instructionalunit: opposites - university of north florida˜… showthechildrenthecoverofthesing a...

Family Child Care HomeInstructional Unit:

OPPOSITES

AUTHORDr. Janice Wood

Crawford Early Literacy Faculty Fellow

Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit:

OPPOSITES

The Instructional Units presented here were funded in part by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Innovationand Improvement, Fund for the Improvement of Education as part of the Virtual School Readiness Incubator Project, theFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida, and the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Inc. These

materials are still in the refinement phase and should be used with this caution in mind. The content of these units does notnecessarily reflect the views or policies of or imply endorsement by the U. S. Department of Education, the University of

North Florida, and/or the Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Inc.

No claim is made on those materials that are in the public domain.©2013 Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida

Reproduction of these materials for resale or distribution is prohibited.

University of North Florida • University Center • 12000 Alumni Drive • Jacksonville, Florida 32224–2678(904) 620–2496 • FAX (904) 620–2454 •

http://www.unf.edu/fie/Family_Childcare_Homes_Instructional_Units_(FCCH).aspx

Family Child Care Home Instructional Unit 2013 - OppositesFlorida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida

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Family Child Care Home Instructional UnitsThe Family Child Care Home Instructional Units are curriculum resource units forFamily Home providers and teachers. The Instructional Units are standards-basedand are strongly rooted in an evidence-based framework. The Instructional Unittopics were determined by the needs of professional development providers andteachers. They are easily adaptable to the needs of children, ranging in age from twoyears through four years, in a variety of learning environments and inclusive settings.

Instructional Unit Topics

Colors Shapes

Letters Numbers

Counting All About Me - Body Parts/Senses

All About Me - My Feelings My Family and Friends

Weather My Community

Transportation Care of the Earth

Plants Day and Night

Opposites Water Animals

Air Animals Land Animals


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OppositesAges 2+–3

Sing a Song ofOpposites

By Pam Schiller

Core Vocabulary Words

big/small tall/short up/down in/out fast/slow

Additional Children’s BooksBig Dog, Little Dog, P.D. Eastman

My First Book of Opposites, Kim DeeganMy Little Opposites, Bob Staake

Rainbow Fish Opposites, Marcus PfisterSlide and Seek Opposites, Chuck Murphy

Spot Looks at Opposites, Eric Hill

Oral Language Experiences

� Listens to and responds to songsand books about opposites

� Talks about opposite concepts

� Says opposite words

� Listens to vocabulary words

Learning Experiences

� Matches and sorts objects that arealike and different

� Differentiates between objects inthe environment

� Identifies opposites

Rich Vocabulary Words

opposites


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Activities

� Tell the children they are going to be learning about opposite words. Introduce theOpposite Song to the children. Introduce the Vocabulary Words big, small, tall, short, up,down, in, out, fast, and slow. Point to and say the Vocabulary Word cards from ActivityPictures #1. Tell the children you are going to sing about some opposite words and youwant them to sing with you and make the motions with their hands and bodies. Modelthe motions as you sing. Use the following Vocabulary Word cards while singing.

Opposite SongMake yourself big, (hold arms in circular fashion)

Make yourself small. (form a small ball with your body)Make yourself tall, (stand up tall)

Make yourself short. (stand on your knees)Hold your hands up, (hold hands up)

Hold your hands down. (hold hands down)Put your tongue in,Put your tongue out.Can you run fast?Can you walk slow?Sing along with me.

Oral Language Activities

Materials Needed

� Book: Sing a Song of Opposites by Pam Schiller� Cut out Vocabulary Words from Activity Pictures #1� Cut out Take-Home Bracelets from Activity Pictures #5� Sets of objects that are the same, objects that are different� Small blocks (one for each child)


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First Reading of the Book

� Show the children the cover of the Sing a Song of Opposites book. Point to and read thetitle of the book and the author’s name. Tell them that this is a book about opposites. Askthe children to look at the picture on the cover of the book. As you point to the cheetahs,tell them that cheetahs run very fast. Point to the turtle and tell the children that turtlesmove very slowly. Ask the children to run fast, and to move slow. Tell them that “fast” and“slow” are opposite words. Turn the page and point to the big elephant and point to thesmall elephant. During the first reading of the book, display the opposite wordsVocabulary Word cards while reading.

big/small tall/shortup/down in/outfast/slow

After reading the book, highlight the sets of opposite words by completing the followingactions:

big/small Ask one child to take off one shoe as you are taking off one of your shoes.Place the shoes side by side. Point to the adult shoe and say the word big.Point to the child’s shoe and say the word small.

short/tall Ask one child to stand next to the teacher. Point to the standing child andsay the word short. Point to yourself and say the word tall.

up/down Ask the children to stand up. Say the word up. Ask the children to sitdown. Say the word down.

in/out Place a large box on the floor for this activity. Ask one child to get in thebox. Say the word in. Ask the child to get out of the box. Say the wordout.

fast/slow Gather the children in the center of the room and tell them to move tothe wall fast. Say the word fast. Ask the children to move slowly and comeback to the center of the room. Say the word slow.


