Unit 5: Ramps and Rolling

Turn to one child at at time and ask, What can you do? Then have the group sing about that action.

Have children take turns feeling a variety of textures of different materials and compare the textures.

Take children outside to compare how objects with varying textures move on ramps with different surfaces.

Play the video clip PEEP and the Big Wide World  “Rolling Down a Hill” and have children focus on how the different objects roll down a hill.

Discuss how a bus moves from place to place on wheels and then sing a song about a bus and act out the motions.

Play the video Between the Lions “What Do Wheels Do All Day?” Help children focus on the many ways wheels are used by people.

Make a chart of things that move on wheels. Encourage children to draw pictures or cut out photos of one of the items.    

Use the Target Letter and Word Routine to introduce children to the letter “Dd” and the word down.

Use the “Sandpaper Writing Routine” to help children begin to write the letter “Dd.”

Have children listen for words that begin with the letter sound /d/. Let children generate words.

Send a Family Connection letter home with children.

Hold up a name card and sing a verse of that child’s action. Repeat for each child.

Describe what happens when different objects are rolled down ramps of different textures.

Explore how different floor surfaces affect how far a ball travels after leaving a ramp. Divide the group onto different surfaces to see on which the ball will go farthest.

Have children share what they know about trains and think about how trains move on the tracks. Sing the song with children.

Read about a little engine that pulled toys over a large mountain. Discuss how the different trains moved up and down the mountain.

Have groups act out different characters (trains) from The Little Engine That Could. Find a hill or a low ramp to use as the mountain.

Use the “Target Letter and Word” routine to introduce children to the letter “Ee” and word (engine).

Use the “Sandpaper Writing Routine” to help children begin to write the letter “Ee.”

Have children listen for words that begin with the letter sound /e/. Encourage children to generate words.     

Have children trace the outline of the letter “E” and decorate it with drawings, pictures, or stickers of “Ee” objects. Hang the mobiles around the room.  

Have each child name something they can do and sing the greeting song as the child acts out the motion.

Review with children their experiences building ramps and rolling and sliding objects down the ramps.

Have children explore how the steepness of a ramp will affect how far a ball travels. Use two ramps with one being steeper than the other.

Review what children have observed about objects rolling down a hill. Recite a poem about rolling down a hill.

Read aloud What Do Wheels Do All Day? Discuss how each character uses wheels to move around and do different things.

Help children grasp the meaning of the word down. Demonstrate crouching down and standing up. Review the word card down.

Use the “Letters in Our Names” routine to help children find the letter “Dd” in children’s names.

Children listen to and repeat an alliterative sentence with words that begin with the letter sound /d/.

Send a folded ramp home with children and have them discuss with a family member what they learned about ramps.

Sing the greeting song to a child as you hold up his or her name card and encourage the child to read it aloud. 

Review the story The Little Engine That Could. Have children share a time they were afraid to go down an inclined plane.

Have children continue to observe rolling objects down ramps as they adjust the steepness of the incline.

Have children make comparisons as you reread the story The Little Engine That Could. Sing the song “Keep on Trying.”

Reread The Little Engine That Could. Discuss how some of the cars have wheels but cannot move on their own. Act out pushing and pulling.

Invite children to draw a picture of an activity they do that requires using something with wheels. Create a group “Wheel Book.”

Play the video clip Between the Lions “What’s Your Name?” Have children look for the letter “Ee” on the screen.

Pull a picture from the bag and name it. Repeat the word with children, emphasizing the beginning /e/ sound.

Review the word engine and have children make their own “word engine” out of an egg carton. Match the letters in engine to corresponding bumps on the egg carton.

Draw lines between words in a sentence to show that a sentence is made up of different words.

Sing the greeting song and ask each child to move when you sing the line “Show us something you can do.”

Review with children what happens when they increase the steepness of a ramp. Guide the discussion with photographs or videos taken during the week.

Have children build and freely explore sending objects down ramps of different steepness.

Have children make body ramps with their legs, arms, and different body parts. Then have them objects down their ramps.

Read aloud a favorite book about ramps or wheels.

Children write a group poem about objects that have wheels. 

Have children watch PEEP and the Big Wide World “The Whatchamacallit” and compare things Peep and his friends explore with ramps that are similar to their explorations.

Play the video clip Between the Lions “Doo Wop (short e)" and point out that the singers are using the letter sound /e/ to make music.   

Reinforce recognition of the letters “Dd” and “Ee” and the words down and engine by having children hunt for them in the room.

Children move their “Dd” or “Ee” letter card in and out of the circle as they sing the "Alphabet Hokey Pokey" song.

Revisit the charts, objects, and pictures from the week.  Review concepts of wheels, steepness, and surface texture.