Letter a, Day 3

Theme: Apples

Sound
a says /ă/

Sample Words
apple, at, alligator, ant

Books
2-3 fiction and non-fiction books about apples, apple trees, how they grow, fall, etc.
a book about Johnny Appleseed
The Apple Pie Tree, by Zoe Hall
We're Going on a Leaf Hunt, by Steve Metzger

Sound/Movement
Choose 2 or 3 Apple Songs and Fingerplays

Craft
*Make a finger print apple tree

You'll need:
brown, green and red paint or stamp pads
paper

Use the side of your child's hand to make the trunk of the tree, thumbs to make the leaves and fingers to make the apples.

*You can extend the activity above by making a seasons of apple trees picture. Explain (and show) what the tree looks like in each season then use fingerprints to make each one.

(from left to right, top to bottom is winter, spring, summer and fall)

Sensory Bin
Movin' apples

You'll need:
red, green and yellow pom poms
tongs (make sure they are not too difficult for your child to squeeze)
plastic containers

Move the apples from one container to the next. You can also sort them by color or size.


Handwriting
Practice writing the letter a. See tips at the top.

Snack
apple slices
apple cookies

Letter a, Day 2

Theme: Apples

Sound
a says /ă/

Sample Words
apple, at, alligator, ant

Books
2-3 fiction and non-fiction books about apples, apple trees, how they grow, fall, etc.
The Apple Pie Tree, by Zoe
We're Going on a Leaf Hunt, by Steve Metzger

Sound/Movement
Choose 2 or 3 Apple Songs and Fingerplays

Craft
*Make an apple out of an "a"

You'll need:
letter a template (I just made one on my computer with century gothic font and chose the outline format)
markers or crayons
scissors
glue
colored paper

Have your child color the "a" to look like an apple. Then help them cut it out and paste it on a colored sheet of paper. Draw a stem, color a leaf, cut it and paste it on.



*Make applesauce or apple pie

Sensory Bin
Making apple pie. We actually didn't do this in a bin because of space.

You'll need:
play dough
rolling pin
small round baking dish
plastic knife
small baking dish
whatever other baking tools you want





Shelby absolutely loved this activity and asked to play it again the next day. Her favorite part was putting it in and taking it out of the oven and giving it to me to "eat." I love this little baking set. Shelby got it for Christmas from her cousins. It's from Ikea. I has the little black baking sheet, the three cookie cutters you see, a small wooden rolling pin, mini tart pan and mini bundt pan.

Handwriting practice
Practice writing the letter a. See tips at the top.

Snack
apple pie
applesauce

Letter a, Day 1

Theme: Apples

Sound
a says /ă/

Sample Words
apple, at, alligator, ant

Books
2-3 fiction and non-fiction books about apples, apple trees, how they grow, fall, etc.
We're Going on a Leaf Hunt, by Steve Metzger

Sound/Movement
Choose 2 or 3 Apple Songs and Fingerplays

Craft
Apple Printing

You will need:
red, green and yellow paint
an apple, cut width-wise
white paper
brown and green markers

Cut the apple in half and use the top half, with the stem, for printing since it has someting to hold on to. (This would be a great time to show the star shape the seeds make when you cut it this way.) Make prints of all three colors and let them dry. When dry, come back and draw the stem and leaf with the markers.


Sensory Bin
Apple Picking

You will need:
filler for your bin-ideally this theme is done in the fall, during apple-picking season and when there are still leaves on the trees and on the ground. I would have liked to use leaves as my filler, but in the middle of winter that just wasn't happening so I used paper shreds from our shredder instead.
red, yellow and green pom poms
tongs
plastic container(s)

Have your child sort through the leaves, or other filler, and pick up the different-colored "apples" with the tongs.


Handwriting Practice
Practice writing the letter a. See tips at the top.

Snack/Lunch
Muffin Tin Monday-Apples