#964. "J" letter ideas

Reading/Writing, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Apr 8 12:52:48 PDT 1999 by Jan k/ne and the Early Childhood Ring (jblecha@genie.esu10.k12.ne.us).
Dudley Elementary,
Concepts Taught: "J" letter activities

J letter ideas

Letter J

Hey guys we are on the letter "J" at preschool this week and I got a great
book from the AEA lending library! It is called Jelly Beans for Sale by
Bruce McMillan. It features counting, money and Jelly Belly Jelly Beans.
An address in the back of the book has a place where you can send or fax for
a free video and sample of Jelly Belly Beans. The preschoolers loved the
colorful photos and they wanted to write for the free beans and video! So
that's what we will be doing! Here is the Amazon.com address via
teachers.net so you can see the cover and the cost of the book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590865846/qid%3D912459942/002-029436
4-0161476

Deb
PS/IA
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Mystery Box:
Jacket or juice

Jj pictures:
Cut a large Jj from paper, students cover it with pictures from magazines
such as junk food, jeans, jewelry, (I save the ads from Christmas with all
the jewelry included for this activity),

Human Bar Graph:
Have each child wear his/her jacket and work as a class to line up
according to color. Other categories could include Jackets with
hoods/without hoods, or jackets with pockets, without pockets.

Letters:
Have students write a letter to someone and mail it. I have my students
bring stamps from home. Those who don't can use my class stamp to mail a
letter to someone in the school.

Jello:
Make and eat jello jigglers!

Jelly Beans:
Count, sort and graph (by color) and then eat. I have work mats cut from
fluffy striped material cut into egg shapes from Wal-Mart that I use for
this math activity.

Literature Extension:
Jack & the Beanstalk--Read the book and plant the "sprayed" gold seeds.
Next day, a plant is growing (discuss real and make-believe)--we write
names of all books we read in the classroom on a large leaf that is
attached to this "vine"--the vine will reach out into the hallway and
around the corner before the end of school. (Vine is made from raffia paper
ribbon) On the container the "vine" is growing out of, I put a sign that
says "Beans by Jack--Books by Our Class"!! Fun!

Puzzles:
Students work with jigsaw puzzles at a fun center during our study of the
letter Jj.

Other Activities:
Jogging-we're close to the high school track, so we "jog" off some excess
energy frequently during this letter.
Jeans-Faculty members love this one! We declare this week as "jean" week
and everyone wears denim to their heart's content. Kids have fun
"sighting" other classes wearing something made of denim!
Jelly/Jam- We graph our favorite jellies and/or jams--several mothers bring
in samples for us to taste-test!
Juice-Again, we graph favorite juices and sample!
Jump-Our p.e. teacher, bless his heart, has lots of jumping activities for
us during the study of Jj.

Books:
The Jacket I Wear In The Snow by Shirley Neizel
Peter Rabbit by Beatriz Potter
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Jack & The Beanstalk by Paul Galdone
Bread & Jam For Frances by Russell Hoban
The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Lord & Janet Burroway (great for literature
extension activities)

Enjoy~~Va.
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Cut out large sized J's out of tag board and write a note home for children to
bring in some junk from home. Make sure this junk will fit onto the J and that
it is light so it can be glued and will stay put. We use this jumbled junk for
our show and tell and it makes a great display too.
Another math idea is to graph your favorite jelly bean. Teach addition and
subtraction readiness using beans after reading Jack and the Beanstalk.
Children can use the beans for counters.
I hope these ideas will help. Thank you for all you are doing to make this
such a valued resource for all! I appreciate your time and effort. You are to
be commended for this work. Sincerely yours, Cathy
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Activity J
Get out your jump ropes and play in the traditional ways. Then help your
child to lay the jump rope on the ground in the shape of a "J". Start at
the top where you would start if you were writing the J and jump along the
"J". With each jump say the letter sound. When each child gets to the end he
should walk around to the top for another turn.

•Jack and the Beanstalk
Paint a paper towel tube green. Cut leaf shapes from construction. paper and
glue them
to the tube. For
the stem glue a long piece of yarn around the leaves. Glue together 4 toilet
paper
rolls to make a castle.
Cut sections from the castle towers. Paint the castle. Add doors and
windows from cut
paper. Glue the
beanstalk and castle together. Glue cotton around the bottom of the castle to
look like
clouds. Draw Jack
on paper and staple him to a long piece of yarn about 2x the length of the
beanstalk.
Tie the other end to
a craft stick. Drop the stick down the beanstalk - when the stick comes down
- pull on
the yarn and see
Jack go up the beanstalk.

•Jack-O-Lanterns
Give each of the children a round paper plate. Have them paint the back side
of the
paper plate with
Orange tempera paint. Use black paint or markers to draw the face and add a
green
construction paper
stem.

•Jars, Jars, and More Jars
Collect jars of different sizes with lids. Have the children practice finding
the
correct size lid for the jar.
Let them practice size comparisons by arranging larger to smaller etc..
Practice
counting skills as well as
matching skill.

