Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Letter of the Week: Q

 2561228589_f40d531bef is for

Quinn*queen*quarter*quiet*quilt


quarrel*quesadilla*quack

This week, we started our “Letter of the Week!” Ever since I got pregnant, I knew I wanted to get through the first trimester and then devote the rest of my pregnant weeks to doing a “Letter of the Week” with my Big Brother to be! Not only is it a great way for me to spend quality time with my little man, but it allows him to do all of the fun activities that he craves while really reinforcing his letters before he starts school next year.

Through this, I hope that he can always recognize each letter…upper and lower case. I want him to be able to name words that start with each letter and hopefully start to learn most of his letter sounds. I’m also going to attempt to teach him to write each letter.

I have a handful of activities that I am going to repeat each week…just using the different letter…as long as he doesn’t get bored with them. We had SO much fun this week and loved starting with our FAVORITE letter! :)

First, we poured out ALL of the foam letters and let him DIG for the Q’s. He made a huge mess but found them easily! This activity only involved capital Q’s and was a great way to kick off our week. beginning of Jan 023Then, for lunch, I did a MTM (on a tray) all about Q’s. He LOVED it, of course! :) … While we were eating, we talked about words that started with Q!beginning of Jan 024 beginning of Jan 025 beginning of Jan 026 beginning of Jan 027 After he ate the tail off of his Q sandwich, he said, “Now it’s an O!!!” beginning of Jan 028 Later, Quinn played with play-doh using his “Q” cookie cutter and quarters. beginning of Jan 029 Another day, I printed off a sheet from this site and let him color and then glue his pictures to the page. During this, I taught him how to use a glue bottle and to only do “bug dots!” Even though this “worksheet” seemed to be a cop out when I was teaching, it was a HUGE hit with my little man. beginning of Jan 031 After he finished gluing, he added lots of Q stickers. He proudly put it on the fridge.Swap Party, More Q Week, Fort 027

A little later, we went on a “Q hunt!” I hid sticky notes all over the house and let Quinn take his magnifying glass around the house to find the capital and lowercase Q’s. We’d chant a little made up Q chant and he would get so excited when he’d find another one…beginning of Jan 032…and he was so proud to sort them on the door! … beginning of Jan 034

Since the preschool that Quinn is going to attend uses Frog Street Press, I bought this book so that I can make the reproducible alphabet books each week. 712246005069 Quinn loved reading “Quilla the Queen” and had so much fun singing along with the song! By the end of the week, he loved to talk about her and the Q things mentioned in the book/song.

From this great site, I got the idea to make the weekly letter into an object each week. Here’s Quinn’s masterpiece from this week! He LOVED doing it and loves looking at her on the fridge. …

 Swap Party, More Q Week, Fort 011 Swap Party, More Q Week, Fort 012

Beautiful, right!?!?!? :) Swap Party, More Q Week, Fort 013

Then, on the back, Quinn practiced his Q’s and told me all of the words he knew that started with Q so that I could write them down.Swap Party, More Q Week, Fort 014 

We visited the websites Bembo Zoo and Starfall so that Quinn could do the Q activities there! It’s great reinforcement of the letter sound.

And, last but not least, we went on a field trip! I want to take Quinn on a little trip each week to a place that starts with his letter. He took his new camera and took a picture of the Q that he found. Q's first pictures from his camera Dec 09 Jan 2010 02700 Once we got there, we obviously had to go inside, look for more Q’s  and get a fun treat!!! And, crazy enough, our check out guy’s name was Quinn…so, one more Q to find that we weren’t expecting! :) Quinn spotted the Q on his name tag right away!Q field trip 008 Q field trip 002 

Up next: “U!”

14 comments:

kristin fulghum said...

such a cute idea! i love it.

Kelly | Fabulous K said...

Totally funny sidenote:

I clicked on your blog, saw the pink Q and thought your were announcing that you were having a girl. HA! :)

Melody said...

such a fun week, I started doing this with my little girl a while ago and when she started MDO I planned to continue but haven't really since the summer. Today we did a couple things with the letter "C" but you have really inspired me so I think I am going to have to get myself in gear again :)

Thanks for all the great tips and information about the fun sites. I look forward to seeing more of his fun weekly letter projects.

Laura said...

It's great to see some more ideas! We've been using a modified version of letteroftheweek.com. I can't wait to try some of your ideas too!

The Johnstons said...

LOVE these ideas...thanks for sharing! I need to start doing a letter of the week with Parker and you have inspired me! :) Hope you are feeling good and cannot wait to find out what you are having!!

Kandis Moody said...

Girl you are so creative! I hope to be as awesome of a mom as you one day.

kinsey said...

kelly, i thought the same thing! ha!

what a fun time with your little man...all while learning! this first grade teacher loves that :-)

Laura said...

Love this post. I saved lots of those sites to my favorites. Can't wait to start this with Caroline once she gets a little older! Thanks for sharing all your creativity.
P.S.--I thought the pink Q meant you were having a daughter too :-) Can't wait to find out!!

Kristin McNeil said...

where did you get your cookie (sandwich) letter cutters and foam letters? what are the names? looks like fun!

Kristin McNeil said...

and i am on the hunt for good quality (bigger) magnetic letters and numbers. i have had bad luck with the ones i have found so far. magnets fall out, etc. any ideas?

Unknown said...

Love it! Where did you get the lunch tray? I have been looking for one of those. Also, Leap Frog Letter Factory is a great dvd for letters and sounds too.

ThePoeFam said...

First of all...ya'll are all so funny thinking that the pink Q meant GIRL!!! :) I wish we knew, but we have to wait a while longer...

Also, thanks for all the extra ideas. We'll for sure add to our list of things to do each week!

The cookie cutters are from Wal-Mart...in the craft/Wilton area. It's a box of 101 cookie cutters for about $10.00! A steal!

The foam letters were just from Michael's...I think.

And, my magnet letters are from teaching...I know you could get good ones from a teacher supply store! :)

Lastly, the trays are from Target...YEARS ago...before kids! Sorry that I'm not more help...I've seen them at Pottery Barn Kids in the past, though.

Kimberly said...

I've been feeling so guilty for not continuing the Theme Days with Creighton since Griffin's arrival. I just can't get myself organized to plan one and can't get enough energy to complete one, so this is genius to me!!! I'm starting this next week {or maybe this week} and I'm starting with the letter "C."

Just today while I was giving Griffin his breathing treatment, Creighton came up with a book. He wanted me to read to him and he pointed at each and every letter asking what it was and stating the ones he knows. Totally unprompted. He didn't read your blog. It must be time.

Thank you friend for sharing your ideas!!!

Irina said...

You guys look like you have a blast EVERYday!!! Are those jalapenos on his tray..? Spicy!