Baker's Dozen Selections: Vehicles

Demonstrate with families how to discuss the pictures on each page of this alphabet book and relate them to the child’s world. The talk may include people in the child’s community who have some of the jobs shown or who drive the types of vehicles that are pictured. Perhaps the family enjoys going to car races, has seen a car towed, or watched large construction vehicles work on buildings or roads. There may be an ice cream truck that drives through the child’s neighborhood or horse and carriage rides enjoyed at a carnival in the past. As the adult shares this book with the child, he or she can point out the alphabet uppercase and lowercase letters and show the letter in the word on the page. Children will recognize that letters have sounds and make words. 

Share with families how the photography in this book provides an opportunity to talk with children about details that they see in the photos. How many trains? How many train cars? How many people? What colors? What objects? (e.g., wheels, railroad tracks, railroad signs, bridges, mountains, rocks, trees, a river, etc.) Encourage families to have children make comparisons between the items in the photographs and what they might find in their own community.

Adults may want to preview the different kinds of trucks in this book before reading with children to prepare for some of the questions their children might ask. Some of the trucks are unique and could be new to both adults and children – which is a nice way to expand vocabulary and learning. Children may have a favorite truck that they want to look for or go back to while reading. This provides a nice opportunity for adults to ask children about the names of their favorite trucks. What letters do those trucks begin with? Sometimes we have different names for the same kind of truck, like "digger" and "excavator." When this happens, adults can point to the different beginning letters in each word and talk about the sounds each letter makes.

Explain to families that with very young children, the text may be too long for their attention spans, so consider discussing the detailed pictures with them instead. Encourage adults to preread the text to add to their children’s understanding and descriptions. When reviewing the aerial image of the island, trace the path along the road that the truck must follow. Use this page as a reference on and off during the story. Younger children can respond with their own story ideas of what they think is happening in the pictures. For example, emphasize pictures with a four-year-old and content with older children.

Children are wonderful observers. As adults, we focus on the text when we read. Children focus on the illustrations and often catch details that adults may miss. As families read with children, they can ask questions and listen closely to what their child has to say. Are there any clues within the illustrations that help predict what might happen next? Invite children to enjoy and join in as you read large print words and sound words depicting the vehicle noises.

Read this book aloud, modeling how to read it to children. Drop your voice on the rhyming words, point to them, and ask families to fill in the word. Explain that this is one of the ways children learn to read and that it is a good technique to use with similar books. This book is also a good example of a topic that is often interesting to even the busiest of preschoolers. Finding the right book is a great way to develop readers. Point out that counting down is related to learning to subtract.

Talk with families about the way concepts like colors and counting can be extended with the pictures in this book. For example, suggest that they count with their children the vehicles on each page, "What color are they?" "What is the boy doing in each picture?" "What is he digging?" (i.e., metal beams and wood from construction, rocks, mud, a big hole.) In the playground picture, suggest that families talk with children about the various tools and toys that are being used in the park to dig in the sand. How many bicycles do you see in this picture?  How many children? This type of discussion helps children extend vocabulary and build language skills. 

Don’t be afraid to let children get their hands on this book! Adults can encourage children to take the lead in holding the book, turning pages, and turning the book when the illustrations depict vertical images such as whooshing down the pole or climbing the ladder. Adults can use their fingers when reading to point to each word and draw attention to the text. It won’t take long before children are chiming in with the sound effects. Children may also enjoy using their finger to trace the path that the firetruck takes on the illustrated map showing the path to the fire. The end of the book presents some tips for what to do during a home fire. Adults may want to consider a plan for their family in case of an emergency and discuss this together as a family after reading the story. 

Pair Five Trucks with some other terrific truck books for an action-packed story session. Books such as Truck Duck by Michael Rex, Truck by Donald Crews, I Love Trucks by Philemon Sturges and Shari Halpern, and Digger Man by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha are terrific jumping off points to discuss what different types of trucks do. Encourage families to trace their fingers under the words as they read some of the pages. Young children have an easier time focusing on large print as seen in this book.

