Letter Aa Activities

I decided to write about what I will be doing each week with my little preschoolers. Then next year I can simply look the information up as opposed to trying to remember. I am terrible when it comes to writing everything down in a lesson plan book. We are beginning our first week of preschool next week. Our first set of lessons will be based on the letter A, number 1, shape circle, and theme "going to school"

Books for Letter A:

• Ten Apple on Top - By: Dr. Seuss
• Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator! - By: Mo Willems
• The Lady with the Alligator Purse - By:Nadine Bernard Westcott



Letter A Art Project - Ten Apples on Top

• There's an Alligator Under My Bed - By: Mercer Mayer

Books about going back to school:

• The Kissing Hand - By: Audrey Penn
• First Day Jitters - By: Julie Danneberg
• My Teacher is My Friend - By: P. K. Hallinan
• My First Day of School - By: P. K. Hallinan
• The Berenstain Bears Go to School - By: Stan & Jan Berenstain
• How do Dinosaurs go to School? - By: Jane Yolen
• If You Take a Mouse to School - By: Laura Numeroff
• First Day of School - By: Mercer Mayer

Art:

• "Ten Apples on Top" by Dr. Seuss Give the students half of an apple and have them stamp apples on top of a simple picture of a head. I allowed my kiddos to use red, yellow, and green paint for this activity to show all the apple colors.
• When you cut up apple for the above activity save the seeds to be glued on later. You can glue them on their 10 Apples on Top art project or have them complete a simple apple coloring page and glue the seeds in the middle. You can also glue the seeds on a large letter "A"
• Alligator paper bag puppet
• The Kissing Hand - This is a great way to start off the school year, especially since so many children are nervous about their first day of school. This book helps them understand their nerves. Printable: The Kissing Hand Poem

The Kissing Hand - Poem & Art Project

Letter of the Week Book:
Each week we make a book with our letter of the week. The first 4 pages are part of the book. Then the last two pages are additional practice. Page 5 with the letter and pictures is for rainbow writing. The kids trace each letter 5-10 times using lots of different colors. The final page I change how we use this each week. The kids can place small stickers all along the letter. These stickers could be things like apples, ants, alligators... We poke holes in the letters (refer to the post called "Push Pin Fine Motor") They can practice cutting on the lines. Have the students dab their pointer and middle fingers on an ink pad and then "walk" along the letter.

Letter Aa Printable Book

Singing/Rhymes:

You can use pictures of apples on a tree with the following rhyme, I have also had each of my students pretend they were the apple so at the end when the apple tumbles down they fall slowly to the ground.

(Five) red apples hanging in a tree,

The juiciest apples that you ever did see!

The wind came by and gave an angry frown

And one little apple came tumbling down!

 

Five Little Apples

Five little apples hung on a tree...

The farmer didn't care

So guess who came to eat?

A MOUSE... Munch, Munch, Munch

Four little apples hung on a tree...

The farmer didn't care

So guess who came to eat?

A BIRD... Munch, Munch, Munch

 

Three little apples hung on a tree...

The farmer didn't care

So guess who came to eat?

A SQUIRREL...Munch, Munch, Munch

 

Two little apples hung on a tree...

The farmer didn't care

So guess who came to eat?

A PIG... Munch, Munch, Munch

 

One little apple hung on a tree...

The farmer didn't care

So guess who came to eat?

A SHEEP... Munch, Munch, Munch

 

Now the tree is bare

There are no more apples there

But when next fall comes around

Guess who'll be there?

The mouse, the bird, the squirrel, the pig, and the sheep. Yum! Yum!

The Ants Go Marching
  

3 Apples Up On Top

2 Apples Up On Top

Motor:

Give the students several whole apples to see if they can balance one apple on their head, then two, then three... Usually they will fall off with just one apple on top.


March like an ant when moving around.
 

Print out a large letter "A a" and then have the students make ant shaped finger prints with black ink along the line of the "A a" (3 small finger prints together then draw legs)

 

Math:

Circle printable tracing page

Have the students guess how many seeds are in a yellow, green, and red apple. Then cut each apple open and graph the number of seeds on a graph.

Have the kids place apples in order from smallest to largest.

Create a pattern with actual apples or with pictures of apples in the 3 colors - red, yellow, and green.

Begin working on the number 1. Practice writing the number 1 and counting. Here is a worksheet I use for this activity. Number 1

Creative Play:
Pretend you are different Animals
I am going to have pictures of animals and have the kids act like the animal to see if the other students can guess what animal they are.