For each letter, each week I give the children and outline 9 X 11 zerox copy of a letter. We then fill the letter like a collage of things that begin with that letter. The week of A, they glue little pieces of aluminum foil inside the lines of the letter. I try to make it more"hands-on" and tactile; however sometimes we just color inside. I found at the art and teacher stores paper hole punchers that come in different shapes and that has helped tremendously. I've also found that the children enjoyed using rubber stamps with different color ink work well, too. Here are some of the things we have glued in our letters. ***************************************************************** A = aluminum foil B = color blue, buttons, bus (hole puncher shape) C = cotton balls, cars (hole puncher shape), circles, crepe paper D = dots (from hole puncher), dimes or dollars E = easter egg cutouts or drawn F = frog (hole puncher shape), fingerprints G = green, grass from outside H = hearts (hole puncher shape), hand prints I = ice-cream cones drawn J = jack-in-the-box, jack-o-lanterns drawn K = Kindergarten: draw pictures of self and friends, kites L = leaves drawn or we make leaf rubbings M = money cutouts N = numbers, nickels O = orange, ovals drawn P = purple, paper pennies Q = quilt pieces R = red, rabbits (hole puncher shape) S = string, stickers, squares T = triangles, toothpicks, tissues U = umbrellas drawn V = valentines drawn W = worms drawn X = bones (we call them x-rays) Y = yarn Z = zippers, zoo animals *************************************************************** Here are some ideas for Bb and Cc. Books- Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy Make construction paper bears with green overalls. Lay paper over corrugated cardboard and color green. You get a corduroy affect. *************************************************************** We also make brown construction paper bears with button eyes and bow ties to decorate a bulletin board. *************************************************************** Either Wright Group or Rigby has a big book, Bear Facts, which comes with a tape. It is a song. It is really good and can be adapted to use with other themes. *************************************************************** Bear's Spend the Night Party- - Each child brings his favorite bear or other stuffed animal to school. Use them for counting, sorting, graphing during the day. Children put bears to bed in their cubbies when they leave to go home. Bears are told to "be good and stay in the cubbies until morning". After children leave, put the bears around the classroom doing different activities like coloring, reading, building with blocks, etc. Children can tell, draw, and write about what they found their bear doing when they came in the next day. *************************************************************** Sort gummy bears. *************************************************************** Cc for cats books: The Long, Long Tail and Greedy Cat's Breakfast ( Wright Group) Have You Seen My Cat by Eric Carle - we do a class book adaptation of this one. *************************************************************** We make an "All About Me" booklet to go with the letter A. While we are doing A we are in the first unit of our year which is "me, family and friends." I do one for the class and parents to see at open house and this is then an "assignment" that the children have to take home and complete. (I do have some that do not complete it so I have one of teh Beta Club helpers help them make theirs.) I ask them to include their full name, birthday and age, hair color and eye color, height and weight, where they live and who they live with, brothers and sisters and ages and names of each, where thier mom and dad work and their names (some do not have both or either... I tell them to write about who they live with), pets types and names, favorites including toys, foods and places. They are left to how they would like to do it... some are very creative others are just the questions answered. We all share our books the first few weeks of school... the children LOVE it!!! They go back to these books many times to "read" them. *************************************************************** Aa Art Activities Apple Trees Have the children paint apple trees using green, red, and brown tempera paint and pieces of sponge. Have each child tell something about their painting. Write out what the children say in their own words, then have them find and circle the letter As that appear in their recitations. Accordion Folding Teach the children to make accordion folds. Have each child create something that makes use of the accordion fold, such as a bird with wings, a woman wearing a skirt or a simple paper fan. Movement and Games Acrobatics Teach the children some simple stunts, such as the log roll and forward somersault. Alligators Let the children pretend to be Alligators in a swamp. Call "Alligators Go!" and "Alligators Stop!" When the Alligators are all going, they make the short sound of the letter A. When they are stopped, they are very quiet. Alphabet Appetizer Apple Animals Slice apples horizontally so that each apple gives you four of five slices. Give each child one slice (be sure to remove seeds). Have the children dry the top of the slice with a paper towel and have them spread peanut butter or cream cheese on the slice to make an animal face using raisins, peanuts, sesame seeds, or fruit pieces. Chow mein noodles make wonderful whiskers. *************************************************************** We make a baby book. I ask each student to bring a baby picture in, (I let the parents know they will get them back) with their full name, length and weight at birth, and hair and eye color at birth in. We then put all this information into a booklet that is a baby bottle in pink or blue. I also ask each student to bring in a baby picture of mom and dad and we put them in too!!!! This idea is from "Leap Frog's