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Grade: Elementary

#954. "A" letter ideas

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Apr 8 11:40:54 PDT 1999 by Jan k/ne and Early Childhood Ring (jblecha@genie.esu10.k12.ne.us).
Dudley Elementary, Gothenburg, U.S.A.
Concepts Taught: Letter "A" activities

A letter ideas

Letter A

These have all been compiled from various resources, so I do not take credit
for them as my own ideas.

Kim ;D

•Big letter A with ants:
Cut out a big letter A shape for each child and let them make ant prints all
over it with their fingerprints and and a stamp pad. Let them use small tip
markers to draw in some legs

•Alligator
Make an alligator out of playdough - pinch and poke to make an alligator shape
and let it dry.

•Make an ark
Cut out two large boat shapes and punch holes around sides and bottom. With
shoe laces or yarn (ends previously dipped in glue and dried or wrapped
tightly with tape) lace the two boat pieces together. Make a rainbow shape for
the top to fit on like a handle. Let the children color with watercolors,
markers or crayons. Staple or glue (or both) to the top of the ark. Fill with
animal crackers.

•A is for Apples
Cut out an A shape from green paper. Have the children glue red circles to
the shape or dip their finger in red paint and put red prints on the letter A.

•A is for Alligator
Put the letter A on its side and add teeth and an eye to make an alligator.
Make pretend accordions with the children, and try to find someone to come in
and play a real one for the children. The accordion would be the A cut in
half down the middle and then a piece of fan folded paper glued between the
two halves.

•Acorns
Encourage the children to collect acorns to bring to school. On a sheet of
heavy paper, make a very large A with a heavy glue line. Invite the children
to arrange the acorns aong the glue line to make an "Acorn A"
Explain that an acorn is a seed and, if planted may grow into a might oak
tree. Help the children plant some acorns and see what happens.

•Acorn Squash
Show the children an acorn squash. Put an acorn and the acorn squash side-by-
side. Discus how the acorn and acorn squash are alike and different. Ask the
children how they think an acorn squash got its name. Help the children see
that an acorn squash is shaped like an acorn. Use the squast to make A-Okay
Acorn Squash - Cut an acorn squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds and
pulp. Put the squash face down in a baking pan - pour in about 1/2" of water.
Bake at 375 for 25 min. The squash is done when the flesh is soft. Pour the
water out and turn the squash over. Put a little butter and brown sugar over
the squash. Add cinnamon or nutmeg. Put the squash back in the oven until the
butter has melted.

•Acrobatics
Invite the children to perform acrobatic feats. Arrange a field trip to a
gym. Put down a gym mat and encourage the children to do somersualts, head
stands, back bends, bridges, rocking horses, etc...- sponser a gymnastics
meet.

•I Know My Address!
Encourage each child to memorize his or her address. Draw and cut out a large
construction paper house to place on a bulletin board. Then, as the children
memorize their addresses, invite each child to pin his or her name and address
on the house shape. Invite the children to sing their addresses to the tune of
"rain, rain, go away" for examples see "My Name and Address from Wee Sing
Children's songs and fingerplays)

•Airplane
Read Paper Airplane by Fulvio Testa. Make simple paper airplanes. Sponsor a
flying contest. (check with airlines - they may donate "junior wings")
Make an airplane using papertowel and toilet paper tubes

Take a field trip to watch the airplanes land and take off. (some airports
will allow children to tour the airport and look inside a plane)

Read Curious George at the Airport, Airplanes and Airport or The Little
Airplane. Invite the children to pretend to be airplane.

•Alphabet
Play Alphabet Bingo - easy to make - match upper case to lower case, etc.. -
first child to cover the card yells "Bingo"

•Aluminum
Cut aluminum foil into long strips Have the children use scissors to snip the
strips into small squares. One a sheet of construction paper, make a large
letter A with a heavy glue line. Invite the children to place the aluminum
squares along the glue line to make an Aluminum A. Explain the use of
aluminum foil.

•Angel
Cut an isosceles triangle, two rectangles, and a circle from construction
paper for each child. Or have the children trace around patters and cut their
own shape. Show children how to arrange the shapes to make an angel. Have
the children glue the angels to a 1/2 sheet of construction paper.

•Animals
Mount pictures of animals on tagboard. Encourage children to sort the
pictures into farm, pet and zoo categories.

Play "who am I" Give the children clues about an animal and let them guess
which animal you are describing.

