Fire Truck Cookies Brace Map

As many of you know, in August Andy and I moved to Washington DC where he once again is a student. When, Andy told me he was going to take me away from my southern roots, I was less than thrilled! After some tears and looking at this more as an “extended vacation” I finally gave in to the idea. I have lived in my home town for over 40 years along with all my sisters, my mom, my nieces and nephews, and most importantly both of my kids and their spouses! Now, I am living right in the middle of downtown DC! We live just a few blocks from the National Mall with all the monuments and a few blocks from the White House. There is always somewhere to go, something to do, and another quaint little restaurant with outdoor dining for dinner—all within walking distance. So what is missing? Well, how about a Dollar Tree, a Hobby Lobby, a Michaels, a Walmart, a school supply store? Nope…none of them in DC. What’s a girl to do? One day while Andy was in class I did a little internet search to find a craft store and a school supply store. Let’s just say when he got home, he was greeted by one very excited teacher who had set the adventure for the evening! After over an hour of driving in traffic we arrived at the Michaels. I was like a crazy woman trying to decide what I needed to get! Then, off to the Lakeshore, just a quick 10 minutes away.
See all my purchases! I think I bought all the scarpbooking paper they had! Another issue with DC is the whole grocery shopping thing! We have a CVS right out the door of the apartment, so simple things are there. But when we need REAL groceries, it is quite an ordeal. We either have to drive, and then if you can find a place to park, pay $20. Or,take the metro! Either way, quite an ordeal. So while we were out, I wanted to make a grocery store run. I was looking for food items that could be the parts of a fire truck.
So here’s what I came up with! And here’s what it looked like when I got home and put it together!

I wanted a concrete way to show the parts of a fire engine without doing an art activity!  I made a poster brace map and used the “craft/cooking” as the connection. The parts on the right side of the poster, are attached with velcro.  I did make a recording sheet where the children can then draw the parts of the fire engine to make their own brace map. BTW, I had them frost the fire trucks with either red or yellow frosting. Since not all fire trucks are red, I wanted to be able to turn this into a graphing activity. “Did you make a red or yellow fire engine?”

The fire engine brace map is part of my new Fire Fighters Unit. I am putting the finishing touches on it and it should be ready by tomorrow! So I’m off to the National Mall. Target is sponsoring some reading event with lots of different authors! Can’t wait to see if I get to meet any of them.
**Update: The unit is ready! You can get it here.