Best Ideas" book... it's one I use alot!!!! They also suggest a Beach party... complete with water balloon relays, water gun squirt out, sand bucket relays, beach ball toss, and barefoot relay. We do this but with our ocean/beach/Mexico *************************************************************** We make "Balloon Bunnies" for letter B. Use a blown up balloon and add eyes, large feet to make it stand, a nose and ears. *************************************************************** Balls in the Bucket.... put a bucket in the middle of a circle, put a strip of tape on the carpet about 5 ft. away from the bucket. Children stand behind the strip and throw a dice, counting the dots and dropping that number of balls in the bucket. To make it harder use two dice as an addition game. You could also have them add one more to the number on the dice or less than the dice. If you want to write with it make it into a class book and recored the "problem" and let them draw a picture that would have the correct "numbers" on it. *************************************************************** We also make button B's and blow bubbles intop a Bb shape using bubbles mixed with a little finger paint. Next year we a going to play a "new" B game using water balloons. You throw the balloons into the air and a pair of children try and catch it in a laundry basket. We played this at our school "field day" and the children had a great time (even though the temperature was cool... they still had fun trying to catch them). *************************************************************** Bb We did a Brown Bear unit based on the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Did you See? Of course we made our own version of the book as a take home book. We also had a Teddy bear picnic. We wove construction paper placemats using the colors in the Brown Bear Book. We brought teddy bears or other "visitors" -like other stuffed animals and dolls to our picnic and graphed who came to our picnic. We made Teddy Bear Cakes-rice cakes spread with peanut butter. Use raisins and cheerios for facial features. Small mini pretzels make great teddy bear ears. We also read The Teddy Bears Picnic and listened to the song. My student teacher made brown bear story stick puppets with the kids and they acted it out together. We had lots of fun during this unit. *************************************************************** Band aids...make a bandaid book...children draw a picture of their body on a page, then put a band aid on that part. Kids or teacher fill in the blank....Band aid on my ________. We make ours into a class book. (idea on p. 44 of Best of the Mailbox)...we also use bandaids for addition problems..... we use a picture of an arm, then put on some bandaid.....we use the elbow as the place to put the plus and we make addition problems ex. 4 bandaids (on the upper arm) + 2 bandaids (on the lower arm) *************************************************************** Bury the bear game - have one child leave the room, then another child hides the bear. When the child that left comes back, the other children say the "bb" sound continually....as the child gets closer to the bear, the children say the "Bb" sound louder and faster...if the child walks away from the bear, the sound gets lower and slower!! Idea taken from Food For Thought (p. 176) and can be adapted for any letter!!!! *************************************************************** Bb belt - children draw pictures of objects that begin with Bb, (then write the word underneath) on a strip of construction paper. Words can be brainstormed and written on the chalkboard for the kids to copy, or they can use inventive spelling. When the children are done, the teacher punches holes at the ends of the belt, and ties them to the child's waist. (from Alternatives to Worksheets, p.12) *************************************************************** Baby Picture game - kids bring a baby picture, then the teacher mounts pictures on a board and the kids try to guess who is who ...we extend this by having them write "When I was a baby I ___________." *************************************************************** Bunny snack - use 2 circles of bread, cut one circle in half. Use one circle for the head, the 2 half circles for ears. Spread with p.b. and use small foods for the face and Twizzlers pull apart licorice for the whiskers. *************************************************************** Bring a Bear Day - the kids bring a bear from home and we have different stations...they compare sizes, measure length (w/ bear cookies) and circumference (with links), read a story to their bear, weigh their bear, etc. etc. It's tons of fun!!!!! *************************************************************** other Bb ideas *Baseball player puppet (on a paper bag) *bones (study the skeleton) *Balloon bat (like vollyeball but with balloons) *Water Balloon toss *Bubble Painting (use colored bubbles and blow them, children catch on paper - make sure kids wear smocks or they get bubble painted too!!) *Bananas (chocolate dipped and frozen) *Butterflies (I could write 10 pages on those ideas) *Bugs *Blotto Painting *Bring a Bike Day (we do the trike a thon for St. Judes) *************************************************************** Art Activities Big Bugs Give each child a potato for a body of a bug. Provide toothpicks, pins with colored heads, pipe cleaners, buttons, and colored paper to complete the bug. Have the children give the bugs names beginning with the sound of B. Beautiful Blue Bunnies Give each child bright blue tempera or finger paint and have them paint a cut out shape of a bunny. Have each child tell something about their painting. Write out what the children say in their own words, then have them find and draw balloons around letter. *************************************************************** Movement and Games Balance Beam Use a balance beam to work with the children on balance and coordination. Have