Grocery Store Center

Children engage in dramatic play activities in a grocery store context.  They pretend to buy, sell, order, stock, and bag groceries immersing them in a variety of literacy-rich activities.

Materials & Resources

Literacy Support

Dramatic Play Props:

Grocery cart, cash register, play food, telephone, smocks,

Oral language- grocery vocabulary, storytelling, emotional expression

Comprehension skills-problem solving and critical thinking

Story concepts-understanding plot, character, and setting

Literacy Props:

Receipt books, paper, pencil, inventory sheet, clip boards, coupons, play money, check books,

Oral language- directing play, grocery store vocabulary

Functional use of print- making grocery lists, taking phone messages, writing checks

Emergent reading- coupons, money, and checks

Emergent writing- writing letters, paying bills, writing checks, making grocery lists

Environmental print:

Store sign, grocery bags printed with store name, food containers and boxes familiar to the children and containers with other languages printed on them*, department signs like produce, dairy, and meats.  Fliers and newspaper advertisements.

(*Labels and posters with print in Spanish or other languages will be included as much as possible)

Emergent reading- reading food labels, store signs, store name

Concepts of print

Functional use of print- reading the food labels and signs, identify food containers, making grocery lists

Alphabet awareness

*Inclusion

Books:

Children’s Books:

Eating the Alphabet A to Z by Lois Elhert

Jonathan Goes to the Grocery Store by Susan K. Baguette

*A Busy Day at Mr. Kang's Grocery Store by Alice K. Flanagan

*El Supermercado/ Grocery Store (Heinemann Lee Y Aprende/Heinemann Read and Learn (Spanish)) by Angela Leeper, Paul Osborn

Signs at the Store (Welcome Books: Signs in My World) by Mary Hill

Oral language

Emergent literacy

Concepts of print

Concepts of books

Phonemic awareness

Alphabet knowledge

Comprehension skills- understanding plot, character, and setting, problem solving, and critical thinking

*Inclusion