Letter J Theme: Jack and the Beanstalk by Nina Crews

Day 1    Letter:  J     Theme:  Jack and the Beanstalk by Nina Crews     Shape:  Hexagon     Number:  10
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Circle Time:  Morning learning songs.  Review letters A-I and introduce letter J.  Review #’s 1-9and introduce #10.  Read "My J Book."  Review the vowel song.   Introduce the hexagon shape.  Read Nina Crews' version of the classic "Jack and the Beanstalk."
Snack:  J is for Jam, Jello, jelly, jelly beans, juice.  Provide opportunities for the children to try some of these "J" foods/drinks.  Make jello jigglers and cut out the shape of a J with a cookie cutter.Bible: 
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Group Lesson:  1.  Discuss what is needed to make a beanstalk:  sun, water, dirt/soil, bean seed.  Allow each student to plant a few seeds in a cup of soil.  Place plantings near a sunny window.  Place another planting in an area where it receives very little light and be sure to tell the students you will not water this particular plant.  Observe what happens to the plants in the window, which receive water, and the plant that receives little light/no water. 
2.  Sing the "Giant in the Clouds" song with motions.  Sing to tune of "Farmer in the Dell."  The castle in the clouds, the castle in the clouds, Fee, Fiiie, Fooooe, Fummm, the castle in the clouds. 
The giant in the castle
The giant takes a wife
The wife cooks and cleans
The giant has a hen
The hen lays golden eggs
Jack plants the beans
A bean grows and grows
Jack climbs the beanstalk
Jack sees the castle
Jack takes the hen
Jack runs away
The giant runs after the hen
The giant climbs down the beanstalk
Jack chops down the beanstalk
The giant falls down
The giant gets smaller
The giant turns kind and sweet!

Lunch/RestGross Motor/Phys.Ed:  1.  Outdoor play if weather permits.  We have kind of gotten into a routine where, when we play outdoors, the children want me to chase them and try to catch them.  When our them of the week changes, I become whatever matches our theme and give chase!  I have been a Dinosaur for letter D, a Gorilla for letter G, and a Horse for letter H thus far.  Maybe for letter I Iguana might be appropriate!  Perfect time to become the Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk and give chase!    2.  Hoola Hoop Bean Toss:  Children take turns tossing beans or beanbags onto letters and numbers.  Beforehand, the teacher writes letters and numbers learned up to this point on individual pieces of construction paper.  Place the papers around the room and have the children toss the beans or beanbags onto one of the letters or numbers.  If they land on a number, the child will try to do that many Jumping Jacks (if bean lands on a 9, the child will do 9 jumping jacks).  If the bean lands on a letter, be sure to have the child yell out what letter it is for letter recognition!
Art/Fine Motor:  Letter J Punching (don't worry, no violence is involved!).  Children will be given a sheet of construction paper with an uppercase and a lowercase letter J written largely on it.  They will each be given a plastic needle.  They will place their papers on rugs provided and will punch small holes all along the outline of the letters.  They then can take their papers and hold them up to the window.  The light will shine through the holes to reveal their letters!
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Review/Pack up/Dismissal

Day 2    Letter:  J     Theme:  Jack and the Beanstalk by Nina Crews     Shape:  Hexagon     Number:  10
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Circle Time:  Morning learning songs.  Review letters A-J.  Review #’s 1-10.  Review the vowel song.   Review the hexagon shape.  Looking for Golden Buttons:  My sister-in-law (retired kindergarten teacher) loaned me a book titled "The Button Box" by Margarette S. Reid.  I will explain to the children that Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk) loves golden eggs, but that he also loves golden buttons!  This will be my lead into the story about buttons.  This book allows for sorting/classifying activities, and my sister-in-law also provided a large tin containing, what else:  buttons!  We will read the book page by page and sort the buttons accordingly, always on the lookout for "golden" buttons for Jack!
Snack:  J is for Jam, Jello, jelly, jelly beans, juice.  Provide opportunities for the children to try some of these "J" foods/drinks. 
Bible: 
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Group Lesson:  1.  Check on the beanstalk plants!  2.  Sing the "Giant in the Clouds" song with motions.  Sing to tune of "Farmer in the Dell."  The castle in the clouds, the castle in the clouds, Fee, Fiiie, Fooooe, Fummm, the castle in the clouds. 
Individual Lesson (allow the other children to play while working with one student):  Counting station with beans/Begin Christmas presents for parents):  Place ten sheets of construction paper out on a table, with each sheet labeled with a number (10 sheets numbered 1-10).  Provide plenty of beans in the center of the table.  Ask the child to place the appropriate number of beans on each sheet of paper according to the number written on the papers.  This helps with 1:1 correspondence and number recognition and counting.  They could also use this as an opportunity to sort the beans according to shape, size, color.  Once they have completed this activity, I will begin helping the student create their Christmas present for their parents.
Lunch/RestGross Motor/Phys.Ed:  1.  Outdoor play if weather permits.  We have kind of gotten into a routine where, when we play outdoors, the children want me to chase them and try to catch them.  When our them of the week changes, I become whatever matches our theme and give chase!  I have been a Dinosaur for letter D, a Gorilla for letter G, and a Horse for letter H thus far.  Maybe for letter I Iguana might be appropriate!  Perfect time to become the Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk and give chase!    
Art/Fine Motor:  

