1st Week of Preschool - Letter A

This was our first week of Preschool (and Tot School), so I was well aware that things would not be perfect. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the boys did with the majority of the activities.  They were engaged, they were challenged, and they had fun!  I had a lesson plan created for each day of the week, but I definitely switched things up as I went along and took note so I could create an "ideal" lesson plan format for next week.

Curriculum/Printables:
      -Preschool: Confessions of a Homeschooler  (each activity must be downloaded separately on www.4shared.com.  This looks confusing, but if you have a free account, which I did, you just click on the gray Download button in the middle left of the page, and then the gray FREE DOWNLOAD button on the next page.)
      -Tot School: 1plus1plus1equals1 (each letter has one document to print off everything for the week) and Totally Tots

MONDAY

I planned to start right at 8:30 am, but of course we were late. Oh well. The boys sat on the car rug for "Calendar Time" and we began.  We added a day to our large calendar, reviewed today's date, what was yesterday/what is tomorrow, and sang the "How's the Weather?" song before picking the weather card for the day. I finally finished my LDS A-Z Scripture Verses for the boys to memorize, so we started with "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25, The Book of Mormon).

The boys then moved to their tables to start their Daily Learning Notebooks (Preschool and Tot Time). I also found some fun coloring pages on the Crayola website that I printed out and included in Alex's notebook.  Jackson traced the words for today's date, colored in what clothes to wear for the weather (we didn't even bother with the time and temperature on that page), filled in a square for the weather of the day, and filled in a square on the "100 Days of School" page.  I also let him choose one page from the numbers, letter, and shapes pages to trace or color.  All of Alex's pages are in page protectors, so he just had fun coloring the pictures and wiping them off.

I would like to say that I did an elaborate introduction for the letter of the week, but I didn't. However, I have decided to put together a "scavenger box" of stuff that starts with the letter of the week to go through with the boys to introduce at the beginning of the week.  

The first activity for Jack used the large A lacing card and a manipulative to create a pattern on top.  Alex played with the Tot School lacing card and my pom-pom magnets during this time.  We then transitioned to the coloring pages for Aa/Apple.

Here the boys are coloring:

After coloring, we used the Apple Large Floor Numbers as a floor game. We set the cards down around the room, I called out a number, and we all ran around to find that number card first. I knew the boys were wiggly, so we also started jumping along with the numbers, as well. ;)

The next activity was supposed to be watching the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD, which I did not have, but we found a clip on youtube going over the letter A sound.  

We then read Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss for our themed reading time.  I found a cute felt-board activity to go along with this a few days later, but we haven't had a chance to do it. It still looks fun, though.  I also found other books at the library to go along with A or Apple for this week:

1. Apples by Gail Gibbons

2. Ten Red Apples by Virginia Miller
3. Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett (our read-along book)
4. Animal Safari: Anteaters (A Blastoff! Readers book)
5. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day  by Judith Viorst

I had scheduled for the boys to decorate their ABC binder cover for the end of the school day, but they were ready to be done, so we skipped it for now.

TUESDAY

 After Calendar Time, we started off with Jack's apple cutting practice page and Alex "cutting" scraps of construction paper.

Then it was magnet time! Jack did his apple magnet page with the pom-pom magnets, and Alex did his vocabulary page (with me) using magnets I made from the glass rocks we had left over from our wedding reception.  

And the boys, of course, wanted to switch activities after they were done. I had Jack do the apple 6-piece puzzle at this point, while Alex did his Tot School 3-piece puzzle. I didn't get a picture of this activity.

Then I pulled out the tracing pages in page protectors. I showed how to form the letters correctly, then helped Jack trace it with his finger. I pulled out the colored gel bag I made and let him trace it again with his finger, then we used a dry-erase marker.

Jack got to use a Bingo marker (from Dollar Tree) on his letter hunt worksheet, which he loved. I had Alex color another A page, but I found a better worksheet in the Tot School packet that matches up better (the apple with upper and lower-case As inside it), which I will use next time.

We ended the day with our Movement/Exercise Time. I found this exercise lapbook online, and if you download the whole file and click further in (around page 52, I think) you will find Exercise ABC cards. The boys loved just going through the different letters and doing the movements with some music playing, but I'm sure we can find more creative uses for it, later on.