•Jumping Jacks
Teach the children how to do jumping jacks. Count the number of times you can
do them,
see how high
you can count. You can also call out the letter "J" every time you do a
Jumping Jack.

•Jelly Rolls
Give each child a slice of bread and help them to trim the crusts off. Show
them how to
flatten the bread
with their hands or a rolling pin. Use Jelly or Jam and let each child spread
some on
their bread and roll
up the bread. Enjoy.

•jump rope games - tried to actually "jump" rope; played "limbo"; put rope on
floor and
played "snake"
on the floor where they have to jump over the wild slithering snake as holders
shake
rope

•jewelry - bracelets out of fish tank filter tubing filled with sesame seeds,
small cake
decorating sprinkles,
glitter, confetti tin foil beads - roll foil into balls and roll in tempera
paint -
allow to dry and string with
large
tapestry (dull) needles on fishing line

•jellybeans - use these for sorting and counting activities

•Jars, Jars and More Jars - Collect jars of different sizes with lids. Have
the
children practice finding
the correct size lid for the jar. Let them practice size comparisons by
arranging
larger to smaller, etc.
Practice
counting skills as well as matching skills.

•Jelly Rolls - Give each child a slice of bread and help them to trim the
crusts off.
Show them how to
flatten the bread with their hands or a rolling pin. Use Jelly or Jam and let
each
child spread on their
bread and roll up the bread.

J: jumping over blocks, into hoops, from carpet mat to carpet mat, and so
on provides a great indoor obstacle course

Kim ;D
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
*Jack and the Beanstalk
Paint a paper towel tube green. Cut leaf shapes from construction. paper
and
glue them to the tube. For the stem glue a long piece of yarn around the
leaves. Glue together 4 toilet paper rolls to make a castle. Cut sections
from the castle towers. Paint the castle. Add doors and windows from cut
paper. Glue the beanstalk and castle together. Glue cotton around the
bottom of the castle to look like clouds. Draw Jack on paper and staple him
to a long piece of yarn about 2x the length of the beanstalk. Tie the other
end to a craft stick. Drop the stick down the beanstalk - when the stick
comes down - pull on the yarn and see Jack go up the beanstalk.

*Jack-O-Lanterns
Give each of the children a round paper plate. Have them paint the back side
of the paper plate with Orange tempera paint. Use black paint or markers to
draw the face and add a green construction paper stem.

*Jars, Jars, and More Jars
Collect jars of different sizes with lids. Have the children practice
finding
the correct size lid for the jar. Let them practice size comparisons by
arranging larger to smaller etc.. Practice counting skills as well as
matching skill.

*Jumping Jacks
Teach the children how to do jumping jacks. Count the number of times you
can
do them, see how high you can count. You can also call out the letter "J"
every time you do a Jumping Jack.

*Jelly Rolls
Give each child a slice of bread and help them to trim the crusts off. Show
them how to flatten the bread with their hands or a rolling pin. Use Jelly
or
Jam and let each child spread some on their bread and roll up the bread.
Enjoy.

*Being a Christian day care, we did jigsaw puzzles of Jesus for this letter.
It was a big hit with the kids. We glued pictures of Jesus on construction
paper and had the kids color them and then cut them into pieces. They were
all very protective of their puzzles so be sure to have small plastic bags
available and clearly marked.

*jump rope games - tried to actually "jump" rope; played "limbo"; put rope
on floor and played "snake" on the floor where they have to jump over the
wild slithering snake as holders shake rope

*jewelry - bracelets out of fish tank filter tubing filled with sesame
seeds,
small cake decorating sprinkles, glitter, confetti tin foil beads - roll
foil
into balls and roll in tempera paint - allow to dry and string with large
tapestry (dull) needles on fishing line

*jazz - play some jazz music

*jellybeans - use these for sorting and counting activities

*Jars, Jars and More Jars - Collect jars of different sizes with lids. Have
the children practice finding the correct size lid for the jar. Let them
practice size comparisons by arranging larger to smaller, etc. Practice
counting skills as well as matching skills.

*Jelly Rolls - Give each child a slice of bread and help them to trim the
crusts off. Show them how to flatten the bread with their hands or a
rolling
pin. Use Jelly or Jam and let each child spread on their bread and roll up
the bread. Enjoy!!
* Jack in the Box

If I were a Jack in a box
I'd make myself very small
I'd be shut tight inside my box
You couldn't see me at all
(crouch way down)
Until someone turns the crank
The music will play, then stop
The top will fly open
And out I will pop!
(jump up & raise arms up)

Jack in the Box Finger Play
Jack in the box (thumb in fist)
Sits so still
Won't you come out?
Yes, I will! (pop thumb up)

* J - jack-in-the-box (also good shape review)

A very simple jack-in-the-box can be made from construction paper with a
square (about 4 inches), a triangle (just a little smaller), two rectangles
(about 3/4 by 3 inches), a circle (about 3 inch diameter) and a small paper
spring (3/4 in. by 4 in. strip, accordian folded). The square is the box.
The
triangle is the body (attach to the top of the square) and the circle (the
head) is attached to the top of the triangle with the paper spring . The
spring makes the head bobble just a bit as if he had just popped out of the
box. The rectangles are attached to the triangle body for arms. The children
can draw the face and decorate the rest as they desire. The whole thing can
be glued on another piece of paper if you desire. This might make assembly
a
little easier for the children.

