B is for Baker and Bread
What you need:
Different kinds of bread (white and whole wheat bread, tortilla, bagel, baguette, naan bread, etc.)
B for Baker poster
Book suggestion: Everybody Bakes Bread
Learning Skills and Standards:
Emergent Reading
Alphabet knowledge
Phonemic Awareness
Preparation:
Place a freshly baked loaf of bread in to a paper bag. Cut slices of white and whole wheat bread in to small bite-size pieces (one piece of each for each child).
Note: Make sure your children have no gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance.
B for Baker and Bread
Show children the bag, then ask them to close their eyes. Open the bag. Ask: Can you smell what's in the bag? Open the bag to show the bread. Let children try the bread.
Do you know who makes your bread? Say: Yes, the baker.
Show the picture of the baker. Ask: What letter does the word "baker" begin with?
Read the book: Everybody Bakes Bread to the children
Little Carrie is sent on a mission by her mother: to search the neighborhood for a "three-handled rolling pin." While on her quest, Carrie discovers that although her neighbors hail from several different countries, they all enjoy the tastes and smells of home-baked bread.
Show children the different types of bread. Name the different breads and let children try them.
Ask: Where do you get your bread? What kind of bread do you eat? (bagels, tortillas, bread, etc.)
B for Baker Movement
Ask children if they know names and words that start with the letter B. (Billy, Bob, Barbara, Berta, ball, baby, bus, bee, etc.)
Pat-a-cake Rhyme
Recite the rhyme by clapping hands together, and then clapping the legs in the rhythm of the rhyme.
Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake, Bakers Man,
Bake me a bread as fast as you can.
Mix it, roll it and mark it with a B,
And put it in the oven for Baby (Bob, Berta, Bear, etc.) and me!
Math: Favorite Bread Graphing
Let children try small bite-size pieces of white and whole wheat breads.
Ask children what kind of bread they like most.
Make a chart of which bread children like the most (white bread, whole wheat bread).
Health
Tell children that grains are divided into two groups--whole grains and refined grains. Explain that white breads, crackers, and pastries are made of flour so finely ground that there is not much left of the healthy grains. Emphasize to children that we should eat more whole grain foods (foods that are darker like brown rice, oatmeal, and whole wheat bread). Refined grain foods are foods like white bread, white pasta, white flour tortillas, and cornflakes cereal.
Extension:
Make Bread
Make some bread dough together and bake a loaf of bread in the oven.
Bakery Pretend Play
Provide children with baking toys, brown play dough, aprons, a scale, and a cash register. Invite children to make breads and invite their friends for a pretend snack or sell them in their store.
Have children pretend to be a baker using homemade play dough with no color. Let children use their hands and a rolling pin to make different bread shapes. Place the breads on a baking sheet and pretend to bake them. Then, let children sell them in their store.
Letter B Pretzels
Make a pretzel dough together. Then, show children how to form a Letter B pretzel. Bake and enjoy for a snack.