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Second Reading of the Book

� Show the children the cover of the book and remind them that the cheetahs run fast andthe turtles move slow. Point to the fast cheetahs and the slow turtle. Continue reading thebook and point to and say the names of the opposite words and pictures throughout thebook.

big/small tall/short fast/slowup/down in/out

� After reading the book, highlight the sets of opposite words by completing the followingactions:

big/small Point out one big object in the room and say big. Point out one smallobject in the room and say small.

short/tall Place a doll next to a child and say the doll is short. Say the word short.Point to the child and say tall.

up/down Ask the children to use their fingers to point up and say the word up.Ask the children to point down, and say the word down.

in/out Place a small object inside a box and say the object is in the box. Takethe small object out of the box and say the word out.

fast/slow Ask the children to use one arm to make a fast circle in the air. Say theword fast. Ask the children to stop and use one arm to make a slowcircle in the air. Say the word slow.

� Read the book several times throughout the week.

� Read the books suggested in the Additional Children’s Books section.

� While reading the book, point to the CORE and Rich Vocabulary words. When youintroduce the words, identify the first letter of each word and emphasize the beginningsounds of the words.

� Give each child a Take-Home Bracelet from Activity Pictures #5.


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Activities

� Begin the Same and Different activity by having children sort like objects such as balls,blocks, and books. Gather sets of like objects and place them on the table. Ask thechildren to sort the items – place all of the balls together, the blocks together, and thebooks together. Tell the children that each pile is the same. After the children have hadpractice with like objects, make two piles: one pile with like objects (all books) and onepile with different objects (different colored balls). Point to the like objects and tell thechildren that all of the objects are the same. Point to the different objects and tell thechildren that all of the objects are different. Tell the children that words that havedifferent meaning are called opposite words. As you go through the week, point outopposite objects to the children.

� Tell the children that they are going to look around the classroom and name things thatare big and things that are small. Ask the children to look around the classroom for itemsthat are big. Ask them to go and stand next to one big item. Ask each child to name thebig item. After all children have had a chance to identify and name at least one big item,ask the children to look around the classroom and go and stand next to one small item.Ask each child to name the small item.

� Tell the children that the opposite of white is black. Show them a white item and a blackitem. Write the words white and black on two index cards and place the cards on thetable. Ask the children to look around the classroom and find white and black items andplace them next to the white word or the black word.

� Sing theWe Know Opposites song with the children.

We Know OppositesThe opposite of white is _____. (let the children answer)

Black and white, black and white.The opposite of black is white.

Continue the song by changing the words.Day and nightHot and coldNew and oldWalk and runOpen and closed


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Activities

� Give each child a small block. Give the following directions and ask the children to followthe directions.

• Place the block on top of your head.• Place the block under your foot.

• Place the block in front of your face.• Place the block in the back of your head.

• Place the block over the table.• Place the block under the table.

• Walk forward with the block.• Walk backward with the block.

� Give each child a piece of paper and some crayons. Tell the children that the opposite ofday is night. Talk about what you see and what happens in the day time and in thenighttime. Ask the children to draw a day time picture on one side of the paper and anight time picture on the other side of the paper.

� Bring in several items that are opposite to each other. Some suggestions for items aresomething long and short, big and small, old and new, white and black, hard and soft, wetand dry. Place all of the items in a box. Call on the children, one at a time, and call out anopposite word. Ask them to find the opposite item in the box. Continue this activity untilall children have had several chances to identify opposite items.

Learning Activities

Materials Needed

� Cut out Activity Pictures #1

� Cut out Activity Pictures #2


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Activities

� Cut out the Activity Pictures #2 and give one picture to each child. As you are givingthe pictures to the children, describe the picture, such as, “This is a big elephant.” Tell thechildren to look at their pictures. Ask them to find a small elephant. Say the followingsentences to the children and tell them to hold up their picture if it matches what you sayin the sentence. Give each child one of the picture cards from Activity Pictures #1. Askthem to find the opposite picture card. Give the children the following directions:

Show me a tall tree.Show me a short tree.Show me a child that is up the slide.Show me a child that is going down the slide.Show me a picture of puppies in a box.Show me a picture of puppies out of the box.Shoe me a picture of cheetahs running fast.Show me a picture of a slow moving turtle.

