Letter a

Apples (read books about apples, make apple patterns, bring apples to school, graph the apples brought to school, taste apples) my favorite apple books are The seasons of arnolds apple tree by gail gibbons, How to make an apple pie and see the world by Marjorie priceman, and Alberts field trip by Leslie Tyron Johnny Appleseed day (everyone dresses like Johnny Appleseed, make applesauce in a crockpot) Read Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellpgg bring an animal to school (everyone brings a stuffed animal, make a class book about what happened when the animal came to school) Read ask my bear by Marjorie flack, act out the story using props Astronaut activities (Babbling abby has a great unit on TPT)

Letter b

We bring a different item each day that starts with B. Bubbles day- everyone brings a bottle of bubbles, we read the bubble factory by Tomie de paola, we do bubble experiments, make a class book, chew bubble gum, have a bubble gum blowing bubble contest, read bubble gum, bubble gum by Lisa wheeler or the bubble gum kid by stu smith book day- bring your favorite book, students read with a buddy during the day or I read everyones book over the course of the day boots day- wear boots to school, students brainstorm different kinds of boots and what they are made for doing and make a class book, sort the boots everyone wore by type and then make a graph (then analyze your graph) blue day- everyone wears blue, read the book

Blueberries for sal, blueberry math, brainstorm a list of things that are blue and make a blue class band-aid day- everyone brings a box of fun bandaids to school, we do a bandaid exchange, then everyone put bandaids all over their bodies, make the boo boo class book bear day- everyone brings a teddy bear to school, we measure our bears and make comparisons, sort our bears, have a teddy bear picnic, read bear stories, my favorites are Little bears trousers and little bear lost by Jane Hissey Letter c Clifford day (everyone wears red, make Clifford head bands, read Clifford books, Clifford art) clowns (years ago, we made a clown day and brought in a clown who did a show and we all dressed like clowns) cupcakes- Read if you give a cat a cupcake, decorate cupcakes, write a how-to paper Letter d Donuts for dad (invite dads to come to school for donuts) read books about dads, make a craft for dads, write about dads, a few of my favorite dad books are just me and my dad by mercer mayer, What dads cant do by douglas wood, and daddies are for catching fireflies harriet ziefert Dinosaurs (read dinosaur books and do dinosaur activities) a few of my favorite dinosaur books are Dinosaur roar by Paul Strickland, Harry and the bucketful of dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow, How Do dinosaurs say goodnight by Jane yolen (all of the books in this series are great) and Patricks dinosaurs by Carol and Donald Carrick Dirt day- read books about soil, plant, investigate dirt (soil) Read ARnie the doughnut by arnie keller, make donut craft, eat donuts, writing response

Letter e

I make e week a week of egg activities- we do egg things all week long Egg drop science experiment- this is an optional activity I do with my students, they package an egg at home with their parents and we do the drop at school Read egg books, do egg art, and do egg experiments. Poem of the week- humpty dumpty- make the TLC humpty dumpty. Learn about oviparous animals- a few of my favorite books for this are Chickens arent the only ones by ruth heller, The chick and the duckling by mirra ginsburg and the emperors egg by martin Jenkins and jane chapman

Letter f

Fruit loops- students sort fruit loops and graph, everyone student takes one fruit loop, then create a class graph for the color of fruit loop everyone got, make letters and numbers using fruit loops, eat fruit loops- you can read the Kelloggs froot loops! Counting fun book Feet- read books about feet, measure your feet with cubes, my favorite foot books are How many feet in the bed by Diane Johnston hamm (make a class book with this book), I wish I had duck feet by theo le sieg and B. tobey (make a class book with this book), and the foot book by dr. Seuss Flashlights- everyone brings a flashlight, have a time where you turn the lights off and everyone reads with their flash lights fruit patterns- bring cut up fruit and wooden skewers in, have students create pattern fruit kabobs, have them tell you their pattern before eating- I like to read the book food patterns by Nathan Olson Read books about friendship, make friendship fruit salad

