Woof! Woof!: The focus of this lesson is to encourage the concept of sharing through reading and cognitive learning experiences.

Teaching with Clifford’s Big Idea: Share
Sharing acts of kindness can bring friends together in work and play. When children are given opportunities to share with others, they learn positive social skills needed to develop healthy relationships. Through observation and role-playing, children learn how to share, be considerate of others, and make good decisions.

Teach: Share and Search!
Objective: The following activity nurtures essential:

• social and emotional skills
• alphabet and phonemic skills

Talk about how much fun it is to share books, stories, and toys with friends. Tell children that reading a book is more than just saying words, it’s also understanding the story the pictures are telling! Encourage children to bring their favorite Clifford book and a pillow to circle time. Give children 10 minutes to share their book with a friend. Show children Clifford’s name in print; name the letters, say the sounds. Hand each child a small word card with Clifford’s name on it. Ask children to search for Clifford’s name. Assist counting and recording how many times Clifford’s name is used in the text of their book for later use in math.

Practice: Woof! Woof! Word Match!
Objective: The following activity nurtures essential:

• vocabulary/sight word skills
• pre-reading skills
• creative expression skills

Make large-letter cards with sight words/high frequency words used in Clifford text: a, and, the, big, little, red, play, dog, puppy, friend, Emily Elizabeth, etc. Hold each card up one at a time while children match that specific word in their favorite Clifford book. When they find their word, have them respond by barking “Woof! Woof!” Name the word, sound out the letters, and brainstorm using the word in sentences about Clifford. Celebrate learning “Clifford words” by coloring a Clifford coloring page and listing study words for children to share at home.

Extend: Cognitive skills can also be reinforced through reading when children have opportunities to creatively experience books.

• To promote basic math skills, help children color in their word count information on a classroom bar graph. Help children count, compare, and share the information with the class.
• Read Clifford Counts Bubbles by Norman Bridwell, Scholastic. Then fill the classroom with bubbles...just like Clifford!

Clifford’s Library: These books support Clifford’s Big Ideas and reinforce valuable early literacy skills:

• Clifford’s Riddles by Norman Bridwell (Scholastic)
• Clifford’s Word Book (Clifford the Big Red Dog) by Norman Bridwell (Scholastic)
• Clifford’s Show-and-Tell Surprise: Clifford the Big Red Dog (Big Red Dog Series) by Norman Bridwell (Scholastic)

Teaching Tip: It’s well known that there is a close correlation in the number of books a child experiences and reading success. Reading aloud throughout the day to children builds vocabulary, fosters imagination and creativity, and encourages growth in essential early literacy skills. By giving children opportunities to explore picture books independently, they can also grow in interpreting stories through illustration, which reinforces overall comprehension skills.