20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street

This is the first in a series of "Beautiful Books Preschool" Lessons. We are starting with 20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street book because it is my preschoolers absolute favorite. After checking it out from the library 4 times I finally gave in and bought it in a durable board book since he likes to take his favorite books with him everywhere until they fall apart.

What is great about this book is that it counts all the way up to 20 and there is actually a spread where you can, and we always do, count all 20 trucks without being just a "counting" book. There is actually a interesting and empowering story with LOTS OF TRUCKS, which if you have boys like mine is an important feature.

Materials you will need this week: 

Printables posted here, scissors, glue, markers, tape, and blocks.

Optional Materials: 

Laminator, toy trucks, ice cream, sprinkles.

Day 1: First reading and narration

Skills: Expressive language, attention to detail, connection 

We read through the book slowly, ideally in a cuddle spot if you can sneak away one on one, to set the tone of connection. Then talk about it. I ask him questions like "What kind of truck broke down?" (If they don't remember open the book and figure it out together) "Then which truck got stuck be hind it?" As we go through the pictures again together having him tell me all about the trucks and filling in vocabulary where I can (For example my little guy said "horse grass" instead of hay). Really look at the illustrations and ask questions about what you see to draw out more from your preschooler and give them ample opportunity to narrate the story back to you practicing expressive language and attention to detail. Some ideas for questions are: "How do you think this driver felt?" or "Have you ever felt little like no one was paying attention to your ideas?" or "What kind of truck would you like to drive? Where would you take your load?" After they go through the book with you, read it again and see what they point out or ask this time.

Day 2: Read, then draw what you see

Skills: Fine Motor Skills, attention to detail, memory, communication

Read through then have them help you remember the trucks in the books and draw them on the frames. Refer back to each page as you need to, get creative with how you interpret them, or try to remember details about each one. I have a copy of the frames below, if it helps you, or you can draw them yourself. If you use my frames you'll need one Page 1 and two Page 2 to get all the trucks in the book.
I drew in the details as he described them and colored as he directed but really tried to let this be his project. I know my drawings are not Caldecott worthy, and your's don't need to be either, the point is that you do it together. (I purposely leave the 3 year old's work in my pictures to show you what it looks like when they do it instead of what it looks like when we do it, because 1. Isn't that the point of all this? lol 2. I don't have the time to do it to pin worthy standards as well as do it with him at his level, and 3. It's important to me that my kids see me try, even when I can't do things perfectly, because that is exactly what I ask them to do every day.)
Once they are drawn and colored together, You cut them out and laminate them if you'd like for tomorrows activity.

Page 1

Page 2

Day 3: Read and Count

Skills: Counting and sequencing

Start to read the book, each time a truck is mentioned have them grab it and line it up on some blocks you laid out together for the street.

After all the trucks are lined up, instead of counting them in the book, count them on your blocks, go slow enough to allow them to count with you as high as they can. If they want to take over and mix up the order of the numbers this is great! It is their way of "play counting" which is an important step in numeral literacy. Rather than correcting each number, try letting them finish, then say something like "Thanks for counting the trucks, can mommy have a turn?" and model counting them correctly. My little one wanted to count them over and over again sometimes together and sometimes on his own but after we counted them 5 times he quit missing the number 6 and was able to count to 9, success! (Also if they are not pointing at a truck for each number that is totally normal too. Right now they are learning to recite the numbers and that numbers have meaning,one to one correspondence will come as you continue to work with manipulatives like this.)
Finish the book, and as you reach the part where the crane lifts the ice cream truck use sticky tack on laminated trucks or tape to "lift" the ice cream truck with the crane and move it out of the way then count the trucks again as you move them off the blocks. Let them have open play with the trucks but save them for tomorrow if you do not have toy cars and trucks you can use.


Day 4: Read and Eat!