This book can help demonstrate to families the importance of sign and symbol recognition in early emergent literacy. Share the book and discuss with families other known signs that children often recognize in their environment. One behavior that can help develop a child's reading ability is to identify signs and labels in their environment. Families can encourage early literacy by pointing out environmental print in the child's world. A fun activity at a parent meeting might be creating an airplane travel prop box for children to use in the classroom. The prop box could include signs, passports, luggage, paper money, and so on.

In this book, the child’s father joins in the pretend play at the end of the book. Families can encourage children’s play and increase their enjoyment of the activity by joining in, too. Families may want to think ahead about what types of objects and props they can use from home to extend the play. Children may be familiar with some of the construction vehicles and may want to make up their own names or sounds for them. Families can include these names and sounds when they read to help build their child’s confidence and interest in reading. If children have some small toy trucks to play with, families can extend learning by taking some time to roll, tilt, dump, and beep with their child. 

Encourage adults to talk about each page with children. Can they follow the little blue car through each page of the book? The illustrations provide a chance for families to talk about the differences among the vehicles they see, including tow trucks, delivery trucks, motorcycles, and a variety of cars. If families own a car, it would be interesting to talk about how their car is similar or different to those in the book. Adults can help children connect the happenings in this story to real life by going through a car wash, looking under the hood of a car, or simply talking about what parts of a vehicle might need to be fixed at the garage. A museum of vehicles may be right outside their door!

If families are not familiar with the different kinds of boats featured in the story, it might be helpful to talk about the boats or even research some simple facts about them prior to reading This will prepare the adults for any questions children may have. Because the boats help Little Tug prepare for bedtime, families can talk about the bedtime routines that their child has at home and how they are similar to or different from Little Tug's. Another fun activity families could try is talking about "humming." In the story, the speedboat "hums" a lullaby to Little Tug. Talk about the difference between humming and singing. Families can try humming a familiar lullaby ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is one example) together.

Suggest to families that they look for other big machines at work around town. Ask your child to describe what the machine is doing, and how it is lending a helping hand to the situation. 

Adults can talk with children about the travel experiences they have had. What are the different ways they get from place to place? Have they traveled using any of the vehicles in the book? What other ways have they traveled to different places in their lives? Examples may include: a hay wagon, horse, three-wheeler, snowmobile, etc. Making personal connections to the story will support young readers’ understanding of the content. Which vehicle in the story would they most like to drive? Where would they go?

Suggest ways that families can engage their children in conversation about this book. Talk about subway experiences. Where might the family be going? Would you like to take a trip like this? What parts seem like the most fun? If you could take a trip anywhere, where would you go?

If there’s a construction site near you, take the children to a safe location near it and see if they are able to point out any of the heavy construction vehicles in this book. If they find some, ask them if they remember the action words that were used in the book to describe the work that these vehicles do (e.g., the dump truck "tips," the crane "lifts," etc.) If there isn’t a construction site close to you, consider playing a video made for children that shows construction work being done. These are usually quite easy to find. There have been some made about building bridges, making tunnels, building roads, etc.

Use this as an example of a good book for children to practice "reading" themselves. Point out that looking at pictures will always be a key to successful reading. Encourage families to enjoy the silly pictures, but to also touch the words as they read this book to their children.

A glossary is a very helpful tool to use when preparing to read a new book to children, especially if the topic is somewhat unfamiliar. This book provides a simple, illustrated glossary in the back of the book, as well as a brief paragraph on the Willis Avenue Bridge. Encourage adults to look over these sections prior to reading with children, so they are more prepared for questions the children might ask. After the story, it might be fun to play a game using the glossary. For example, the adult could ask the child, "Can you find a tall ship? A tall ship is a large ship that has sails." The adult and child can take turns giving clues and identifying items in the glossary. 

When previewing this book before reading it with children, adults may want to open the flap of each page first. This will provide some clues as to how each labeled object on the front of each flap may be used by the vehicle operators. Children may ask questions about some of the truck components, such as the deluge gun on the fire truck or the telescopic boom on the crane. It is okay if some of these components are new to adult readers as well – children appreciate knowing that adults wonder about things, too, and it will be fun to investigate the answers together at the library, online, or by asking a community member.