Really Getting to Know about Buses - Part 3

 
This week we had an opportunity to visit the transit
bus yard to get a really close look at a bus.
 
Mr. Richards, the manager and the mechanic, Trevor, showed
us around the bus.  First he raised the bus really high; high
enough for him to walk underneath.
 
After he lowered the bus he showed us the ramp and invited
us on board.
 
On board we saw different straps.  Some hanging from the
bars above for people to hold on to if they have to stand. 
And a different strap down below the seat to tie down a
wheel chair.
 
Each child had their clipboard with paper and pencil so
they could draw pictures of the different parts of the bus. 
(We'll use this information later at school to add more parts
to our cardboard bus.)
 
By the doors we saw reflector lights and safety signs.
 
Mr. Richards showed us the stop button and we all
had a turn to press it.
     
We heard the ding and saw the sign light up each
time we pressed the button.
 
An exciting part was to pretend to drive the bus and
 
where we drop our money to make the clink-clink sound.
The driver on the bus says, "Don’t forget to pay."

Outside the bus we saw…
 
the destination panel that tells us where the bus is going
and the license plate,
 
the big engine and where the diesel fuel is pumped.

 
      
We found extra tires and measured them by using our bodies. 

 
We gathered outside, enjoyed a snack and talked about all the
different things we saw.
 
Some of the documentation the families did on the tour.

One of the highlights of our tour was meeting a couple
of bus drivers.
  
Thanks so much to Mr. Richards, Trevor, Kenny and Sarahlyn
for making our tour exciting and very informative.

 Tomorrow's post will show you how we made changes to our
cardboard bus back at school.

Bus Project - Part 2

Then the big day arrived for our ride on the real city bus.
 
As we walked to the bus stop the rain started to pour but it didn’t
hinder the excitement.  As the grown ups huddled under umbrellas
the children danced around.

 
It was standing room only as the families filled the bus.
 
As we traveled around the city the children pointed to the many
places they recognized.  The favourite was the swimming pool.
 
Half away through our trip we had to transfer to another bus.
That was exciting learning how to safely step off the bus and
say hi to the new bus driver.
  
To help us build on our cardboard bus at school, we checked
out the different parts on this bus.  The handles the parents were
holding while they stood and the button to let the driver know
we wanted to stop.

Next is a visit to the bus yard.

Our Bus Project - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago I posted about Bus Town which was
the introduction to our talking about buses.

After that we surveyed the children to see which bus they would
like to create.  I predicted they would want a school bus but I was
proven wrong, as you see in the above results.
Once it was decided that we
would build a transit bus we read several books that described
buses and talked about what our bus would look like.
 
One afternoon Grace and I built the base construction with a
very large cardboard box.
 
The next morning the children were quick to climb aboard,
sometimes through the windows.
 
There were drivers and passengers, learning to take turns
driving the bus took practice and patience.
 
As the children played and dreamed of riding a real bus we
did another survey to decide what colour we should paint the
bus.  Pink was the most suggested colour.
Stay tuned for a post about our bus ride.