- construction paper
- crayons
- glue
- markers
- pictures of building materials and tools (include materials featured in the read-aloud books for the week)
- materials
- tool
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Writing/W.PK.MA.2 Use a combination of dictating and drawing to explain information about a topic.
English Language Arts/Language/L.PK.MA.6 Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, listening to books read aloud, activities, and play.
Head Start Outcomes:
Language Development/Receptive Language Comprehends different forms of language, such as questions or exclamations.
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing Uses scribbles, shapes, pictures, and letters to represent objects, stories, experiences, or ideas.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2 Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
English Language Arts/Composition 16 Use their own words or illustrations to describe their experiences, tell imaginative stories, or communicate information about a topic of interest.
Draw and Write Together: Building Riddles
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Concepts of Print (Print Conveys Meaning), Making Connections, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Glue pictures of a material or tool on one side of a sheet of construction paper. Make up and write a sentence frame for the material/tool on the other side.
Have children name the materials or tools they know. Talk about how each one is used in building structures. Show children pictures of different materials and tools. Talk about how materials are often selected because they can be found in a particular location (e.g., tumbleweeds are found in the desert; sand is found at the ocean, etc.).
Then invite children to answer riddles that describe the materials and tools. Give each child one picture. Then have the children turn their picture over. Point to the words as you read each sentence frame aloud. Have children dictate and/or write their responses to fill in sentence frames such as,
- Not even a wolf could blow down this strong material. ____________(brick)
- This tool goes cree craw as it cuts through wood. ____________(saw)
- A big wind can make this weak material tumble right across the desert. _______________(tumbleweed)
Take It Further: You can also use the clues to play a guessing game: take a picture at random, read the clues aloud to the group, and let them name the material or tool described.
Adaptation: If very young children have trouble with the clues, guide them by showing them pictures in the read-aloud book.