And remember before reading the story, introduce the letter and theme for the day.
For example, on the day you teach the letter F, hold up the book and ask the kids what they see on the cover ("a fish!"), then say something like, "Today we'll be learning about the letter F, and fish starts with the letter F." Point to the letter F in the word fish so they can see what it looks like. Make the F sound and have the kids make it too.
F - Fish
Books: Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, Fidgety Fish and Friends by Ruth Galloway
Activities:
Go Fish - cut out paper fish of different colors/sizes and put a paper clip on each one. Put a magnet on the end of a string and attach the string to a stick to make a fishing pole. Have the kids go fishing. You can have them sort the fish by color or size, or have them try to "catch" specific colors/sizes.
Make construction paper fish - cut out the scales ahead of time (we used cut up bits of curly ribbon), and cut out or draw a fish shape, and have the kids glue the scales on the fish, then draw/paint water, bubbles, etc.
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| He used little bits of curly ribbon as fish food! We also help them write or stamp the letter on each page to help with letter recognition. |
Snacks: goldfish crackers
G - Grandparents
Books: Grandma, Grandpa, and Me by Mercer Mayer
Activities:
Family picture puzzles - get a picture of each child's grandparents ahead of time and cut them into simple puzzles for the kids to put back together (best if they glue them onto a paper)
Write letters or draw pictures to send to grandparents.
Snacks: "gram" crackers
H - Hats
Books: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr Seuss, The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss, Old Hat, New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstein
Activities:
Make newspaper hats. (Here are simple instructions.)
Try on different types of hats and discuss what each is for, or have each child put on a different hat and act like the person who would wear it (cowboy, bike rider, baseball player, etc)
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| We had a baseball hat, helmet, snow hat, straw hat, etc. And there's the paper hat we made on the bottom right. |
Hat matching - print out pictures of hats and the person they belong to and have the kids match them (e.g. cowboy hat and cowboy, sun hat and a kid at the beach, chef hat and chef).
I - Insects
Books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin, Big Bugs Small Bugs by Alex Lluch
Activities: Thumbprint/fingerprint bugs - make a row of fingerprints to make a caterpillar, do individual ones and draw on wings or legs for bees, butterflies, ants, beetles, etc
Egg carton caterpillars - cut the top off an egg carton, then cut it in half lengthwise. Have the kids add pipe cleaner antennas, googley eyes, and paint/color them.
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| This caterpillar had googley eyes, until my son pulled them off... |
2teachingmommies.com ant, bee, and/or butterfly units also have lots of fun activities
Snacks: "ants on a log" (celery with peanut butter or cream cheese and raisins), gummy worms in chocolate pudding
J - Jungle
Books: Jungle Animals by Angela Royston, Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae, Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome
Activities:
Make paper plate animal masks
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| This is from Artsy Momma, but there are lots of different ways you can do jungle animals on paper plates |
Play Simon Says and have the kids act like/sound like different jungle animals. (e.g. Simon says roar like a lion. Simon says stomp like an elephant.)
Snacks: animal crackers
Now that our "school year" for our preschool group is nearing it's end, hopefully I'll have more time to get all of the rest of these posted! The kids have had a lot of fun with our little preschool group!
