Letter I

Arielle (mommy):  

Introduction:  After looking at letter and picture cards with Lil and O, and saying the I sound, I decided to integrate math into our lesson and get them excited about learning the letter at the same time.  We read the book/sang the song Five Green And Speckled Frogs, then we discussed that frogs eat 

i-i-insects.  

During nap time I printed these  flies, laminated them, and cut them out.  I wrote all the letters we have learned on the insects, and wrote I and i on many of them.  Then I got a frog pointer and put tape under its mouth so the flies would stick (If you don't have one of these from the dollar tree, draw or print a frog and tape it to a fly swatter).  

I showed the kids how to play the game, I told Lil to only eat the insects that had an I or an i for insect, and had her say the i sound as she swatted them.  After she collected an insect I had her put them in her insect jar.  She loved this game, O also loved swatting at the insects, though he got carried away and started swatting Lil so he had to sit out.

Guru moment: next time I will laminate the blank flies and then write the letters on them so we can change the game easily with a dry erase marker.  Also next time I will remember to vacuum my floors before taking pictures of it!

Writing practice:  we did rainbow writing.  I wrote I and i using bubble letters, then I gave Lil many different colored crayons and she wrote the letters with every color.

Craft:  I shaped iguana.  We dressed the I as an iguana, I cut the shapes, had Lil dot paint the I, and then glue on all the pieces.

Cynthia (nanny):

Today after we created our letter I page for our ABC book, we used one of Arielle's ideas and tried using dot painters to practice letter identification and formation. This time, I remembered to give them some free exploration time before we started the activity. 

The girls were very curious about what kind of print and designs they could make. It really helped them focus when we moved into tracing the letters. I really like this idea and it was also great to test their ability to paint directly on the lines.