The time has come for us to say goodbye to our alphabet curriculum. We’ve studied every letter for a week and spent two weeks in general review and we are ready to move on! Some highlights of our review week include:
Alphabet Games!
As you saw earlier in the week, we spent a lot of time in small groups working on projects catered to each child’s challenge level. We used play dough and cookie cutters to make letter shapes. Sensory projects are a great introduction to letter formation for little hands that are not yet ready to coordinate with little eyes for writing! We played matching games, like the clothespin and sock game, which also challenges children’s fine motor development as they pinch and line up the pins on the line. The children also played some tricky cognitive games like What’s Missing, in which they study a set of letters, then one is mysteriously taken away while their eyes are closed, and they have to figure out what’s missing! Another game that we played as a large group was Bingo! The children were given cards of either 3×3 or 5×5 squares based upon their challenge level. As Peter called out letters, the children had to listen for the letter, identify what it looked like, and locate it on their cards. Everyone was a winner!
Alphabet Math!
We love interdisciplinary projects here at HCS. One of our small group projects this week was to create a graph indicating how many letters each Tugboat had in his or her name. Using a roster to count the letters in each name, a group of older kiddos used swatches of patterns to indicate which column each friend fell into. Sorting activities are also great for developing pre-math skills and we did plenty of sorting this week! During snack on Tuesday, each child had a card with a random assortment of letters. At each table was a pile of letter cookies. Before enjoying their delicious snack, each child had to locate the letters that corresponded to those on their cards. They could work independently or as a group to be sure that everyone was able to have a tasty and educational treat!
Alphabet Art!
No day at Harbor City is complete without a few art projects! The Tugboats strengthened their fine motor skills by practicing writing their letters with a variety of materials. Younger children used sponges and stamps in the shape of letters to make their marks while older children practices with pencils, markers, and crayons of various thickness. Everyone had a blast writing their names on the sidewalk in chalk at the Bremen St. Park!
Of course, we spent plenty of time exploring other interests that our students bring to the table. For the past few weeks, we’ve been inundated with acrobats from “The Apple Circus!”