(this is just fruit salad you make together and eat with friends) a few of my favorite friend books are Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard waber, best friends by steven Kellogg, Frog and toad are friends by Arnold lobel, froggys sleepover by jonathan london Read Frederick by Leo Lionni, do a literature response activity Letter g Green day- everyone wears green, brainstorm a list of green things, make a green class book, eat green foods for snack Read go away big green monster by ed emberley, make colored big monsters Letter h Hat day- everyone wear a hat to school, make a hat read harry the dirty dog by gene zion (make dirty dogs) crazy hair day- everybody comes to school with crazy hair, have a contest to see who has the craziest hair, read crazy hair day by barney saltzberg Letter i Read insect books and do insect activities A few of the books I use with I: I wanna iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff, It looks like spilt milk by Charles g. shaw, Its mine by Leo lionni, Is your mama a llama Make ice cream in a bag Letter j Jellybean math- sort jellybeans, count jellybeans, graph jellybeans- read Jellybeans for sale and make a class book Try different kinds of juice- make a class graph of everyones favorite Make jello, write a how-to paper, eat jello Learn some Jump rope rhymes, students bring jump ropes to school or purchase some from the dollar store, jump rope to the rhymes, use as a counting activity and count how many times everyone can jump, see

who can jump the most Letter k Read the book Koala lou by mem fox, make construction paper koalas, write some type of response to the story or learn about koalas and do a non-fiction writing piece Compare Koala lou with a non-fiction book about koalasmake a venn diagram Read froggys first kiss by Arnold lobel Read kiss kiss! by Margaret wild and Bridget strevensmarzo, make a class book Do a craft or activity using Hershey kisses Read Curios George flies a kite by Margret and H.A. rey, fly kites, make paper kites, write about flying kites or the story Read lets fly a kite by stuart j. Murphy- make kites with a symmetrical pattern Letter l Lemons- students bring lemons to school, taste lemons, make lemonade, write a how-to for making lemonade- I like to read The Lemonade babysitter by Karen Waggoner Compare lemons and limes- make a venn diagram, taste lemonade and limeade and make a graph of which one is their favorite Read the book little pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal- have a pea flinging contest, fling peas off a spoon, measure the distance to where they landed, record on a chart and see who can fling the pea the farthest, record on a graph Read lunchroom lizard by Daniel kirk- make a class book showing where the lizard might be hiding Lollipop day- eat lollipops, read Too many lollipops by Robert m. quackenbush, make tlc lollipops, make a predictable chart I like (color) lollipops then use the sentences for

cutting apart and gluing in order Letter m Muffins for mom- invite moms to come to school for muffins make muffins (read if you give a moose a muffin), graph what kind of muffin is your favorite m&M math- sort m&ms, pattern m&ms, make a fair share with m&ms, make class books with all of these mismatched clothes- everyone wears mismatched clothes for the day Letter h The napping house (act out the story), brainstorm a list of sleepytime words and chart them, students pretend to nap all over the room, students write about their favorite character or part of the story noodle day (read strega nona by Tomie de paola, make spaghetti in the crockpot), noodle art Letter o Octopus stew use hot dogs to make octopus stew draw over your heads (tape bulletin board paper under the tables, have students get under the tables and draw with markers over their heads), do activities with opposites living organism day- students bring in a living organismthey can bring in magazine pics, drawings, photographs, or the real thing, make a living organism circle map using the pictures brought in and pictures you take of the real objects (we use this to learn about characteristics of living things) Letter p Pancakes- read pancake books, make pancakes, write a how-to paper, graph if you like your pancakes with or without syrup, a few of my favorite pancake books are pancakes, pancakes by eric carle, if you give a pig a pancake, Curious George makes pancakes by margaret and h.a. rey and Pancakes for breakfast by tomie de paola (this is a wordless picture book)

