Sunday, August 28, 2011

Letter A - What's on the Tray

I am so excited that we are officially starting our new school year this week.  I will be intentionally working with Super Tot this year to introduce him to the alphabet.  

I know there are many theories on order of introduction, but this year we will be starting with A and going straight through to Z.  Once we start working more with phonograms and writing, I do expect to change the order, but not this year.

That being said, this week, we will be starting with the letter
Aa.

Counting Alligator Teeth
There are 8 Alligator Mats with 1-8 teeth.  Place the correctly numbered stone into each alligator's mouth.
~Number Recognition, Counting~

Cutting Out Apples
Cut each strip between the apples.
~Fine Motor, Cutting~

 Counting GREEN APPLES
Place the correct number of foam "apples" in each row.
You can click on the image below the Tot Tray photo to print my Counting Apples document.  The shapes I used are available here
~Counting, Number Recognition~

 I SPY the Letter "Aa"
Circle all Uppercase and Lowercase Aa's.
I placed different objects on a table, including several letter A's and took a photo.  Then, I printed it onto standard paper and placed it in a page protector.  I expect to do this with each letter of the alphabet.
You can click on the picture under the photo of the actual Tot Tray to print the document (landscaped) for your own use.
~Letter Recognition, Fine Motor, Pre-Writing~


Apple Tree "A" Hunt
Place an apple sticker of each letter "A".
~Letter Recognition, Fine Motor~

 Apple Color Match
Place the red and green "apples" (dot stickers) onto the corresponding colored x's.
~Color Recognition & Matching, Fine Motor~

 Upper & Lower Case Acorn Match
Place the acorns into the correct dish based on case of letter.
~Letter Recognition~

 Egg Carton Button Sort
Place the buttons into the correctly colored section of the egg carton.
I cut an egg carton in half and painted the cups with poster paint.  This isn't an "Aa" activity, but we will still be working on additional skills each week.
~Color Recognition & Matching~

Super Tot will also be doing the following 2 letter crafts.
A is for Angel and a is for apple  
These are part of a letter book I put together for him, which you can read about and see all of our letter crafts here.

I have a few additional art projects and activities planned that I will change out later in the week.  These include apple printing & dough, as well as some of the activities I have listed previously in some of my What's on the Tray posts.

Linking to:

10 comments:

  1. I can't wait to follow this! I bookmarked your site because of your fantastic tot tray ideas! Thanks for sharing everything you do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great ideas! Can't wait to see more. Thanks for sharing everything. I've just started to get into 'school' with my son and I love all the ideas you provide.

    ReplyDelete
  3. How does he do with cutting? I've been thinking of introducing that to Wheels but haven't.

    ReplyDelete
  4. GREAT ideas! I especially love the Alligator teeth! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome activities - attractive and appealing! Just continuing the A theme! ;) Your activity trays really are wonderful and a great way to reinforce letter sounds. The counting-alligator-teeth activity is too cute! Thanks so much for linking up with Montessori Monday! I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great group of A ideas!! Our theme for our Co-op preschool group for September is apples and I am SURE I will be using some of these ideas! Thank you for linking up!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. These are wonderful ideas!!! I am a teacher, and I've struggled with coming up with toddler activities for my 2 year old. Happily following!
    www.leiah-roseyglasses.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. with the apple 1-5 page - are you willing to share the printable. also are those apples lauri shapes. Your site is amazing.
    Thanks,

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lynn, the printable is up! I was also finally able to locate the counters online, even though I've had mine for 10 years! They are Lauri brand and there is a link to purchase them above, too.

    ReplyDelete

Due to recent spam activity, I have turned word verification OFF and comment moderation ON.