Jack-in-the-Box Game (large motor and listening)

The children pretend that they are jack-in-the-boxes. When the leader says
"Jack in the box" the children crouch down. When the leader says "Jack out
of
the box" the children jump up. From time to time repeat the same phrase
twice
in a row to make sure that the children are listening carefully.

* Jolly Dollars
Invite the children to earn "Jolly" Dollars- colored slips of paper with a J
drawn on each one. Use Jolly dollars all week instead of usual tokens given
for good behavior and work. Ask the children to bring Junk to school-
anything in good shape and the child no longer wants ( you may want to limit
this so you don't end up with too much junk). At the end of the week,
auction
off the junk. the children may use their "jolly" dollars to buy the junk of
their chioce. Remember, one persons junk is another persons joy!!

* Jack and the Beanstalk
Paint a paper towel tube green. Cut leaf shapes from construction. paper
and
glue them to the tube. For the stem glue a long piece of yarn around the
leaves. Glue together 4 toilet paper rolls to make a castle. Cut sections
from the castle towers. Paint the castle. Add doors and windows from cut
paper. Glue the beanstalk and castle together. Glue cotton around the
bottom
of the castle to look like clouds. Draw Jack on paper and staple him to a
long piece of yarn about 2x the length of the beanstalk. Tie the other end
to
a craft stick. Drop the stick down the beanstalk - when the stick comes
down
- pull on the yarn and see Jack go up the beanstalk.

Jack-O-Lanterns
Give each of the children a round paper plate. Have them paint the back side
of the paper plate with Orange tempera paint. Use black paint or markers to
draw the face and add a green construction paper stem.

Jars
Collect jars of different sizes with lids. Have the children practice
finding
the correct size lid for the jar. Let them practice size comparisons by
arranging larger to smaller etc.. Practice counting skills as well as
matching
skill.

Jumping Jacks
Teach the children how to do jumping jacks. Count the number of times you
can
do them, see how high you can count. You can also call out the letter "J"
every time you do a Jumping Jack.

Jelly Rolls
Give each child a slice of bread and help them to trim the crusts off. Show
them how to flatten the bread with their hands or a rolling pin. Use Jelly
or
Jam and let each child spread some on their bread and roll up the bread.
Enjoy.

jump rope games - tried to actually "jump" rope; played "limbo"; put rope
on
floor and played "snake" on the floor where they have to jump over the wild
slithering snake as holders shake rope

jewelry - bracelets out of fish tank filter tubing filled with sesame seeds,
small cake decorating sprinkles, glitter, confetti tin foil beads - roll
foil
into balls and roll in tempera paint - allow to dry and string with large
tapestry (dull) needles on fishing line

jazz - play some jazz music

jellybeans - use these for sorting and counting activities

* How about JEWELRY!!!!!!! Stinging beads for necklaces and bracelets...
One of my kids favorite activities... Keeps them very busy. We get the pony
beads and lanyard as materials.

* For those of you working on the letter Jj, how about painting with jello?
You can either paint glue on paper and then sprinkle with jello powder for
a scratch and sniff picture, or you can mix jello powder with a little
water to make scented water colors.

You could make jello jigglers for a snack or make juice by squeezing
oranges on those manual plastic juicers.

You could glue Apple Jacks to an uppercase and lowercase Jj.

* - Color a ditto of a capital and lowercase Jj . After colored add glue
and
sprinkle on jello powder.
- A necklace of the letter J with sparkles and spangles glued on for a
"jewled J"
- A picture of a jar in which the children glue on jelly beans
- A construction paper jet
- Color a picture of a Jack in the box

Sandy
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Jazzy J
Cut a large upper case J from construction paper. Collect sequins,mylar
confetti, glitter etc. Have the children glue these to the letter J.
Sandy D.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
for jelly bean jar. Draw the jar and have kids draw/ color in jelly beans. Use
with estimating, color recognition, counting, graphing, voting,
sorting...Follow up with real jelly beans as a special treat.
J is for jack in the box and Jack in the beanstalk. Make art projects from
both!!
J is for juice,.jam, jelly, jogging, a jester, jokes, Jack and Jill rhyme
(make 1 blue and 1 pink), jacks, jello (sprinkle on top of wet glue on any art
project. Make jello for snack.
Laurie
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Jellybeans
-sort them
-graph colors
-make patterns with
-eat them!
Jumping Jacks
-how many can you do in one minute?
Junk
-talk about recycling old "junk"
-make 3-D sculptures from junk
Jam
-have a parent make jam, eat on crackers or bread
-read "Jamberry"
Jell-o
-make jell-o jigglers

-Bethany K/MS
SurberBA@webtv.net
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