- chart paper
- marker
- leaf
- root
- vegetable
MA Standards:
Writing/W.PK.MA.2: Use a combination of dictating and drawing to explain information about a topic.
Foundational Skills/RF.PK.MA.2.c: Identify the initial sound of a spoken word and, with guidance and support, generate several other words that have the same initial sound
Head Start Outcomes:
Logic and Reasoning/ Reasoning and Problem Solving: Uses past knowledge to build new knowledge.
Literacy Knowledge/Phonological Awareness: Identifies and discriminates between sounds and phonemes in language, such as attention to beginning and ending sounds of words and recognition that different words begin or end with the same sound.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
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.
English Language Arts/Language 4: Engage in play experiences that involve naming and sorting common words into various classifications using general and specific language.
Draw and Write Together: Vegetable Riddles
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
ELA Focus Skills: Concepts of Print (Directionality, Functions of Print, Print Carries Meaning), Letter Recognition, Listening and Speaking, Vocabulary, Word Recognition
Educator Prep: Write the riddle template shown below on several sheets of chart paper.
Tell children that you are going to write vegetable riddles together. Remind children that a riddle is a question or statement that is not easy to understand.
Talk about the difference between a root vegetable and a leaf vegetable. Tell children that the riddle will be about a root or leaf vegetable. Explain that:
- In the first line of the riddle you will identify the type of vegetable. (root/leaf)
- In the second line you will tell where it grows. (above or below ground)
- In the third line you will describe something about the vegetable. (taste, size, color, etc.)
- In the fourth line you will say what letter sound it begins with. Say, Then it’s your turn to guess the riddle.
Start the activity by modeling the procedure with the template. Think aloud as you write, emphasizing that you begin at the top of the paper and write from left to right. On chart paper, write four lines, leaving a space to write a clue. End the riddle with a question. Fill in the blanks, such as this riddle about a carrot:
This is a ____ vegetable. (root)
It grows_________. (underground)
It’s______. (orange)
It starts with a ____ sound. (/k/)
What is it?
Ask children to guess what vegetable you are thinking of. Then invite them to create riddles about vegetables they know. If they struggle with a clue, ask them to whisper to you what vegetable they are thinking of and guide them in formulating clues for the group. Write their responses on the chart templates.
Display the children’s riddles so parents and caregivers can see them when they arrive in the morning. Invite them to read the riddles with their children and try to answer them. Remind children not to give away the answers.