Eat animal crackers - have the children identify the animal as they eat

Take a field trip to the zoo, a farm, the pet store, etc... One day before
the trip, ask the children to predict which animals they might see. Write
each animal they name on a chart of paper. When you return from the trip,
help the children make another list of the animals they actually saw - compare
the lists.

•Ants
If possible, set up an ant farm.
Teach the children to sing "The Ants Go Maching"

•Apples
Give each child an apple. Ask them to describe the apple using all their
senses except taste. Then cut the apple in half - explain that they grow from
seeds. Point out the various parts - invite them to count the seeds - cut the
apple into bite size pieces - let them eat a piece and describe how the apple
tastes.

•Apple Tree with Sponge Painting
Draw a large tree on craft paper - cut a sponge into round pieces and attaa
clothespin to the back of each piece. Give each child a clothespin sponge to
dip into red tempera paint and dab on the tree to look like apples.

•Taste Apples
Try different types of apples such as green Granny Smith and Red Delicious
apples. Invite the children to sample each kind of apple - take a survey -

•Printing With Apples
Make apple prints - cut apples in half crossways and point out the inside -
help the children use a brush and tempra paint to paint the apple read - make
a print - or on large butcher paper on the floor - draw a large A - let the
children take turns printing apples along the outline of the A.

•Print Apple Shapes
Set out corks and shallow containers filled with red tempera paint. Give each
child an apple tree shape cut out of construction paper. Let the children use
the round ends of the corks to print "apples" on their tree shapes. After the
paint has dried, use the prints for counting.

•Apple Collage
Give each child a small paper plate and a piece of red paper. Let the
children tear their papers into small pieces. Then have them glue the pieces
all over their paper plates. Add green paper stems and use the "apples" as
room decorations.

•Fingerpaint Apples
Cut large apple shapes out of white butcher paper. Give each child an apple
shape and a small amount of red fingerpaint. Let the children paint the apple
shapes. Attach precut green leaves to the top of each apple when the shapes
have dried.

•Ant
Use 3 sections of a cardboard egg carton to form the body of an ant - have the
children paint it and add - using pipe cleaners - on the first section
antennas and on the back two sections eight legs (4 each section) and draw
eyes on the front section

•Airplane
Use 2 paper towel rolls and one toilet paper roll. On one of the paper towel
rolls measure down about 3" and cut 1/2 way through - then measure another
(slightly less) 2" and cut 1/2 way through - remove this section - glue the
second paper towel roll cross ways in this section (for wings) - cut a 1/8"
slit in the opposite end of the first tube - smash the toilet paper roll
slightly and slip into the slit - glue. Paint your airplane - use craft
sticks to form an X - paint them white and glue to the front of the airplane
for a propeller - break another craft stick in half and insert them in the
tube under the wings for landing gear.

•"A" Learning Center
Set up an apple activity center. Provide a variety of items for the children
to explore such as red, green, and yellow apples; apple seeds to examine with
a magnifying glass; and foods made with apples (applesauce, dried apples,
apple juice).

•The letter "A"
Introduce the letter "A" to the children by showing them the written word
"Apple" and helping them to see that it begins with an "A". Cut a large apple
shape out of paper and write the letter "A" on it. Have the children tear or
cut out magazine pictures beginning with the letter"A" and then glue the
pictures on the apple shape.

•Apple Counting Game
Glue a felt tree shape to each of five cardboard squares. Write a number from
1 to 5 under each tree. Cut fifteen apple shapes out of felt. To play the
game, have the children take turns identifying the numbers below the trees and
placing the corresponding number of apples on them.

•Numbered Apples
Make a felt apple tree and ten felt apples and place the tree on a
flannelboard. Number the apples from 1 to 10. Let each child in turn choose
an apple, identify the number on it and place the apple on the tree. When all
the apples are on the tree, count them as a group.

•Avocado
Get several avacados. Cut them open to remove the pits. Help the children
plant the pits - stick three toothpicks in the sides of each pit evenly
spaced. Fill a small glass with water - set the pits on the glas so that the
pointed end of the avacado pit is in the water - watch the root of the avacado
grow. Replant in loose soil.

•Avacado Dip
Make guacamole

•"Awesome A" Booklist
Read the Avocado Baby by John Burningham
The Animal - by Lorna Balian

•Apple Trees
Have the children paint apple trees using green, red, and brown tempera paint
and pieces of sponge. Have each child tell something about their painting.
Write out what the children say in their own words, then have them find and
circle the letter As that appear in their recitations.

