A is for Apple

Here are some of our favorite Letter A (Apple) activities...

-  if you have some of your own, please comment or email me and I will add them to the post.  

Scissor skills - My son needs a lot of work with his fine motor skills so this apple cutting page from Preschool Palace was great for him.  The child cuts on the dotted line to the apples.  We didn't quite make it to the apples but he still got some great practice. 

Letter Tracing- With this Aa Letter tracing page, the child uses their finger to trace the capital and lower case letters.  

A is for Apple- I had my son use his glue stick and glue the little green and red apples (page 61) inside the large A.  This was great practice staying inside the lines for him since he isn't a big on coloring.  

Capital/Lowercase Match- This Aa apple tree capital/lowercase match sheet was great! I glued the first two letters and then my son took it away.  

Colors- This activity (pg 60) didn't really have anything to do with the letter A.  I wrote the words RED in red marker on one apple and GREEN in green marker on the other apple.  Then I gave my son a sheet of red construction paper and a sheet of green construction paper.  I showed him how to tear the paper and then glue it onto the appropriate color apple.  This was also a good one for staying in the lines. 

Size sorting- Also, not really having to do with the Letter A.  I thought that these size sequencing cards would be a no brainer... just put them in order!  My son just stared at me like, um what??  After bringing out the turtle puzzle and matching the large apple under the large turtle and so on, he got it.  We did this activity everyday during the A week!

A is for airplane- I thought I would throw in another A word for the fun of it.  I found this airplane puzzle in the $2.50 section at Target.  It's not as easy as it looks people!

Other "A" activities:

Song- Apples Off My Tree
(Tune: Skip to My Lou)
Pick some apples off my tree,
Pick some apples off my tree
Pick some apples off my tree
Pick them all for you and me.

Apple Prints- 
Pour paint into trays or plates.
Dip apple (flat surface down) into paint tray.
Press to construction paper.
Repeat to make a pleasing design.

Numbers 1-10- Match the apples on the tree

Apple Patterns

Puzzle (cut into 6 squares)

Lacing Block Letter A

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Preschool Schedule

I found this off of Homeschool Preschool...a great description of a variety of schedules. The best thing about homeschooling is you can adapt your schedule and around your life and your preschoolers life. Every parent teaches differently, every child learns differently. Here are a few basic schedules you can use as a model when planning out your week.... In red will be my thoughts.

Overall, plan on devoting 2-3 hours a day to your preschoolers education. The time you spend homeschooling your preschooler can be concentrated in the morning, when you are both fresh and ready to go, or it can be spread out throughout the day.

1. Formal Schedule
If you or your child thrives on structure, consider having a formal schedule. A sample schedule follows:
9:00-9:30 Story time and songs
9:30-10:00 Early math or hands on science activity
10:00-10:30 Snack time and outside play time
10:30-11:00 Pre-literacy activity
11:00-11:30 Arts and Crafts
11:30-12:00 Clean Up and Lunch
(I am very OCD when it comes to planning. I would LOVE to have a formal schedule and am working towards it. However, having a 10 month old at home that is just starting to walk, limits our "school" time to when she is sleeping for the most part. As she gets older, I am hoping to have little learning stations set up for her while I am teaching her older brother to keep her busy)

2. Flexible Schedule
A flexible schedule allow parents to work their preschoolers education into the many unexpected events of a day. Choose 5-15 learning activities that you want to accomplish with your preschooler during the week and list them on a piece of paper or write them on index cards. During the day, choose an activity when you have a block of time available. Cross the activity off of your list or remove it from the pile.
(This is how I introduced my son to homeschooling when he started showing interest in learning... about 18 months old. I had a pile of learning books, blocks, letters etc that I pulled out randomly throughout the week. He loved the one on one time with me and started to ask for "school" time throughout the week.)

3. Combo Schedule
This schedule combines the structure of the formal schedule with flexibility of the aptly named flexible schedule. Simply have a couple of regular activities at predictable times of day followed by a learning activity from a list or stack of cards as in the flexible schedule. For example:
After breakfast: Story Time followed by Activity #1 and free time until lunch
After lunch: Activity #2 followed by arts and crafts time
(This is what we do in our home. I have lesson plans for everyday with materials prepared and ready to go. When my youngest goes down for her morning nap... or if she is sleeping in... we have our school time. We usually have about an hour of activities that I do with my son and then he also has computer time and video time (educational) time everyday.)

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