Preschool: Letter I and Number 1 Unit

Welcome to Izzie's first unit for Preschool 2010! I had planned for the unit to take only one week, but we spent two weeks on it. She reviewed colors, practiced counting to 20, writing the number 1 and letter I, learned about the different biomes and read a lot of books!

Her Bible memory verse (see above picture) for the unit is from Raising Rock Stars (Letter I).

The sight words for the unit were "I" and "can". Instead of making a book, I left the pieces separate, so she could use them to make simple sentences.

The graphics are from Raising Rock Starts (Letter I).

For Science, she learned about the different biomes. For complete details, please visit the original post.

To review colors...

We read Dog's Colorful Day and she completed several activities. Click here to see all the activities for this book.

Her shelf work contained activities relating to colors. Click here to see a detail post about the shelf activities for this unit. I kept the same shelf work out for the entire two weeks.

The game for the unit was Candyland, which is one of her favorite games!

Math activities included...

Learning to write the number one. The Kumon number cards are excellent!

She's using Horizons for her math curriculum.

Skip counting by one's up to number 20. This puzzle is great to use to help her recognize numbers 11-20.

Addition cards by number one (zero to number 9).
0+1=1
1+1=2
2+1+3
3+1=4
4+1=5
5+1=6
6+1=7
7+1=8
8+1=9
9+1=10

She used the magnetic pompoms to help her calculate the total. I was really impressed that by the end of the unit, she had memorized the math cards...so, when she is asked any of the above addition equations, she knows the answer without having to do the math!!

The letter for the unit was letter "I".

In addition, to the sandpaper letters, I created these textured letters for her to trace, while she says the sound of the letter. Printable letters are from here, then I attached a textured ribbon.

She's beginning to write fairly well and enjoyed the various handwriting practice worksheets.

She really liked practicing her writing skills on the lined dry erase board (Target $1).

During week one, she reviewed short sound letter "i', as in iguana and inchworm.

She worked with the Cuisenaire Workbook and Rods.

She read I Wanna Iguana and completed capital letter "I"craft. Original post here.

She loves reviewing on Starfall.

She read Inch by Inch, measured different birds, and graphed the data. Original post here, where there's a link to the graph.

She made a lowercase letter "i" to look like an inchworm. Inspiration from Totally Tots.

And, she enjoyed completing two inchworm file folder games. Printables here.

For the second week, I introduced her to the long sound "i", which she quickly picked up on.

She sorted these picture cards (long "i" or short "i" sound).

To celebrate the long "I" sound, she completed several ice-cream activities...

Capital letter "I" ice-cream cone. Inspiration from No Time For Flashcards.

Sequencing numbers 1-10. Printable here.

Matching lower case and upper case letters file folder game.

Completed a very cute emergent reader.

Used her magnetic pompoms complete the ice cream magnet page.

I quickly made some blank ice-cream cone strips and she went to work with her Dot Markers to make patterns. She is so into patterns these days!

And, of course, we had to complete the unit with ICE CREAM!

To see more Preschool activities, please visit...

Dog's Colorful Day

One of Izzie's favorite books is Dog's Colorful Day. It's a cute book that reinforces colors and numbers (1-10). I found the idea to make this interactive board here. At first, while I read the book to Izzie, she would complete the interactive board....removing the correct color and placing it on Dog and then counting the number of color spots on Dog and putting the correct numeral on the board. By the end of the week, she was reading the book and completing the interactive board by herself! I loved sitting back and watching her take the lead.

More Dog's Colorful Day activities...

Learning to recognize and spell the color words with letter tile cards. I've been wanting to buy/create a Montessori style movable alphabet for activities like this. However, I was super excited when I came across the magnetic letters in this case at a used curriculum sale...it's perfect!

The vowels are red and constants are black. It also includes blends and punctuation.

To help retell the story, she completed this emergent reader.

And, for math, she completed these addition cards. She used her magnetic pompoms to help figure out the total.

Sight Word "See" Activities

More activities for the sight-word "see". First, we read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"

Then, Izzie completed the Emergent Reader for the book.

For this book, we focused on the sight-word "see". On each mini-page, I highlighted the word "see" and Izzie colored the animal the correct color.

She had the best time "reading" this booklet!

Words to book:
I see a brown bear
I see a red bird
I see a yellow duck
I see a blue horse
I see a green frog
I see a purple cat
I see a white dog
I see a black sheep
I see an orange fish
I see all the animals looking at me!

I found these corresponding cards, so she used them to practice the word "see" and to review the different shapes too!

Izzie is doing a fabulous job at being able to identify the word "see". She identified the sight-word "see" by covering it with the pink heart.

To see the Groundhog Day emergent reader for sight-word "See', click here.

For more Brown Bear, Brown Bear Activities, click here.

Groundhog Day Activities

We started the morning out by reading a few Groundhog Day books that we checked out from the library. During each book, Izzie kept running and looking out the window to see if she saw a groundhog and it's shadow! She determined that the groundhog did not see his shadow, wishful thinking!

Groundhog Day!


The Secret Of The First One Up

Shadow Chaser

Izzie made a cute little groundhog on a craft stick to move in and out of his hole (yogurt cup)! Idea from here.

We also sang the Mr. Groundhog song, while playing with the groundhog craft.

Mr. Groundhog--Tune: "Frere Jacques"

Mr. Groundhog, Mr. Groundhog,

Take a peek, Take a peek.

If you see your shadow

The weather will be awful

For six more weeks, six more weeks.

Izzie had a great time matching up the lower-case groundhogs to their capital letter hole.

File folder printable found here.

In addition, she correctly sequenced numbers 0-30. In order not to overwhelm her, I gave Izzie numbers 0-10 first, once she had them in correct order, I gave her numbers 11-20, and finally 21-30.

Izzie loves Dot Art!

She completed the Groundhog Color By Numbers. To encourage independence, I color coded the numbers at the bottom and explained the code to Izzie. She did very well at coloring the sections with the correct color. Side note: Izzie is very rough when she colors and tends to break a lot of crayons. For Christmas, she received "Twistables" from Crayola and they are perfect for her!

This was Izzie's first Emergent Reader that she completed (could not get the picture to turn around). She did super with it and I'm so excited to begin focusing on sight words with her. For this activity, I highlighted the sight word "see" on each mini-page and color coded the "color" words too.


She was able to "read" the entire booklet and was so proud of herself!

We had a fun filled morning, even if we are going to have 6 more weeks of bad weather!

Izzie reading her book (with an itchy face!)

Words to book:
I see a red hat
I see purple buttons
I see an orange nose (she says beak because it looks like a beak)
I see a green scarf
I see blue eyes
I see a yellow sun
I see a black shadow
Now you don't see me!