•Accordion Folding
Teach the children to make accordion folds. Have each child create something
that makes use of the accordion fold, such as a bird with wings, a woman
wearing a skirt or a simple paper fan.

•Alligators
Let the children pretend to be Alligators in a swamp. Call "Alligators Go!"
and "Alligators Stop!" When the Alligators are all going, they make the short
sound of the letter A. When they are stopped, they are very quiet.

•Alphabet Appetizer: Apple Animals
Slice apples horizontally so that each apple gives you four of five slices.
Give each child one slice (be sure to remove seeds). Have the children dry the
top of the slice with a paper towel and have them spread peanut butter or
cream cheese on the slice to make an animal face using raisins, peanuts,
sesame seeds, or fruit pieces. Chow mein noodles make wonderful whiskers.

• Picking up an "A"
(tune: The Paw Paw Patch)
Picking up an "A" and putting in the basket,
Picking up an "A" and putting in the basket,
Picking up an "A" and putting in the basket,
Way down younder in the letter patch.
(Write alabhabet letters on index cards & have a basket in the center of a
corcle)

• Apple sauce:
We make applesauce. I peel, they chop, cook in the crock pot, add cinnamon red
hots for flavor.

• Individual Apple Pies:
ready-made pie crust (the kind that comes packaged flat in the dairy case)
canned apple pie filling . Have each child cut out two large circles of pie
crust (using a large, round cookie cutter or a large plastic drinking cup).
Put a spoonful of pie filling in the middle of one circle. Place the second
dough circle on top. Use a fork to crimp the edges and pierce a few holes in
the top to allow steam to escape. Bake in a toaster oven 10-15 minutes or
until brown.

Optional: You can use cherry filling and do this for George Washington's
birthday (if you are perpetuating that cherry tree myth (-:). I have also
used this for Valentine's day along with the Queen of Hearts nursery rhyme.

• Apple Honey Grahams
Apples
Graham crackers
Peanut butter
Optional: honey
Give each child a slice of apple and a table knife for dicing the apple.
Spread a graham cracker slice with peanut butter. Add honey, if you like.
sprinkle diced apples on top.

• Apple Sandwiches
Apples
Peanut butter
Slice apples the "round way" so that a star is formed in the center. Spread a
slice with peanut butter and top with a second slice to form a sandwich. (You
won't need to core the apples if the slices are thin.) You can use
the leftover end pieces for making applesauce or for dicing on the apple
grahams described above.

•"Applesauce"
For each quart of peeled and sliced apples, add: -1 cup water -1/2 cup sugar
-1 tsp. lemon juice -1/4 tsp. cinnamon -pinch of salt Cook until tender. Mash
apples with a potato masher or electric mixer. Add more sugar if needed.
Serve cold.

•"Dried Apple Rings" - Peel, core, and cut apples into rings. Dip in salted
water for 15 minutes. Dry for two weeks.

•"Apple Ring Sandwiches" - Peel, core, and cut apples into rings. Spread with:
- peanut butter and bananas slices OR - cream cheese and raisins OR - granola
mixed with honey OR - cheese spread or a slice of cheese. Cover the first
apple ring with another apple ring to make a sandwich.
•"Apple Juice" -1/2 cup seeded apples -1 cup water -1 tsp. sugar Blend the
ingredients in a blender. Serve chilled.

•Pictures of different varieties of apples.

•Graphing favorite color apples

•Label a bulletin board:
"Apeeeeling Work" "You are the Apple of my Eye"

•Apple estimation vs marble estimation: try to estimate how many seeds are in
an apple and how many marbles are in a clear jar....which is easier to
estimate?? why?

•Apple circumference - measure the circumference of different sized
apples..line up the apples from biggest to smallest

•make caramel apples

•try different types of apples (apple tasting party) have dried apples,
applesauce, apple juice, fresh apple, apple pie--which do they like the
best?? graph the results

•make sequence cards for the kids - seeds, tree w/ flower, tree w/ apples,
basket of apples, apple pie

•Read about Johnny Appleseed, then children make appleseed envelopes for a
friend (with appleseeds inside to plant)

•Sing Apples and Bananas

•Each child brings an apple. We count, sort, and graph them on a big floor
graph. We weigh some of them using a balance scale and teddy bear counters.

•The kids tell me words to describe apples and I write them on a big apple
shaped chart.

•I tell the story of the Little Red House before I use the big book. If anyone
is not familiar, I will type it out for you. It has been around for years. My
kids also make small copies of the big book. This is from The Color Box, too.
We make an apple : kids cut out a big apple shape from red construction paper,
a smaller one from white and this one is glued on the red one. Draw seeds and
add construction paper stem and leaf.

