Letter of the week Archives - No Time For Flash Cards

Letter of the week

Letter Of The Week – Letter P Theme

December 17, 2012

We are slowly making our way through the alphabet with these Letter of The Week theme posts. I love making them because they remind me of all the fun we had making these crafts and learning together. I know I say this in each theme post but please if you are doing a letter of the week curriculum please don’t only focus on one letter each week. Choose from these fun ideas a few to focus on and continue to teach letters in context, using familiar words, first names and other whole alphabet activities. Kids learn when it’s memorable and in context. I hope you can find a few fun letter P ideas today .

{Letter P Crafts}

letterp2

Peacock p – Pumpkin p - Piano P - Pasta P – Penny P

{Crafts & Activities That Start With P}

stay put magnetic puzzle

Panda Puppet - Parachute Craft - Peacock Craft – Penguin Crafts – Pig Craft – Pirate Treasure Sensory - Pizza Pretend Play – Planets – Playdough- Post Office- Princess Wand - Puzzle

{Whole Alphabet Activities}

alphabet activities playdough activites

Letter Pizza – Alphabet Peg Dolls - Alphabet Playdough

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Letter Of The Week – Letter O Theme

December 11, 2012

I love the letter O and the owl O below is one of my favorite crafts we have ever made. There are some wonderful open ended activities below which are a perfect compliment to the more structured letter crafts. Remember adult directed crafts should be in the minority with open free creative activities making up the majority of your art time. Don’t miss the book suggestion either, it’s perfect for this week.Mix single letter activities with lots of whole alphabet ones like these 25 alphabet activities that we love.

{ Letter O Crafts}

Octopus O – Olive O – Owl O

{ Crafts & Activities That Start With O}

Ocean in a box – Ocean mural- Paper Bag Octopus – Olympic Crafts - Onion Prints - Orange Prints – Owl Craft – Owl Puppet

{Alphabet Book}

O Is for Orca: An Alphabet Book by Andrea Helman is a book about the nature of the North West packaged in an alphabet book. Each page is dedicated to one large photo and a animal, plant or other part of North West nature. My son was reluctant at first wanting to read a Star Wars chapter book but only a page or two in he was asking not to skip any of the text and we were discussing the information about the sea animals and he was eager to make a nest in our apple trees for the spotted owls who we read were endangered. Many of the letters represent sea animals like sea stars, urchins and of course orcas. There are a lot of facts in this book and if I were reading it to my toddler I’d skip the paragraphs and go through the alphabet and each photo only. That is what I love about books like this you can adapt them so easily to your audience.

Posted in Letter O Theme, Letter of the week, Letter Recognition |

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Letter Of The Week – M Theme

February 27, 2012

Letter of the week is a popular theme for daycare centers and preschools but more and more research points to making sure that you don’t focus only on one letter too extensively . So please remember to have a environment rich in print, choose a few of these projects NOT all and only ones that are or will be meaningful for your child or students.The trick is finding the right balance in your preschool activities, learning in context is key. A great place to start is with the letters in your child’s name.

Letter M Crafts

Map M- Marshmallow M- Monster m – Mountain M

Crafts & Activities That Begin with M

Map – Masks- Matisse Collage – Maze – Memory Games- Mining Activities- Mitten Match

Monster Crafts- Moon Crafts - Moose Craft- Mouse Puppet – Mushroom Printing

Alphabet Books

Alligator Alphabet by Stella Blackstone and Stephanie Bauer. I was so excited to find this book because just this week my son started pointing out lower case letters in text. This book is a beautifully illustrated book with each letter represented on it’s own page. Pretty standard right? Wrong, although the text below the illustration had both upper and lower case letters, the main illustration is only the lower case letter. This is perfect for children like my son who are just starting to learn their lowercase letters.Alphabet Books

“A” Was Once An Apple Pie by Edward Lear and Suse MacDonald is an adaptation of the classic Edward Lear poem that had both my children transfixed. The bold bright colors kept my daughter who is 10 months old wide eyed the whole time and the playful way Suse MacDonald adapted the text had my son listening from A-Z as well. It was incredibly fun to read allowed tongue tying me at times which resulted in us all giggling hysterically in a heap. A book that can do that is a must have in my opinion.

Al Pha’s Bet by Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a rare find. An alphabet book that can keep a 5 year old who says alphabet books are for babies, completely engaged. The story follows Al who has bet himself that he can win a contest ordered by the King figure out an order for the brand new 26 letters that were just invented. In a string of adorable events and a little chance the alphabet as we know it is put together. My son thought it was hysterical that P was put in the line up after Al went pee. It’s a cute idea for a book and abstract enough to be a bit of a challenge for preschoolers but just the right level of interest for kids that think they know it all when it comes to the alphabet.

Posted in Crafts, Letter M Theme, Letter of the week, Letter Recognition |

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Letter Of The Week – Letter L Theme

January 23, 2012

We are almost half way through the alphabet with our Letter of The Week theme series. These theme posts are meant to bring together upper and lowercase letter crafts, crafts and projects that begin with the letter and whole alphabet books and activities. Why do this? To make it easier for you to find what you need for every letter.

{Letter L Crafts}

Ladder L- Leaf L -Lighthouse l - Love L

{Crafts & Activities That Start With L}

Ladybug Craft – Ladybug Math- Lanterns- Leaves – Lego Measuring – Leopard Craft- Lightning Bugs – Love Bugs

{ Alphabet Books }

The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! by Steve Martin was introduced to me by Rebecca when she sent it in for this post . When I saw it at the library I grabbed it and so glad I did. It’s a fun book with silly rhymes for each letter and I was surprised that my son sat all the way through it. It’s a pretty long alphabet book for a toddler. I liked the details in the illustrations even if the sometimes gross humor was not my favorite, but kids will love it !

Alphabeep!: A Zipping, Zooming ABC by Debora Pearson is a great book for older toddlers and preschoolers. The transportation themed book uses rhymes and colorful illustrations to go from A to Z. The text was a bit long for my young toddler but I shortened it and he was able to enjoy the book , children 2 and up will love it just the way it is! This ison my must buy list.

{ Whole Alphabet Activities}

Alphabet Sensory Tub - Car Alphabet – Family Letters

Posted in Crafts, Letter L Theme, Letter of the week, Letter Recognition |

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Letter Of The Week – K Theme

January 9, 2012

Letter of The Week is one of our most popular series. If you want to know more about my approach to letter of the week and how I have used it in my classes and home I explain it all here. We believe in playing with letters, playing with books and playing with language in it’s many forms. Kids learn best through hands on experiences so expose them to the world of letters through their world of play. Our eBook has a whole alphabet full of crafts as well as some exclusive never seen on the site!