Unit 5: Ramps and Rolling

Children pretend they are on a hill and "searching" for other children with make-believe binoculars as you sing the greeting song. 

Talk with children about their experiences building ramps and trackways and rolling a ball so it travels the entire distance of the track.

Challenge children to build a tube trackway and send a marble down the entire length of the trackway. Encourage children to draw or write to record their observations.

Read slowly and with expressions so children can enjoy the rhythm of the words as Samantha rolls in and out of different situations.

Replay the video Between the Lions “What Do Wheels Do All Day?” as you review the many ways wheels help people.

Have children act out the motions, and clap as you sing the song. Invite children to write additional verses to the song.

Create a story map to tell the sequence of the story Samantha on a Roll by Linda Ashman.

Use the Target Letter and Word Routine to introduce children to the letter “Hh” and the word hill.

Display the letter card “Hh” and have children work together to make a letter “H” by holding hands and stretching away from each other.

Send a Family Connection letter home with children.

Have children recognize their name as others chant the name and cheer “Hooray!” for each child.

Discuss obstacles children explored as they rolled objects down their trackways.

Have children place obstacles in the pathway of rolling objects and explore what happens when the objects hit the obstacles as they are moving down a ramp. 

Watch the video PEEP and the Big Wide World “Building Ramps.” Have children focus on what happens to the balls and obstacles after they collide.

Have children focus on the obstacles Samantha hits as she rolls down Hawthorn Hill.

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

Review /h/ by saying the word hill and emphasizing the beginning /h/ sound before watching Between the Lions “Words Beginning with ‘h.’”

Remind children to share with their families what they observed about obstacles today. 

Clap out the parts of children’s names as you recite the chant. Repeat until each child’s name has been recited.

Talk with children about their experiences with varying the steepness of any ramps. Discuss how things move faster on steeper inclines.

Have children figure out what they need to do to the steepness of a ramp to make a ball knock over an obstacle.

Read Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman. Discuss the animals on the sled and predict what will happen as they go down the hill.

Discuss the children’s experiences on sleds. Sing the song about a sled.

Invite children to dictate, write, and draw their own rhymes about wheels.   

Play “Simon Says.” as children repeat an action only when they hear a word beginning with the letter /h/ sound.

Have children sort the uppercase and lowercase letters.

Children trace and decorate uppercase letter “H” with pictures of words that begin with the letter /h/ sound.

Sing the greeting song with children and clap word parts in each child’s name.

Discuss the weight and texture of different materials. Help children think about how they might use them in their obstacle course explorations.

Children continue to explore ramps and objects that can be obstacles. Have children experiment with using different objects to use as obstacles.

Sing the song and model hand motions to look like you are sleeping.

Make connections to ramps, steepness, and how different move slide down hills as you read Ten on the Sled. Talk about the “main idea” of a story.

Play a guessing game with children to help them review the letter sound /h/. Give children clues to help them guess the name of the animal.

Children recognize and repeat an alliterative with words beginning with the letter sound /h/.

Have children clap out and count the words in the sentence “There were ten on the sled.”

Sing the greeting song as you clap out the syllables in each child's name. 

Discuss new ways for children to build their obstacle courses based on their experiences and observations.

Take children outdoors to build obstacle courses and explore how objects react when they hit an obstacle. 

Read aloud Samantha on a Roll, Ten on the Sled, or another book about rolling or sliding.

Watch the video clip Between the Lions “Hung Up on ‘h’” and have children say the /h/ sound whenever they hear the letter sound.

Reinforce recognition of the letter “Hh” and the word hill by having children hunt for them around the room.

Have children match letters to the target word cards and help them to read the words. 

Review ramps, trackways, and obstacles explrations and the letter “Hh,” letter sound /h/, and the word hill

Send children home with any drawings and photographs from their explorations this week.