#959. "E" letter ideas

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Apr 8 12:43:47 PDT 1999 by Jan k/ne and the Early Childhood Ring (jblecha@genie.esu10.k12.ne.us).
Dudley Elementary,
Concepts Taught: "E" letter activities

E letter ideas

Letter E

*eggs, elephants
*eat eggs, glue eggshells onto E shape
*read Elmer
*make an Elmer elephant by copying a patchwork elephant onto white
construction paper and having the students color in the patches. Cut out the
elephant and add a piece of yarn for a tail. Or you could give the students
an elephant shape and have them create their own patchwork design.
*practice writing Ee
*locate Es in magazines, cut out and glue onto paper
*students draw and color ____ # of eggs
*label egg cutouts with numbers or letters and have students sequence them
*have all students with an E in their name write it on the chalkboard, give
other students the opportunity to locate and circle the Es.
*students color and cutout ____# of eggs and glue them into a basket labeled
with that number
*read Encore for Eleanor by Bill Peet
*move your elbows back and forth, up and down
*pretend to:
~walk like an elephant
~break, scramble and eat eggs
~look over the edge of a cliff
~ride an elevator
*make a graph of the favorite ways students like to eat eggs (scrambled,
poached, sunny-side up, boiled, fried)
*give your students the opportunity to try different ways of eating eggs
*there's also an elephant counting book (1 - 10), but I can't think of the
name of it
Cindy/SPED K-2
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the new mailbox (April) has a wonderful graphing idea with plastic eggs. I
made a
graph on poster board and attached Velcro circles. I put jelly beans in
mini-plastic eggs and sealed with stickers. We talked about the different
colors and decided how to graph (by color). I attached Velcro to each
plastic egg. We then graphed the Velcro eggs. Then the students replaced
the plastic egg with a paper egg (laminated and Velcro attached). The graph
changed from real to representational. We talked about and compared both
graphs. We then opened our eggs and ate the jelly beans. In a center I
placed a bucket with plastic eggs, plastic cups to use for sorting, and a
blackline of a graph. The students can now make a representational graph of
the eggs in the basket. I change the composition of the eggs every once in
a while so it changes.
Djinn
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My class loves the books about Elmer the elephant. For the last two years I
have done an art project to go with the book. It can be found at the following
web site.(I hope I post this right).
http://www.ckanet.org/index.html
It's at the Calif Kdg Assoc web site
Cindy S
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Envelope:
Use an envelope in the mystery box and play 20 questions with students

Graph:
Favorite way to eat eggs
Color of eyes

Engine:
Read The Little Engine That Could
Make a simple engine with cars and a caboose as a mural. Use to classify
magazine pictures into categories ie, food, toys and animals.

Estimation:
This is a good time to introduce the estimation jar in classroom. Have two
jars--in one jar put 10 items to show students what ten looks like. Then
put more into the other jar and let them estimate. I have taken away one
jar, as they seemed to catch on pretty fast about what ten items looked
like.

Fun with Ee's:
Do easy exercises, form E's on floor with bodies, count eleven eggs, do
simple science experiments, take pretend rides on an elevator or an
escalator.

Egg Carton:
Make an egg carton nursery by placing empty eggshell halves in the cups of
an egg carton. Fill with potting soil and plant a couple of radish seeds
or carrot seets in each shell. I put mine under a grow-light or in a sunny
window to hasten growth.

Snowball Math:
I write numbers in the bottom of egg cartons and give my kids a couple of
cotton balls. They shake egg cartons and then add the two numbers the
cotton balls fall into--I also have them write out the problem!

Plastic Eggs:
At Easter time, I write sentences on writing paper, cut them apart, and
insert a sentence in a plastic easter egg. Students draw an egg from the
basket and write their sentence on paper. When finished, they can trade
egg for a different one.

Favorite Book:
Read Elmer the Elephant to class. Then give kids a large picture of
elephant and lots of 1 inch squares of colored tissue paper. They will
cover the elephant with the glue and colored squares then cut out around
the outside edge. I use this in the hall at Christmas time for a bulletin
board shaped like a tree and the caption "Have a Colorful Christmas!".

Enjoy! ~Va.
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One of the activities I do for the letter E is to make Elmo, using a heavy
piece of paper shaped like Elmo's head and then tearing and glueing on red
paper so it looks like Elmo's fur, then of course add the rest of the
features, they look adorable.
Lisa
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Excellent. Talk about the meaning of the word. Use it as your main word of
praise for the week.