Skills: Problem solving, Memory, Narration, Descriptive language, Sequence/order words, Colors

Set up a traffic jam between two blocks with several toy cars (or your printed cars) blocking the way through in all directions, then ask them what they would do to get traffic moving through the opening again and watch as they solve the problem their way.
Before you read the book again, have them tell you what they remember about the story.
After, ask them what kind of ice cream they would choose if they were offered a cone for helping like the boy was. What would it look like? How many scoops would it have? What would it taste like? Would it be cold and stiff or warming and melty? Offer a few vocabulary words or suggestions on one or two of the questions.
Once they describe their ice cream cone grab an ice cream printable (Print a couple of the first page and one of the 2nd page and cut out the cones/ scoops ahead of time) color the scoops different colors together and have them glue their ice cream cone together giving them directions or having them tell you which order they are doing it. Ex:) First glue the blue scoop, 2nd glue the red scoop or Put the blue scoop on the bottom, then the red scoop in the middle, and the white scoop on top. Whichever order words you would like to work on.

Some examples of sequencing or order words are:
First/ then/ next/ last
Before/after
Bottom/Middle/Top
Next to/ on top of/ beneath
Ordinal words (first, second, third)

After you make your paper cone scoop up a real one and enjoy it together!

Optional Day 5: Ice cream continued

Skills: Practicing their name, writing letters, sorting, etc.

Honestly there are so many great ice cream theme activities on Pinterest I'll post a few more of my favorites here if you want to carry ice cream into two days.

Try using the sprinkle tray and these cute printables from: Modern Preschool.com to practice letter forms. Or if they are not ready for letters you can still have them copy lines, circles, squiggles, you draw in the sprinkles to help them with their pre-writing motor skills.

Or work on their shape identification and matching skills with this adorable printable from Totschooling.net.

There is always this cute song to sing before scooping up an ice cream treat that I found via Pinterest (without a source link other than yahoo images.)














Finally there are just tons of adorable printables and ideas for pretend play ice cream shop with cotton balls or play dough. So I'd totally check those out if you want to do something more involved or if your little one takes off on the ice cream theme.

Let me know what else you've added to or changed with this book unit in the comments!
For more book units check out "Preschool" tab on my blog, search "Beautiful Books" or read This post explaining the series.

Beautiful Books Preschool

Beautiful Books Preschool is a series of lesson plans that I have designed for my 3 year old son using classic children's books, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and family favorites from modern children's literature.

I am patterning Beautiful Books Preschool after the Five in a Row concept where you read the same book over and over in a week pulling out different concepts and activities from it. I loved the concept because of how important repetition is to this age, the fact that we can let classics sink in deep, and that I don't have to run around every day trying to come up with a novel themes and materials. (It's also a bonus that I can utilize my overabundant personal library!) The reason I am creating my own lesson plans is because I want to customize the skills practiced and books chosen with what works for our family and keep it low key as an intro to "Lessons" (that he is eager to have after watching his big brother do kindergarten.)

This level of preschool is designed for my 3 year old. When he reaches age 4  we will start with Logic of English level A if he is ready. If not, we will continue on in pre-reading concepts that do not include learning phonograms or writing letters. The lessons are a gentle introduction to learning and are not heavy on Pre-K Skills but lay the foundation for reading and math in playful and comforting ways.

In each of my lessons below you will see a link to purchase the book on Amazon, a copy of materials I used (or a link to the blog post I got them from), and what skills or character traits we took from each reading. As I make new posts I will add them to this directory and if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to add a comment to the post.

Enjoy!

20 Big Trucks in the Middle of Our Street    

 We're Going on a Bear Hunt

Painting Chickadee Eggs

Dodge and I had a great time painting chickadee eggs together the other night. He was endlessly fascinated by flicking the paint on the eggs with a tooth brush. Being a perfectionist it drove him a little crazy not having control but it was fun one on one time after the littles went to bed. We used the materials and activity card 1 from our Nature Study Cards Bird Set #1, cream paint, brown paint, a tooth brush, and small brushes.

He really liked taking video of me flicking the paint and you if you could hear his expressions "uh huh, ooo, yeah..." you'd see he was really focused on learning to do it himself.

