• Book Lesson Plans,  Books About Construction,  Literacy

    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!

  • Blog,  Book Lesson Plans,  Books About Animals,  Books About Construction,  Books About Counting,  Counting,  Literacy,  Reading

    Book Review & Lesson Plan: Frankie Works the Night Shift

    Frankie Works the Night Shift book cover
    (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!)

    Oh the giggles we get when we read about Frankie, a mischievous cat who lives in hardware store, in Frankie Works the Night Shift, (find at your local library or purchase from Amazon) written by Lisa Westburg Peters and illustrated by Jennifer Taylor.

    As the title indicates, Frankie works the “the night shift,” meaning he’s up when his owners are sleeping. In this sweet 1-10 counting tale, Frankie wreaks havoc all night long, knocking over wastebaskets (in the name of emptying trash), and turning loose the garden hose in the backyard (he’s watering the geraniums, of course!).

    Halfway through the night, he discovers a tiny four-legged “intruder,” and the chaos that follows provides even more hilarity.

    We like this story as part of lesson plans in counting, animals and construction for 3s and Pre-K (4s and 5s)

    Watch Angel Gantnier read Frankie Works the Nightshift 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.)

    Reading comprehension questions:

    Before reading: Looking at the cover, what is Frankie wearing? What do you see the title letters are made out of? Where might you find these items? What do you think the tools that make up the letters have to do with the story?

    After reading title: What is the “night shift”? What do you think Frankie’s job is at night?

    As you read: After Frankie discovers the mouse, challenge children to find it on each page.

    After reading: Do you think Frankie was really working? What was he actually doing all night (creating more work and waking up his owners). Why do you think Frankie is so tired in the daytime? Do you think he ever caught the mouse?

    Vocabulary:

    • wastebasket
    • geraniums
    • inspects
    • intruder
    • ignores
    • duct tape