I’m finishing up my vehicle themed adapted book series this week with the book “How Many Vehicles Do You See?”  This book is great to continue to build up those vehicle vocabulary terms while also working on those number concepts.  I paired the book with a fun vehicle sorting activity.  I used the Transportation Sorting Set from Lakeshore Learning’s Early Language Concept Kit.  This was a good combo for my students.    

For this book the student has to find the number to match the number of vehicles on that page.  Across the top of each page we read that same question, “How many do you see?”  We move to the bottom of the page and read “I see…” and then I point to the vehicles in the middle of the page as we count all the vehicles on that page.  I have my student select the correct number and place it in the blank box along the bottom of the page.  We read the entire sentence again.  For example, “I see 2 airplanes.”   

This book starts with one bus and goes up to 10 cars but you don’t have to bind the book pages in that 1-10 order.  I usually bind the book together in the correct chronological order for the first time I use it with my students or if my students are still working on those number concepts.  Then I often switch the pages around so they are no longer in chronological order to make it more challenging.  If your students are just beginning to work on their number concepts you can give the student the number after you count the vehicles on the page.  There is no reason to make them guess every time and get it wrong.  Use the book as a teaching tool the first few times you read it.  “I see….one, two, three, four trains.”  Hand the student the number “four” so they can place it in the book.  Then have them touch each train as you count them again.

If your student has emerging number concepts you can give them a choice of 2 numbers to select from instead of trying to look at all the numbers.  After you count the 3 garbage trucks give them a choice but maybe say the numbers as you show the choices.  “Is it 3 or 8?”  Maybe they can select the 3 and place it in the box.  Continue to model those number concepts as you show them the visual of the number.

Some of my student who have been working on their number concepts are able to say/read most the book by themselves and find the correct number to go with each page.  You can also have your student help name all the different types of vehicles you see in the book.  Lots of ways to build up their vocabulary and number concepts while reading this book.  Many of my students like vehicles so this was a motivating theme to use.  It’s always more fun to do activities which interest my students.

After we read the book, I did a vehicle sorting activity with my students.  This activity was perfect to work on both sorting and following directions.  I used the Transportation Card from this Early Language Concept Kit by Lakeshore Learning.  The card has the student sort the vehicles into 4 groups – airplanes, trains, boats, and cars. 

The goal for some of my students was simply sorting the vehicles into those 4 different groups.  First I modeled where to put each vehicle on the card.  Then I handed the student the vehicle and helped them sort it into the correct group.  You can either say the name of the vehicle as you hand it to your student or maybe your student can name the vehicle before you hand it to them. 

Other students I used this activity to work on following directions.  I placed 2-3 vehicles on the table and told the student what vehicle to select.  For example “find the car” or “take car”.  Sometimes I added in a color concept.  “Find red” or “find the red car”. 

You can also work on those number concepts.  Tell the student to select 3 vehicles and have the student work on counting out 3 vehicles and then stop.  This is often a hard skill.  My students usually want to grab all the vehicles I place on the table instead of stopping when they get to the number of items they need to select.  Lots of ways to target different skills with this sorting activity.

The set of adapted books includes “What Vehicle Do You See?”, “What Color is the Vehicle?”, and “How Many Vehicles Do You See?”.  You can find them on TPT with the link – Vehicle Adapted Book Series