•Another fun apple activity is to have the children estimate how many bites it
will take to get to the core of an apple. They can count as they eat!

•This is done in pairs with one child behind the other. The one in back does
the work, then they can reverse directions, and repeat with the other child
doing the "work".
Criss-cross applesauce (make an X on the child's back)
Spiders crawling up your spine (finger walk up child's spine)
Cool breeze (blow on child's neck)
Tight squeeze (gently squeeze the child's shoulders)
Now you've got the chillies! (You get a funny feeling like goosebumps)

•Apple Divider Art (taken from the book "Oodles and Doodles of Art'-Siegler &
Torgenson, Teaching & Learning Company,1994...this is a GREAT book for hands-
on, process-oriented art experiences) -
Collect paper apple dividers from grocery store, gather glue and tempera
paint. Authors say there are several ways to use items: (1) mix paint with
the glue and then let students drizzle on the inside of the dividers or (2)
have students paint outside of the apple dividers with lots of different
colors. Authors suggest also using dividers for collages with various
materials added.

•Magic Picture - Make a stencil for apples and worms and let the student make
a rubbing over the stencil with crayons to make the magic picture appear.

•Let the students draw a picture of a tree and then allow them to place their
thumb on a red stamp pad (washable). Next, have them stamp their thumb print
on their tree and then they draw green leaves. Can be done individually or as
a group for a mural. Allow your students access to collage materials to see
what they can create. You could have students write/dictate a stories, write
the various numbers of apples they stamped, or write simple sentences like "I
see ___ apples" for a class book.

•Have the students work in small groups to design their own 'Mini Apple
Orchard". Fill a pan with dirt, twigs, toy tractors, green sponges for apple
trees with red tissue for apples, or anything the children can come up with
as ideas for their orchards.

•Make Dried Apple Wreaths. (Note: Directions on how to make dried apples
follows in cooking). Cut a wreath shape from cardboard. Glue dried apples
rings around the wreath overlapping them. Gather some dried flowers & leaves
to fill in the wreath. Add a bow at the top if you like.

•We read Apples on Top (a Dr. Suess book). Apples on top project: (great for
beginning of year to get to know names) -Cut out a skin colored oval out of
construction paper -Color in face -Glue googly eyes and yarn for hair. Cut
several pieces of 12x18 white construction paper in half On the top of each
write "4 Apples on top of Jill" or whatever the child's name Make apple
prints (apple cut in half) to make the appropriate number of apples for each
letter of the child's name. Hand them around the name ....looks great for
displaying a piece of work from everyone at Open House!

•apple name tags and apple name plates

•Apple Poem
Apples big,
Apples small.
Guess what?
I like them all.

•Apple Prints: I have discovered a few things about doing apple prints so they
come out looking like apples and not just circles. Cut the apples the day
before you will use them for printing. Also, it is helpful to put the paint
on a piece of paper towel in a tray. It becomes more like a stamp pad and the
apples print better.

•ANTS
Cut about 4 shapes of picnic foods 1-4" in size from construction pater. I use
a chicken leg, cookie, strawberry, and a watermelon slice. Using plastic
ants, see how many ants it takes to cover each food and record answer.

•ants on a log snack (peanut butter, raisins, and either celery or apples)

•ant books (book cut in the shape of an ant - one page per line) kids
illustrate

•Read a non fiction ants book, then graph if children would like to be the
worker ant, queen ant, or guard ant

•**make ants with fingerprints - this is good reinforcement for three parts to
their body

•get an ant farm (available for just a few dollars at most nature type stores)

•measure with construction paper ants (this book is __ ants long)

•make an ant hill, and children use plastic ants or paper ants to do word math
problems (there were 2 ants on the hill...2 more came....how many all
together..)

•make an ant memory game (cut out ants from paper, on one side draw pictures
of things that begin with Aa - in sets of two - then play a memory game)

•sing "The Ants Go Marching"

•I Can't Said the Ant - this is a great rhyming book - make up more pages in
the shape of a big ant to make a class ant book with different rhymes...let
children illustrate

•Have an ant hunt....go outside with magnifying glasses and hunt for ants

•Have children write an Aa for each ant they see - count the number of Aa's at
the end to see how many ants the kids found - graph the results of make a
class total by grouping in rows of ten and counting by tens

•Ants Live Here
Ants live here
by the curb side,
see?
They worry a lot
about giants like
me.