� Tell the children you want them to make some opposite movements while playing theMoving Opposites game. Say the following statements to the children and ask them tomake the movements.

Moving OppositesShow me your back, show me your front.Pretend you are hot, pretend you are cold.

Walk fast, walk slow.Show me your right hand, show me your left hand.

Show me a happy face, show me a sad face.

� Walk around the room and point out and identify opposite items, such as:

• a baby that is asleep, a baby that is awake• a short stuffed animal, a tall child• an open door, a closed door• a big ball, a small ball

As you proceed through the week, continue to point out and identify opposite objects inthe environment.

� Fold a piece of paper in half and ask the children to draw two opposite pictures on eachhalf of the page. Suggest a big ball and a small ball or a happy face and a sad face.


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Activities

� Engage your children in an Opposite Dance activity. Put some instrumental music onand ask your children to do the following:

• Kick your foot high, kick your foot low.• Jump to the front, jump to the back.• Clap your hand loudly, clap your hands quietly.• Take a big step, take a small step.• Make yourself tall, make yourself short.• Hold your hand up, hold your hand down.• Walk fast, walk slow.• Make a happy face, make a sad face.

� Ask the children to sit in a circle. Tell the children that the opposite of fast is slow. Tellthem you are going to be rolling a ball fast to one of them, and that child has to roll itslow to another child. Roll a ball fast to one child. Ask him/her to roll it back slow toanother child. Continue the activity until all children have had a chance to roll the ballboth fast and slow.

� Place several sized plastic containers at the sand or water table. Tell the children that thecontainers are empty, but you want them to fill the containers with sand or water. Giveeach child a container and ask the children to fill the containers. When all of thecontainers are full, ask the children to empty the containers. Continue to plan plenty ofopportunities to fill and empty containers. Coffee cans, baby food jars, and boxes makegreat items to fill. Remind the children that the opposite of empty is full.

� Play the Simon Says game with the children to help them understand inside and outside.Use masking tape to make a large circle on the floor. Review with the children that theopposite of inside is outside. Start the game by saying, “Simon says for everyone to standinside the circle.” Continue the game by calling out the names of individual children tostand inside and outside the circle.

� Help your children see the difference between small and big. Use a large piece ofconstruction paper for this activity. Help your children outline their handprints on thepaper. Tell the children that their handprints are small. Then you, or someone bigger thanyou, outline your handprint next to their handprints. Tell the children that yourhandprint is big.


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Activities

� Help your children feel the difference between warm and cold. Fill one container withwarm water and one container with cold water. Have your children stick one hand in eachcontainer and experience the difference between warm and cold. Place a variety of warmweather clothes on a table. These might include coats, sweaters, scarf’s, mittens, hats, andjackets. Ask the children to put on the clothes and tell you if they are warm or cold. Placeseveral ice cubes in a container. Give each child an ice cube and ask if the ice cube feelswarm or cold.

� Give your children many opportunities to learn about up and down throughout the week.Take your children to a set of stairs and walk up the stairs. Turn around and walk downthe stairs. Ask the children to say the words with you. If there is a building with anelevator or escalator in it, take the time to ride up and down. Additional activities can bedone at a playground or park. Take your children to a playground and ask them to climbup the stairs of the slide or other climbing equipment. Then ask them to come down. Useballs to throw up in the air, or bounce the ball down on the cement.

� Use some of these opposite words in conversation throughout the week.

back frontfast slowhot coldon offhard softday nightlong shortright lefthappy sadstand sitstart finisheasy hardnew oldover underpush pullwalk runopen closeinside outsideyes nohigh low


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OppositesAges 3+–4

Eric Carle’sOpposites

By Eric Carle

Core Vocabulary Wordsday/night up/down young/old short/long awake/asleep high/low wet/dry

Rich Vocabulary Wordsopposite

Oral LanguageExperiences

� Listens to and responds tobooks about opposites

� Uses opposite words in phrasesand sentences

� Uses vocabulary words inconversation

LearningExperiences

� Differentiates between oppositesin the environment

� Uses opposite words duringlearning activities

� Reads opposite words� Writes opposite words

Additional Children’s BooksBig Dog, Little Dog, P. D. Eastman

Clifford’s Opposites, ScholasticExactly Opposites, Dana Hoban

Opposites, Brian WildsmithThe Humongous Cat, Joy Cowley

Winnie the Pooh’s Opposites, A. A. Milne


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Activities

� Remind the children that they are learning about opposite words. Review the followingopposite words with them: day/night, up/down, young/old, short/long. Tell them youwould like them to sing the Opposite Song with you. Sing the following song with thechildren:

Opposite SongIf I say day, you say ______ (night).If I say up, you say ______ (down).If I say young, you say ______ (old).If I say short, you say ______ (long).Lots of words have opposites.Come along and sing with me.

