Story Book for May 15, 2009

Our story book for May 15th was The Car Washing Street by Denise Lewis Patrick.  People in a neighborhood wash their cars, have a water fight, and share a great treat on a hot summer day.

Story Book for May 14, 2009

Our story book for May 14th was The Wheels on the Bus by Annie Kubler.  A version of the classic children's song.  In this version the riders on the bus are headed to a birthday party.

Language Activity: Land, Sea, Air with Transportation

For this activity we had the children sort modes of transportation by where you would most likely see them in action.  

Art Activity: Key Chains

The children made their own key chains for this activity.  We gave them some string and various beads to make the key chains.  After they were finished stringing the beads, we attached them to some old keys.  The key chains made a great pretend item for the kids to use.

Story Book for May 12, 2009

Our story book for May 12th was Alphabeep! A Zipping, Zooming ABC by Deborah Pearson.  From ambulance to zamboni, this alphabet book talks about transportation vehicles from A to Z.

Art Activity: Cardboard Truck Painting

For this activity the teachers made a truck from cardboard boxes, and the children painted it.  After it was dry, the kids played with it in the dramatic play area.

Story Book for May 11, 2009

Our story book for May 11th was This Truck by Paul Collicutt.  This book shows a large variety of trucks and explains what jobs they do.

Art Activity: Transportation Stencils

A very simple activity for this day.  We gave the children transportation themed stencils and colored pencils.  The children used the materials to trace cars, trains, trucks, and other transportation items.

Art/Language Activity: Up, Up, and Away

This activity was a combination of art and language.  We gave the children a picture of themselves, colored circles that represented balloons, and glue sticks.  First, the children glued the colored circles to their paper to make it look as if they were being lifted by balloons. 

Next the children chose a spot on a road map to where they would fly with their balloons, and then told a story about what they would do when they got to that destination.

The art and language activities were combined into one to create a story with a cool visual to go along with it.

Story Book for May 7, 2009

Our story book for May 7th was Argyle Turkey Goes to Ganderland by James E. Davis.  It's Argyle Turkey's birthday, and his birthday wish is to visit someplace new, far away, and fun. His friend Gilda Goose suggests a trip to Ganderland. The only problem is Ganderland is very far away, and turkeys can't fly. His friends come up with a solution to help Argyle fly. They tie helium balloons around him to make him fly. He meets new friends as he flies across mountains, valleys, forests, deserts and finally to a cave before getting to Ganderland.

Art Activity: Roller Skate Painting

This was a pretty simple activity, but it took up a lot of space to implement.  We laid down a couple pieces of large paper.  Next we let the children put on some roller skates and roll through various colors of paint.  To prevent the children from falling in the paint, a teacher helped them keep their balance while skating across the paper.

Story Book for May 6, 2009

Our story book for May 6th was This Is The Way We Go To School by Edith Baer.  This story illustrates the many different way children around the world get to school.

Language Activity: Position Words with Vehicles

The teachers and children built a sort of obstacle course in the block area for this activity.  The teachers gave the children specific directions on how to move their vehicles through the course.  The children had to follow such commands as:  drive under the bridge, go through the tunnel, drive around the school, go over the hill, etc...  This was a good way for the children to get familiar with these directional words.

Art Activity: Playdough Vehicles

We gave the children various colors of playdough along with pieces of foam, pipe cleaners, and other collage materials.  We asked them to make their favorite mode of transportation.  The children made motorcycles, trains, cars and other vehicles.

Story Book for May 5, 2009

Our story book for May 5th was Sputter, Sputter, Sput! by Babs Bell.  The story of a little guy, with a big head, that drives his car around the town.  He runs into trouble when his car runs out of gas.

Math Activity: Transportation Shape Match

This teacher made activity is a simple matching game.  The children match up the mode of transportation to its black silhouette.  This was also a good vocabulary builder.

Art Activity: Paper Airplanes

This was a very simple but fun activity.  We gave the children sheets of paper and asked them to decorate the paper on both sides using markers, crayons, and colored pencils.  When the children were finished, the teachers folded their papers into paper airplanes.  The children flew their airplanes around our gross motor room later in the day.  Some even held paper airplane races with their creations.

Story Book for May 4, 2009

Our story book for May 4th was Flying by Donald Crews.  A small propeller plane takes a trip across the country going over cities, mountains, and clouds before landing.

Science Activity: Ramp Races

For this activity we made ramps using the blocks in the block area.  We gave the children 4 items that roll (car, tube, ball, egg) and asked them to predict which item would roll the farthest.  After the children made their predictions they rolled the items down the ramps and measured how far each item rolled.  After all the items were rolled, the children were able to tell if their prediction was correct.

Art Activity: Boats

For this activity we gave the children sections of foam that were cut from swimming pool rafts.  We also gave them pipe cleaners, toothpicks, plastic people, animals, buttons, beads, and other collage materials.  The children used the toothpicks and pipe cleaners to connect the other materials to their foam pieces.  Each child designed a unique boat that was able to float in water.  Many of our kids took them home to use in the bath tub.