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Shorter and Longer: Measurement, Cutting and Sorting Activity
The Shorter and Longer freebie from Kindercraze is one of our early school-year favorites. Incorporating measurement, sorting and cutting, it gives the kiddos hands-on control over how they want to complete the activity.
To start, we provide our kiddos with a stash of precut construction paper strips (about 3/4 in x 4 in long), glue sticks and scissors.
We ask them to select whatever color strips they want and to cut each strip into two unequal pieces and then to sort and glue the pieces on the appropriate sides. They love that they get to pick the colors and number of strips, and they get to cut the strips wherever they want.
We generally don’t have any readers yet at the beginning of the year, so after we give our kiddos the instructions, we also draw a short line under the word “shorter” and a long line under the word “longer” to help them remember which side is which.
This is a great assessment vehicle not just for sorting and comprehension of the measurement concepts of longer and shorter, but also for multi-step direction following.
Let us know what you think of this freebie in the comments!
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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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Roll, Add & Build A Skyscraper City
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Roll, Add & Build a Skyscraper City Math Game
We love to use dice games in math small groups with our Pre-K kiddos, and our Roll, Add & Build A Skyscraper City game is one of our favorites. We created it after a student noted how the side-by-side stacked cubes resembled New York City skyscrapers! Indeed they do.
You’ll need two dice per child, and a whole slew of linking cubes or small blocks that can be stacked. Then turn those kiddos loose to add, subitize, identify numerals, connect numerals to quantity and strengthen their one-to-one correspondence skills.
Ugh, isn’t it just like us teachers (and parents) to make everything fun a learning experience?
Get the free download below and let us know how your kiddos enjoy it!
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Book Review & Lesson Plan: Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes
(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 Pete the Cat, don’t we all just love him to bits? In this first installment of the Pete saga, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, (find at your local library or purchase from Amazon) written by Eric Litwin and illustrated by James Dean, our favorite cool cat is walking along in his fancy white shoes, singing a groovy song, and feeling all good.
But then, oh no, Pete steps in a pile of strawberries! Now what color are those white shoes? Does Pete cry? Goodness, no! Pete doesn’t cry over the fact his once-white shoes are now red, he embraces the change — and alters his song to match. “I love my red shoes, I love my red shoes.”
Pete’s adventure leads him to step in a number of colorful items, until he washes clean his shoes at the end.
We love this story for 3s and older 2s
Watch Litwin and Dean read the story and sing Pete’s groovy song in this Youtube video.
*Downloadable/printable copy of lesson plan below
(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: Show the cover. What do you think this story is about? Pete the Cat is the main character of our story. What is a “character” in a story? How about a “main character”? What is Pete the Cat wearing? Do cats usually wear shoes? What color are his shoes?
After reading title: Have you ever had white shoes? Do white shoes usually stay nice and white? What usually happens to white shoes? How do you think Pete feels about his white shoes?
As you read: Allow time for the children to answer the questions that are posed as part of the story. Soon they will be answering and singing along with Pete.
After reading: Why don’t you think Pete cried about his shoes changing colors? What do you think Pete is trying to tell us with this story?
Vocabulary:
- character
- main character
- brand new
- cool
- puddle
- moral
Enrichment Activities:
Small Group/Large Group: Prekinders offers this free Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes color and matching activity.
Art: Books And Giggles features a tutorial of how to make Pete the Cat button slime.
Free Preschool Math, Science, Literacy, Reading, Writing and Art Resources for Teachers and Parents
