A naughty pigeon tries to convince your children that he should be able to drive the bus. Children enjoy interacting with this fun book.

 Materials

• Simple pigeon shapes
• Alphabet bus page, one per child

 Vocabulary

 Before Reading the Story

Talk to the children about rules. Why do we have rules? What are some of our classroom rules? What do you think would happen if nobody followed the rules? Is it fair for one person to not have to follow the rules but everyone else does?

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Control; demonstrates increasing capacity to follow rules and routines and use materials purposefully, safely, and respectfully. 

 Reading the Story

Read it as though you are trying to convince the children that you (the pigeon) should really drive the bus. Turn to the last page with the truck and ask the children what they think the pigeon might be thinking? (I’ll drive the truck!)

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories ain dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in the story. 

After Reading the Story

Tell the children that you are going to play a game about listening and following the directions. Play The Bus Driver Says… which is really Simon Says. The teacher either says,”Bus Driver says to jump up and down” or “jump up and down” The children only follow the direction if the Bus Driver says to do. Think of lots of fun and silly things for the children to do mixing up times when the Bus Driver says and times when the the Bus Driver does not say what to do.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.

 Discovery

Do you have any feathers? Put out several and a magnifying glass. Encourage the children to look through the magnifying glass and see how feathers are made. Up close, they are truly lovely.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

Music and Movement

Sing The Wheels On The Bus doing the actions to go along with each verse.

The wheels on the bus go round and round,

Round and round, round and round.

The wheels on the bus go round and round,

All through the town.

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Blocks

Put out your transportation vehicles today, especially if you have a bus. Encourage the children to make roads using blocks.

Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; chooses to participate in an increasing variety of tasks and activities.

Art

Put the book on the table so the children can see the cover. Explain that today they are going to make pigeons. Put out the pigeon shapes, either pre-cut for younger children or with scissors for older children.  The children can then look at the book cover and see if they can put their shapes together in a similar pigeon fashion. Put out markers so that they can add beaks and eyes and embellishments.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put shapes together and to take them apart.  

Sand and Water

Library and Writing

There is a Youtube of this story.

Literacy/Book KNowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading related activities, such as asking to have a favorite story read; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books homes; going to the library; and engaging in pretend reading with other children.

Make copies of the alphabet bus page and small pieces of paper with a letter on each. The children take turns picking up and letter and naming it. They can then all look for the letter on the bus page and color it in.  Continue until all the letters are found.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Dramatic Play

Add a police type hat and call it a bus driver hat for today. Let the children bring in chairs to make a bus. A paper plate makes a simple steering wheel. The children can take turns driving the bus.

Creative Arts/Dramatic PLay; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Math and Manipulatives

Put out your counting bears or similar small counters and several duplos/large legos of different sizes and shapes.  Ask the children to pretend that a duplo is a bus and to see how many of the bear counters they can get onto or into the bus.  As they experiment, ask them why they think one duplo can hold more counting bears that another.  (The red one is longer so it has more room.  The yellow one is tiny.  This one has a circle so it is big)

Mathematics/ & Operations; demonstrates increasing interest and awareness of numbers and counting as a means for solving problems and determining quantity.  AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults.  AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal.

Outdoor Play

Play Duck, Duck, Goose.  Have all the children hold hands and make a large circle. Drop hands and have everyone sit down. Choose one child to be ‘It’. It walks around the circle gently tapping each child on the head saying either duck or goose. If the ‘It’ says duck, nothing happens. But if ‘It’ taps a child and says, “goose” the child quickly stands up and tries to chase ‘It’ around the circle. ‘It’ tries to get to the child’s open spot before the child can tag him/her. This child is the new ‘It’ and the game continues.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.

Transitions

Have all the children get in a line behind you. Tell them that you are going to pretend to be the bus driver and drive them to the different centers today. Have the children follow you as you make your way around the room announcing each center and letting children ‘off’ the bus to go play.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing ability to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being over submissive or directive.

 Dear Parents, today we read a story about a pigeon who did not want to follow the rules and begged and pleaded to be able to drive the bus. Talk to your child about house rules, why do you have them? What happens if you do not follow them? Does begging change your mind?

Resources

Careers, Following Rules