- chart paper
- crayons
- drawing paper
- glue
- marker
- pictures of things with wheels (e.g., cars, trucks, bicycles, etc.)
- scissors
- move
- roll
- wheel
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Writing/W.PK.MA.2: Use a combination of dictating and drawing to explain information about a topic.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Uses scribbles, shapes, pictures, and letters to represent objects, stories, experiences, or ideas.
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.
Draw and Write Together: Wheel Web
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: Identify tools and simple machines used for a specific purpose (e.g., ramp, wheel, pulley, lever)
ELA Focus Skills: Concepts of Print, Counting, Listening and Speaking, Sorting and Classifying, Vocabulary, Word Recognition
Educator Prep: Make a concept wheel web before gathering. Draw a large circle in the middle of a sheet of chart paper. Draw five smaller circles around the center and connect them to the center circle with a short line.
Tell children you are going to make a chart with them to show some things that move on wheels. Say, “We are going to make a chart called a wheel web.” Ask, Why do you think it is called a wheel web? (shape)
- Point to the web and write the word Wheels in the center circle as you say it aloud.
- Now point to a smaller circle and ask children to name something that moves on wheels. (car) Write the word car in the circle and say, “A car has wheels. So, I’ll write it in a small circle.”
Continue until all the circles are filled in. Read the completed web aloud, pointing to each word as you read it. Have children act out the movement of each machine as you read. (drive the car, ride the bike, push the stroller, push the wheel chair, drive the truck)
Encourage children to draw pictures (or cut photos from old magazines) of one of the items on the wheel web or another item that moves with wheels. Have children write or dictate a caption to write on the bottom of his or her picture, for example, “A truck has wheels. It rolls.”
Social Emotional Tip: Writing together helps children develop an understanding of group dynamics and expectations and how one’s thoughts can affect others.