Authored by:
TeacherVision Staff
Last edited: November 15, 2019
Use a School Readiness Activity to provide early language thinking experiences for preschool children.
Grades:
Subjects:
Talking About Eating Out
Purpose/Skills
- To practice conversational skills
- To compare
- To ask and respond to questions
- To build vocabulary
Materials
Props such as plates, glasses, silverware, and pretend menus
please
thank you
restaurant
menu
waiter
waitress
Literature Suggestion
Read The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza, or any book that features food or dining out.
Warm-Up
Ask children to list their favorite foods and talk about favorite places to go out to eat.
Procedure
- Look through the book with the group, and discuss the foods and places to eat. Talk about the ways in which going out to eat is different from eating at home. Ask if any children have eaten in a restaurant recently.
- Ask two children to pretend they are going to a restaurant. Set up a table for them to use and pretend to be their waitperson. Hand out pretend menus and encourage the children to discuss their choices.
- Organize children into groups of three and encourage them all to engage in imaginary play about going out to eat. Move around the room and join conversations to help keep them focused.
- Discuss restaurant manners, emphasizing "please" and "thank you".
- Surprise children with a snack.
Enrichment
Talk about children's favorite foods. Then have them draw or cut out pictures of foods to create picture menus. Put menus in the dramatic play area.
Observation Assessment
- Proficient - Child easily asks and responds to questions, and learns new words. Child can participate in a discussion that makes sense.
- In Process - Child participates, but wanders off task during the discussion or dialog.
- Not Yet Ready - Child experiences difficulty asking and responding to questions or understanding new words.
