I’m so excited to share this first post for the letter of the week! Letter of the week is a great way to teach children letter recognition and phonics. With each of my kids we have done a letter of a week when they were 3. It really helped they learn their letters and the sounds each letter makes. My daughter and I did about half the alphabet last spring until we got to our crazy summer break. We decided to start over with A starting the first week of September so we could invite others to join us. During this week we will be have crafts, snacks, music, books, and field trips all starting with the letter of the week. I also want to focus on strong female examples for my daughter to learn about.
If you want to see how I run my mornings you can find my Preschool Morning Schedule here. I have about 20 minutes to teach a lesson each day. My lessons this week will be about the letter A, Arizona, and Anne Frank. I’m trying to teach my daughter about amazing women in our history. I will keep my lesson simple enough for a 4 year old to understand.
Day 1: Lesson: Learning about the letter A. Letter A craft and circle the a’s in a word search. Art: coloring pictures of Anakin and Ariel. Reading Activity: Angelina Ballerina Craft
Day 2: Lesson: Arizona. Craft includes making the Arizona shape and painting it like the flag. Art: Play-doh Reading Activity: Cactus Craft
Day 2: Lesson: Anne Frank. See lesson below. Activity: Decorating a Journal. Art: Apple Painting during our Apple Party, which will be our activity.
Letter Craft for the Letter A
My favorite (and easiest) letter craft is to make a large block letter of a capital and lower case A and then have my kids glue on an object. You can have cut up pieces of aqua tissue paper, aluminum foil, or any other item you have on hand. I start my lesson by showing the letter A and helping my daughter trace it with her hand. I’m not working on writing skills yet. At least not directly. We are using our art time to paint, use play-doh, color, and other fine motor skills that will help her prepare for writing. You can see her work above in the picture.
Another craft I have for this week is to cut out the state of Arizona (where we live) and have her paint it like the Arizona Flag. This will be perfect after I share some fun facts about our state.
- 48th state
- Phoenix is the captial
- State Tree- Palo Verde
- State Flower- Saguaro Cactus Blossom
- State Bird- Cactus Wren
- It’s the ‘Grand Canyon’ State
- desert
- favorite places include the Grand Canyon, Sedona, & Rainbow Bridge,
Anne Frank
Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Frankfurt, Germany. When she was a young girl there was lots of trouble in the world. Anne Frank had an older sister Margot and a mom and dad. Their family was Jewish. The Jewish faith is a beautiful faith. They are faithful and good people. They believe in the Old Testament, or the Torah. Another name we hear for our Jewish friends is the House of Israel. We are learning about them in the Old Testament. Some people didn’t like Jewish people because they have some different beliefs. In German a group of wicked people, called Nazis, were becoming more powerful. They didn’t like people who were Jewish. They didn’t like people who were different. The Frank family moved to Amsterdam. Soon the Nazis were going to other lands, trying to be in charge of other places.
In 1940 the Nazis were involved in the government. They started persecuting Jewish people, including Anne’s family. Persecute means to be mean or to be oppressive, or unjust towards others. Soon Anne and her sister couldn’t attend the school they loved. They had to go to a certain school for Jews. And they had to wear yellow patches on their clothes so everyone knew they were Jewish. People said terrible things about them and didn’t treat them very kindly.
To keep their family safe, the Frank family hid in a store behind a bookcase in a secret room. They went into hiding because awful things were happening to Jewish people, including being arrested. For Anne’s 13th birthday she received a diary. A diary is where you can write down your thoughts and feelings. She wrote about the restrictions her family had to endure because they were Jewish. She also wrote about what it was like to live in secret when her family was afraid they might get caught. When you are a teenager you can read her book and learn more about her story.
Later Anne’s family was arrested and her family was sent to horrible camps. People in the camps had to work and they weren’t given much food. Anne got sick while in a camp and died along with her sister and mother. Her father survived and found her journal. It was published and made into a book. Anne was a talented and brave young girl.
(Personally I want to close by sharing some of my favorite quotes from Anne)
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
“Whoever is happy will make others happy too.”
“I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.”
“No one has ever become poor by giving.”
“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
Our activity would be to start a journal. If your child isn’t quite yet writing, like mine, then check out this journal idea here.
Books with the Letter A
‘When in doubt, go to the library…’
You can help your kids recognize the letter A when you read these books. You can get them from the library or amazon. Click on the link to read more about each book. I’m sharing some of my families favorites.
Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman – A classic.
Again! by Emily Gravett – My 3rd son loved this book when he was younger. We checked it out from the library all the time and it always made him crack up.
Actual Size by Steve Jenkins – This creative books shows the size of animals so your child can compare animals and get a better understanding of their size.
Angelina Ballerina by Katharine Holabird – Our daughter loves all the books in Angelina Ballerina
ABC USA by Martin Jarrie- This beautiful picture book teaches about America through symbols of our history. The Illustrations are beautiful.
Apple Pie 4th of July- A beautiful story that combines cultures and traditions while teaching a surprising lesson.
Animal Alphabet by Alex A. Lluch – This hands on book lets you slide tabs as they show animals throughout the alphabet
Adventure Annie Goes to Kindergarten by Toni Buzzeo – Perfect as our kids prepare for kindergarten.
Anne Frank’s Story by Carol Ann Lee – This picture book share’s part of Anne Frank’s life before her diary.
Baking with the Letter A
Music with the Letter A
Annie. (perfect for background music as my daughter works on coloring or cutting paper)
Letter A Craft Ideas
This Cactus Craft from Our Small Town Idaho Life is too cute! We will be cutting out the shape, painting and decorating with tissue paper. It’s perfect as we learn about Arizona.
And this darling craft, perfect after reading Angelina Ballerina, is from New Every Morning. You can click over and see her Angelina Birthday Party, it’s darling.
Letter A Activity: Apple Party
We love hosting Apple parties with friends. Invite your friends and ask everyone to bring an apple treat to share. I also like to do apple painting, where you cut an apple in half to reveal a star and then use that to make a stamp. We also usually read this book where I got the idea for an apple party years ago. I was talking to my son and he still remembered the apple party I threw for him when he was a toddler.
Field Trip for the letter A
Art Museum. Check out the museums near you. Some of them even have free days.
Be sure to follow along on Instagram and Facebook to check out our adventures. And please leave any A ideas in the comment below. I love when we can share great ideas.
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