J is for Jet

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Review/Pack up/Dismissal

Day 3    Letter:  J     Theme:  Jack and the Beanstalk by Nina Crews     Shape:  Hexagon     Number:  10
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Circle Time:  Morning learning songs.  Review letters A-J.  Review #’s 1-10.  Review the vowel song.   Review the hexagon shape.  Measure the Giant's footprints:  Teacher prepares a poster (or use class board) and Giant's footprint.  On the poster, teacher prints titles:  Same, Longer, Shorter.  The teacher will also print out pictures of items from around the classroom, such as book bag, pencil, book, etc.  Each child will take a turn at choosing a picture card, retrieve the item from the classroom and measure the item to the Giant's footprint.  Then the child will place their picture card under the appropriate title on the poster (either under Same, Longer or Shorter.  Then once the picture cards are gone, the children will observe how many items were the same size as the Giant's footprint, which were longer/shorter. 
Snack:  J is for Jam, Jello, jelly, jelly beans, juice.  Provide opportunities for the children to try some of these "J" foods/drinks. Bring in candy canes and turn them into letter J's. 
Bible: 
Free Play in Learning Centers
Group Lesson:  1.  Check on the beanstalk plants!  2.  Sing the "Giant in the Clouds" song with motions.  Sing to tune of "Farmer in the Dell."  The castle in the clouds, the castle in the clouds, Fee, Fiiie, Fooooe, Fummm, the castle in the clouds.  3.  Word Guessing Game:  All answers to the riddles begin with the letter J (be sure the children know this).  Begin the riddle questions:
a.  Monkey's and parrots live in a warm place with many trees and bushes.  It is called a (children answer jungle).  b.  What two children went up a hill to fetch a pail of water?  (Jack and Jill).  c.  I am thinking of something made with fruit that is very sweet and sticky.  I can spread it on bread (jam/jelly).  d.  I am a toy who lives in a box.  When you turn a crank, I pop up and can sometimes scare you if you are not expecting me (Jack in the Box).  e.  I am an article of clothing that you put on when it gets chilly outside.  Sometimes I have a hood on but not always (jacket).  f.  I am usually made of glad, and your parents probably buy food that I help hold (jar).  g.  I am a type of fish.  I have tiny stinging cells in my tentacles to stun or paralyze my prey before I eat them.  I don't really taste like jelly (jellyfish).  h.  I am a type of candy.  I am popular around Easter time.  Some people think about Jesus when they think about my different colors.  I am very chewy and come in lots of different colors.  Red is for the blood Jesus gave, Green is for the grass God made, Yellow is for the sun so bright, Orange is for the edge of night, Black is for the sins we made, white is for the grace God gave, Purple is for Jesus' hour of sorrow, Pink is for our new tomorrow.  I.  This is something someone says to make people laugh.  Some people start this out with saying, "Knock Knock" (joke). 
Lunch/RestGross Motor/Phys.Ed:  1.  Outdoor play if weather permits.  We have kind of gotten into a routine where, when we play outdoors, the children want me to chase them and try to catch them.  When our them of the week changes, I become whatever matches our theme and give chase!  I have been a Dinosaur for letter D, a Gorilla for letter G, and a Horse for letter H thus far.  Maybe for letter I Iguana might be appropriate!  Perfect time to become the Giant in Jack and the Beanstalk and give chase!    2.  Play Jump Rope
Art/Fine Motor:  Continue working on Christmas presents for parents.  Meanwhile, children can play with an assortment of art items.
Free Play
Review/Pack up/Dismissal
 

Activities for Letters G, H, and I

 We made our own clay using water, flour and oil.  This activity was in conjunction with our Bible story about God creating each of us.  The children made themselves using our homemade clay, just like God shaped us; He is the potter, we are the clay!

