ELA Educator Preparation
Houses and Homes Wall Display Create a wall display featuring houses and homes. Write the following sentence in large letters: “We live in many different kinds of homes.” Attach pictures of single-family homes, farmhouses, apartment buildings, etc. In addition to houses from children’s neighborhoods, include houses from around the world and houses made of different materials, such as wood, stone, adobe, snow, and straw. Add children’s drawings of their own homes to the display. Encourage children to use key vocabulary words to describe what they see in the display.
Expert Visitor Invite a local construction worker or parents who work in the construction business to visit and talk about their jobs. Suggest that they bring tools or a building plan to share. Also include parents and school staff who may be do-it-yourself-ers. They might have a different perspective to offer.
Plan a Field Trip: Construction Site With parents’ permission, take children to visit a construction site in your neighborhood. Observe and talk about the structures the workers are building and the materials, machines, and tools they are using.
Book-Browsing Boxes Create a book-browsing box with different versions of The Three Little Pigs. Label the box with a picture of three little pigs so children can identify the contents and browse on their own. Make other browsing boxes with fiction and nonfiction books about houses, homes (including animal homes), tools, and construction. Label each box with words and a matching picture or symbol, such as a house or hammer or hardhat, so children can identify the contents and browse on their own. Add new alphabet books to the ABC book-browsing box.