Letter L

• We started with talking about the sound "L" makes.  L for leg.  Then we watched the L song.  I made a slight change though. Instead of having them say the sound l, l, l, l, l like they do in the video, we held the sound out l------------------.  This is for blending prep.  When it came to showing them how to write the lower case "l"  I had them start at the top of their leg and trace straight down.  Thus emphasizing "l" for leg.

"L" is for light:

• I started by having the kids see if they could guess something else that started with "L" by watching what I did.  I flicked the light on and off.  Then I asked them if they knew where light came from or how we got it.  (Don't worry, we weren't planning on delving into the logistics of a light bulb!) I told them I had a story to tell them about how light on the earth came to be.  I had them follow me down to my pantry that had no windows so that it would be very dark.  We left the light on outside so they could see a sliver of light through the door incase they were a little nervous.  I then told the creation story using glow sticks from the dollar store.  Each glow stick represented a different day.  (I must say the kids were mesmerized).  Here is how it goes:

Day 1 - Lord separates light from dark  (plain glow stick)
Day 2 - Lord separates water from sky/heavens (blue trident glow stick)
Day 3 - Lord separates water from land and creates grass, plants, trees, etc ( flower glow stick)
Day 4- Lord creates sun, moon, stars (yellow star glow stick)
Day 5 - Lord creates water animals and birds (butterfly glow stick)
Day 6 - Lord creates land animals and man (heart glow stick)
Day 7 - He rests (no glow stick)

• After this I had them take their glow stick and write "L"s in the air as well as their name.  Then I gave them each another one and we played a game of making capital "L" and lower case "l" by raising and lowering the second glow stick.  We went back upstairs waving our glow sticks and singing twinkle twinkle little star.

• Then we talked about how we have day and night.  They each were little Earths and turned while I had a flashlight and stayed still being the sun.  We talked about how when they were facing the light that was day and when they faced away from it, that was night.  Then we read the book Sunshine, Moonshine.  This is a simple book that shows some things you do during the day and night.  After we read, each kid came up with something they did during the day or night.  They acted it out for us and we had to guess what it was.  Then we sorted it into a group - Day or Night.  Very quickly, we determined we had to make a new group - Both.

• Centers:

1- Day or Night Sorting - pictures I found off the internet that they had to sort into whether or not they did that during the day or night (or both).
2- Creation Match - I cut out the pictures and then had them place them number that matched with that day of creation.  You can find  that activity here
 
3-Sun Prints - Picked a toy and set it on piece of construction paper with their name on it and placed it in the sun.
4- Moon Sand Writing - wrote 5 "Ll"s in moon sand and then got a few minutes free play. You can find the recipe for moon sand here.  It was super easy to make!!!!  And definitely the favorite center for the kids!
5-Books about Earth, light,& moon - ones they could look at and enjoy pictures.
6-Read one on one with me.

• Creation Layered Snack (idea found here) - Took clear cups and used this to review the days of the creation.

Day 1- Light/Dark - Vanilla & Chocolate Pudding
Day 2 - Water/Sky(Heaven) - Blue Jello & Cool Whip
Day 3 - Land/Plants - crushed cookies
Day 4-Sun/Moon/Stars - star sprinkles
Day 5- Animals - animal crackers
Day 6-  Man - spoon with people picture on handle
They were scarfed!

• Shadow Puppet Play to Big Pumpkin - We talked about how shadows are made when light is blocked by something and how people took this idea to make  shadow puppet plays.  These are simple to make.  Take a white sheet and hang it up.  Shine a big light behind the sheet.  Put your puppet in front of the light and it's shadow is made on the screen. Make sure you cut out any negative space on your puppets ( ie eyes, mouth for pumpkin, etc) it makes it more interesting. I did the play for them first and then they got to do it themselves.  I found some shadow puppets here, but also had to make the witch and mummy myself.  Big Pumpkin is my all time favorite Halloween Story/Song  

Review "L" song!