Transportation PDF File

Transportation Kit – Lesson 1 of 7

Materials Needed:

• A strip of paper with the word “transportation” written in large letters
• Modes of Transportation Poster
• The labeled cards for modes of transportation
• 3 pieces of construction paper (white, green, and blue) or alternatively 3 pieces of white paper with the words “air”, “land” and “water” written in colors at the top. “Air” can be written with bubble letters shaped like clouds.
• Montessori Mat (if desired)
• 3 jars or glasses to represent air (empty), land (soil), and water (blue-colored water) (if desired)

Purpose:  Your child will be introduced to what transportation is along with modes and means of transportation.

Vocabulary:

Transportation, modes of, means of,  helicopter, airplane, hot air balloon, boat, ship, car, bus, motorcycle, subway, train

Suggested Time: 20 minutes

• Invite your child to work with you.
• Place the strip of paper with the word transportation on it in front of your child and say, “Look at this long word. This is what you will be learning about next.”
• Ask your child to count the letters and name some or all of them if possible.
• Explain, “Many of our big English words are made up of smaller parts that came from different languages originally. Transportation is made up of 2 smaller parts from Latin – an ancient language the Romans of Italy spoke.  PORT means “to carry” and TRANS means “across.”  To transport something means to move (or carry) someone or something from one place to another (across a distance).
• Take out the 3 jars and/or pieces of paper and continue, “There are three modes of transportation. We can travel or move things across air, land, or water.”
• “Now let’s look at the different means, or types, of transportation we might use for each of these three modes (environments).”
• Separately on the mat and in no particular order layout and name the labeled cards with the different means of transportation.
• Next, ask your child to sort these according to the three environments.
• Say, “Now let’s look more closely at land. Some of these travel on roads, but some travel on rails. Can you sort these into ones that travel on roads versus those that use rails?”
• Ask, “Can you think of any other ways to get around that weren’t included?” (feet for walking, bicycles, sailboats, jet skis, etc.  Accept any reasonable response.
• Also ask, “How many of these means of travel have you used?” Together discuss where and when your child may have experienced various means of transportation.  Also, ask which they think are good for traveling long or short distances.  Which are the fastest or slowest?

Differentiation Activities:

• Have your child draw and write a story about going up in a hot air balloon.
• Use magnet letters or write the following letters: Hh, Bb, Tt, Cc, Mm. Then ask your child to sort the vehicles according to their first sounds. (Do not include airplane, subway, or ship).
• Sing the Transportation song “Things that Go” together.