R is for remember,race and roll

Scripture:Exodus 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee
Letter:R
Color:Red
Nursery Rhyme:where is baby?(to the tune of where is Thumbkin?)

R is for remember.We started off by talking about all the flags we were seeing.The colors of the flag are red,white and blue.We talked about America.Today we remember 9/11 and the attack on Twin Towers.my kids like most of the kids this generation did not know about the story of 9 /11 so I want to teach my preschooler.I showed him a picture of the towers and we talked about what errors was basically it was a really bad guy or bully.he said did they get put in timeout?So cute right?we talked about heroes and how the people to give up their lives on the plane and in the towers and fighting to save the people were heroes.Then,I found this video on YouTube called Through a child's eye- 9/11 tribute

We did still do some fun letter R activities.R is for race.We had fun racing each other to see who was the fastest.We also ran outside to see how far we can run in 10 seconds.In addition we also play the game to see who could be quiet the longest.R is for run.What other things can you race?Cars?Airplanes?What boy wouldn't love that?

For baby:For the next activity we need a bowl and a ball. I put the ball inside the bowl the baby was delighted to watch as he tried to grab the ball. It is a great practice for fine motor skills and you get so excited when he would get the ball.He is 7 months now and is sitting up pretty much on his own.At one point he flipped over the bowl and started drumming on it.My 3 year old wanted to join in so he got whole bunch of pots and pans and they were drumming together as we sang nursery rhymes we also for class to the rhythm of the nursery rhymes.

For the next activity we gotta ball and passed it back and forth to each other.R is for roll.He is doing plenty a rolling around and scooting all on his own.Big boy!

How to rock out with letter R

 Scripture:Exodus 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee
Letter:R
Color:red
Shape:Triangle
Nursery Rhyme:Where is baby(tune of where is Thumbkin)See my previous post for words and actions.
Music and movement-
Song to introduce Names:Hi my name is Joe (insert child's name)
I live in a button factory with my Mama and my Papa and my family.
One day,my boss came up to me.
He said "Hi Joe,are you busy?
I said"No."
Turn (or push)the button with your right hand.
Repeat and when you get to turn the button add with your left hand,right foot,left foot,head or instead of hand you could do elbows.Be creative with this wacky song.
R is for running.Have kids run in place or in a circle.They could also race down the hall or classroom.
R is for rocket.Have child crouch down and count backwards 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1...blast off!My little guy loved this one.He is ready to blast off with cars in hand.

Craft:Rocket with child's name
Need:red construction paper and whatever colors you want.Make a medium size triangle and a large rectangle.Then make smaller squares to put each letter of their name.We need 5 squares for my Preschooler.

Then assemble your Rocket. Put triangle on top of rectangle.Then take your squares and have child arrange in order his name.

We had to do these straw rockets.All you need is paper and a straw.It was really cute to see my 3 year old take a huge breath in and then barely blow into the straw.He also kept biting it so it blocked the air.Kids are too funny!When my older kids got home they begged to make some too!The one on the top my 8th grader made on his own design.He is also really good at paper airplanes!

Here is another variation that we tried.

Review letters K-T

Faith is like a little seed.....                                      
We talked about faith and hope as we read Hebrews11:1.Afterwards we did the activity,or you could say it's a finger play,found here

This week is review week for us.We are going over K-T.We start this off by walking on letters with music.When the music stops they say what letter they are on and the sound.My 2 year old recognized a few!My Kindergartner practiced writing her letters.

We focused on letter K-M.As we read books they tried to find those letters.We read blue train,green train and Fire Truck by Peter Sis.These books were the favorite from our Transportation theme last week.We actually read for over an hour.

We noticed a lot of words ending in ck:

Here is what we foundTruck,clickety-clack,track,back, sack,stack,thick,and trick.

8 ways to play with the letter R

1.Row Row Row your boat.We tried to rhyme with boat and talked about the "oat" family.Then I asked what does the boat look like?What color is it? Who was inside? Where is it going? A great story took shape! My daughter said it was going to the other side of the lake.It is a great way to spell and practice writing.

When we got their we got chocolate ice cream.Then we went home.

My toddler glued scraps to make his boat.He said the boat was going to jail.

2.We went outside to look for rocks.It is finally starting to feel like Spring.

3.Will it float or sink?Will a rock sink or float?
After that experiment take 2 sheets of aluminum foil and 2 pennies.1.Put one penny in aluminum and crumple into a ball.

2.Lay other penny flat on sheet of aluminum.

Good vocabulary for older kids like aluminium, and displacement.The balled up foil with the penny sank.The flat sheet floated.
Find the lesson plan here

4.We made boats out of foil and people to go in it and their imaginations from there!

5.We counted rings.

6.We counted how many pennies it took to sink the boat.7.We also played Simon says with R words like Run,roll,rub,reach,rake and rowing your boat of course.I got the idea from http://www.dltk-teach.com

8.My daughter also wanted to play red light green light

Letter of the week R-Rocks

We introduced the letter R and sound.My Toddler recognized it.Awesome! For Kindergartner we practiced writing R.For older kids you can have them write a story using words beginning in R or write a report on animals with R like raccoon, and rat.The kids put pillows down and jumped on them like they were rocks.

I lined up rocks and hid an R under the rocks and the kids tried to guess which one it was under.

We did a variation for the baby where we hid a rock under plastic eggs.He is still little for it but both of these games are good for fine motor skills.

Nursery Rhyme: Row row row your boat

For a fun activity sit the baby in front of you.As you sing hold the babies hand And rock them gently.Pay attention to their head and make sure its safe.For the older kids have them sit with their legs apart and hold each others hands and rock forward and back.

My daughter wanted the baby to feel the rock.It is important to teach them textures.The rock is smooth.

We did a sensory bin with rocks and water.I added cups and toothbrush.They had fun brushing the rocks.

For our craft we made a craft we found @http://www.dltk-teach.com Hi my name is rectangle and I am no square.

Join us tomorrow for more activities with the letter R.