Hi readers! I hope your 2013-2014 school year is going well! Today’s post is sponsored by the letter “W” and Teeny Tot Tuesday.
We’ll be having fun with Watermelon this week! Hope you enjoy it!
Calendar Time: We start off our morning by adding today’s date to the calendar then counting up to that number, and then back down to “1”. We also review our letter, character cards, and a few other activities. Click here to see what all we do during “Calendar Time”.
Next we cover our weekly memory verse:
Letter W Memory Verse: “We love Him because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
Read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and put up the letter W on our Alphabet Tree! You can download my small alphabet letters here. (Sorry this is an old photo, we still don’t have our alphabet tree up!)
Song time:
Hide ‘Em in Your Heart Vol 1
Hide ‘Em In Your Heart Songs – Vol 2
Watermelon Shape Matching Puzzles: I cut these guys down the center for a fun shape matching game. We also say the shape name on each slice when we’re done.
Watermelon Cut and Paste activity. Have your student cut out the watermelon, then the seeds and glue them in place on their watermelon slice. Great for working on fine-motor skills!
Watermelon Coloring Page: We color this, paint it, or use markers. I found some that fit my 3 year old well, they’re called Pip-Squeaks Washable Markers. They’re shorter and easier for her to use. These pictured are chubby markers, they also make a skinny version. I got mine at Wal-mart.
Watermelon Number Practice: I laminate this and use with a Expo Dry Erase Markers for numbers writing practice.
Letter W Do-A-Dot page: We use Do-a-Dot Art Markers with this!
Watermelon Color Puzzles: I cut these little guys out then cut them in half in as many interesting ways as I could think of to make tiny color matching puzzles.
Color Cubes: I found a new use for our Large Alphabet Lacing Cards! First we traced the letters with her finger, then we used our 1″ building blocks to make the letter shape. She also picked 2 colors of blocks and did a pattern as she made her letters! We also use them for lacing practice, but this was a new variation since I’ve been making the shaped lacing cards too! Click here for more fun with Creative Color Cube Activity Cards. Since we just moved and our color cubes are MIA, we used our DIY Pom-pom magnets to make patterns on our letter “W”.
Watermelon Magnet Page: I use it with a cookie sheet and these pom-pom magnets I made from pom-poms and self-sticky magnets from the craft isle in Wal-mart. I also use these magnets from Amazon: Power Magnets, 0.75 inch Diameter, Assorted Colors
Letter Poking Page: We use a toothpick, or we these cute Oversized Push Pins, to poke holes through the paper in the shape of the letter. Print on regular paper for easier poking, and do this one on carpet Another idea would be to hole punch along the lines of the letter as well. Both work on motor skills!
She worked on her Preschool Daily Learning Notebook…
Watermelon Pattern Activity: Just use the pieces to practice pre-math pattern skills.
Watermelon Scissor Skills: Have your student cut along the dotted lines to practice their fine motor skills as well as hand-eye coordination.
Ww Tracing Card: I laminate this and cut out the watermelon then use Expo Dry Erase Markers with it. You could also use it to glue beans onto or as finger tracing practice. Click the image below to download:
Watermelon Counting Puzzle: This is a new one, couldn’t resist the fractions this time around, but easy enough, put the watermelon wedges together in order by number of seeds to make a whole circle. You can also discuss half and quarters here if you dare! (You could also use the wedges to put the correct amount of beans on or mini-clothes pins, though I did provide counting slices below…)
Watermelon Counting Cards: I use these with either mini-clothes pins, colored paper clips, or put a hole in them and have her attach chain links to them. This time I made little seeds to put on the cards. Whatever you use, just have them put on the correct amount for the number on the card. These are also good for putting in numerical order.
Watermelon Graphing: I laminate this and then have them either color in the dots with Expo Dry Erase Markers, or put bingo markers on it. You could also use the little stars I provided in the Jesus Number Cards game below.
Watermelon Size Sort: Put these in order small to big or big to small then discuss which is largest, smallest and medium.
W Scavenger Hunt: Fill the box with things that start with W! Some ideas: watermelon, wings, wool yarn, waffle, water, walrus. She came back with a Killer Whale and did a little show-n-tell for us.
Watermelon Puzzle: Cut along the guides for a fun 6 piece beginner’s puzzle!
W Pre-Writing Skills: I laminate this and use with a Expo Dry Erase Markers for pre-writing practice skills. You can also print this in gray-scale and use for more scissor skills practice!
Watermelon Letter Matching: This is a fun letter matching activity, that practices both upper and lowercase letters recognition! If you’re looking for more challenge, use the uppercase card with the lowercase letter disks or visa versa! (The download includes upper and lowercase letter disks and activity cards) Click here to see the process of making the letters.
Watermelon Lacing Card: I make sure to laminate this one for durability, then punch with a hole punch every inch or so for lacing practice. Teach them patterns to do with this as well, like up from the bottom each time, or in-out-in-out sewing. Whatever pattern you can think of.
Capital/Lowercase Ww sorting: Simple, just sort the uppercase and lowercase letters.
11 x 11 Pin Geoboard: We use these to make letters, numbers, shapes etc!
Foam Letter Builders: I cut the shapes from foam and let her use them to make the letters. You could also use my Magnetic Letter Builders as well!
Finger Tracing Paint Bag: This is simple and fun, I filled a bag with tempura paint, you could also use cheap shaving cream. Then I’ll tape it to her desk for her to practice writing her letter on using her finger. You could also skip the bag and put shaving cream on your counter if you’re feeling brave ;o) After we do the letters we do numbers, shapes, and whatever else we can think of!
Letter Collage Worksheets: The download includes letters A-Z as well as a collage idea sheet. We use the collage items as objects to decorate our letters for an alphabet book. We also color, paint, and stamp them. Since we use both upper and lowercase, I have provided both for you! Click here to download the Letter Collages:
Letter Bead Lacing: I’ll put an index card in this box with the word ‘watermelon‘ so she knows the order of the letters. I got my lacing beads from Lakeshore Learning but these look more fun to me: Bead Bazaar Lacing Kits – Alphabet Lacing Kit
Magnetic Letter Builders: We use these on a magnetic whiteboard to practice making our letters. You can click here to learn how I made the letters.
Family Fun Night: Have some watermelon of course!
Have some fun Letter W Preschool Ideas to share? Make sure to leave a comment below!
So those are just some of what I managed to capture via photos this week, but you can click here to download all of the Letter W preschool activities, or check out my Letter of the Week preschool curriculum to get the entire alphabet all at once!
Is my Letter of the Week Curriculum too easy for your student? If your student is ready to move on to Kindergarten, make sure to check out my K4 Kindergarten Curriculum!
Thank you for posting these. I got your Letter of the Week curriculum in the Omnibus and am so excited to get started! Seeing it laid out with pictures and your explanations make it so much easier to piece things together based on my son’s current skill level.
Wow! What a wonderful collection of W work! I love how you integrate the watermelons into other activities to keep the phonological awareness for the sound /w/ happening throughout the day. I love you site and have used your activities with great success! Thank you for the inspiration!
Love your letter of the week ideas. But I have a little boy and wanted to create something geared more for him. What program did you use to create your clip art ect.?