Introduction Kindergarten   Lesson One     Experience One     Experience Two     Experience Three   Lesson Two   Lesson Three Grades One and Two Grades Three and Four Online Games and Activities Culminating Experience Train Glossary National Standards		Kindergarten: Lesson One - Experience One Trainspiration! >> Resources How do trains spark our imaginations? Why do trains inspire us? Perhaps it is because they remind us of the romance and excitement of travel. Their speed and power touch our emotions. When we see a huge engine pulling many pieces of a train in unison we experience the poetry of motion and we hear the music of the rails. It is no wonder trains have influenced the way we express ourselves. They have inspired stories, legends, art, songs and poems since the time they were invented. Train Speak - How have trains influenced the words we use? Students explore the ways that trains have become part of our language as they learn the functions of different parts of a train along with train vocabulary and expressions. Objectives: Experience One will enable students to: Distinguish between freight and passenger trains. Explain the purposes of different kinds of cars on a train. Use train-related words and expressions in writing activities. Improve word-recognition and writing skills. Reflect upon what they have learned and record new ideas in their journals. You will need... Materials: The books Train Song, Freight Train and other picture books of trains, model or toy freight and passenger trains, 12" x 18" construction paper, crayons Time: Two to three 30-minute periods Words: More powerful than a locomotive... Locomotive or Engine Passenger train - passenger car, baggage car, dining car, dome car Freight train - boxcar, refrigerator car, tank car, flatcar, gondola car, caboose Focus Questions: Use these questions to help students focus on the key ideas in Experience One. What is a locomotive or engine? What does it do? What is the difference between a freight train and a passenger train? What do different types of train cars carry? A Carload of Words Indiana's Academic Standards: Language Arts - Standard 1: Reading-Word Recognition (K.1.1, K.1.2); Standard 4: Writing Process (K.4.3); Standard 5: Writing (K.5.1). Setting the Stage: To make the unit an immersion experience for students, prepare an area of the classroom for train play. Have cardboard or plastic boxes that students can fill with blocks for freight cars, chairs for passenger cars, costumes to wear and old suitcases for luggage. One large box might be a ticket booth where "passengers" can buy a ticket. There should also be an area for toy trains, including a table with tracks and train sets. Set up the Reading Roundhouse, a quiet space for train stories and picture books. These areas should be available throughout the train unit. Play background music about trains, including "Down by the Station," and take advantage of opportunities to talk about trains and what they do. For example, when lining up for lunch, practice making train movements and sounds. Procedures: To prepare for A Carload of Words, bring a model or toy train to school or ask students to bring toy trains that they have at home. Day One: Read Train Song or another book and encourage students to tell the train-related words that they know. Ask students: What is a locomotive? What does it do? How do we know? The locomotive or engine pulls or pushes the cars in a train. It is usually the first car. Use the models to help explain the difference in freight trains and passenger trains. Ask students: What does a freight train carry? What does a passenger train carry? Day Two: Read Freight Train by Donald Crews or another picture book on trains to students. Help students identify the front cover, back cover and title page of the book. Model reading the words from left to right and from top to bottom on each page. Use additional picture books and toy trains to help students identify the different types of cars on passenger trains and freight trains. Discuss the different types of things that a freight train might carry in these cars and the different types of activities that might take place in the cars of a passenger train. Assessment: Hand out paper and ask students to fold it in half lengthways (like a hotdog bun.) The paper should form a long tent that students can display on their desks or tables. Have each student draw a picture of a freight train on one side of the tent and a passenger train on the other. Have students place stickers of smiley faces or other people images on their passenger trains to indicate that this type of train carries people. Use assorted stickers of toys, food items (such as fruit) and other objects for their freight trains. Ask students to explain what each type of train carries. Performance Criteria: Students should draw a passenger train and a freight train and use stickers to show that passenger trains carry people and freight trains carry things. Train of Thought Journal: Help students begin their own classroom Big Book of Trains. Students will contribute to the book as they continue to learn about trains. At the end of the unit, the book will become part of the Reading Roundhouse, where students can look through their books and reflect on what they have learned. Prepare a cover, title page and the first two pages of the book. On the first page write the words "freight train," and "passenger train" on the second. Remind students of the parts of a book and the meaning of the words on the first two pages. To begin creating their books, students can take turns drawing pictures that relate to the words on each page. They can also use the "people" and "things" stickers to show what each type of train carries. Tips for the Teacher: Experience One allows students to identify the sounds of train words. Example: Help students think of words that rhyme with words like box (ox, fox) and car (far, star, bar). Students may want to experiment with rhyming words, listen to rhymes and poems or create their own rhymes. There is also a mystery to solve. Students may notice that the caboose is often missing from the trains we see today. What happened to the caboose? As students explore further in the unit, they will find out. Bonus - Extending Experiences: Cover a shoebox with brown paper or poster paints and decorate it like a boxcar with a flap cut in one side for the door. (A box without a top could be a gondola car.) Ask students to write or draw their favorite train word on a small piece of paper and place it in the box. Draw words and expressions from the box periodically and ask students to explain their meaning. This can be an ongoing game as the unit continues and students learn more words. Students may want to bring shoeboxes from home to make boxcars for their own "carload" of words. Have students write or draw a "train of events" for the things that happen in a typical day at school or home. Students may be interested in exploring the ways we communicate with people operating trains and how people on trains communicate with each other, including signs, hand signals, lanterns, telegraph, electrical signals and computers.