Use a School Readiness Activity to provide early literacy thinking experiences for preschool children that will prepare them to do well in the early grades.
Grades:
Subjects:
Street Signs
Purpose/Skills
- To understand how signs are helpful and important
- To use words for a purpose
Materials
Walk and Don't Walk signs
Prepare ahead by making the signs on sturdy paper.
Read I Read Signs by Tana Hoban, or any other book with pictures of signs.
Vocabulary
| signs | walk |
| don't walk | stop |
| exit | enter |
| one way | recycle |
Warm-Up
- Show children pictures of traffic signs from the book. Examples: Stop signs, Walk/Don't Walk signs, and animal crossing signs.
- Talk about what each sign means.
- Discuss with children the idea that signs are important because they give you important information.
Procedure
- Read the book or provide time for children to look at the pictures on their own.
- Play a traffic game. Have children pretend they are on a walk in the city. Have them line up and walk in a circle around the room. Designate one child to hold up the Walk and Don't Walk signs, alternately, to show what the walkers should do.
Take the children on a "Sign Search" in your neighborhood. Look for signs to "read" and discuss. Make a chart of the signs that they know, including symbols from stores. Encourage children to make their own signs.
Observation Assessment
- Proficient - Child identifies signs and recognizes that they have an important function.
- In Process - Child identifies signs but does not fully appreciate that a sign is a symbol that gives you information.
- Not Yet Ready - Child does not yet identify signs or understand their function.
