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Book Review & Lesson Plan: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site
(This post contains affiliate links. A purchase through these links supports Preschooligans at no additional cost to you and helps us continue to provide free educational resources. Thank you!) Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site (find at your local library or purchase from Amazon) is one of those perfect little gems that we visit when exploring construction-related themes like Building, Roads, Community Helpers and Towns or Cities. Sherri Duskey Rinker’s soothing rhymes are gentle and relaxing — two words you are generally unlikely to associate with construction themes, but which are nonetheless appropriate. Tom Lichtenheld’s muted illustrations have oodles of personality and set just the right tone for a calming read.
Gentle? Relaxing? Calming? So, if it could put your kiddos to sleep, do you really want to read it to your class? It’s true, this one is a perfect bedtime story. But it’s also a super-relaxing book, and it makes for a great quiet-time read or a good transition when your goal is to come down from boisterous activity. We have read it after large-group, centers or movement activities and it helps that transition perfectly.
The story starts at the end of the day at an active construction site. The vehicles one-by-one finish their work and turn in for the night and the reader says “good night” to each of them. The words are so descriptive — Crane Truck stretches his boom to place his last beam, Cement Truck slows his whirling and pours his last liquidy load, Dump Truck drops his bed, Bulldozer puffs one last gust from his stack and Excavator stows his scoop. It shows us that everyone, even busy construction vehicles, has to slow down and reset at some point.
We love this book for 2s, 3s and Pre-K
(Below please find a list of reading comprehension questions and vocabulary words. This list is not exhaustive, and it may spark additional questions from your kiddos. As always, we recommend that you scaffold based on your age group and the wigglies of your kiddos.)
*Downloadable/printable copy of lesson plan is below
Reading comprehension questions:
Before reading: Show the cover. What is happening on the cover? What do you think this book might be about?
After reading title: What do you think it’s about now? Is that the same as what you thought before we read the title?
As you read: Explain that the story says the construction trucks are building a building and making a road. After we read all of the story, let’s talk about which trucks we think are building the building and which are building the road.
After reading: Which of these trucks do you think helps to build a building? Why? How about a road? Why? Do you think that construction trucks look like the ones in this book — with eyes and mouths? Why do you think the illustrator drew them that way? Do you think that construction trucks actually go to sleep at night? What do you think happens when the construction workers leave the construction vehicles for the night?
Vocabulary words:
- might
- beam
- boom
- churning
- whirly
- weary
- chute
- drum
- dims
- grade
- level
- thunderous
- stack
- beneath
Enrichment Activities:
Art: Check out our free tutorial: Construction Vehicle Painting, inspired by Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, to create some cool process-based art!
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Book Review & Lesson Plan: Bear Snores On
(This post contains affiliate links. A purchase through these links supports Preschooligans at no additional cost to you and helps us continue to provide free educational resources. Thank you!) We all have our favorite books — those stalwarts we always try to work into our lesson plans throughout the preschool year. Bear Snores On (pick this book up at your local library, or purchase from Amazon) is one of those books for us. Whether we’re studying animals, friendship, hibernation or winter, we always manage to squeeze in a few readings of this adorable modern classic from author Karma Wilson and illustrator Jane Chapman.
There’s so much to learn from this story about Bear, who is asleep in his cave while a winter storm howls outside. An assortment of wildlife gathers in his warm cave and holds a party right under his nose. Chapman’s charming illustrations highlight a story that teaches valuable lessons about kindness, friendship amongst diverse individuals, and the importance of not prejudging someone based on their looks. The bouncy rhyming prose opens up the opportunity to talk about words that sound alike, and numerous challenging vocabulary words expose preschool kiddos to words that may be new to them.
We love this book for 3s and Pre-K
Watch Liz Loves Books reading Bear Snores On on Youtube.
(Below please find a list of reading comprehension questions and vocabulary words. This list is not exhaustive, and it may spark additional questions from your kiddos. As always, we recommend that you scaffold based on your age group and the wigglies of your kiddos.)
*Downloadable/printable copy of lesson plan below
Reading comprehension questions:
Before reading: Show the cover. What do you think this story is about? Why do you think Bear is sleeping? Explain concept of hibernation and that some animals hibernate during colder months. What do you think the other animals on the cover are doing?
After reading title: Have you ever heard someone snore? Can you snore? What does it sound like?
As you read: What do you think Hare means when he says “Long time, no see!” to Mouse? Why do you think the animals look so scared when Bear wakes up? What do you think the animals were thinking at that moment? What do you think will happen once Bear is awake, what do you think he will do?
After reading: Were you surprised at what Bear said and did when he woke up? How did you think he would react? Why did you think he would react that way? How did his new friends make him feel better? Why do you think Bear couldn’t sleep at the end of the book? Why do you think his friends were so tired?
Vocabulary:
- lair
- wee
- spark
- coals
- hare
- scuttles
- divvy
- mutters
- gnarls
- blubbers
- blustery
- tall tales
Enrichment & Small Group Activities:
Small group activity: Spedtacularly Au-Some offers a cute and free Bear Snores On set for story retelling.
Art project: School Mum features a free tutorial on how to make a simple and very cute origami bear that looks just like Bear in the story!
Free Preschool Math, Science, Literacy, Reading, Writing and Art Resources for Teachers and Parents
