Letter of the week Archives - Page 4 of 21

Letter of the week

Letter of The Week – Letter E Theme

November 8, 2010

Letter of the week theme posts continue with letter E. The goal of theme posts are to provide all your choices in one spot, not as a guide to do them all. Pick and choose what will appeal to your child the most and remember to have fun playing with these letters. If you are doing a letter other than E this week check out our Letter of The Week section to find even more letters to create and learn.

{Letter Ee Crafts}

Earth e - Egg E - Elephant E - Envelope E

{Crafts Starting With E}

Earth Muffins – Earth Tambourine - Coffee Filter Earth - Playdough Earth – Puffy Paint Earth – Recycled Earth – Eggs - Elephant - Eye

{Alphabet Activities}

Keep your letter of the week in context by exploring whole alphabet activities.
We have many to choose from for various abilities and learning styles.

Posted in Age 2-3 years, Age 3-5 years, Age Under 2 years, Crafts, Letter E Theme, Letter of the week |

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Letter Of The Week- Letter D Theme

November 1, 2010

Our Letter of the Week Themes continue with letter D. As I have mentioned before don’t completely forget about the other letters when you are doing letter of the week, just give this letter a little extra attention. Letters like most things are best taught in context to create a real deep connection . Choose a few fun crafts with the letter focus but don’t try to tackle the whole list , there should be time for lots of other opened ended art, and activities not related to the letter of the week.

{Letter D Crafts}

Dragon D – Duck D – Door d

{Crafts and Activities Starting with D}

Dinosaurs - Dinosaur Egg- Dirt – Dog Collar - Dragonfly – Drum – Ducks

{Alphabet Books }

All Aboard!: A Traveling Alphabet by Bill Mayer was more fun for my husband and I than for my son but that’s not a bad thing. It’s a book of pictures, with hidden letters in them. For example the letter O is overpass with loops of road and hidden in it is an O. Some letters were easy to find some were hilariously hard. We read this to my son tonight at bedtime and while we stared at the letter H ( highway) picture debating where the h was, he fell asleep between us in his bed. This is a great alphabet book for families with children just learning and those who have mastered the alphabet. Oh and the debate was settled , we were both wrong. The final page highlights the letter in each picture in a compilation of the whole alphabet.

Learn The Alphabet : with Northwest Coast Native Art by Native Northwest was an amazing gas station find. Yes I said gas station. I ran in for some diet coke and came out with an alphabet book ! This book is amazing, bright beautiful and even though I bought it for my daughter since it’s bright colors and sturdy pages are perfect for a baby, my almost 4 year old son adores it. What I love is when he reads it to her . The Native art is gorgeous and if you are unfamiliar with North West coast art you are in for a treat.

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

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Letter Of The Week C

October 25, 2010

Need ideas for your letter of the week curriculum ? Look no further. Not only do we have letter crafts we have crafts and activities that start with all the letters too! This week it’s the letter C . Cactus, Cats, Caterpillars, Comets and more! Also don’t miss the alphabet books, it’s important not to only focus on the letter, but teach it in a meaningful and holistic way, alphabet books are a great way to do that.

{Letter Crafts}

Candy C - Carrot C - Caterpillar C - Comet C- Cookie C

{Activities and Crafts That Start With C}

Cactus- Candy Cane- Car Wash- Carrot- Cars-Castle- Cat- Caterpillar- Cloud

Coffee Grinds Sensory Tub- Coffee Shop- Cookies- Corn- Crab- Cupcakes

{Alphabet Books }

Sleepy ABC by Margaret Wise Brown . Although I have a legendary hatred of Runaway Bunny I generally love this author. I like this book, and the illustrations will zip you back in time for sure. Unlike many alphabet books it has a great rhythm for reading it all without breaks. My one complaint is that the child is tucked into bed then a few letters later is out listening to a story from another woman not their mom. I am not sure perhaps those are different children, didn’t bug my son one bit, but left me wondering. Like the title suggests it’s a good alphabet book for a bedtime read, it even ends with something I say often ” Go To Sleep!”.

