Wheels on the bus lesson plan

“Wheels on the bus”

Lesson 36 Level 1 Age 3-5

Lesson plans for ESL kids teachers

Lesson 36

Wheels on the bus

In this lesson students sing the popular song “The wheels on the bus“. They talk about [hide_on_uk]traveling[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]travelling[/hide_on_us] on a bus, sing the song, read a funny story, do a pair work drawing activity and role play being on a bus.

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Age: 3-5 years
Time: 40 mins – 1 hour
Objectives: Talking about [hide_on_uk]traveling[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]travelling[/hide_on_us] on the bus.
Structures: “.. go/goes …”, “All around the town”.
New vocabulary: bus, wheels, go round, town, wipers, go swish, horn, goes beep, doors, open, shut, babies, go boo-hoo, driver, sit down.
Review vocabulary: left, right, forward, back, jump, turn around, touch the ground, turn, sit down, stand up, clap your hands.

Lesson materials

Printables:

Bob’s bus reader worksheet
Bus draw worksheet

Songs:

Hello song
Goodbye song
The weather song
The directions song
The wheels on the bus song

Readers:

Bob’s bus

Supplies:

name tags for each student
a glove puppet
[hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] crayons / pencils
a large cloth bag
bus driver’s cap
weather board (see end of this page for details)
cushions (1 per student)
device to play the songs on

Notes:

This lesson is based around the popular children’s song “The wheels on the bus”. Students talk about [hide_on_uk]traveling[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]travelling[/hide_on_us] on a bus, sing the song, read a funny story and role play being on a bus.

Lesson procedure:

Warm up and maintenance:

1. Greetings
Greet the students by name as they enter the classroom and gesture for them to sit down (on cushions if you have them) in a fan-shape around you.

2. Name tags
Before class, prepare some blank name tags (stickers or pin-on tags) and some cards, each with a student’s name written on clearly – students will use them to copy their names onto their name tags. Sit down with your students and lay out the name cards in front of you. Pick up each card and encourage the student to recognize his/her name. Do this for everyone.

Finally, have everyone take out a crayon or pencil and copy their name on their tags and stick them on.

Introduce glove puppet - greetings and introductions activity

3. Glove puppet greetings
Bring out your glove puppet bag and have everyone shout “Hello!“ into the bag until he wakes up and jumps out of the bag. Then model talking to the glove puppet …

Teacher: “Hello”, What’s your name?”
Puppet: “My name is…”.
Puppet: “How are you?”
Teacher: “I’m fine, thank you”.
Puppet: “How old are you?”
Teacher: “I’m …”.

… and then have the puppet say hello to each student and ask them the same questions, including their age. Finally, go around saying “Goodbye” and “See you” before going back into the bag and back to sleep.

4. Sing the “Hello song”
Sit in a circle and sing the song (clap along or pat knees).

Lyrics for the “Hello song”

Hello, hello,
How are you today?
Hello, hello,
How are you today?

I’m fine, thank you,
I’m fine, thank you,
I’m fine, thank you,
And how about you?

Hello, hello,
How are you today?
I’m fine, thank you,
And how about you?

Gestures for the “Hello song”

These are quite straight forward. First time you play the song do the gestures and encourage everyone to do them with you.

Wave as you sing the “Hello, hello” parts.
Gesture to others as you sing, “How are you today?”
Point to yourself as you sing, “I’m fine, thank you”
Hand gesture towards another student as you sing, “And how about you?”.

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_us]

5. Homework check
Check each student’s homework that you set in the last lesson. Ask each student some questions about their homework worksheet (e.g. “Is this left/right?”), give lots of praise, and then put some kind of mark on the homework sheet (e.g. a sticker, a stamp or draw a smiley face).

Finally, tell your students to put their homework back into their bags.

6. Do “Exercise routine” activity
Say the following and have the students follow your lead:

“Stand up” (Teacher stands and so does everyone else)
“Hands up / hands down” (do 4 or 5 times)
“Jump” (4 or 5 times)
“Kick” (4 or 5 times)
“Run! / Stop!” (4 or 5 times)
“Turn around! / Stop!” (4 or 5 times)
“Wiggle” (a few seconds)
finally “Sit down”.

7. Do the “What’s in the bag?” activity
Time for the bag again. Before class, put a couple of new objects (e.g. a crayon, a plastic bottle, a sock, a paper cup, a leaf, a ball, a teddy, etc. – anything lying around (and safe!)) into the bag.

