discuss different facial expressions.

Ask students about the different facial expressions that are

commonly made in response to different circumstances. Examples

of questions to ask are as follows:

o
How does your face look when you smell something

stinky?

o
How does your face look when you get a present?

o
How does your face look when you drop your ice cream

cone on the ground?

o
How does your face look when someone kicks the tower

you made out of blocks?

Discuss each of the seven dwarfs from Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs, and have the students come up with a facial expression

that represents each dwarf.

Divide the class into seven groups.

Assign each group one of the dwarfs, and remind students of the

facial expression for that dwarf.

Read Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs aloud.

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Listening and Comprehension

Have students show the emotion on their face each time they hear the name of their groups dwarf
read aloud.
Hand out the cut-out head outlines on sticks prepared earlier.
Either as a class or in centers, have students use the head outlines on a stick to create a new dwarf for
the story.
Have students draw the face on their head outline, illustrating the emotion they think their dwarf would
express.
Students may use the Mix & Match Emotion Masks as inspiration.
Have students name their dwarfs.

MW Twists:

Create a class story with the new dwarfs.

Using the emotion eggs prepared in advance, do the following:

o
Show the eggs one at a time, and discuss the facial expression.

Ask students what emotion they feel is drawn on the egg.

Ask students to give scenarios that might cause someone to have that feeling.

o
After showing all the eggs, begin breaking apart the eggs to mix them up, creating new and

creative emotions. Discuss what happens when the eyes and mouth have conflicting

expressions. For example, a tear under an eye with a smiling mouth conflicts; however, some

people laugh so hard they cry!

o
Have the students imitate the expressions on the eggs. Note, this will be easier when the eyes

and mouth reflect a similar emotion. Comment on how difficult it is to have happy eyes and a

sad-looking, down-turned mouth.

Have students do other activities included on the Mix & Match Emotions Mask insert.

TEACHER TIP:
Get excited! Young children are very in tune
with their emotions. If you are excited and
having fun, your students will be too!

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Vocabulary

Its All in His Head

Setting: Large group; and centers or small groups
Materials: Neds Head game. If doing the second MW Twist, provide items from around the classroom. If doing the
third MW Twist, provide paper or index cards; and a writing utensil
Preparation: Become familiar with the rules for playing Neds Head, and prepare the game for play; if doing the
second MW Twist, gather items from around the classroom; if doing the third MW Twist, read the directions below, and make shadow cards by tracing objects from around the classroom.

Describe
Characteristic
Object

Instructions:

Show students the items from Neds Head.

Discuss the characteristics of each item. Examples are as follows:

o
Where do you find this item in real life?

o
Is the real item alive?

o
What does the real item do?

Put all the items into Neds Head.

Have the students take turns reaching into Neds Head, grabbing an

object, and trying to guess the name of the object. If a student

correctly guesses the object and can describe the object with three

of more words, she keeps the object until the end of the game. If

not, the object is returned to Neds Head.

In centers or small groups, have students play Neds Head

according to the rules included in the game.

MW Twists:

Lay the objects from Neds Head on the table. Place the cards

inside Neds Head, and have students take turns selecting a picture

card from the head and then describing the picture to the other

students. The other students listen to the description and try to

choose the item on the table that matches the card.

Put other items from around the classroom inside Neds Head. Use

the nine blank game cards provided with the game, and draw a

picture of each item. Have the students play the game according to

the rules, or have students feel the objects inside the head and

attempt to guess the objects without the cards.

Make shadow cards for either the items from Neds Head or items

from around the classroom, and play the game with shadow cards.

Shadow cards are simply traced outlines of the objects.

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Word Play

Twist and Spell

Setting: Large or small group
Materials: Twist and Spell Exercise Cards
Preparation: Become familiar with the cards in the Twist and Spell Exercise Cards set and how each letter is
formed.

Stretch
Guess
Exercise

Instructions:

Have students stand in a large, open area, and have the Twist and

Spell Exercise Cards at the front of the room.

Instruct students to do a few warm-up stretches such as deep

breaths, toe touches, and arms reaching for the sky.

Call out different letters that are simple to form with the body.

Examples of simple letters are T, A, and Y.

One at a time, have students walk up to select a card from the

Twist and Spell Exercise Cards, without showing the other students

what letter was selected.

The student will form the letter while the other students try to

guess the letter being formed.

After the letter is guessed correctly, instruct the students to make

the sound of the letter.

After every student has had a turn, divide students into groups of

three.

Assign a three-letter word for each group to form by working

together. For example, one group will be assigned the word cat,

while another group will be assigned mop.

Other three-letter words could include words such as bit, bat, cot,

cap, dip, dug, dig, dim, fox, fin, fun, hop, hip, hum, hog, jog, jam, lit,

lot, map, mat, not, nod, mud, mat, pan, pun, tin, and tip.

Within each group, each student will be assigned one letter to

make the word. For the cat example, one student will remember

the letter C, the second student will remember the letter A, and

the third student will remember the letter T.