As the children learn the song, continue with the second verse. Review the followingopposite words with them: awake/asleep, high/low, wet/dry, and yes/no

If I say in, you say ______ (out).If I say inside, you say ______ (outside).

If I say yes, you say ______ (no).If I say asleep, you say ______ (awake).

Lots of words have opposites.Can you think of any more?

Oral Language Activities

Materials Needed

� Cut out tickets from Activity Pictures #3� Cut out pictures from Activity Pictures #4� Cut out words from Activity Pictures #5� Cut out Take-Home Bracelets from Activity Pictures #6� Chalk


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� Show the children the cover of the Eric Carle’s Opposites book. Tell them this is a bookabout opposite words. Remind them about some of the opposite words that they used inthe Opposite Game. Display the words from Activity Pictures #4 during this activtiy.Point to and say each word. Read the title of the book and the author’s name. After youhave read each page, stop and ask the children the following questions:

• What is the opposite of day? (night)• What is the opposite of up? (down)• What is the opposite of young? (old)• What is the opposite of short? (long)• What is the opposite of high? (low)• What is the opposite of awake? (asleep)• What is the opposite of wet? (dry)

� While reading the book, point to the CORE and Rich Vocabulary words. When youintroduce the words, identify the first letter of each word and emphasize the beginningsounds of the words.

Activities

� Continue to talk about opposite words with your children. Tell them that you are going tobe reading about opposite words. Give them some examples of the words that are used inthe book Eric Carle’s Opposites. Use the Vocabulary Word cards from Activity Pictures#4 for this activity. Point to and say each word. Ask the children if they can think of somemore opposite words. After the children have thought of some opposite words, tell themyou are going to play theOpposite Game. You give them a word and they yell out theopposite word. Here are some examples:

Opposite GameWhat is the opposite of over? (under)What is the opposite of stop? (go)What is the opposite of day? (night)What is the opposite of cold? (hot)What is the opposite of clean? (dirty)

Play the Opposite Game with the children throughout the week.


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� When reading the book, highlight and talk about the CORE and Rich Vocabulary words.

� Read the book several times throughout the week.

� Read the books suggested in the Additional Children’s Books section.

� Give each child a Take-Home Bracelet from Activity Pictures #6.

Activities

� Give each child a ticket from Activity Pictures #3. There is a word printed on eachticket. Line up several chairs to create a bus. Put the following words on each chair: short,wet, black, and old. Pretend you are taking a bus ride and you are the bus driver. In orderfor the children to enter the bus, they have to tell you the opposite of the word on theirticket and find their correct seat. Once they tell you the opposite word, collect the ticketsand let the children sit in one of the chairs on the bus. After all of the tickets have beencollected, you say each word and ask the children to say the opposite word. The childrenwill enjoy playing this game several times.

� Sing the Opposites song with the children.

OppositesOpposites, opposites all around,

When I have a smile, you have a frown.When I jump high, you jump low.When I say “stop”, you say “go.”When I say “left”, you say “right.”Opposites, opposites all around,When I stand up, you sit down.

� Tell the children that the opposite of happy is sad. Ask the children to tell you what makesthem happy and what makes them sad. Give each child a piece of paper and provide thechildren with newspapers and magazines. Ask the children to print the word happy on oneside of the paper and the word sad on the other side of the paper. Ask the children to findpictures of happy people and events and pictures of sad people and events. Cut out andglue the pictures on the paper. After the activity is completed, ask the children to tell youhow each person feels.


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Activities

� Plan a Sink or Float activity. Tell the children that the opposite of sink is float. Selectseveral items that will sink and several items that will float. Some of the items mightinclude, a marble, a small ball, a cork, a stone, a feather, a ball of clay, or a plastic lid.Place the items next to a container of water. Label the top of one piece of paper Sink andthe top of another piece of paper Float. Tell the children that you want them to guesswhether the items will sink or float. Hold up each item and ask the children to decide ifthey think the item will sink or float when placed in the water. Then test the items in thecontainer of water. Ask the children to observe what happens when the items are placedin the water. Place the items on either the Float paper or the Sink paper.

