Our "Picture" Dictionary

We have done all the alphabet crafts we can possibly do over the past two years. Although Hollis still enjoys a good paint and glue project, we all need a break from the crafty activities for a bit. So, we are making a picture dictionary using photo props to illustrate each letter of the alphabet. I am hoping to get the complete alphabet done soon but I may have to do it week by week.

 I found these little books in the Dollar Spot section at Target. They came in packs of 3. Printed and glued out the cute cover for each book.

Inside the book, they will put a sticker and their picture for the letter. This week they took two pictures because I couldn't decide between the apple and alligator, we did BOTH. Cute, cute.

A is for apple. A is for alligator.

Stay tuned for more letter props. Next week will be a giant bow!

Week One: Tot School

Letter of the Week: Aa

Shape of the Week: Oval

Color of the Week: Purple

Number of the Week: 1 

 Work Baskets for Week One: 

#1: Some Aa prewriting with dry erase markers. 

They love writing with these markers!

Marin is very proud of her work!

Hollis has to do it too! She LOVES markers!

 #2: Letter Aa I Spy Game 

I gathered a few items that begin with the letter Aa and photographed them. Marin first had to find all the letters in the picture. Then we sounded out each of the pictures saying the "a" sound with each one. Then she dumped out the objects and matched them up like a puzzle. 

She loved this one. Did it every single day. 

Hollis liked dumping everything out of the container :o). But she did also like pointing to the pictures I named. Good vocabulary for her! 

#3: Ten Apples Up on Top LEGOS! 

Big hit! I taped some small apples on their legos and they added them to their lego man's head. 

They both loved this one. Great counting practice and fine motor skills. 

 Showing off her ten apples!

 One afternoon I walked into the playroom and found Hollis sitting up at the table with her little lego work basket. So sweet. She really liked this basket!

#4: Animal puzzles/Animal lacing cards

 This basket was the least favorite of both girls. The lacing cards were just a little too hard for her. I may try letting her use pipe cleaners the next time. Hollis liked her puzzle but she wanted to do the other work baskets instead. But she would get real proud of herself for saying the animals or finding the animals. 

Activities for Week One:

They drew the shape and color of the week in their "handy dandy" notebook. Marin loves Blue's Clues so it was fun for her to have her own notebook. 

We painted apple prints on our Aa. 

 Marin did the capital A and Hollis did the lowercase a.

 Foam letter sort: A little water and these Dollar Tree foam letters stick. Marin loved it. Again, she is proud of her work. 

 And of course, Hollis had to have a turn. 

 Class clown. 

We read Ten Apples Up on Top. Marin loves apples so she thought it was pretty fun to count the apples. Her attention span for longer stories is...uh...not so great. But she did love this one. 

 Then the cut and glued apples on top of their heads! 

Marin loved cutting and I need to be sure and do this with her more often. 

 

And last we made an Easy Reader Animal Book. 

 Hard working student....

Letter A: Animals and Artists

More Aa week pictures.....

A is for Animal Puzzle Sort: I put all the puzzle pieces in a bag and she pulled them out  and put them on the correct puzzle. 

We read some art books from the library and then used watercolors to paint the Van Gogh Starry Night outline. I got the outline here.  She had SO MUCH FUN using the watercolors. 

Showing Dad her hard work. 

A little story time with Daddy....Mouse Paint. 

She did want to drink the paint water. YUCK!

Letter A: Alligators, Apples, and Ark

 Here are some of the Aa activities we have done so far.....

A is for Alligator: Sand Art
The alligator came from here.

She LOVED the sand. She is real into textures right now so this was perfect fun for her to shake and then feel the sand. 

A little apple color matching. I got this from the Confessions of a Homeschooler Letter of the Week Curriculum. 
She didn't really care about matching them but she LOVED pointing with the big google eye popsicle pointer. 

Our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom ABC handprint tree. We will add letter stickers each week. 

A is for Noah's Ark. She used the animal stamps to put them in the ark. 

She likes the stamps. :o)