Helping Children Understand Positional Words and Opposites

Over, Under and Through

Tana Hoben's wonderful book Over, Under and Through, is the perfect way to introduce positional words and opposites. Leap-frogging over a fire hydrant, ducking under "London Bridge," crawling through a pipe tunnel -- Tana Hoban's brilliant photographs of children transform these activities into a fascinating exploration of spatial concepts. There are twelve concepts in all -- and some surprising discoveries for the young child.

Larger Than Normal Foldable®

In this activity, the class creates a big tabbed book modeled after Tana Hoben's book. On the outside of the tabs are spatial concept words. Lift up the tabs and surprise! There are photos of a beloved class stuffed animal sitting under a table or high on a shelf.

Directions

1. To prepare, create a large eight door shutter fold Foldable® out of poster board. You can find directions for creating a shutter door foldable in any of Dinah Zike's Foldable® books. Turn the eight door shutter fold vertical or landscape and write the words above, high, over, and top on the outside of the top tabs and the opposites of each word on the bottom tab (below, low, under, bottom).
2. After exploring the spatial concepts through the delightful book Over, Under and Through, have students help you take pictures of a stuffed animal sitting around the room in various places to illustrate each word. For example, ask students "Where can it sit so that it is above? Where would it be low?"
3. Print out and glue the pictures under the corresponding tabs. 
4. Enjoy reading the class book together and place it in a reading center for students to read over and over. You can also have students find and glue other pictures that illustrate the concepts underneath the tabs.