TransportationTheme

There are often children in the class that are interested in trains or planes or boats. When that happens, we have a transportation theme at some point during the year. The Dramatic Play Center can be turned into a ticket office where the children purchase tickets for the train, plane or boat. Vehicles can be added to the Block Center. In the Science and Math Centers, ramps can be set up for the cars to race down and the children can experiment to see which is faster and measure which goes the farthest. Cars can be marked with letters or numerals and a parking lot can be marked with matching letters or numerals. Students drive and park the cars in the correct parking spot.The Reading Center can contain some of these books:
*"Freight Train"
*"The Blue Truck"
*"Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus"
*"My Truck is Stuck"
*"I'm Fast"
*"I'm Dirty"
*"The Wheels on the Bus"
*"The Little Engine that Could"
*"Row Row Row Your Boat"
*"Roaring Rockets"
Word cards for vehicles can be placed at the Writing Center. Letters or numerals can also be taped on the ground and students can drive around them, staying on the tape. In the Fine Motor/Sensory Center, I place three plastic tubs for sorting transportation. One tub has black beans (land). One tub has blue water beads (water). The last tub has cotton balls (sky). I also place a box of transportation counters for the children to play with and sort in the tubs. The Art Center can have a couple of options. Children can create name trains where they glue an engine on the left of their paper and then one train car for every letter in their name. Each letter should be written on the cars and then they should be glued in order behind the engine. Wheels and a smoke stack can be added along with a train track. Another option that is much more open-ended includes laying out several colors of paint on paper plates and allowing the children to drive a vehicle through the paint and then drive it onto the paper creating tracks. Gross Motor Play can include using a large appliance box as a vehicle, crawling through "train" tunnels and pretending to be airplanes by flying across the room and then landing at an airport (marked area of the room). There are so many ways to get students involved and keep them engaged in a transportation unit.

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