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May 22, 2015

On the Move and On the Go!

Differentiating On the Move and On the Go!

*Please note* This blog is intended for campers (ages 3+) but toddler teachers may find some ideas easy to adapt. Toddler teachers are also encouraged to review the toddler-specific differentiation ideas found in the Curriculum Notes.

On the Move and On the Go…two great ways to describe any child! This week is full of summer transportation fun…take a look at how you can extend these activities for your classroom!

• Literacy:
  • Letter Roads – Differentiate by challenging children to build their name or another word they know with the letter roads. This could be a great addition piece for their name book or alphabet art book. Support younger preschoolers by talking about the shapes that they see within the letter. “How many lines does this letter road have?”
  • Sidewalk Chalk Race Tracks – Draw (or have children draw their own) letter road race tracks outside to drive their cars in!
  • Play Dough Tire Tracks – Encourage children to use their vehicles to make letters (or words) in the play dough as they make tire tracks.
• Math:
  • Stoplight Celebration – Have children make patterns with the colors in a stoplight (red, yellow, and green). See if they can make their pattern the same as an actual stoplight, and see what kinds of diferent patterns they can come up with too!
  • Ramps and Cars – Chart children’s predictions before you test your ramps (which will go fastest? will the cars stay on the whole time? will it matter if the ramp is more or less steep?); use a stop watch/timer to time the vehicles on the ramps, and then make a chart or spreadsheet of the results!

• Science
  • Ramps and Cars – Challenge preschoolers to record their predictions about how each object will roll. Some older preschoolers might benefit from you helping them ‘organize’ their predictions by drawing boxes on the paper and record one drawing and prediction in each box.
  • Vehicles of the Future – Encourage children to think about what would happen if their car could drive in mud, water, outer space, on the sun…what would happen? Would it go faster or slower? Could you make a car that could drive anywhere anytime?

It’s important to remember to follow childrens’ leads, especially during weeks like this where children may have extensive background knowledge about cars, trains, construction equipment, busses, etc. If your Theme Talk or a conversation with a student during the day sparks an idea for an experiment – go with it! Those spontaneous, teachable moments are some of the most meaningful learning experiences for children. Have fun – we can’t wait to see where On the Move week takes your classroom!