Egg box maths game: 3 empty egg boxes, 6 balls of two colors. How many
different ways can you fill the boxes?
2 red+ 4 green
3 red + 3 green

Sandy
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How about E for eggs. If it is around easter time, dye easter eggs,
draw or color different patterns on construction paper eggs, sort large
and small plastic easter eggs by color and size, have an easter egg
hunt, eat scrambled eggs, do an "eggs-periment" to see what happens to
a hard boiled egg left in vinegar over night, and make insects or
caterpllars from egg cartons.
Have children draw a face on a piece of paper minus the eyes and
ears. Have them look through magazines to fid pictures of eyes and ears
to glue to their picture.
Read "Arthur's Eyes", and play eye doctor in dramatic play.

-Bethany K/MS
SurberBA@webtv.net
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Letter "E" Activities

WORD LIST
eagle
earmuffs
earphones
earrings
Eskimo
easel
egg
egg beater
elastic
elephant
elevator
elf
engine
envelope
eraser
English muffin
elbow
exercise
eleven
experiments
echo
eight

SENSORY TABLE
*Easter grass with colored eggs
*Elbow macaroni (especially fun with little plastic elephants)

LARGE MOTOR
*Do easy exercises
*Move like elastic
*Purchase or make giant elastic bands to use with exercises
*Move like an elephant

SMALL MOTOR and ART
*Cut egg shapes out of poster board and then create simple puzzles
*Easel painting
*Print name using glue and use elbow macaroni to stick on
*Decorate an envelope and really mail them to each child
*Create a color game by making 8 small poster board eggs. Color each egg a
different color. Attach each egg to a popsicle stick.
Draw color circles on each of 8 envelopes to correspond with the colors of
the eggs. Children can match egg to envelope by putting the egg inside the
envelope.
*Create an egg shell collage
*Elastic painting
*Use an egg carton and plastic eggs to make a number matching game

SNACKS
*Make English muffins
*Make simple egg drop soup
*Hard boiled eggs
*Egg plant
*Eskimo pies

CIRCLE TIME
*Do echo songs or chants
*Make a graph of eye color
*Use a dry erase/chalk board with an eraser to play alphabet game. Write a
series of 5 letters on the board. Give one child the eraser. Tell child to
erase a certain letter.

EXTRAS
*Take a ride on an elevator
*Add earmuffs to the dramatic play area
*Record stories and songs on tape and use earphones for listening

From: michad@cjnetworks.com
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Discuss the differences between hard-boiled and raw eggs, eg. sink or
float, spin or wobble. Graph which way students like their eggs cooked.
What kinds of animals lay eggs. Study the differences in
eggs, eg. # of eggs aligators and birds lay.
Chris
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hiya :o) i teach spedK and recently spent an "egg day" in honor of the letter
"E"

some of the ideas came from a K issue of Mailbox mag. don't know if they've
been mentioned.

we examined raw eggs, to feel the hard shell. i asked if anyone know how many
parts an egg had. then i cracked it open and we determined that it had 3
parts: the olk (someone knew that word), the shell, and "water" or "egg juice"
(gotta love their descriptions!) i told them it was called "the white" of the
egg and they looked at me kinda funny...so i popped it into my electric frypan
and the were amazed at the magic!

i made sunny-side-up eggs (they loved how the white looked like a cloud and
the yolk like the sun!), over-easy, and scrambled. we sliced up hardboiled
eggs...took some of them, added chopped celery and mayo and s & P...and had an
egg-tasting party!

everyone had brought a hardboiled and a raw egg from home. we created a graph
"what happens to a raw egg when it is soaked in vinegar?" (it will become
rubbery, it will cook inside, the yolk will disappear, it will change color).
each child was given a clear plastic cup and told to gently put their egg
inside. then we poured white vinegar to cover the eggs.

2 days later i passed around a regular raw egg (our control) so everyone could
feel the hard shell again. then, one at a time, i took the eggs out of their
vinegar bath...no shell! (vinegar, which is an acid, will cause the calcium in
the shell to dissolve. eggs will appear to be rubbery in texture)

i took the raw, control egg, held it just a couple of inches over a dishpan,
and gently let it drop. we heard the crack. i picked it up so we could see
it. i held it an inch or two higher and let it drop again...splat!

then each child had a chance to do the same thing. some held them too high to
begin with, or kinda threw them down...so they broke on ontact. several
children were able to get a few bounces out of the egg before it finally
broke! (i think 6 bounces was our best!) what fun :o)

we also used our hardboiled eggs for a few experiments:
1. each child had a chance to put his/her egg on one side of a balance scale.
then slowly counted cubes into the other side to see how much it took to
balance.

2. clear plastic cups were given out and 1/2 filled with water. permanent
markers were used to draw the water line. then the eggs were slipped inside
and we saw how the water rose up (matter takes up space). we marked the new
line, too

3. we helped each child trace the outline of their egg on a grid (like graph
paper). we estimated how many boxes the egg covered...then, using a marker to
dot, we counted to get the exact amount.

our egg day was lots of fun...and next year...I'LL remember to teach them
humpty dumpty! LOL!