We're finally beginning the letters of the week. It's been a busy Summer, and I'm not sure why we're starting this in the Summer, but we are!
I've spoken with different people on starting the letters of the week, and everyone seems to do it in a different way. Some say they begin with the Vowels, while others have a different method. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but it's not alphabetical. Maybe they want to do the letter "A" during apple season, the letter "F" when they're doing a fish theme. I'm not sure, but it seems like a little too much thought for me, so I'm going for it from A-Z.
I think it's important that the children are able to recognize the letters of the alphabet before beginning the letters of the week. We haven't done a great deal of activities related to the alphabet, but I recently printed out the Dora alphabet pages from NickJr.com. I put the pages all over the floor (not alphabetically), and then asked my daughter to find the "A", then to find the "B". To my amazement, she found every letter and was very excited to find every letter. Again, I attribute this to the leap frog thing on our refrigerator. I'd love to say it's all me, but it's not.
Some of these activities can be used for any letter, so if I repeat myself in later posts, I apologize in advance for my lack of creativity. I am also going to focus on the capital letters and do the lowercase letters at a later date. These activities may or may not be appropriate for the age group that you care for. Always keep in mind that sometimes an activity isn't going to go as you have planned. Children sometimes have different ideas than we do, and if a child doesn't show any interest, it might be best to try the activity again another time.
Menu:
- Apple Jacks or Alpha Bits Cereal
- Apple Sauce Pancakes or French Toast
- Apricot Jam on Toast
- Avocado Shake from Weelicious.com
- Alphabet Soup or Alphabet Pasta
- Asparagus Fries
Math & Science:
- Print out an "A pattern" (check out our Printables page) for each child. Ask the children to finish the pattern by coloring the last A in the appropriate color based on the pattern. You could also do this with different colored apples or different items that begin with the letter A.
- Find items around the room that begin with the letter "A", as well as, a few other items that do not begin with the letter A. Sit in a circle and go through each item asking if the item begins with A. You could use two hula hoops and have the children put the letter A items in one hula hoop and the other items in the other hoop. At the end count how many items are in the A hoop.
You could also put the items in a basket and have each child pick out an item. Then ask if the item begins with the letter A. Or set it up as a scavenger hunt. I see something that begins with the letter A, and gets picked from a tree.
Arts & Crafts:
- Write or print out on the computer a large letter "A". The children can color or paint it. Then find pictures of items that begin with the letter "A". You could print clip art from the computer, take pictures of items around the room, or create letter "A" items using construction paper or cardstock. You could also use stickers. Our letter A below has an apple, acorn, apricot, airplane, and avocado.
- Print on the computer or draw the large letter A, which will act as the airport runway. Trace or draw an airplane. Our airplane below came from the "Mailbox Magazine Big Book of Patterns". Ask the children to color the airplane and the large letter A, or the airport runway. Have the children glue or tape their airplane to the airport runway. Embellish with stickers and/or other pictures.
- Turn the large letter A from the above into a story time friend. Have the children add hair, eyes, nose, mouth, and a popsicle stick to the letter A. Meet Annadora (see picture below). We went through every A name we could think of, and my daughter wanted to name her Dora, so we compromised. And this is Annadora (Miss A for short).
- Make Apple or Alligator puppets using an apple or alligator cutout and popsicle sticks.
Songs & Poems:
Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee (poem)
- Create an alligator using felt pieces or construction paper to use when reading the poem below.
Alligator Pie, Alligator Pie
If I don’t get some, *I think I will die*. (*In an effort to be less dramatic, I sometimes change this part to: I think I might cry.)
Give away the green grass, give away the sky,
but don’t give away my alligator pie.
Alligator Stew, Alligator Stew
If I don’t get some, I don’t know what I’ll do.
Give away my furry hat, give away my shoe,
but don’t give away my alligator stew.
Alligator Soup, Alligator Soup
If I don’t get some, I think I’m going to droop.
Give away my hockey stick, give away my hoop,
but don’t give away my alligator soup.
Five Red Apples (Author Unknown)
Five red apples in a grocery store.
Katie bought one, and then there were four.
Four red apples on an apple tree.
Christopher ate one, and then there were three.
Three red apples, what did Mary do?
Why she ate one and then there were two.
Two red apples ripening in the sun.
Tommy ate one and now there was one.
One red apple and now we are done.
I ate one, and now there are none.
Story Time:
