jletters

LETTERS: Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn

Share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com

Place a kaleidoscope in the science center

Science/Snack: Investigate and eat kiwi fruits.

Children can be reminded of the letter Kk when doing "The Three Little Kittens" nursery rhyme (on this month's curriculum).

Fine Motor: Provide locks for children to lock and unlock using corresponding keys

Show pictures/books of and learn about the Koala Bear

Language: At the beginning of the day, discuss the meaning of the word kindness. Then ask the children to think of things they can do to show kindness.

Provide all the boys in the class with a crown so they can be kings for the day. (Allow them to decorate their crowns.) (Do the same thing for the girls when you do the letter Qq so they can be queens.)

Take-Home K: Help children put on lipstick then kiss a paper letter K cutout. (Boys may like the name "clown make-up" better than "lipstick".) Another option is to have children do the old tissue kiss then glue the tissue onto the K papers. Or, for a coordination activity, have each child hold a key on their paper K with one hand while drawing around the key with the other hand.

Art: In advance, cut long and short pieces of paper straws. During free choice, children can create an L collage from them.

Have a lettuce salad for snack.

Play with Legos

Gross Motor Activities:

1. Discuss the word "litter." Place a garbage can in the center of group time and let children toss a piece of litter into it using their left hands. (This activity also relates to the community helper of "Garbage Man.")

2. Have the children do ladder activities: Place a ladder flat on the ground (or floor). Children can walk forward on the rungs, on the sides, or in the spaces between the rungs. Or, have everyone climb your playground ladder for Ll, stop at the top and take time to listen for sounds before going down the slide.

3. How many exercises can we do with our legs?

4. Play leapfrog

Creative Drama: Let children help you turn the Quiet Corner of your classroom into a Library for the month. This should be very simple if your quiet corner already has books and pillows in it. Just set up a small desk where children can role play checking books in and out.

Take-Home Textured L: Put out paint with lemon and lime halves for printing on a paper L cutout, or punch a few holes around the edge of the L for children to lace.

Making a Multi-Cultural Connection Through Books:
From Stormie:

"Bayou Lullaby," by Kathi Appelt; Neil Waldman, Illustrator: A young Creole Indian girl tells about all the night creatures of the Bayou where she lives.

Fine Motor Area: Place muffin pans with the play-doh for making pretend muffins.

Serve milk with snack (for Mm and for "white." As each child receives his/her milk, he/she says "moo."

In the above curriculum, the theme of "winter" includes mitten activities.

Group Time Ideas:

1. Place a small paper M and m in the middle of group time but separated. Children take turns rolling a marble across the Mm's.

2. March to music.

Gross Motor/Creative Play: Place a small piece of linoleum flooring in a corner of the room and let children take turns mopping it with a small child-sized mop.

Put magnets, magnifying glasses, and/or a microscope in the science center.

When you go outside to play, let children take turns speaking in a megaphone.

Put out play money for pretend Free Choice Play of "going shopping at the mall."

Introduce a map to the class.

Allow children to create their own masks from collage materials.

Take-Home Textured M: Children glue dry macaroni on a paper M cutout and/or draw designs with markers.

Read "Marcella and the Moon" by Laura Jane Coats: Little Marcella, the duck, isn't like the other ducks. While they swim and do "duck" things, Marcella paints pictures of the moon because she finds it so beautiful and always changing.

Here's a great idea from Nicole Winters who teaches pre-school at Morris Elementary:

Stormie, We glued tiny marshmallows on the letter "M," and for our "Winter" theme, the children glued marshmallows on the outline of a snowman (a fine motor & eye-hand coordination activity). The kids also loved to eat them as they worked.

From Elly Lampner:
Magnetic Marble Painting: Place construction (or other) paper in your sensory table or in a dish pan. Have children place magnetic marbles in paint and then scoop them out onto the paper. They then move magnetic wands over the marbles to create cool designs!

From Melissa B.:
Moms For Mm: For the letter Mm, we invite our moms to preschool to eat with us on Magnificent Muffins Day. During this event, we use our good manners. On the day before, for our theme of winter, the children sponge paint snowmen shapes. Then, the next day, the children's moms help them decorate their snowmen. Our collage matereials include buttons, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, construction paper, but most especially, M&M's. It's fun to see the moms get creative and the snowmen turn out really neat!

Art Center Activity: Children cut noses from magazines and do a nose collage, or put out colorful napkins for children to cut as they please and create a napkins collage.

If you have enough to go around, have girls wear necklaces throughout the morning and have boys wear neckties for the letter Nn (remember, thrift stores are your best bet for such items). FOR SAFETY, HAVE CHILDREN REMOVE THE NECKLACES AND TIES BEFORE LARGE MOTOR PLAY OR BEFORE GOING TO THE PLAYGROUND!

Snack: Noodle soup

In the above curriculum, during the community helpers unit, nurse would be a good way to review the letter Nn.

New Fun With Old Rhymes: Here's the first verse of the old folk rhyme "We Are All Nodding"

We are all nodding, nod, nod, nodding

We are all nodding at our house at home

With a turning in and a turning out

And it's this way, that way, round about

We are all nodding, nod, nod, nodding

We are all nodding at our house at home

Stand in a circle with the children and "nod" your heads. When you come to "turning in," everyone can move toward the center of the circle, then back out when "turning out" -- all the while, still nodding. For "this way, that way, round about," you could nod to the left, then nod to the right, then turn around while still nodding. Point out the "Nn" words. Point out words that rhyme.

Take-Home Textured N: Children glue dry noodles and newspaper wads on a paper N cutout.

Favorite Books:

From Stormie:

The Napping House, by Audrey Wood; illustrated by Don Wood: Everyone in this house is napping nicely -- until a pesky flea arrives.

*By the way, I offer "Wacky Animals ABC Cards" in the "Teaching Aids" section of "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers.
*Remember also that if you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here to check them out.

CONTINUE ON

OR

REVIEW JAN CURRICULUM CURRICULUMS INDEX WEBSITE INDEX HOME