� Tell the children that the opposite of dry is wet. Give the children some examples of dryand wet, such as the following:

When it rains, it is wet. When the sun shines, it is dry.Before you wash your hands, they are dry. While washing your hands, they are wet.

Soak some chalk in a bowl of water. Give each child a piece of paper to use the wet chalkto draw with. Then allow the children to draw with the dry chalk. Ask the children todescribe the differences when drawing with the wet and dry chalk.

Materials Needed� Red and green paper plates or red and green construction paper

Learning Activities

Activities

� Play theWhere is the Bear? game. Place a teddy bear and a box on the table. Tell thechildren you are going to place the bear in different positions and you want them to placethe bear in the opposite position. Here are some examples:

Where is the Bear?behind the box (in front of the box)inside the box (outside the box)on top of the box (under the box)


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Activities

� Gather objects in your environment and ask the children to select the opposites of each.See the following examples:

long crayon (short crayon)big ball (little ball)heavy stone (light stone)wet wash cloth (dry washcloth)thick book (thin book)

Continue to find objects in your environment that are opposites.

� Talk about hot and cold weather and the type of clothes you wear in hot weather and thetype of clothes you wear in cold weather. Give each child a piece of paper. Fold the paperin half and ask the children to draw a picture depicting clothes you would wear in hotweather on one side of the paper and clothes you would wear in cold weather on the otherside.

� Fold construction paper in half and give each child a piece of folded paper. Ask thechildren to print big on one side of the paper and to print small on the other side of thepaper. Place newspaper ads and magazines on the table and ask the children to cut outpictures of big items and pictures of small items. Ask the children to glue the pictures ontheir construction paper.

� Play the Stop and Go game with the children. Talk about the differences between stopand go. Get two paper plates and ask the children to help you color or paint one paperplate red, and one paper plate green. Use the plates for the Stop and Go game. Tell thechildren when you hold up the green paper plate, they can move all around the room.When you hold up the red paper plate, ask your children to stop. Repeat the activityseveral times while asking the children to change their movements. Sing the Stop and Gosong with the children.

Stop and GoThis is a song about stop and go.

You do it all the time.You see red and you see green. (hold up red and green plates)

Red means stop,Green means go.

This is a song about stop and go.


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Activities

Remind your children to watch you while you are holding up the different colored plates.Repeat this many times. At the end of the game, remind the children that the opposite ofstop is go. Take some time to talk about traffic lights.

� Gather items with surfaces that are either rough or smooth. Items might include sandpaper, velvet, glass, bark, paper, plastic or gravel. Tell the children that the opposite ofsmooth is rough. Place the items on the table. Ask the children to touch each of the itemsand decide if they are smooth or rough. Ask the children to sort the items into a smoothpile or a rough pile.

� Gather several items that are considered heavy and several items that are light. Tell thechildren that the opposite of heavy is light. Place the items on the table and talk abouttheir relative weights. Give two items to a child and ask which one is heavier, which one islighter? Continue this activity until all of the children have had a turn. Place all of theitems back on the table and ask the children to sort the items into a heavy pile or a lightpile. Ask the children to look around the classroom and identify additional heavy itemsand light items.

� Title chart paper Opposites. Ask each student to draw an opposite pair on the chartpaper. Some of the opposite pairs could be, clean/dirty, black/white, long/short,thick/thin, empty/full, wet/dry, over/under, above/below, happy/sad, day/night,new/old, or high/low. This activity could last for several days.

� Talk about the differences between day and night with the children. Tell them that theyare opposite words. Gather several items that reflect either day or night. These mayinclude the following: sunglasses, bathing suit, sun, pajamas, moon, flashlight, sleepingbag, stars, or pillow. Talk with the children about activities that they do in the day timeand activities that they do at night time. Hold up one item at a time and ask the childrenif the item would be used in the day time or during the night time. Remind the childrenthat the opposite of day is night.

� Use some of these opposite words in conversation throughout the week.

heavy – light stop – go clean – dirtyblack – white more – less left – rightbegin – end shout – whisper first – lastabove – below float – sink long – shorthere – there thick – thin empty – fullstay – go before – after now – laterover – under forward – backward wet – dry


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OppositesActivity Pictures #1

big small

tall short

up down

in out

fast slow


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short awake

day high

up wet

young yes


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day night

up down

young old

short long


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awake asleep

high low

wet dry


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We read the book Eric Carle’s Opposites.Ask me to tell you the opposite of day, up, young, short, and high.









instructionalunit: opposites - university of north florida˜… showthechildrenthecoverofthesing a...

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