That seemed to be the theme of the night actually:

I just love seeing him learn new skills. It's amazing what you learn about somebody just by being with them and I love getting to see my boys shine the way they do only when we are one on one.

I bet James would have loved this one too though so I'll have to have him join in on more of our activities. He sure got a kick out of measuring wingspans (activity from bird set #2) when he heard that he had the same "wingspan" as a duck he started quacking and giggling.
Man I love these boys!

Simple Co-op Circle Time

I recently posted about how I set up and found members for our STEAM Play Preschool Co-op. Today I'm going to talk about our typical class schedule.


We meet Fridays at 10:00 am (since we are pretty casual it's usually more like 10:15 by the time most of the class shows up)

We always start class or any field trip we go on with the super cute attention getting rhyme "I like learning" pictured to the left. (Along with the hand motions implied) I first heard it at the public library story time in Bountiful,Utah where they said "I like reading" instead of "I like learning" and it was so stinking cute it just stuck with me. The kids learn it quickly and get excited about the "Lets go!" part at the end.

After our welcome rhyme we sing Happy Birthday to anyone who had their birthday that week.

Then we talk about the weather. I made this cute weather chart found over at First Grade FUNdamentals. It didn't take more than some thick poster board, a laminator, scissors and a hot glue gun. (The arrows didn't survive the school year getting transported in the back of my SUV every week so we just ended up pointing to the chart at the end.) Also instead of making it hang from a wall I put a kick stand on it so it could sit on a desk.

Every week we first ask them what season it is, which is fun when the seasons change, but also really brings to mind how LONG Alaskan winters are! For awhile we had a cute "Season Tree" (but it kicked the bucket in the harsh conditions of the back of my car as well.) I'm going to try to build something sturdier for the spring transition but if yours isn't being transported you can get the pattern here and either color it or print it on brown paper and laminate it. After that I just used velcroe to attach color leaves for fall (made with a punch), flowers for spring (from a template at the bottom of that same page) and green leaves for summer (also made with a punch). The kids loved putting the leaves on/taking them off and it adds to a fun atmosphere in the classroom.

Once we review the season I have them look out the window an tell me what the sky looks like and then ask them how cold they think it is.

After this we will usually do another song or two or maybe a rhyme that has to do with the theme of the day. I got most of my songs from The Children's Song Book from my church or from a song and finger play book like this one the kids this age LOVE singing so when I need to buy some time, this is my go to activity. They really like the color song,  "Rain is Falling" and lately "The Bear Went Over the Mountain". Now that we've started Right Start Math, "Yellow is the Sun" is the new song we are obsessed with at my house and I'll definitely be adding it to the mix for early number concepts (be forewarned: It will get stuck in your head.)

That about sums up circle time. I read that concepts of time are a little early for the 3-5 year old range and meeting only once a week wouldn't really give them a good over view of the days of the week anyway. We just wanted to have something to draw them in and give them a sense of routine since the topics/ teachers change weekly and this little schedule (after a few weeks of finding what fit and what didn't)  fit the bill perfectly.

After circle time we turn it over to whomever is teaching for the day to read one or two books and have a demonstration or hands on lesson.

Lessons are about a 20-40 minutes then we let the kids play in the gym. Sometimes directed with a ball, obstacle course, or parachute and sometimes we just let them run while we visit. When the weather is good we take them over to the park instead.

Exceptions are when we have a holiday party and I'll share some examples of classes, parties, and field trips in the next few post in this series.

