As we end our unit on animals and move into 'My Community,' I thought I would share a couple of materials to go along with our most popular read of the school year, Preschool to the Rescue. My preschool students have fun yelling out the silly words that the mud makes each time it takes a new vehicle captive, and I made visual word bubbles to go along with them. These proved to be an easy and quick way to incorporate some articulation practice since I could pass out the bubbles to kiddos working on each specific beginning sound. During the story, students stand up and shout out their word. Grab a copy of the Preschool to the Rescue word bubbles here. I printed them on thick cardstock, cut out, laminated, and attached each one to a popsicle stick. I like to use "listing" books like Preschool to the Rescue (another example in this previous post) early in the school year because the vocabulary is very concrete (nouns, basic verbs, a few prepositions or adjectives) and they are easy to sequence and retell in order. For a story retell activity, we mixed corn syrup and brown tempera paint to create our own icky, sticky mud puddles. One by one, the (die-cut) pizza van, police car, tow truck, backhoe, and fire engine got stuck in the "deeper-than-you'd-think" mud puddle. I made a rebus to glue onto each picture for a visual support to help the students sequence and tell the story at home. You can download my Preschool to the Rescue rebus here. I'm currently on the hunt for some other great preschool books related to the broad concepts of community helpers and transportation - what are your favorites?