We have tried to incorporate letters into many of the learning activities this late winter. We have done a number of letter activities that the kids have loved!
These pictures are from some beautiful letter names the children made with sequence pieces, and glue. They had to work very diligently to get the many pieces of sequences on their name. Each name turned into a work of art, and the kids were very proud of them!
Here is a video of some children working on their names:
On the light panel I used small pink glasses to write upper and lower case letters on two sets of glasses. The children had to find the lowercase match from around the edge of the light panel to match to the uppercase letter in the center of the light panel.
Below are some pictures of D and J matching up the letters on the light panel.
Some of our glasses cracked so we added in new colors and alphabet letters:
Large Group Lessons:
In our large group circle time, we have done a series of lessons from the Handwriting without Tear Program. I also added some sorting letters activities at the end of our circle time. I pulled out the large sorting circles, and we studied the letters together as a whole group. The first sort we did was: Letters with Straight Lines & Letters with Curved Lines. These lessons allow children to take a closer look at each letter, what components make up the letter and how it is formed. After I sorted a few of the letters first, I had each child come to the front of the room to be the ‘teacher.’ They sorted a letter or two for their friends, and the children watching got to check their answer!
Below B is examining his letter before sorting:
A short clip from our sorting lesson:
After we finished the activity I cleaned up the letters, but left the sorting circles out for choice time. Below is a picture of J and she sorted the entire alphabet by herself! I love when they extend our group learning into their class time choices!
Here is a video of J sorting her letters:
J posing with her circles:
Lastly we used our mini chalkboards to practice our letter writing! The Handwriting without Tears chalkboards use mini pieces of chalk to encourage the correct pencil grip, and give students just the perfect amount of space to practice their uppercase or lowercase letters:
Everyone holding up their different letters:
In our play time area I set up a very large parking lot with the matchbox cars and the garage. Each car had a letter written on the top of it with tape, and then they had to park the cars in the corresponding parking lot!
I set up a large kinetic sand tray with our ABC stamps for the children to explore. They could dig in the sand and press the stamps into the kinetic sand to see the impressions of the letters.
Dinosaurs and Letters:
A few of my students just love dinosaurs! I thought I would incorporate both of these ideas into a sensory table. I added sand, plastic dinosaurs, and then some salt dough letter cakes I made with my students a few years ago. The letters are pressed into the cakes, and are fun to uncover in the sand!
More of our past February activities will be shared soon! I will slowly be catching up with our posts over spring break since my computer is back:)