Show the bag to your students, shake it to rattle the objects inside, and ask, “What’s in the bag?”.

Randomly pull out different objects and teach/elicit the words – in each case, have students hold and pass the objects around. You can even have students pull the objects out of the bag instead of you taking them out – with eyes closed to make it fun!

Finally, place/throw the objects around the classroom and have each student retrieve an object as you call out its name and put it back in the bag.

8. Sing “The weather song”
Time for the weather section of the lesson! Put the weather flashcards on the board in the order of the song (or use our song poster). Have all the students stand up and watch you as you sing along and use the gestures. Encourage them to join in and sing along.

Lyrics for “The weather song”

Verse 1:
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
It’s sunny, it’s rainy, it’s windy, it’s cloudy.
It’s snowy, it’s foggy, it’s hot, it’s cold.

Verse 2:
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
How’s the weather? How’s the weather?
Look outside.
It’s sunny, it’s rainy, it’s windy, it’s cloudy.
It’s snowy, it’s foggy, it’s hot, it’s cold.

Gestures for “The weather song”

There are some easy gestures you can do as you sing along to the song:

For the question part “How’s the weather?”, sing along and do the ‘palms of the hands up’ question gesture.
For the “Look outside” part, face the window and put your hand over your eyes (like a salute), as if you were looking into the distance.
Use hand gestures for the weather words:
- sunny: slowly spread your arms out
- rainy: wiggle your fingers downwards like rain
- windy: gesture wind blowing out of your mouth
- cloudy: make cloudy shapes with your hands
- snowy: wiggle your fingers downwards like snow and shiver
- foggy: close your eyes and put your hand out in front like you are trying to feel for something you can’t see
- hot: fan your face
- cold: shiver and wrap your arms around your body

FREE SAMPLE (full-length song):

[hide_on_uk][/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us][/hide_on_us]

9. Talk about the weather outside
Motion for your students to come over to the window (or even outside). Say, “How’s the weather? Look outside”. Elicit the weather from the words they learned in the last lessons (It’s sunny / cloudy / windy / rainy / snowy / foggy / hot / cold).

Depending on weather conditions, you can introduce more weather words, such as:

stormy
misty
showery

warm
cool
freezing

humid
frosty
icy

drizzly

Weather board for showing today's weather

10. Use the “Weather board”
Use the weather board that you created in the previous class (see instructions here). Invite some students to come up and put weather pictures for today’s weather on the board. Make sure they say the word as they put the card on the board.

If you introduced any new weather words as you were talking about the weather just now, add these pictures to your board – you can either draw them there and then or prepare the pictures before class.

11. Review directions and actions – copy the teacher
Let’s review the vocabulary from last class. Have everyone stand up and say, “Copy me!”. Jump to the left and shout, “Jump to the left!” and have everyone copy you. Do multiple times for the following directions and actions:

jump (to the left/right / forward / back)
turn around
touch the ground
turn (to the left / right)
sit down
stand up
jump up and down
clap your hands

Play a second round, this time only shout out the actions but don’t do them – can everyone remember them without copying the teacher?

12. Sing “The directions song”
This is such a fun song, so let’s sing it again!

Lyrics for “The directions song”

Are you ready?

Chorus:
Jump to the left,
Jump to the right,
Jump forward,
And jump back.

Jump to the left,
Jump to the right,
Jump forward,
And jump back.

Verse 1:
Turn around and touch the ground,
Turn to the left and turn to the right.
Turn around and touch the ground,
Turn to the left and turn to the right.

Chorus

Verse 2:
Sit down and stand up,
Jump up and down and clap your hands.
Sit down and stand up,
Jump up and down and clap your hands.

Gestures for “The directions song”

The actions are very simple: as you sing along do the actions of the song.

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_us]

New learning and practice:

1. Introduce the vocab in the song with a drawing exercise
For this lesson you are going to use your artistic drawing skills.

Start by drawing a large picture of a bus on the board – make it as large as you can, filling the whole board. Elicit / teach / chorus the word “bus”.
Next, shade in the wheels and again elicit / teach / chorus the word “wheels”. Now teach the action phrase “go round and round” and get everybody making round and round movements with their arms as you say, “The wheels on the bus go round and round”.

