Just Enough
By Teri Daniels
Illustrated by Harley Jessup
2000
Activities for Pre-K and Kindergarten
Song and Dance
Sing the song of Just Enough by adding actions to interpret the
book. Use the music of “So Early in the Morning” (This is the way
we wash the floor, wash the floor, wash the floor. This is the way
we wash the floor, so early in the morning.). Examples: This is the
way we feed the fish, feed the fish… so early in the morning. Choose
movements for day and night activities: This is the way we wear our
shoes/ keep our seats/ feed the fish/ build a house/ pound the dough/
wipe a spill/ pick a gift/ hold a worm so early in the morning. This
is the way we sing a song/ shoo the birds/ eat our corn/ ride the swing/
catch a bug/ touch the sky/ splash the bath/ fill a cup/ pet the cat/
give a kiss/ say goodnight…so lovely in the evening.
Dramatization I
Through recitation with simple props, Preschool-K can act out the “I can
do” moments in their day. Example: “I’m small enough to see my shoes.”
Props: red sneakers /a chair/ a paper fish/ blocks/ Play doe/ a sponge/
flowers/ paper or rubber worm/ an instrument and voice/ paper bird or
flapping hands /an ear of corn/ two teacher’s swing-like arms/ a jar with
a lid/ paper moon and stars /bubbles and a rubber duck/ a paper cup &
toothbrush/ a stuffed animal/ and a pillow.
Dramatization II
Ask children to tell you everything they do in a typical day as you list
their suggestions on chart paper or white board. Then say,” For one whole
minute, we are going to act out this typical day.” As you announce each
activity, they can pantomime arising, brushing, washing, dressing, eating,
playing, and going to bed.
Pre-Reading and Writing Activity
Young children can make A Book About Me by using single words to describe
themselves. Each word would be placed on a single page to be illustrated
with a simple drawing, magazine clips or construction paper cut-outs. For example:
- A soccer ball could accompany the single word FAST.
- The word HAPPY might be paired with a picture of a bicycle or cookie.
- GOOD could describe a watering can. Have fun!
Talk It Over
Ask your children about their new-found maturity with questions such as:
What can you do all by yourself? Are You: Tall enough to reach the top
shelf of the refrigerator? Fast enough to get to the dinner table first?
Nice enough to take turns? Can you think of another description of
yourself, like the child in the story?
Draw Self-Portraits
Page through the book again and ask, “What season is it in the story?
Find me pictures that prove it.” Then ask children to draw pictures of
themselves in summer doing something they couldn’t do last summer,
when they were younger.
Build With Blocks
Construct a mansion out of blocks, inspired by the end paper of the book.
Sculpt A Burger
In Just Enough, we see the boy’s dinner at an outside barbecue. Construct
your own super burgers from cut up paper egg carton tops (to make the rolls),
foam covered with brown felt (to make the burger), red and yellow paper or
fabric (for catsup of cheese), buttons (for pickles), and any other found
material that looks good. Store the burgers in fast food--Styrofoam or
cardboard--burger containers, which the children can decorate.
Pound A Personal Pizza
Let each child be “strong enough to pound the dough” by providing mounds
of Play doe to shape. A flattened round of tan or yellow dough can serve
as the crust. Strings of white dough can replicate the cheese, and coin
size pieces of red dough can look like saucy spots. Other creative shapes
of colored dough can be used as pizza toppings.
Read Related Books
- A to Z: Do you Ever Feel Like Me? by Bonnie Hausman with photographs by Sandi Fellman, Dutton, 1999.
- My Two Hands, My Two Feet by Rick Walton with illustrations by Julia Gorton. Putnam,
- 2000. Night Becomes Day by Richard McGuire. Viking, 1994.
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Viking, 1962.
- The Umbrella Day by Nandy Cooney, illustrated by Melissa Bay Mathis. Philomel, 1989.
- I Like Me by Nancy Carlson. Viking. 1998.
Correlating Topics
Size / Self-Concept / Self-Esteem / Stories in Rhyme
Activities for First and Second Grade
Investigate Adjectives
Write down all of the adjectives in the book—small, old, wild, brave,
etc. Then add as many new adjectives as the children can offer. Stress
that the adjective they add must tell something about a person. They
must be able to pair it with the word enough. Examples: swift enough,
good enough, fast enough, kind enough, rough enough, etc.
Book Making
Ask students to make a simple book about themselves entitled Just (their
name). Have them record the things they like to do in a journal. Then
ask them to pair an adjective about themselves (an attribute) with an
activity they like to do. Two sheets of paper folded in half will provide
space for 8 phrases and 8 small pictures. Example:
Just Amy
Bold enough to eat broccoli
Nice enough to help my friends
Smart enough to learn my math
Big enough to stay up late
Sweet enough to call my Grandma
Fast enough to play soccer
Wild enough to dance in the yard
Strong enough to carry my brother