WEDNESDAY

 After Calendar Time, Jack did his apple pattern activity while Alex did his 3-part sequencing activity. For some reason, I don't have a picture of this, either.

Next, Jack worked on this apple file folder game I found to color match apples, and Alex did his shadow matching game.  I'm pretty sure they switched these activities, too.

Jack did his 2-part color puzzles while Alex (and I) colored all his apple cards and matched corresponding Lego bricks to them.  As you can see, Jackson didn't want to do his puzzles a second time and waited (somewhat) patiently for his turn with the Legos.

Do-a-Dot time!  I'm too cheap right now to buy actual Do-a-Dot markers, but I found 5-6 different colored Bingo markers at Dollar Tree and we use those, instead. They loved these markers!

Next we used our black Bingo marker to make ants all over our A collage page for our ABC notebook.  I helped during this activity, so I didn't get a chance to take a picture.

We ended the day doing our apple letter match worksheet with the wooden letters I made last week. I let them do this together, knowing full well that they would just end up playing with all the letters, but they still matched up to the card! 

THURSDAY

After Calendar/Notebook time, I decided to do a new activity to review the A sounds. I found this ABC Find It activity on the 1plus1plus1equals1 website, and hid the cards (in plain sight) for the boys to find and match to the card on the floor. They had a lot of fun.

After we found and discussed the Find It cards, we did the apple cut and paste.  I knew Jack would not be able to cut out the tree and apples, so I cut them out before-hand and let him glue them onto a piece of construction paper.  The Tot School packet had this empty apple worksheet that I used to just let Alex glue scrap pieces of foam onto, which he enjoyed greatly. 

We moved onto the floor with our A poke page, using toothpicks to poke through the letters. Alex just used a piece of scrap paper I had to do the same. 

The apple lacing cards were next, but (as I suspected) the boys really struggled with this. Alex used the apple card we used with the pom-pom magnets on Monday.  I changed tactics...

...and pulled out our beads. This was a pack of large ABC beads I found at Hobby Lobby for $3 (at 50% off), plus a pack of colored beads from Dollar Tree.  They do well with the ABC block beads, but the cheap beads were a little too small to work with.  As you can see, they made a huge mess.  Next time, I will give them each a small bowl of beads, instead of all the beads dumped in a bowl to "share." Lesson learned!

Jack did his apple shape matching puzzles, while Alex and I put the large rock magnets on his shape page. And then they switched. ;)

Our last activity of the day was a little rough. Jack needed a lot of prompting with the apple counting activity, but he eventually understood what he needed to do.  Alex and I tried to place ABC beads onto each apple number card, corresponding to the number on the card.  He just like putting a bead on each number.  That works. 

FRIDAY

Last day for A!

After Calendar/Notebook time, we started on our Aa sorting page. Alex's dot page I think would be better paired with the Letter Hunt exercise from earlier in the week, so that will be fixed for next week.  Even though we are focusing mostly on upper-case letters, there is still a lot of lower-case a's in the activities, which I like.  

The pre-writing pages were next. I have been too cheap to buy laminating pages, yet, so I just left them in page protectors and Jack did just fine.  Alex practiced his line-drawing page. 

The boys then did the apple size sort together.  I had to help them understand the purpose of the game, but Jack finally started to understand.  I'm pretty sure this is an activity that carries over to other letters, which I'm happy about.

We did our letter craft for the week afterwards. I pre-cut all the pieces and just had the boys help me glue. It's an alligator A!

And lastly, we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and put our letter A on the coconut tree. 

At the end of school today, Jack surprised me by reciting our LDS Scripture Verse of the week.  I was one proud mama!

I like how Erica from Confessions of a Homeschooler also incorporates a Family Fun Night at the end of each week. I borrowed the movie "Annie" from the library in case we decide to watch it together tonight. And I might make a little apple crisp to go with it. :)

WEEKLY LESSON PLAN

 If you are curious, here is the daily/weekly lesson plan I created. I used a template provided on the Confessions of a Homeschooler website, which you can find on this page.  This does not reflect this week's activities, but what I have created as the best schedule for what we are doing. Some activities or Tot School pages might not match up exactly the same, but I am pretty flexible.