Find Two; Find Three (pages 16 and 17)

• To help your child find the matching bears, look first at the bears' feet, then their nose color, and finally the neck ribbons.
• To find the three identical block constructions, use sticky notes to cover the images that don't have a match. As you eliminate images, the task will become easier.

Learning to look carefully and notice small details is an important early reading skill. Puzzles like these can help.

*Approaches to Learning: Engagement & Persistence (Develops an increasing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a task.)

*Approaches to Learning: Reasoning & Problem Solving (Develops an increasing ability to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.)

Squirrel-Watching (pages 24 and 25)

• Talk together about the illustration, and help your child find and count the squirrels and nuts.
• After you and your child find the S's hidden in the illustration, you could also look for and count the number of S's in the poem.

When you hunt for S's in the poem, talk about where they appear. Are they at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the words? This will help your child learn where a word begins and ends.

*Literacy: Alphabet Knowledge (Identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name and the names of important people in their lives.)

*Approaches to Learning: Reasoning & Problem Solving (Begins to recognize and solve problems through active exploration and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.)

Heading Home (bonus pages)

• If your child has difficulty asking another player for a particular type of card, he or she can turn a card face out and ask: "Do you have any of these?"
• If you need help with the Spanish words, go to Highlights.com/high-five and listen to the free audio edition.

When children play games, they are learning to cooperate, take turns, and follow the rules. And as they ask other players for cards, children are also developing important oral-language skills.

*Social & Emotional Development: Cooperation (Shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion in working, playing, and resolving conflicts with peers.)

*Literacy: Speaking & Communicating (Develops an increasing ability to understand and use language to communicate information and ask questions.)

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