Draw a large picture of a bus on the board

Now draw wipers onto the picture and teach “wipers” and “swish” and get everyone to do the swishing action with their arms.
Then draw a steering wheel (through the window) and motion driving and honking the horn. Teach and practice “horn” and “beep”.
Draw the doors on the bus and teach “doors”, “open and shut” and practice do opening and shutting actions with your arms.
Now for the tough bit – drawing babies on the bus! Draw the windows and draw babies looking out. You can show flashcard pictures if your drawing is not up to scratch! Teach and practice “babies”, “boo-hoo”.
Finally, draw the driver sitting on the bus holding the steering wheel. Teach / practice “driver”, “Please sit down”. When teaching “Please sit down” get everyone standing up and have fun telling everyone to sit down and stand up, so they all get the meaning.

2. Play “I say, you do”
Now to practice the vocabulary. Get everyone to stand up facing the teacher. Start by saying a random sentence from the song (e.g. “The doors on the bus go open and shut”) and get everyone to do the action. At first go slowly, saying different sentences and having everyone do the action from the gestures section below. Then go faster and faster until it is impossible to keep up.

3. Sing “The wheels on the bus” song
First play the song and get everyone to follow you with the actions. Then play the song again and encourage everyone to sing along.

Lyrics for “The wheels on the bus”

Verse 1:
The wheels on the bus
Go round and round
Round and round
Round and round.
The wheels on the bus
Go round and round
All around the town.

Verse 2:
The wipers on the bus
Go swish, swish, swish
Swish, swish, swish
Swish, swish, swish.
The wipers on the bus
Go swish, swish, swish
All around the town.

Verse 3:
The horn on the bus
Goes beep, beep, beep
Beep, beep, beep
Beep, beep, beep.
The horn on the bus
Goes beep, beep, beep
All around the town.

Verse 4:
The doors on the bus
Go open and shut
Open and shut
Open and shut.
The doors on the bus
Go open and shut
All around the town.

Verse 5:
The babies on the bus
Go “Boo-hoo-hoo!
Boo-hoo-hoo!
Boo-hoo-hoo!”
The babies on the bus
Go “Boo-hoo-hoo!”
All around the town.

Verse 6:
The driver of the bus
Says “Please sit down!
Please sit down!
Please sit down!”
The driver of the bus
Says “Please sit down!”
All around the town.

Verse 7:
The wheels on the bus
Go round and round
Round and round
Round and round.
The wheels on the bus
Go round and round
All around the town.

Gestures for “The wheels on the bus”

The actions of the song are really easy and mimic what is happening in the song.

For verse 1, whirl your arms around in the air for “The wheels on the bus go round and round …” part.
For verse 2, swish your arms lefts and right for “The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish …” part.
For verse 3, beep an imaginary horn for “The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep …” part.
For verse 4, swish your arms back and forth for “The doors on the bus go open and shut …” part.
For verse 5, put your fists to your eyes and mimic crying for “The babies on the bus go boo-hoo-hoo …” part.
For verse 6, look angry and wave your finger for “The driver on the bus says “Please sit down!”” part.
Verse 7 is the same as verse 1

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_us]

4. 5-minute play time
This is an optional segment that can be part of all your lessons at this level. Allow your students to play with any games or toys you have. If possible, use large tubs or boxes to hold the toys and bring them out for a few minutes each lesson. Tubs filled with animals, plastic fruit, building blocks, kitchen sets, plastic food, cars & vehicles, Mr. Potato Head dolls and so on.

5. Read classroom reader “Bob’s bus”
This reader follows on perfectly from The wheels on the bus song and helps to reinforce the new vocabulary with a fun story. Before class, download and print off the reader “Bob’s bus”. As you go through each page, point to the different features and elicit what they are, for example:

Teacher: (on page 3) Look, what are these? (pointing at the wheels)
Students: Wheels!
Teacher: Yes, that’s right. And the wheels go …?
Students: Round and round! (everyone does the gesture from the song)
Teacher: Yes, very good! (reading from page 3) “Look at the wheels go round and round”.
Teacher: (reading from page 4) “Oh no, it’s raining!”. Oh but that’s ok because … what are these? (pointing at the wipers)
Students: Wipers!
Teacher: Yes, good job! And the wipers go …?
Students: Swish, swish! (everyone does the gesture from the song)
Teacher: Yes, very good! (reading from page 4) “The wipers go swish, swish”.
etc.

