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Pre-K and Kindergarten

 

Ideas for the Classroom

 

To Discuss

  • Basic truck vocabulary
    • Headlights – Lights on the front of a truck that help the driver see in the dark and in bad weather
    • Tires – A ring made of rubber that goes around the wheel. Today, tires are usually full of compressed air, but the first tires were made of solid rubber.
    • Cab/Tractor – The front part of the truck where the driver sits
    • Trailer – The part of the truck that carries goods. It sits behind the cab.
    • Engine – A machine that uses fuel to make the truck go.

 

  • Different truck names

Trucks go by several names – tractor trailer, big rig, semi-truck (or just semi), and 18-wheeler. Check out this song about the different names of trucks.

 

  • The many purposes of trucks

Trucks are used for many purposes. Some carry goods – or things that can be bought and sold – all across the country! Other trucks are used by community helpers like police officers, firefighters, and trash collectors to help them do their job. There are trucks that help people move from one house to another. Some trucks even pull houses themselves! People can use trucks to do special purposes like mix cement, dig holes, and tow vehicles that have broken down. Can you think of any other purposes trucks have?

 

  • 1930 Ford Model A Snowmobile

If you can’t visit the museum in person, click here for a picture of the 1930 Ford Model A to show the class. You can also read more information about it here. The 1930 Ford Model A was a mail truck. It had skis instead of wheels on the front so that it could deliver mail in snowy areas without getting stuck. What colors do you see on this truck? (Green and black). The truck is green and black because those were the official colors of the post office back then. What colors are mail trucks today? (White, blue, and red)

 

To Do

*These worksheets are based on Iowa Core Standards. Click here to see the standards that correspond to each worksheet.

 

To Watch

 

To Read

  • Big Joe’s Trailer Truck (1974) by Joe Mathieu
  • Big Rig (2014) by Jamie A. Swenson and Ned Young
  • Big Rig Rescue (2021) by Chris Gall
  • Just In Time! Trucks for Kids (2021) by Sophia Begidzhanov and Alana de Haan
    • Click here to download this book for free
    • Versions in English and French
  • Trucker and Train (2019) by Hannah Stark and Bob Kolar
  • With Any Luck, I’ll Drive a Truck (2016) by David Friend and Michael Rex

 

*If you can’t obtain a physical copy, you can find and watch a video of the book being read on YouTube.

 


Ideas for Your Visit

 

Counting

  • Count the number of wheels on a truck. Pick a few that have a different number of wheels.
  • Count the number of trucks that are a certain color. Feel free to use this tally sheet to keep track! The most common colors are red and green.

 

I-Spy

  • Use different colors, shapes, and letters. We have plenty of signs on the walls that you can pick for the game!

 

Shape Scavenger Hunt

  • Some examples include circles for the wheels and headlights, rectangles for the truck bed, diamonds on the Diamond T logo, and arrow in turn signal lights of the 1949 Brockway 260-XW (restored)
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