Oh no! The blue-and-red striped sock can't find its mate. It's not in the dirty laundry, or in the washing machine, or even in the clean clothes basket. But maybe with a little help from Pup the mystery can be solved.
Matching helps children recognize attributes that are the same, note those that are different, and provides an introduction to pattern recognition.
Illustrated by Lois Ehlert.
Ask questions throughout the story, such as "Are the socks the same?" How is one sock different from the other sock?" and "Which is your favorite sock?
Together draw and color pairs of socks in a variety of patterns. Then cut them out and separate the pairs. Play a game of matching the socks.
Gather some matched and mismatched household items, such as mittens, socks, shoes, napkins, place mats or towels. Talk about them together using vocabulary from the book. For example: “Which mittens are the same?” “Which towels are different?” “How are they different?
Teacher Idea: I like to add manipulatives so kids can touch and recreate the essence of the book. For "A Pair of Socks," I used lots of pairs of tiny baby socks, which you can find cheap at a Value Village or a second hand store. The kids matched the pairs. They could also play Concentration with them. Make a grid so kids have to lift up flaps to find the socks. In order to make a match, they have to remember where all the different socks are. If you put manipulativeswith a book, kids are able tie in the concepts and they use them to retell the story. It’s excellent! —Brenda Margepts, Balmoral, Manitoba