How I started a Preschool Co-op in 2 weeks

STEAM Play Preschool Co-op was thought up as fall was coming and I knew I wanted a fun engaging activity for my my 4 year old to do each week that would expand his horizons, let him meet new friends, get out us of the house during the long Alaskan winters, and force me to do the cute lessons you can find all over Pinterest. Obviously if you know you want to start a Co-op, it's better to give your self more than the last two weeks of the August so you are not spending 12 hours a week while nursing a newborn pulling it together, but it can be done! And so far has been a fun success. There are several benefits to being part of a preschool co-op and several styles too. If you can't find one that fits your family or schedule and are considering starting your own, here is what I did broken down into steps:

1. Decide what style of co-op you'd like to have. Do you want it to be comprehensive, covering all subjects and meeting several times a week? Would once a week or just for field trips suit your schedule better? Maybe just a social group with play activities? I decided I wanted to meet about once a week focusing on Science experiments, Tactile experiences, Engineering challenges, Art and craft projects, and Movement activities so I hijacked the popular acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math and used it as our Play based preschool name. I also liked the connection to the curiosity, critical thinking, and problem solving the acronym had. 
2. Find a low to no cost location. Knowing that we wanted to do table projects and also have room to move and get messy I looked for a space that would accommodate both. Finding one in the free or low cost arena proved challenging so we settled on the local library for table projects and quieter classes and the local recreation center for the louder gym type activities luckily both were free in my area but a few other low cost options were to meet at a restaurant, bookstore, other area's rec centers, local churches, or private schools if your class meets in the evening. Ultimately one of our co-op members had connections with a local church that had a meeting room, kitchen, and gym so we met there instead for free. If the co-op meeting place is not free just divide the cost into the member dues.
3. Advertise. Start with your circle of friends/neighbors, then go to your church group, and any other social groups you are a part of. Encourage members to invite their network as well. I actually only posted it on Facebook but I posted it on my personal page, my church page, a local mommy play group page, a MOPS page, a book club, and an area homeschooling page. Most of the Facebook groups don't mind advertising of this type if it fits in to their target audience and isn't for profit. If there are dues or you are doing it for profit just look into their rules before posting. I find digital flyers with pictures get more attention than just text and giving as many details as you can helps too. I first asked "Is anyone interested in doing a preschool Co-op one day a week focusing on gym and art activities? If so comment below and I'll add you to the group for more details" then created a Facebook group with the about me section describing what the goal of the co-op was and added each new member to the planning meeting event. If you are not huge on Facebook you can also look into calling/texting, announcing it at events like your libraries story time activity, or church. You can also post flyers at your grocery stores, post office, libraries.
4. Set up a planning meeting to work out details. Once I had 8-10 members of the group I asked them to introduce themselves to see who would be actively participating and who was just expressing interest in the group without intent. I got about 5 introductions on that post so I decided it was worth my time to proceed and held a planning meeting one night at the local McDonalds to get feedback on things like: day/time, duration. daily schedule, academic goals, how much participation they were willing to put in, and if they wanted to do dues or donate/ BYO supplies to each class. I had several people RSVP but only one show up. In the future I'll just decide these things on my own and include it in the invitation to the first class when I am initially advertising, as people who are still shy or looking into it are hesitant to speak up about something they are not yet committed to.
5. Get your paperwork ready.
   
   After the details of the co-op were worked out I made an "STEAM Play Preschool Co-op Introduction" page to print off for members at the first meeting, I also made a "About me" page for them to fill out info on themselves and their children and a waiver for them to sign to help discourage pettiness. I don't know how well the waiver would hold up in court but at least I attempted to cover my butt and let them know I'm not interested in drama. Finally I created a sign up sheet for classes, field trips, and parties for the year. If  you'd like to see samples of the set up forms they are here. At this point I also created an outline of our daily schedule that included announcements, circle time, story time, class time and free play.Your flow may look different than that but having a plan about the structure (or lack of) is a great idea before you open the doors for your first class. 
6. Have your first class and make changes.
   