Continue through the story, eliciting the key vocabulary. Get the students really involved in the story by asking lots of questions (e.g. about the [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] of the uniform, bus and people’s clothes, the clothing vocabulary for the driver’s uniform, etc.).

After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and read through the story one more time (without stopping for questions, etc.) as students number the pictures in the order of the story. Then go through the answers as a class.

Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required).

6. Do a “Take the bus” role-play
This is the show stopper which your students will love. Arrange all the chairs so that they are facing forwards in rows, just like on a bus. The teacher can be the driver (if you can find a driver’s cap to wear, all the better!). Get everyone to line up outside the bus (at the bus stop) and ‘drive’ the bus to the bus stop. Everyone can enter the bus, pay for their ticket (prepare tickets before class and ever use toy money) and then sit down. Then start driving the bus and as you go, shout out, “lean left!” and “lean right” as you go around corners and get everyone to lean with you. Do lots of other fun things, such as:

beep the horn (everyone does together)
stand up and sit down to help go up and down hills (Don’t forget to say, “Please sit down!”)
stop!!! (everyone lurches forward)
speed up!!! (everyone is pushed back in their seats)
jump up and down (when the bus gets stuck in mud)

At the end, pull up to the stop and shout, “Everybody, get off the bus!” You can even invite other students to take on the role of bus driver.

Wrap up:

1. Assign homework: “Bus draw” worksheet
Hold up the homework worksheet – this is a fun drawing activity. Model by drawing wheels, windows, etc. onto the bus. Also demonstrate [hide_on_uk]coloring[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colouring[/hide_on_us] in the picture.

Give out the worksheets and say, “Put your homework in your bags” and help them to do so – this is important as they will probably want to start working on them right away.

2. Say goodbye to the glove puppet
Take out the bag again and get everyone to wake up the glove puppet by shouting its name into the bag (e.g. “Cookie Monster!”). Bring out the puppet and go through the same routine – go to each student and say hello, ask their name and the say goodbye / see you. Then put the puppet back in the bag (back to sleep).

3. Sing the “Goodbye song”
Sit together in a circle and sing and clap along.

Lyrics for the “Goodbye song”

Goodbye, goodbye,
See you again.
Goodbye, goodbye,
See you again.

It’s time to go,
It’s time to go,
It’s time to go,
See you next time.

Goodbye, goodbye,
See you again.
It’s time to go,
See you next time.

Gestures for the “Goodbye song”

These are quite straight forward. First time you play the song do the gestures and encourage everyone to do them with you.

Wave as you sing the “Goodbye, goodbye” parts.
Hold your hand above your eyes (as you would when you are looking into the distance and keeping the sun out of your eyes) and look at another student as you sing, “See you again”.
Tap watch (or imaginary watch) and then point to the door as you sing, “It’s time to go”.
Point towards another student as you sing, “See you next time”.

[hide_on_uk]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_uk]

[hide_on_us]Short sample (members get full-length song):
 [/hide_on_us]

4. Do “Quick check” and say goodbye
Time to leave the class. Make sure everything is put away and the students have gathered their belongings. Have them line up at the door and place yourself between the door and the students.

For each student elicit parts from the song, such as, “The horn on the bus goes …?”, and elicit “Beep-beep!” as well as the action for beeping the horn.

When each student responds correctly let them leave. If they make a mistake, have them go back to the end of the line – they will have to try again once they reach the front!

Future lessons: Reviewing and checking the weather each lesson:

1. Prepare a “Weather board”
Prepare a piece of cardboard and cover it with felt – you are going to pin this to the wall. If you can, try and get blue felt (to represent the sky). Write at the top in large letters, “How’s the weather today?”. Below the write “Today it’s”. Cut out weather pictures (such as our weather flashcards) and stick some velcro on the back. Arrange the weather pictures around the edge of the board and then put the board on the wall of your classroom.

We have made a video showing how to make a weather board here:

2. Sing The weather song
In the warm up section of your lesson you can include a weather section – introduce this section by singing the weather song (with gestures).

3. Look outside
Get everyone to look outside by saying, “How’s the weather? Look outside”. Elicit the weather for that day.

4. Put the weather pictures on the weather board
Invite some students to come up and put the weather pictures on the board. Make sure these students say the word as they put the card on the board.