Road Sign Maker

Come for a ride on Interstate I-8NY! Design your own Road Sign to tell people where they need to go. Pick a background road sign shape, then add stickers from our library of letters, animals, people, food, musical instruments, and more!  Fun for kids’ desks or bedroom doors. Teachers around the world trust Toy Theater to provide safe and effective online learning tools. Free to play, priceless for learning.

Lesson Plan Idea

Title of Lesson:

 Passing Zone: Road Sign Representation

Subject

 Writing

Grade

 Kindergarten & First Grade

Learning Objectives

 Students will identify and distinguish differences between symbolic and written text and produce a document to express themselves using words and pictures.

Common Core Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.K.6
With guidance and support from adults, explore a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.6
With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

Materials/Resources

• Computers or tablets for each child directed to http://toytheater.com/road-signs/
• Color printer, optional

Instructional Strategies

Introduction/Warm Up (5 minutes)

Show students all of the road signs (found in the “background” button of the game). Ask them to ponder and wonder about what they see. Ask them questions such as:

• What patterns do you notice?
• Why do you suppose some signs have words and some have pictures?
• Are there any signs that you know? What do they mean?
• Are there any signs that you don’t know? Does anyone have any guesses?

Guided Practice/Interactive Modeling (5 minutes)

1. Say something like: “Today, we will be making our own personal signs that say something about who we are. First, we need to think about which background we want to use.”
2. Show them how to pick a background and to think about using one that has more space for them to put a design in.
3. Then say, “Next we need to pick an image that represents us. Maybe we play soccer a lot, so we can pick a soccer ball. Or maybe we really like music so we pick a music note. Or maybe we pick both!”
4. Show them how to find stickers under the sticker button on the main page of the game.
5. Finally say,”We need to write our names on our signs.”
6. Show them the letters found in the first button in the sticker page to select the letters needed to write their name.

Independent Working Time (20 minutes)

Explain that now students can work on their own. Leave the example that you made projected to remind students of the various parts of the project.

Extend/Differentiation

• Support: Use initials instead of full names
• Enrichment: Encourage advanced students to write more words on their signs that represent who they are

Assessment

Circulate around the room and check in with students during the independent work portion to ensure that they are using symbols and words. When finished, ask students to interpret a peer’s sign and vice versa.

Review and Closing (5 minutes)

Ask students to report on whether they correctly interpreted their peers’ signs. Ask them what made it more challenging? What made it easier?

Optional

Print off the signs to attach to their desks or save the images to share with us @ToyTheaterGames!