- chart paper
- marker
- down
- ramp
- simple machine
- slide
- up
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
English Language Arts/Language/L.PK.MA.1: Demonstrate use of oral language in informal everyday activities.
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: Attends to language during conversations, songs, stories, or other learning experiences.
Language Development/Expressive Language: Uses language to express ideas and needs.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Language 2: Participate actively in discussions, listen to the ideas of others, and ask and answer relevant questions.
Talk Together: Review Ramps, Slides, and Tracks
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: A ramp, or inclined plane, is a surface with one end higher than the other; An object placed on an inclined plane will roll, slide, or stay put
ELA Focus Skills: Concepts of Print, Follow Directions, Phonological Awareness, Vocabulary
Educator Prep: Write the words of the rhyme “The Slide” on a sheet of chart paper. Illustrate the poem or paste a picture of a slide on it for visual reference (include the slide ladder in the illustration).
Invite children to tak about ramps, slides, or tracks they see in their environment—inside and outside. Encourage them to think about and share how these simple machines make work easier for people. Then tell children you are going to teach them a rhyme about a ramp they have learned about—a slide.
Focus attention on the words to the rhyme.
- Point to the title; then track the words as you read “The Slide.”
- Ask children to read the word up in the first line.
- Read the rhyme once as you point to the illustration (climb to the top, down we zip). Then have children act out the words as you recite the rhyme together.
The Slide
Up we climb, (mimic climbing with hands and legs)
My friend and me. (point to a friend)
We climb to the top (mimic climbing with hands and legs)
As happy as can be. (happy expression on face)
Down we zip, (motion downward slant with hands)
Oh what a ride!
Down to the bottom (crouch down to the floor)
Of the playground slide!
WHEEEEEE! (jump up with hands spread above head)
English Language Learners: Help children grasp the meaning of key words by asking them to describe what they are doing and how they are moving as they perform the song.