Lesson 11: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
Online Reading: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWEekO4ufwM
Vocab Focus:
- Bus
- Car
- Plane
- Train
- Bicycle
Songs:
Activities:
Don’t Let the Pigeon ________! Booklet-
Copy and print this booklet double-sided. Fold and staple. Have the children color the book and fill in their own version of the story. Take turns having the children read their stories aloud.
Write on the Board –
Brainstorm ideas WHY the pigeon shouldn’t drive the bus (“He is too small”, “He doesn’t know how to drive”) and write it on the board.
Elapsed Time-
Using a clock as a visual, help the students count and say times. (“Oh no, someone let the pigeon drive the bus! If he left at 12:00 and it took an hour to get to the library, what time did he arrive?”) Draw pictures on the board to help the students understand.
Pictures and Motion-
Draw different ways of transportation on the board, or bring in different pictures (ex: car, train, plane, bike, etc). Show each picture and have the students makes motions and sounds that accompany the picture. For example, if it is a car, make “vrooooom” sounds and have them walk around the room pretending to be driving a car.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive!
Draw different ways of transportation on the board, or bring in different pictures (ex: car, train, plane, bike, etc). Print out this picture of the Pigeon and hold it up next to one of the pictures (for example, the plane). Say something like, “I’m the plane driver. I’ve got to go for a while. Can you watch the (pause and try to have the students say “plane”) until I get back? And remember, (get the students to say this with you) don’t let the pigeon drive the plane!”
Watch this Video!
Games:
Ball Game-
Students throw a ball quickly to each other by saying “Name, don’t let the pigeon…!” and passing it. The student who catches it needs to complete the sentence by saying an activity that the pigeon shouldn’t do (“eat your food”, “wear my clothes”).
Paper Airplanes-
Teach everyone how to make a paper airplane, then have a contest to see which airplane will fly the farthest.
Freeze-
Have the students stand in the middle of the room. Call out a mode of transportation, such as car, and each student has to pretend to be that vehicle and “drive” around the classroom. Explain that when you say, “stop” they have to freeze and become motionless. At random intervals yell out “stop” and make the children who can’t freeze in time sit down. The last one standing wins.
Red Light, Green Light-
At the start, have all the children form a line about 15 feet away from the student who is “it.” (The student who is “It” is pretending to be a stop light). The “stoplight” faces away from the line of kids and says “green light”. At this point the kids are allowed to move towards the “stoplight.”At any point, the “stoplight” may say “red light!” and turn around. If any of the kids are caught moving after this has occurred, they are out. Play resumes when the “stoplight” turns back around and says “green light”. The “stoplight” wins if all the kids are out before anyone is able to touch him/her. Otherwise, the first player to touch the “ stoplight”wins the game and earns the right to be “stoplight” for the next game.