Letter I

Learning Letter I

Who is ready to learn Letter I? Letter I is a hard one to teach because vowels make two different sounds, so we focused on the short vowel sound. However, this presents a great opportunity to talk about how cool vowels are! Check out The Vowel Song: https://imaginationsrunningwild.com/the-vowel-song/ for help with teaching vowels. This site contains Affiliate Links (see full disclosure at the end of the post for more information).

Free Preschool Letter I Lessons Plans:

Monday — I is for Inchworm

Inch by Inch
  • Book: Read Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni. In this story, an inchworm convinces the birds not to eat it by proving its usefulness in measuring various parts of the birds. When the inch worm meets a hungry nightingale, the bird asks the inch worm to measure its song. How is the inchworm supposed to do that? Check this one out from your library to find out the inchworm’s clever plan!
  • Craft: Pipe Cleaner Inchworm: create an inch worm out of a pipe cleaner, pony beads, and 2 googly eyes! Grab a pipe cleaner and roll one of the ends into a circle shape to be head. Add beads to the pipe cleaner, creating the inchworm’s body. Leave some room at the end of the pipe cleaner to fold the end up and toward the beads to help secure the beads. Gently bend the inch worm in the middle so it looks like it is arching its back. Last, glue on your googly eyes!

Tuesday — I is for Ice Cream

  • STEM Activity: Homemade Ice Cream — I found a great recipe from Kim @ Best Ideas For Kids. My family tried this recipe and not only was it easy to make, but we all agreed that it tasted delicious. Get the recipe here and try it with your child.
  • Math: Count Ice Cream Toppings — pick a topping for your ice cream and dump a few out on a plate. Count out the number of sprinkles or chocolate chips and then add them to your ice cream.
  • Air Writing: Ask your child to hold up a hand and trace letter shapes with their finger in the air.
Ice cream & Dinosaurs
  • Book: Ice Cream & Dinosaurs by Eric Litwin. This is the first book in the Groovy Joe picture book series. It is a fun, sing-songy story of a dog who wants to eat ice cream, but keeps getting interrupted by knock at his door. More and more dinosaurs come to visit. What’s Joe to do? Share his ice cream of course! Kids will love the rhymes, the characters, the positivity, and Tom Lichtenheld’s awesome illustrations!

Wednesday — I is for Igloo

  • Writing Practice: write lowercase i. Here is a free practice worksheet from A to Z Teacher stuff: writing lowercase i
The Three Snow Bears
  • Book: We read The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett, an arctic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This book is a bit of stretch, but the story takes place in an igloo and it was available at the library. In the story Aloo-ki enters the polar bears’ igloo while they are out and then eats their soup, tries on their boots, and takes a nap in baby polar bear’s bed. Meanwhile, the polar bear family are rescuing Aloo-ki’s sled dogs. Preschoolers will love Jan Brett’s artwork and the cute bears.
  • Craft: Paper Igloo–we made an igloo out of white construction paper cut into squares and then added some cotton ball snow to the ground! Supplies needed are: white construction paper, a colored piece of construction paper for the background, black crayon or marker, scissors and glue stick, and cotton balls.

I cut the white paper into squares and got the project started by making an upside-down U shape with the glue stick on the background paper and filling in all of the space in the U with glue. I love the purple glue sticks because it makes it so easy for kids to see the glue. Add your white squares to the glue. Make an entrance to your igloo by gluing on a couple more squares. Use a black crayon or marker to draw the opening to the igloo. Make a snowy ground by stretching cotton balls and gluing them onto your paper.

  • Song: I copied the Bingo song and turned it into the Igloo song! Keep the same tune, but change the words to:

“There was a child who had a home, and igloo was its name-o.

I-G-L-O-O. I-G-L-O-O. I-G-L-O-O. And Igloo was its name-o.”

Then subtract letters as you go onto the next verse, clapping in place of the missing letters.

Thursday —

  • Sprinkles Tray Writing: Instead of doing a salt tray this week, we covered the bottom of our cake pan with sprinkles. Your child can take one finger to trace letter Ii shapes in the sprinkles.

Friday — I is for Iguana

Manana, Iguana
  • Book: Manana, Iguana by Ann Whiteford Paul is a new twist on the Little Red Hen. In this story, Iguana asks her friends snake, bunny, and turtle to help her throw a party. Her friends are too lazy to help, so Iguana does it all by herself! The party is so much fun and all of the friends have a great time. However, Iguana is now so tired that she can’t clean up, so snake, bunny, and turtle pitch in and help clean. Preschoolers will enjoy Ethan Long’s illustrations, especially Iguana’s facial expressions. There is a glossary of Spanish words included at the end of the book.
Iguana coloring page

Visit your local reptile store and see if they have any iguanas that your little one can look at. The reptile shop near us is really nice and love to tell families all about their reptiles.

Thanks for leaning letter I with us!

Now it’s to learn Letter J

blue heart

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