The Graphic Alphabet by David Pelletier is a fun book to share with a child who has already mastered the alphabet, because this book is challenging. Each letter is shown in it’s own illustration, but you aren’t sure exactly what the picture is of, this is the challenge. As you can see on the cover it has an avalanche, the hardest one for me was N no matter how I looked at the picture I thought it was of magnets! Turns out it was noodles! Very fun book for kids that already know their letters and are up for a challenge.

A Is for Zebra by Mark Shulman is a fun and unique alphabet book. Perfect for children who have mastered letter recognition and are up for a fun challenge. The trick is that each letter is represented by the last letter of the coordinating picture . A is for zebra ! You will have fun finding the letter on each page as well as items in the adorable illustrations by Tamara Petrosino.

Posted in Crafts, Letter C Theme, Letter of the week |

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Letter Of The Week – Letter B Theme

October 18, 2010

Our letter of the week posts continue with a one stop shop for all things you may need for introducing and having fun with the letter B. Bugs, boats , bats and butterflies are just some of the fun crafts you can make, don’t miss the three alphabet books showcased they are all ones I highly recommend!

{ Letter Crafts }

Bumble B

Banana B

Boat b

{ Crafts and Activities That Start With The Letter B }

{ Great Alphabet Books }

Alphabetter by Dan Bar-el and Graham Ross is another great alphabet book for you to check out. Each letter is represented by a child who has something that starts with the same letter as their name but doesn’t have what they want which starts with the following letter. It’s such a cute gimmick and so effective while reading that it’s not a gimmick at all! At the end of the book all the children pass the items back down the alphabet and everyone gets what they want. Awesome book for toddlers on up !

Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming is a wonderful example of what an alphabet book should be. Perfect for toddlers and preschoolers learning their first letters, the text is short , the letters are front and center and the illustrations are fun and interesting. My son loves this book, I grabbed it at the library after remembering how much my Pre K class loved it too! Many alphabet books are too long to read entirety at circle time or in one shot with a toddler but this my 19 month old will sit through Z every time!

Alphabet Soup by Scott Gustafson is a treat! I read a lot of alphabet books and this one stands out for so many reasons. Otter is hosting a potluck and his animal friends are all bringing something to share. Each page is devoted to an animal with a coordinating food item and more. This book is reminiscent of Graham Base’s Animalia but mush more toddler friendly. Where Animalia is great for older children because it’s so full of detail, this book brings it down a notch but still enchants you with stunning illustrations and fantastic coordinating text.

Posted in Age 2-3 years, Age 3-5 years, Age 5 and older, Crafts, Letter B Theme, Letter of the week |

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Letter of The Week – Letter A Theme!

October 11, 2010

This is the third school year that I have done a letter of the week and my son is well… kinda done. So while we won’t have new letters for a while I will be posting weekly theme posts like this one. I will include letter crafts, books and extension activities for every letter . My philosophy about letter of the week is that we let kids play and be introduced to the letters and we should still focus on the alphabet as a whole which . I hope you like this new set up, I can’t preach to you do activities your child has genuine interest without pushing and then push my son into doing more letter crafts. Until he wants to do some more this will be the format. Enjoy!

{Letter Crafts}

Alligator A - Alien A – Apple A

{Crafts and Activities That Start With A}

Acorn - Acorns and Apples Sensory Tub - Airplane - Ange l- Ant - Apples

{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.

A is for America by Devin Scillian is a perfect mix of national pride and real facts. As a Canadian I always feel strange critiquing works like this, I don’t want to sound too critical and that won’t be the case with this wonderful book. There are plenty of fantastic reasons to celebrate America and this book lays them on the table from A to Z !

The Sleepy Little Alphabet: A Bedtime Story from Alphabet Town by Judy Sierra is a great alphabet book. I couldn’t help myself, I read it to my son to the tune of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom . It is clearly it’s own book though. The alphabet is getting ready for bed and just like your little ones, these lowercase letters are pulling out all their tricks and antics to avoid bedtime. Well almost all of them, z is more than happy to go to bed! It’s a sweet book that your kids can relate to and I like that it focuses on lowercase letters .

Posted in Age 2-3 years, Age 3-5 years, Crafts, Letter A, Letter A Theme, Letter of the week, Letter Recognition |

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