FFCA: All about the letter Ii

Children process and remember information differently.
For this reason, it is essential,
to introduce materials in ways that will stimulate children and assist in absorbing information.

Writing and tracing letters is not the most popular activity for many students, this school year. Therefore, presenting the letters of the alphabet in different and interesting ways, is crucial to learning.

Teaching the letter Ii was a challenging task. However, observations and assessments, demonstrate success!

I is for ICKY!

As the students heard the shaving cream squirt from the can, they raced to the tables! Busy with sensory play, Ms. Kristen and I, repeated; "I is for ICKY" (emphasizing phonetic I), and sang the "Letter Ii Song". After a while, all the students were singing the song!

Dot Art letter Ii!

Dot art bottles - 1 of the BEST tools to introduce handwriting.

With excitement, the students yelled for favorite colors and began to stamp, stamp, STAMP!!

I is for Ink Blot!

Offering a bottle of paint to a preschooler, brings JOY to my soul!!! The excitement and facial expressions, are so precious, it's priceless!!!!

The students created Ink Blots!

I Spy the Letter I!

This game, literally, NEVER ENDS! Anytime a student or teacher sees the letter of the week, they have permission to point it out! We look for letters on snack packages, clothing, posters, street signs, license plates, cars, building signs,

etc.

This week, the students recognized that sometimes I and L look the same, on signs, etc. For this reason, phonetically, sounding-out words is important in identifying the letter in the word. Don't get tricked:)

I is for Ice!

Science, math, letters and more!

The students explored frozen letters and numbers. A perfect activity for kinesthetic learners!

Highlights:

* Brains hard at work! The students, thought and discussed ideas to melt the ice.

* Fingers scraping and picking, hands rubbing, and karate chopping, but, the ice was not melting. They decided to fill a bucket with some water and put the frozen letters in the bucket. "It's Working" they screamed!

* The students, excitedly, shouted out each letter that was free from the ice!

The students sorted numbers from letters, and, identified and matched letters.

Tracing and writing letter Ii.

Directions: Connect the dots in alphabetical order to reveal the letter I.

Searching for ideas to motivate students to enjoy writing and tracing, I found this connect the dots activity.

The students enjoyed the new activity!

However, when I introduced the tracing
and writing activity that followed, I heard grunts and groans. Teaching preschoolers to properly use a pencil to trace and write, is challenging. It is a required skill, that is not commonly enjoyed.

To motivate the students, we allowed them to write the letter I on the white board. Briefly removing the students from this frustrating tasks, created less stress and better end results.

Iguana I

Materials:

Dark and light green construction paper
Red construction paper
Scissors
Glue sticks

Google Eyes

1. Each student cut 3 strips of dark green paper (approximately 2 in. wide and 10 in. long)

2. The students glued the 3 strips to form the letter I.

3. Using light green paper and scissors, each student cut 1 thin strip of paper and a head (rounded rectangle) then, glued the pieces on the letter I.

4. To create tongues, the students cut small red strips of paper.

5. The students glued google eyes and tongues on their Iguana I's and admired their creations!

It's always a delight to enjoy the procedure of children constructing crafts. Their personalities are uniquely displayed on their creations:)

I discovered this project via pinterest. The original project may be found at www.totallytots.homestead.com

I is for Itsy, Bitsy, Spider!

It's always fun to sing the Nursery Rhyme "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

To remind the students of the Nursery Rhyme, they made cute hand print spiders.

Here's an interesting story to accompany this activity: It is routine for the students to write their names on every assignment. Ms. Kristen and I, obviously, assist with this process, as necessary, by guiding their hands or writing names with yellow markers for them to trace. As a result of this expectation, the kiddos sometimes complain and grumble when asked to write their names, because name writing, is not an easy task to learn.

With that said, this particular activity, the teacher was to write the students names and date on the projects. Permanent marker in hand, I proceeded to write a students name on his paper and he said "Hey, I want to write my own name with that marker!". Delighted, I gave him the marker, and he wrote his name with excellence!! Actually, it was the first time he was able to write the letter "s" without help! All of the students opted to write their names. Who knew that offering a permanent marker would make name writing exciting?!?!?!

The students have been practicing patterns since the first day of school. To reinforce this practice they created patterns using various pictures from the Itsy Bitsy Spider Nursery Rhyme. It was challenging, but they accomplished the task!

I found this printable at www.teacherspayteachers.com via Laurie Rupp

Unfortunately, rainy weather put a damper on the weekly visit to the play ground.

Nonetheless, the rain did not hinder us from taking pleasure in playing games!

We played:

Itsy Bitsy Spider Game by Milton Bradley

Manufacturer's Description: Players start with 9 tiles that are used to build their waterspouts. Each time a player spins the spinner and the spinner lands on a rainbow or image of the sun, the player adds a tile to his or her waterspout. If the spinner lands on a rain cloud, then the player's turn ends and the next player spins the spinner. The player to complete his or her waterspout first wins.

The boys especially enjoyed this game!

Isaac was the first to win! Motivated to win, Cristian was the next to win!!

We played:

I SPY Preschool Game by Briarpatch

Manufacturer's Description: Classic I Spy fun for preschoolers!

Players match riddles with pictures. Interlocking pairs ensure only the correct matches are possible. Riddles and photographs from the popular I Spy book series. Promotes matching, reading, and social skills.

The kiddos read the cards using the picture clues. Demonstration of Beginning reading skills were EXCELLENT!!

I is for Ice Painting!

Materials: smocks, place mats or table clothe, construction paper, paper towels (for many spills and cold, wet hands) and ice paint. (recipe below)

The students had a BLAST with this project! When the colors appeared on the student's papers, they excitedly yelled out the colors, showing their friends.

Ice Paint Recipe

Materials:

Ice cube trays

Food coloring

Plastic toothpicks (I get the thick and sturdy ones)

Water

Directions: fill the ice cube trays about 3/4 full with water. Squirt 15-20 drops of food coloring into each section (add more for brighter colors). Place in the freezer for 45 mins. or until partially frozen. Place a toothpick in the middle of each cube. Return the tray to freezer until the ice cubes are completely frozen.