 G is for Grandma, Gaga and Gugs!  This is one of the children's grandmothers; I inadvertently deleted a picture I had of another grandmother, which I was really disappointed about.  It was a nice picture.  We learned more about letter G with a grandparents' visit for sharing letter G foods with them:  grapes, granola bars, goldfish crackers, glazed doughnuts, Teddy Grahams and grape juice!

 The kids asked me if they could wear the costumes to school, so we had a costume day! 

 H is for Horse.  I found these horse cut-outs at Michaels.  We colored them, placed a mane and tail on with yarn and gave the horse eyes with googly eyes!  I explained to the children they could design the horse according to what they felt a horse really looked like, and on the other side they could make a horse that is different from what we imagine.

 We turned this letter H into a horse! I precut the shapes.  The children colored the nose and eyes!

 Letter Hunting:  I first googled various images of our letters.  I found about 12 or 13 images for each letter.  I printed them out on cardstock.  Then I cut out each image.  Around the preschool I hide letters; for example, I hide 12 letter G's and 12 letter H's.  The children then hunt for the letters and place them in the appropriate piles, i.e., letter G pile or letter H pile.  This helps them with letter recognition!  And they love to go a hunting!

 I would say this is a pretty impressive tower.  I did help a bit when it got too high for them to reach.

 Pretending to be asleep.

 More pounding of nails (toothpicks).  Not sure why they love this activity so much, but they do.  Look at Jake's little hand below--so cute!

 Getting ready to bake with our Chef's Hats!  I cut strips of cardstock, measured the strips around each child's head to make sure it would fit the circumference of their heads.  I then cut a white trash bag in half and stapled it to the inside of the head band, fluffed it up, and voila!  The kids tried to help me with this, but it was a little difficult for them to do themselves.  They enjoyed helping me staple the trash bag to the cardstock.  I think they turned out very cute!

 Chef Casey!

 Chef Madison!

 Chef Jake (who did not want his picture taken)

 The kids asked me if they could use my camera and take my picture.  Sure!  Why not!  Chef Mrs. M!

 The kids still using my camera.  Can you tell??

 Time to play in the kitchen since we are pretending to be chefs today!

 Out Community Helper guest:  Staci Kuhns, caterer, came with cupcakes and all the necessary tools to decorate them!  The kids loved this and were very attentive!  She taught them about the things she has to do before she makes or touches food:  wear gloves and wear a hat with hair pulled back. 

 Listening to the guest speaker!

 Jake trying his hand at decorating his cupcake! 

 This took a lot of concentration on the part of the kids!  They truly enjoyed this activity.

 Pretty!  Looks really good, too! 

 Finished cupcakes!

 

 

 I is for Ice cream.  The children told me what toppings they like:  crushed Oreos, M&M's and sprinkles.  I also brought out some Hershey's syrup and whipped cream!  Yum!

 Good stuff!  Vanilla and rainbow ice cream.

 Bible Lesson:  Smile, God Loves You!  God loved us before we loved Him.  He loves us unconditionally!  I purchased several colors/designs of paper plates, and also two types/shapes of pasta.  The children glued the pasta on the center of the plate as a Smiley Face, and I wrote the words at the bottom:  Smile, God Loves You!  They then decorated the edges of the plate with more pasta!  I punched a whole at the top and inserted ribbon so they could hang up their Smiley Faces!

 I is for Instrument!  I used these Quaker oatmeal containers, wrapped them with construction paper (colors chosen by the students).  I then gave them various items with which to decorate their drums!

 

 Another instrument for letter I week!  Recorders!  Sorry moms and dads, but they are taking them home!  The children began marching around the house like they were having a parade!