•Once I Saw An Anthill
Once I saw an anthill
With no ants about;
So I said, "Dear little ants
Won't you please come out?"
Then as if the little ants
Had heard my call,
One, two, three, four, five came out,
And that was all.

•I also teach song Aiken Drum for A. On chart paper draw a big circle with a
line straight down from it (looks like a lollipop). Turn it different ways
and ask the kids to guess what it is. Then sing song. You also need to make
from construction paper : 2 apples, a slice of pizza, 2 bananas, 2 ears of
corn, 2 carrots. Add the features as you sing the song. There was a man lived
in the moon, in the moon, in the moon. There was a man lived in the moon and
his name was Aiken Drum. His eyes were made of apples, apples, apples. His
eyes were made of apples and his name was Aiken Drum. His nose was made of
pizza, pizza, pizza, His nose was made of pizza and his name was Aiken Drum.
You get the idea. His ears were made of corn, his arms were made of bananas,
and his legs were made of carrots. Later kids work in groups to make new
versions of Aiken Drum and you can sing about their versions.

•Arrange for an ambulance to visit the school.

•Learn about the following people: acrobats, astronauts, athletes etc

•Eat avocados, apricots, almonds, alfalfa.......

•Study aquariums, Australia, atlases, asteroids, abacus',

•Absorption--do a project with different materials in a pan of water and talk
about absorption

•Have kids write their names using Alphabits cereal

•alphabet books

•address books

•Fun 'A' rhyme
Alan's had an accident.
An ant bit his ankle.
Send for the ambulance!
Alan's ankle is aching.

•Anteaters always eat African ants after April.

•Annabel Amelia Ann
Annabel Amelia Ann
Snatched my fan and off she ran,
I shall catch you if I can,
Annabel Amelia Ann.

•How about a class writing activity called "Amazing Feats" or something
similar? Each child could be given a template saying "I am amazing because I
can________" (count to 100, tie my shoes, say my address,etc) Students could
illustrate and it could be made into a book if desired. It also could be done
as a slide show using Monstrous Media or Kid Pix Studio. I also let the
students create"stamp collages" in Kid Pix. They type the uppercase and
lowercase letter that we are studying and then stamp as many pictures they
can find that make that beginning sound. Some like to go to the word wall and
find a picture card that begins with the letter and type that too. It makes a
nice center activity because it can be done independently.


•Have kids cut out a traced letter A from construction paper...go through
magazines and glue pictures of animals on the Aa **

•Alligator & Five monkeys song......make a teacher made pond with a
tree...laminate.....make an alligator puppet and five monkeys (with numbers
1-5 on them).....laminate, then attach all the animals to the picture with
velcro....children can act out the song using the alligator puppet and snatch
the monkeys out of the tree....extend by doing subtraction problems with them
(there were five monkeys, the alligator snatched one away, how many are
left?? 5-1=4)

•We make alligator visors and alligators out of clothe pins painted green with
yellow tiny pom poms for bumps down the back

•we also sing The Alligator Song The Alligator is my friend, he can be your
friend too If only you would understand that he has feelings too The alligator
laughs and sings, he never cries the blues I'd rather have him on my shirt
than have him for my shoes Alligator, alligator,, can be your friend, can be
your friend, can be your friend too!
•we first take a trip to an apple orchard where we pick apples, and return to
the classroom to make applesauce. We do appleprinting by cutting the apple so
the "star" shows. Then kids print with red paint on white paper. They are
always amazed when the star appears!

• We make apple muffins, and apple smiles. If you don't know what apple
smiles are, you cut wedges of apple with the skins on. On one wedge, put
peanut butter. Then put mimi-marshmallows on the peanut butter and cover
with another apple wedge. The kids love making and eating this snack!

• We make apple finger cubes:
Pour 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin into a bowl. Add 2 cups boiling water.
Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Ass one 6 oz can apple juice concentrate.
Pour mixture into a lightly greased 9"x13" pan and chill. Cut in squares to
serve.

• We play "Pass the Apple" (like hot potato), when the music stops and the
child is holding the apple, he goes into the "applepot" (the center of the
circle). When all the "apples" are in the pot, we make applesauce, stir, add
sugar, add cinnamon, taste, etc. Kids giggle a lot when they have to start
jiggling and boiling.

animal walks - to music have the children move like various animals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Someone requested ideas for the letter A. As we do this letter in
September, we first take a trip to an apple orchard where we pick apples,
and
return to the classroom to make applesauce. We do appleprinting by cutting
the apple so the "star" shows. Then kids print with red paint on white
paper. They are always amazed when the star appears!