them practice walking frontward, backward, and sideways using slow and quick movements. Tape a B to the wall for the children to focus on as they work on the beam. Bouncing Balls Work with balls to develop the children's bouncing and catching skills. Ask the children to call "B" as they bounce. *************************************************************** Alphabet Appetizer Bugs on a Bed Give each child a slice of Whole Wheat Bread. Have the children first put "bedspreads" on their "beds" using peanut butter, cream cheese or butter. Then have them put "bugs" on the beds using small edibles such as raisins, nuts, cereal bits, small pieces of fruit or vegetables. *************************************************************** 1. Make a cartoon flip book 2. Use scraps and make a collage 3. clean dirty coins in a coin shower of lemon juice and salt 4 Make a class cookbook ( children dictate ingredients and directions of how to cook some of their favorite dishes. 5. read "It Looks Like Spilt Milk" and learn about clouds 6. Learn about a Cookie Monster song and cookies- Children can estimate how many bites to finish a cookie, or how many chips are in their cookies. You can graph the classes favorite cookie... 7. Read "The Carrot Seed" Cut off tops of carrots and place in a dish of water. Record what happens in a journal. 8. Make a color graph. Eyes, coats, lunchboxes... 9. Make No Cook Candy *************************************************************** Cc **Clown hats and clown face painting **Crystal gardens (with charcoal and bluing) **Carbon paper (my kids love to use this) **Castles out of sand *************************************************************** Cookie books that children can "read" (children illustrate) I like big cookies I like little cookies I like all cookies I am a cookie monster *************************************************************** **Cc Snack... take one bite out of a cracker, spread with cream cheese - instant letter Cc *************************************************************** Glue cotton balls on the letter Cc for a tactile experience. Crayon resist art Crayola has a neat site. You can learn how crayons and markers are made. http://www.crayola.com Construction Unit using blocks has been developed by Sue Tonnesen. The address is http://142.28.12.69/Schools/NHE/ConstructionUnit/title.html *************************************************************** Cookie cutters-use letter shaped cutters *************************************************************** Sort bottle caps and lids *************************************************************** Play cards *************************************************************** Copycat Game and Chant Let's play copycat just for fun. Let's copy _____(child's name), (s)he's the one. Whatever (s)he does, we do the same. That's how you play the copycat game. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (Imitate child's action while counting to 10) *************************************************************** Cooking: Crackers with cream cheese, carrot salad (5-6 grated carrots, 1 can undrained crushed pineapple, raisins as desired), carrot cake, cucumbers, cabbage, coconut, corn *************************************************************** Corn- graph your favorite corn product; fresh corn, creamed corn, hominy, corn flakes, cornbread, polenta, corn tortillas *************************************************************** "c" verbs: crab walk, crawl, creep, clap, count *************************************************************** Count coins. *************************************************************** Clothing: cape, cape coat, costume, crown *************************************************************** caterpillars- made from egg cartons *************************************************************** Books: Corduroy: Don Freeman Cat in the Hat: Dr. Seuss *************************************************************** Art Activities Curly Caterpillars Have the children glue colored paper strips (aprox 1 1/2 X 8 inch) into rings. Glue six or seven rings together to form a long caterpillar. The children can draw faces and use pipe cleaners as antennae. Calico Cats Supply fabric or wallpaper scraps for cutting out the head and body of the cat. Have the children add features with markers and/or crayons. Have each child tell something about their Cat. Write out what the children say in their own words, then have them find and circle the Cs in their recitations. *************************************************************** Movement and Games Cave Make a cave in one corner of the play area by draping sheets or blankets over some tables. Let the children pretend to be caterpillars crawling in and out of the cave. Ask them to make the hard sound of C as they crawl around. Catching Cut off the tops of plastic milk jugs with handles to use as receptacles for catching balls and beanbags that the children can "toss" to each other. Remind the children to be cautions when doing this activity. *************************************************************** Alphabet Appetizer Crazy Caterpillar Critters Provide a variety of vegetables that begin with the letter C, such as celery, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage and cauliflower. Cut these into small pieces and rounds. Have them assemble a caterpillar in the shape of a C by sticking the vegetables together with peanut butter or cream cheese. Give each child a piece of cabbage to be the "grass" under the crazy critter. *************************************************************** Dd There are lots of great Dd ideas!!!! Dinosaurs - I could go on and on for this topic!!! I have some really cute ideas we do (we pretend we are paleontologists)... *************************************************************** Dogs - I play a game called feed the dog bone to the dog. I took a blank die, and wrote either + or - and 1 or 2 on the die (ex. +2, -1, etc.). I use real dog