   With my plan in place I created a cute flyer and advertised our first class to the public to pick up any other members before starting the year off. I had another 5 or 6 people join our group from this add and it had a lot more inquiries and attention (which is how I learned about the power of an image with your message on social media.) We planned to meet from 10 am until Noon and so I did a 40 minute lesson on the 5 Senses that was very interactive and illustrative but simply too long for a 3-5 year old attention span. I also learned that it isn't quite developmentally appropriate to be doing days and months at circle time for 3-5 year olds (and not very purposeful if we meet only once a week anyway). After getting feed back from the group we changed our time to end at 11:30 and to only have a 20 minute lesson. After we met the 2nd time we decided to have a little more structured gym time instead of free play at the end of each lesson as well. That's the beauty of a co-op though, you bring in different ideas and can adapt it to your needs as you go. 
7. Get everyone on track. Once everyone was signed up and had their paperwork turned in I created a contact sheet and birthday list. I used their kids interests as I created theme ideas, class types, and goals that they could use when brainstorming their classes (since we left it wide open beyond our STEAM premise). I supplied all of this along with our daily/ yearly schedule, songs for circle time, and planning pages in a spiral bound book for each member. (If you'd like a copy of this book emailed to you send me a message)

After this we were off and running.

Well almost. At our first class half of us got infected with hand, foot and mouth including me and the person set to teach the 2nd week. So we cancelled our 2nd class!... C'este la vie. Since we got going after that though things have gone smooth. It's still a work in progress and I'm still learning as we go but it has definitely been worth the few hours of phone calls, brainstorming and computer work to put it together. Even just for the field trips alone! Almost everywhere I've looked into wants a group of 10 or more to do a field trip, having a co-op opens doors to all kinds of learning opportunities. Also I'm seeing my son make new friends and new connections as he is introduced to different topics each week. AND I'm making new friends which has been a delightful bonus. It is truly fun watching Pinterest preschool come to life!

Next year (or semester) I think I'll also come up with a syllabus of classes or at least a sequence of themes to make it easier on the members planning the classes they are going to teach. Otherwise it is great to see so many moms just pull together and make it work! I'd recommend taking the plunge and putting a group together if there isn't one in your area as a great alternative to traditional preschool. 

***End of the year update***

What worked: 
Taking turns teaching the classes, planning free time to run and play at the end of class so the kids could develop friendships, holiday parties and field trips were a hit, having the moms just cover the cost of their classes or asking us to bring needed materials as it came up. Everything HANDS ON!

What didn't work: 
Having the location dependent on one person's set of keys, leaving classes too open with no sequence of learning/ not having learning goals at the outset, having too many songs/activities to choose from, dividing the class into stations (their little attention spans did much better when they could be taught as a group and stay on one task).

Would I do it again?
Yes. This was a great experience where both my boys and I made friends, they got to try new things, get reinforcement on what we were learning at home, and have a free outing once a week (that I didn't have to plan every time!) It may have just been because we were lucky enough to have moms that jump in and do the work and keep things simple but it is definitely worth another try.

Sticking to the Basics

Preschool through Kindergarten we plan on ONLY teaching Reading, Writing, and Math. 

Yep that's it.
No unit studies on clouds, or animals here, no history or music lessons, just the classic 3 R's. Oh and if that doesn't make you nervous then I'll add that in Preschool the lessons are only 10 minutes each totaling a half hour school day!

The reason for the short lessons is simple; an average kindergartner has an attention span of 10-15 minutes. Now they may still be at the task at hand longer than that, but  typically their minds have wondered off course. The theory is to use short focused lessons to get the information across then let it marinate through play and exposure throughout the day.

I'll happily explain the other core ideas/science behind our sticking to the basics as well (references at the end of the article)!

