Use a School Readiness Activity to provide early literacy thinking experiences for preschool children that will prepare them to do well in the early grades.
Grades:
Subjects:
Making a Shopping List
Please Note: this material was created for use in a classroom, but can be easily modified for homeschooling use.
Purpose/Skills
- To write or scribble a list
- To recognize that words have meaning and that print has a variety of purposes
- To practice fine-motor control
Materials
Chart paper, paper, crayons
Read The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza, or any other book about food or grocery shopping.
Vocabulary
| shopping list | words |
| write | food words |
| bread | milk |
| cereal | vegetables |
| fruits |
Warm-Up
- Talk about going to the grocery store.
- Ask children what foods they like to buy.
- Talk about shopping lists and why people write them. (To remember to get everything that they need and want.)
Procedure
- Read the book and discuss the meals or food mentioned. Have children pretend that they are going to the store to buy the ingredients for the foods. Ask them to tell what would be on their shopping lists.
- Tell children that you are going to make a shopping list together. Ask children to tell you their favorite foods. Then write them on the list. Draw a simple picture next to each item. When you finish, help children read the shopping list.
- Invite children to write or draw their own lists.
Have the children play store, make shopping lists, and read them to each other.
Observation Assessment
- Proficient - Child contributes to the shopping list and recognizes that the words and drawings have a purpose--to help remember to buy things at the store.
- In Process - Child draws or writes an item on the list, but may not understand that the words on the list can help them remember what items to buy.
- Not Yet Ready - Child does not yet understand the function of words on a shopping list, and does not contribute to the making of the list.