bones, and have 4 strawberry baskets with colored, laminated cartoon pictures of dogs on them. The kids roll the die, and either feed the bones to the dog (if it is a + sign), or take bones away (if it is a - sign). Whoever gets 10 bones in his/her dog's basket first wins!! This is a great addition/subtraction readiness game, and very inexpensive and easy to make. I also adapted the idea for other seasons (easter - I have bunnies and little plastic carrots that I got at a craft store) *************************************************************** Dragon - good if Dd is done around chinesse new year.....we use egg flats (the big, flat egg cartons) and decorate one per child with tissue, glitter, sequins, etc. Then we make a big head, and then have a dragon parade *************************************************************** Dominoes - teach the kids how to play - or use dominoes for addition - I also made letter/picture dominoes - they have to match the letters to the picture that begins with that letter *************************************************************** Dad - make a "Dad Book" have dad's face as the cover, and inside they draw what they like to do with dad, favorite game to play, favorite place to go (make sure all your kids have a dad or a step dad first!!!!!) *************************************************************** Dice Race - we make giant dice out of large cardboard boxes - then the kids divide into smaller groups, roll the dice (or die), and can take that many steps. *************************************************************** Dime under the Dot Game - if you buy the inexpensive small frisbees (the type that are sent home as children's party favors) you can use them for all sorts of games. We hide a dime under one, then tape letters/pictures/numbers/etc. to the tops...... for the children to be able to look under the dot for the dime, they first need to identify/read/tell what letter the picture begins with/etc. that is on the top of the dot. We take turns until someone finds the dime. That person then gets to hide the dime for the next game. This can be used successfully as a center idea as well!!!! *************************************************************** Have donuts Use dot paints Play with dolls in a dollhouse (or make them) Pick or make daisys *************************************************************** Art Activities Daisies Have the children cut out a circle and glue it to the center of a paper plate. Show them how to cut petals in a variety of colors and glue them around the circle to form a daises. Have the children add stems and leaves. *************************************************************** Dads Ask the children to draw and color large pictures of their dads (or another important male figure in their lives). Have them tell you something special about their dads to write down on the pictures. *************************************************************** Movement and Games Ducks Have the children pretend to be ducks out for a walk. As they waddle, ask them to make the sound of D. *************************************************************** Dodge Ball Have the children form a circle facing inward. Choose two or three children to go inside the circle, the other children throw balls into the center trying to touch on of the inside children. If they are successful, they exchange places with the children they hit. *************************************************************** Alphabet Appetizer Dirt Dessert Give each child a small paper cup with 1/2 C. Vanilla Yogurt. Let them measure and crush 1/4 C. Granola and sprinkle it over the yogurt for "dirt". *************************************************************** Ee While teaching children about their address(es), have them write a letter to themselves or a family member. Help them address an ENVELOPE. Take a field trip to the post office to mail their envelopes and see how envelopes are processed. *************************************************************** Cook eggs a variety of ways, then graph favorites. (scrambled, hardboiled, egg salad, fried) *************************************************************** Estimate eggs (plastic easter eggs), erasers, *************************************************************** Art Activities Eggs Use plastic eggs (from Easter) and have the children glue Easter-egg grass in half of an egg. Show them how to make a chick by gluing two cotton balls together and making a tiny face on the top ball. Have them put their chicks in their eggs and use stickers to decorate the outside of the eggs. *************************************************************** Eskimos Ask the children to cut out a large round shape for the face of an Eskimo. Show them how to glue white cotton balls around the face for the fur of a hood. Have them glue or color on other features. Talk about why Eskimos need to be dressed in warm clothing. *************************************************************** Movement and Games Egg Rolls Teach the children ho to do "egg rolls" on mats. Have them begin in a sitting position with their knees up. Have them roll sideways down the mats holding their knees tightly with their arms. *************************************************************** Exercises Do exercises with the children. Try jumping jacks, sit-ups, toe touches, etc. Call out the E as you do your exercises *************************************************************** Alphabet Appetizer Egg Boats Hard-boil one egg for every two children. Have the children work in pairs to peel the shell from the egg. Slice the egg in half and carefully remove the yolk and put into a small paper cup. Have each pair mix the yolk with 1 tsp. Mayonnaise, 1/2 Tsp Mustard and a dash of salt and pepper. This mixture is scooped back into the hollows of the white. Have each child make a sail for the boat with a toothpick and a paper flag with the letter E on it. Stick the sail into their "boats" before they eat.