1. We create a learning rich environment in the home for a culture of learning through out the day. Meaning we have books, and blocks, and craft supplies out, TV is a once in awhile treat and play the expected course of action for the day. They have chores and help with the cooking, and are encouraged to strike up conversation when we are out. As a culture we have moved away from letting kids have free time to play outdoors and learn natural life skills and I think that is a tragedy. As a homeschooler I am teaching the whole child and at this age confidence building is the name of the game for all of their skill sets, not just academic.
2. They are expected to read at younger and younger ages and every developmental psychologist will tell you that boys especially are not mentally/physically ready for a full school day by age five and many are not ready to read until age seven! The American standard timeline for education is simply not developmentally appropriate. So what are they supposed to be doing up until that age? Exploring the world around them and making connections with their bodies and minds. In many countries, such as Finland ranked #1 in the world for reading and math , formal education doesn't even start until age seven and there have been several studies that show no real advantages for early readers in the long term over their later reading peers; in fact by 3rd grade boys/ girls/ early/ late readers all tend to even out on skill level. The only real difference in better literacy skills is in how much they were read aloud to. 
3. So many of the early, and even more complex, math skills can be learned before the kids are ready to express them abstractly. Giving them a chance to solve verbal math problems, manipulate objects, and build things concretes math concepts so that when they do learn how to write 2+12=14 they know what that means inside and out because they are so well acquainted with what the number 14 is and how to construct and deconstruct it its just a matter of handwriting at that point.
4. We want to give them a solid literacy foundation to build from. So much of education these days is reading books and instructions. If they feel confident as a reader and associate it with fun (by being read to and taking a SLOW and encouraging path to literacy) then you eliminate the mental block that can come with being introduced to complex concepts while they are still trying to figure out phonetics! The same goes for handwriting. What quality of writing would you have if,  when trying to get a thought across on paper, you had to stop and wonder whether the "b" has the bump on the front or the back and how to stay in the lines? By giving them extra time to practice, practice, practice and not rushing the curriculum along to stay on schedule you build learning confidence so that when you start to introduce other subjects they are met with enthusiasm and they already know how to read and write well enough to use them as tools instead of viewing them as obstacles.

This may sound a little bit un-schoolish up until this point but we really are not. I absolutely believe in structure, routines, and that boxed curriculums save mom a lot of time and can be a great fit for all the accepted learning styles. Furthermore while it's great to follow a kids interests whenever you can, sometimes you just have to learn the hard stuff so you can move on and even fully conceptualize the fun subjects. Self discipline is an essential character trait only learned through having expectations to meet and pushing through to do hard things. In our home, character is as important as academics.

In fact we actually found a curriculum we LOVE that is through and engaging for teaching reading, writing, spelling and grammar comprehensively. It's called the Logic of English and we started our oldest on it when he was 3 because he had a desire to learn his letter sounds. Each lesson in their foundations curriculum has 4 parts so we just broke it a part and taught one lesson a week until he built up stamina to get through 2 lessons a week. The activities vary so you don't get bored with it and they teach each concept auditory, visually, and kinstheticly whenever possible.

For Math I purchased two books titled "Mathematics their way" and "Hands On Learning" to get a scope and sequence of early math concepts. I use these, Mathstart books, math games, manipulatives, Montessori materials, and fun projects/ ideas I find on Pinterest to teach or really "play" math with my son a few times a day. Once we get into first grade I'm also looking at Math on the level as a way to naturally flow from one concept into another with each math subcategory as he grows out of some of the early math concepts and is ready for more complex materials.

Oh and I also read to all of my kids CONSTANTLY. It is the best for snuggle times and we read new books from the library as well as the same book over and over again in the same day. My 3 year old had several books memorized and loved to pretend to read as he was learning what a letter, word, and sentence were.

We call this Montessori-inspired-play-based-foundation-setting-learning Stage 1. Each stage of their education will look different based on what they need at that time but for laying a foundation in young learners that sparks joy and curiosity we believe this is the way to go.

Resources I've found useful in forming these ideas are listed below in affiliate links and links to other websites/videos:

• One of the several articles available on children's attention span 
• An article on how the American standard education timeline is not developmentally appropriate.
• Finnish Education- There are a lot of videos out there with great information but this is the most recent one I've come across that focuses on the younger students freedom to be a child. 
• The Read Aloud Handbook book and this reading info-graphic show the importance of reading aloud to your kids and this reading info-graphic to show the importance of continuing to read to your kids.
• The 3 R's was an especially enlightening read for me. It help concisely explain the sequence of teaching early math skills and gave insight into learning math skills/concepts vs being able to explain them abstractly.
• (More math resources/ reviews available soon in another blog post!)