mayletters

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

LETTERS: Xx, Yy, Zz and Review Of All Letters

Let children take turns playing a xylophone

Science: Hang x-rays in a window for children to observe. Discuss what it is. (Ask your local veterinarian if you can have his/her discarded x-rays.)

Creative Art: Hang pictures of bones in the art center for children to see. Let them make their own x-rays by gluing tiny pieces of white paper onto black paper.

Let children form large X's with craft sticks and small x's with toothpicks.

Take-Home X: Place several colors of short construction paper strips on the table and let children use them to form X's and glue them all over a paper X cutout.

From Kim Knudson:
Watching for Xx's: While learning the letter Xx, we have the children make a letter Xx with their arms, holding them in front of their chests. Every time they see a letter Xx they make the sign. And by the way, this then leads to the teaching of other themes, like learning about EXIT signs (language), which in turn leads to the topic of "Safety," as in leaving the building during fire drills.

Let children play with a yo-yo

Gross Motor: Be A Yo-Yo: Everyone stand and stretch your arms out in front. Bend your knees and squat, then straighten up to a standing position again.

Snack: Yogurt

Take-Home Textured Y: Children glue yarn pieces on a yellow paper Y cutout.

From Carrie K:
Yogurt Fingerpaint: I have a fingerpaint recipe that was given to me by one of my professors: Mix half a container of plain yogurt with half a package of powdered jello. The children can mix it with spoons. This activity can be used for reviewing the letter "Yy" and colors at the same time.
Extension from Stormie: As I was posting Carrie's terrific idea above, I was thinking that this could also be a neat science activity by allowing children to see the differences between mixing dry powdered jello into the yogurt versus mixing molded jello into it.

Sing "Zip-A-Dee-Do-Dah"

Creative Art: Children do zucchini squash prints.

Creative Drama: Children play dress-up with only those clothes that have zippers, or let them sort all the clothes in the housekeeping corner into those with and those without zippers.

Take-Home Z: Children glue a zipper on a paper Z cutout. (You can find zippers at thrift shops or use the plastic bag ones.)

What an absolutely terrific idea from Michelle Steele, in Middleton, Idaho:
Zipper Race: I purchased three zippers at a dollar store then hot glued them onto material that I had glued onto a board. (I glued them at least 12" apart so we wouldn't have bumped heads.) I placed the board on the floor. To play, I divided the class into three teams (3 zippers). Instead of running to the "zipper board," we walked in various ways (sideways, tip toe, backwards, etc.). Once a child from each team got to their team's zipper, he had to unzip then zip the zipper, and then get back to his team and touch the next person in line who then creatively walked his way to the zipper. The children have a blast with this game! You can also leave the zipper board out during Free Choice Playtime for practice.

Favorite Books:
*From Stormie:
The Baby Zoo, by Bruce McMillan: Don't you love books that use real photographs? If you do, and you love animals, you'll love this book, and the children will truly enjoy it too.
*From Shelli Smith, Riverton, Utah:
The Story of Z, by Jeanne Modesitt and Lonni Sue Johnson: This is a great book about the letter "Z" who leaves the alphabet because it wants to start its own alphabet. However, it realizes how important Z really is. This book is full of funny words missing the letter z: oo, ebra, ig ag, etc.

Review Of All Letters
Note From Stormie: One of my favorite ways to review letters of the alphabet in May is to repeat games and activities we did as far back as in September.

From Miss Jen D, Peek-a-Boo Playhouse, Cranberry, Pennsylvania:
Bingo: I make an easy bingo game that reviews letters or numbers: Purchase baseball card holders (you know, those plastc sheets that hold the cards), and get some index cards. Cut the index cards to fit the baseball card holders, and then print a letter on one side and a number on the other side. Now you have instant bingo game cards for use with bingo gameboards! This is a great time saver.
------------------------------------------------------

Reminders from Stormie:
*By the way, I offer "Wacky Animals ABC Cards" in the "Teaching Aids" section of "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers.
*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 MAY CURRICULUM CURRICULUMS INDEX WEBSITE INDEX HOME

My website address: http://www.preschoolbystormie.com