Thursday, October 19, 2017

Learning from Picture Books – THE ROAD THAT TRUCKS BUILT by Susanna Leonard Hill & Erica Sirotich

This is a really fun rhyming story from young children! I won this book in the summer in an online contest sponsored by Vivian Kirkfield (check out her blog for great reviews of picture books). I could hardly wait for school to start to introduce it to my class!

Summary from the publisher:


Join the ride as a team of adorable vehicles work together to build a new road in this fresh, cement-mixing spin on the classic nursery rhyme, “The House That Jack Built.”

Bulldozers, scrapers, graders, and more are hard at work making sure that every car, truck, and motorcycle can get where they’re going fast!

The Road That Trucks Built was written by Susanna Leonard Hill and illustrated by Erica Sirotich. It was published in 2017 by Little Simon.


Opening:

This is the traffic that’s moving too slow.
Cars and buses have nowhere to go.
What is the answer?
I’m guessing you know.
The trucks need to build a new road!


My Thoughts as a Writer:

This is a nice example of how to create a rhyming story. The problem of the story is clear from the beginning. The fun, bouncy rhymes keep our attention through the story – as do the big, bright illustrations of different trucks. Most of the lines in the story flow easily during a read aloud. The choice to use the format of “The House That Jack Built” works well.


My Thoughts as a Teacher:

This is a really fun rhyming story for young children! The idea that every truck has its part to play in the construction can be used to help explain the concept of teamwork. The labeled diagrams at the back are good examples of how to label as well as providing information about the parts of trucks.

Ages: 3 - 7

Grades: preK - 1

Themes: trucks, construction, teamwork

Activities:

Provide pictures of the different trucks in the story to use when telling the story.

Create a road building centre with props for children to explore during play.

With Lego or other snap-together blocks, encourage children to build different kinds of trucks and talk about the parts they need for their jobs.

11 comments:

  1. Sounds like a fun story. One of my nephews loves trucks. I might get this for him.

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  2. This is a great book about trucks. My great grandson has just become interested in them. Like the teamwork theme. We have a son that drives a big rig.

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  3. An immediate winner!

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  4. It's hard to go wrong with a lively rhyme and construction vehicles! Well done!

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    1. It's a really good book for little truck-lovers!

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  5. Andrea, I love this book. The cover is so ingenious as well. There are a lot of "truck enamored" happy kids out there.

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  6. Aw shucks, Andrea! Thanks so much for choosing my book for PPBF! That means so much to me! I'm glad you and your students enjoyed it! <3

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    1. It's a perfect book for all the little builders in my classroom!

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