If there are enough cards for each group, leave with the group the

three letters forming the word for the students to review.

If there are not enough cards for each group, allow enough time for

students to remember their particular letter or write the letter on a

piece of paper.

Students in each group will stand in a line and use their bodies to

spell out their group word according to the picture on the cards.

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Word Play

As students form their letters one at a time, they will say the sound. For example, if spelling the word,
cat, the first student forms the C and says /k/, the second student forms an A and says /a/, and the
third student forms a T and says /t/.
Continue having groups spell different three-letter words.

MW Twists:

Have students practice spelling other words such as their names.

Create an exercise and spelling routine using common words.

TEACHER TIP:
Students are more likely to develop skills
and maintain mastery when they are up,
moving, and having fun. The key to teaching
preschoolers successfully is fun, engaging,
kinesthetic instruction.

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Writing and Concepts of Print

Felt Tales
Setting: Small groups or centers
Materials: Happy Tails Felt Tales and Lets Go to the Farm Felt Tales; if doing the first MW Twist, use black marker
and provide large pieces of felt; if doing the second MW Twist, provide age-appropriate magazines, coloring books,
and scissors
Preparation: If doing the second MW Twist, cut out pictures from age-appropriate magazines.

Instructions:

Have students sit in a semi-circle on the floor.

Show students a complete felt board with all the pieces on the

board.

Play I SPY for students to learn about felt pieces. An example from

the Happy Tales board would be, I SPY with my little eye

something furry that meows.

When students correctly guess the answer, remove the felt piece

off the board.

Review the felt board background when all pieces are removed to

make sure they understand the setting for stories.

Explain the importance of a setting to a story. An example would be

farm animals in a city setting instead of a farm setting. This story

could be silly or adventurous!

Divide students into two groups.

Give each group a felt board with the pieces removed.

Have one student from each team begin by putting a piece on the

board and starting a story with that piece as inspiration. Stories can

be realistic or silly.

Taking turns, each student places a piece on the board and

continues the story until the last piece is in place.

After each group has told two stories, have the groups switch felt

boards and repeat.

Describe
Setting
Inspiration

MW Twists:

Use felt and a black marker to create original felt storyboard

backgrounds. Use the characters from the felt sets combined with

new backgrounds to create original stories.

Give students pictures from age-appropriate magazines to use with

the felt board lying flat on a surface. Students can play and make

up stories with their new characters.

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Dramatic Play

Peepers
Setting: Large or small group, and centers
Materials: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peeper Puppets, yarn, chenille stems, rubber bands, and example
pictures in Appendix, plus provide a variety of craft materials and glue; if doing the third MW Twist, use craft sticks
and provide construction paper, crayons or markers, a variety of craft materials, scissors, tape, and glue
Preparation: Gather a variety of craft materials.

Personality
Act
Puppet

Instructions:

Read Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs aloud to the students.

Talk about the different personalities of the dwarfs.

Have students act out the story of Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs.

In centers, have students each choose their favorite dwarf and

make a Peeper Puppet to match the personality of the dwarf.

Decorate the Peeper Puppets, attaching chenille stems, ribbon,

yarn, feathers and other craft supplies by using rubber bands and

glue.

Show students example pictures from Appendix.

Have students name their dwarf puppet, and use them to create

and act out stories in a center.

MW Twists:

In centers, perform a show with the original peeper puppets the

students made. Give different situations such as the puppets

enjoying a picnic, Happy trying to wake up Sleepy, etc., that

students act out using their puppets.

Have students use their creativity to come up with different dwarfs

with different personalities. Students then create a story with these

new dwarfs.

Providing construction paper, have students draw a self-portrait

and decorate it creatively with the craft supplies. Teacher will cut

out the face so students can tape it to a craft stick. Students will

interact their puppets with each other.

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Appendix

Listening and Comprehension

Its Written on My Face
Pictures of Emotion Eggs for the Second MW Twist

Rhyming Words Are Snowballing

Pictures of Rhyming Words
Bear

Chair

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Appendix

Dramatic Play
Peepers
Examples of Peeper Puppets

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Word Wise
MindWorksResources.com

A Foundational Guide
by MindWorks Resources

MindWorks Resources provides quality

academic enrichment programming for
preschool, after school and summer programs.
Our newest product, Imaginate Jr. Word Wise,
was created to shape and mold the rapidly
developing language skills of preschool-aged
children. Using research-based developmental
milestones as the guideline in developing this
kit, all activities are age-appropriate and highly
engaging for young learners. The Word Wise kit
includes the following:
A step-by-step facilitator guide
50 hands-on activities in the following
categories:

o
Listening & Comprehension

o
Vocabulary

o
Word Play

o
Writing and Concepts of Print

o
Dramatic Play

2 or more activity extensions per lesson

Alignment with developmental
milestones

Materials needed for the activities

For more information on Word Wise and

other great MindWorks products:
1-888-440-6463
MindWorksResources.com