We make apple muffins, and apple smiles. If you don't know what apple
smiles are, you cut wedges of apple with the skins on. On one wedge, put
peanut butter.
Then put mimi-marshmallows on the peanut butter and cover with another
apple
wedge. The kids love making and eating this snack!

We make apple finger cubes:
Pour 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin into a bowl. Add 2 cups boiling water.
Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Ass one 6 oz can apple juice concentrate.
Pour mixture into a lightly greased 9"x13" pan and chill. Cut in squares
to
serve.

We play "Pass the Apple" (like hot potato), when the music stops and the
child is holding the apple, he goes into the "applepot" (the center of the
circle). When all the "apples" are in the pot, we make applesauce, stir,
add
sugar, add cinnamon, taste, etc. Kids giggle a lot when they have to start
jiggling and boiling.

Songs:

A Little Apple Seed
(Tune: Eensy, Weensy Spider)

Once a little appleseed was planted in the ground
Down came the raindrops, falling all around.
Out came the big sun, bright as bright could be
And that little apple seed grew to be an apple tree!

Apples Are Falling
(Tune: Are You Sleeping?)

Apples are falling, apples are falling
From the tree, from the tree.
Pick up all the apples, pick up all the apples,
One. two, three; one, two,. three.
(Use appropriate motions for actions)

Two Little Apples

Two little apples hanging on a tree
Two little apples smiling at me
I shook that tree as hard as I could
Down came the apples
Mmmm were they good!

From: mriva@iafrica.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've decided to just go through my files and pick the best! Thanks again
for compiling this for us! Va.

I introduce each letter we study with a mystery box containing things that
start with the "letter of the week", such as an apple, an album, an
alligator (plastic, of course), etc. An apple is best, because then we can
graph our favorite apple, paint with apples, listen to the story about the
"star in the apple" and then find it, and begin studying the seasons of the
year.

I have a flannelboard activity with an apple tree. Tree is on the board,
and students choose apples that have something starting with Aa to go on
the tree. It's a good group activity and one I leave out for a center so
they have access to it during the week and for review throughout the year.

Students do lots of action activities--my classroom is approx. 40x40 and
I've moved all tables to the outside walls, so the center of my room is
open--best thing I've ever done! We do lots of rhythm stick
activities--this week we're making rainbows with streamers and if we can't
go outside, we've always got the center of our room. It's fantastic!!!

We sing lots of different ABC songs, make a class book about their
favorite way to eat apples (this is one of my home-school connection
activities), use "work jobs" with ants & flies for counters, and watch a
video about John Glenn, our favorite astronaut.

Books I read to them include The Four Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree, The
Lady With The Alligator Purse, One Hundred Hungry Ants, Anno's Counting
Book and we also enjoy fingerplays and songs (there's a website with
nothing but fingerplays for each letter of the alphabet. It's from Natural
Learning--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
*eat apples
*glue Apple Jacks to large Aa shape
*use Apple Jacks as counters
*have students match apple cutouts to corresponding numbers written on 3 x 5
cards
*number apple cutouts and have students place/glue them in sequential order
*have students draw an ant hill with ___ # of ants on it
*have students draw ____ # of ants and number them sequentially
*have all students that have an A in their name write it on the chalkboard.
give other students the opportunity to find the As and circle them
*draw ___ # of ants on a corresponding number shape
*play Letter Detective: give a student a pointer and let them locate an Aa in
the classroom in environmental print; rotate turns among the students. For
those unable to identify an Aa, give them a "clue card" to carry with them on
their hunt. The clue card is a 3x5 card with the capital and lowercase
letters.
*use play dough to make Aa. Laminated letter masters may be used for those
students needing a pattern
*write Aa in shaving cream
*string Apple Jacks on yarn to make a necklace
*give students an opportunity to pretend to:
~shoot an arrow
~chop down an apple tree with an ax
~fly an airplane
*do a class survey on how students like to eat apples: sliced, baked, apple
pie, applesauce, whole apple
*do an Apple Tasting: each day have a tasting of a different apple
product/type ex: yellow apples, red apples, green apples, apple pie,
applesauce, sliced apples, baked apples, apple turnovers, apple rings, apple
cake, apple butter, apple jelly, apple juice
*Take Home Activity: have students list/tell 5 different ways that apples can
be eaten