by Christine Maxwell Hand to Heart
Pre-Kindergarten – 3rd Grade
There are so many great stories about trains for children! A very special story for the holiday season is the classic “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg’s. This fun product incorporates 5 geometric 2D shapes into the building of a train engine, plus a creative literacy activity.
There are 3 complete train engine choices; 1 has red and green colors, 1 is grayscale colored, and the last is black and white. The train can be made as a stand-alone, but that is better printed on heavy paper. It can also be made by gluing the pieces down on another piece of paper.
This project is excellent practice for the fine motor skills of cutting and gluing. ****Do watch to make sure they cut the four wheels as circles. It is a good idea to give each child a baggie to hold their cut pieces until they have glued them all.
Introduce or review the five shapes; circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon. Decide if posting the picture of the finished Key that is included, so the children may use it for reference. When doing the black and white or grayscale engines, the children can color or decorate them when finished.
This activity can also be used in a center, but it is better if the pieces are laminated first. Some of the pieces are small so a baggie helps to keep any from getting lost.
These 5 shapes are Common Core aligned for Kindergarten Geometry 2D shapes, but the activity can be used for several ages and grades.
The literacy activity has a black and white train paper with lines for writing and reading their creative stories. There is a cover sheet to make these stories into a class share book the students can read and reread again and again.
Download the Product to see and get the complete activity.
I have another train product that can also be a Christmas train activity, but can be used at other times of the year too.
Christmas Train Do Together Parent/Child Homework Activity
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There are many other geometric activities and money saving geometric bundles in my store.
Geometric Activities
Also See:
Free Products
Christmas Activities
Winter Activities
Shape Activities
Color Activities
Puzzles & Games
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Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you’ll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Thank you for your feedback.
The Geometric Train can be used for other stories about trains.
Some examples are:
1. Smokey by Bill Peet
2. Crack in the Track (Thomas the Tank Engine Story)
3. Little Train by Lois Lenski
4. The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
5. Steam, Smoke, and Steel: Back in Time with Trains by Patrick O’Brien
6. Big Book of Trains by DK Publishing
7. The Goodnight Train by June Sobel
8. The Potty Train by David Hochman
9. Dinosaur Train by John Steven Gurney
10. Freight Train by Donald Crews
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Santa-Express-Geometric-Christmas-Train-2D-Shapes-1533670
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