My First Hidden Pictures™ (pages 10 and 11)

• After your child has found the hidden objects, talk about the object labels. What's the longest word? What's the shortest word? How many words begin with the letter S?
• Read the poem and help your child identify the rhyming words.
• Explain that a score is 20, so a score and ten is 30. And then count the eggs.

Whether you're three years old or 40, hunting for hidden objects is irresistible. These puzzles help children learn to scan an illustration to find small details and to stick with a task. And reading the poem and object labels helps children develop important early reading skills.

*Literacy: Alphabet Knowledge (Begins to notice and name the beginning letters in words.)

*Literacy: Phonological Awareness (Develops an increasing awareness of the beginning and ending sounds of words.)

Sharing the Wheat (pages 12 to 16)

• Before you read the story, talk with your child about the pictures. Where does the story take place? What type of clothing do the men wear? Are there any children in this story?
• After you finish reading the story, talk about what happened. Why didn't Simon and Levi see each other when they were delivering the bundles of wheat? What was different about the night they did see each other? Why did Simon and Levi want to share their wheat?

After reading this story, act it out! Each of you can make up dialogue for your characters. If that's too difficult for your child, reread the story as you and your child act it out.

*Literacy: Book Knowledge & Appreciation (Shows a growing interest in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and nonfiction books and poetry.)

*Creative Arts: Dramatic Play (Participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.)

Worm School (pages 30 and 31)

• After your child hunts for the W's hidden in the illustration, he or she could use play dough to make other letters from a worm shape.
• Help your child count the number of words in the poem that begin with a W. Be sure to explain what wandering and curlicue mean.

This puzzle introduces some big, "juicy" words to expand children's vocabularies. It helps children identify the letter W. And it encourages children to count a set of objects to determine quantity. That's a lot of learning in one fun puzzle!

*Literacy: Alphabet Knowledge (Begins to notice and name the beginning letters in words.)

*Mathematics: Number & Operations (Demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.)

*Early childhood standards based on the U.S. Head Start Child Outcomes Framework.