pajama day- wear pjs to school pumpkins- read pumpkin books, do pumpkin experiments, learn about the lifecycle of the pumpkin. The pumpkin circle by George Levenson is a wonderful book. You can also find the reading rainbow video of this book narrated by Danny glover. Pets- have a pet show, students can have their parent bring their pet, students introduce and tell about their pet, read books about pets, learn about the needs of a pet, discuss what kinds of animals make good pets, a few of my favorite pet books are the perfect pet by Margie palatine, arthurs pet business by marc brown, arthurs new puppy by marc brown, I wanna iguana by Karen Kaufman orloff, and pet show by Ezra jack keats Letter q(u) Have a Qu wedding, Read quilt books, students bring in a quilt from home to share, make paper quilt pattern squares, reading rainbow has a good video for the book the patchwork quilt by Valerie flournoy and jerry pinkney, a few of my favorite quilt books are the quiltmakers gift by Jeff brumbeau and gail de marcken, the quilt by ann jonas, the name quilt by Phyllis root, sam Johnson and the blue ribbon quilt by Lisa Campbell ernst and the keeping quilt by patricia polacco Make a paper quilt where students illustrate squares with qu words in them Read the book quick as a cricket and make a class book Read quack books- giggle, giggle quack by Doreen Cronin or Quack daisy, quack, quack! And do some quack writing

Read quack and count and do some duck math Letter r Read the Rainbow fish, make rainbow fish, write about the moral of the story Read the relatives came, discuss what the word relatives means, do a literature response about families Have a red day, wear red, eat red snacks, make a red class book, Read the little mouse, the red ripe strawberry, and the big hungry bear (do strawberry activities) Read rosies walk, make a large map of the places rosie went (students make using construction paper) or make a class book (work on positional words for this lesson) Letter s Read silly sally, make a class book silly socks day (read fox in socks by Dr. Seuss, have students color a sock cut out to match the socks they wore, graph whether you were silly socks or not) slippers day, shades or sunglasses day (I sometimes do silly socks, slippers, and shades all in one day) Read cook-a-doodle-doo by janet stevens and susan stevens crummel, make strawberry shortcake, write a how-to paper Skittles math Letter t Teeny tiny day (students bring in miniature objects that represent real objects, for example: hot wheels cars, small toy animals, dollhouse furniture) read the book the teeny-tiny woman by Paul Galdone and make a class book of things that are tiny tie day- students wear a tie to school twins day- students pair up with a partner and dress as twins for the day- read books and do math activities centered around the number two

Read A tree is nice by Janice may udry, brainstorm things a tree is nice for, make who is hiding in the tree response Letter u We do a different u word each day Upside down day- everyone wears things upside down, Make upside down sundaes, write a how-to big underwear day- read underwear books, dance to Joe Scruggs song big underwear, color patterns on paper underwear tape bulletin board paper under the tables and let students use markers to draw under the table umbrella day (students bring umbrellas and read with a buddy underneath them, you can also sort umbrellas and graph who brought an umbrella, umbrella reading writing response, you can also have an umbrella parade where everyone opens their umbrella outside and walks in a line as in a parade you can also do a usa day and everyone wears red, white, and blue and you learn about us symbols Letter v Vultures (read Eli by Bill Pete), make construction paper vultures, do a writing response to the story Volcanoes- make clay volcanoes and make them erupt as a science experiment, learn about volcanoes, do a nonfiction writing piece Read Growing Vegetable soup by lois ehlert, make vegetable soup, make a large bowl out of paper, have students draw and cut out a vegetable and glue it in the bowl, have students label the vegetables in the bowl Vegetable prints using real vegetables and paint, taste test vegetables, graph which vegetable is your favorite Letter w Makes Waffles and whipped cream,

Read wacky Wednesday by dr. Seuss, everyone dresses wacky Read watermelon books, do watermelon activities, experiment with does a watermelon sink or float, taste watermelon Read a classic Winnie-the-pooh story, do a literature response to the story Letter x Exercise day- everyone wears warm-ups, eat a healthy snack, learn about nutrition, do some exercises, learn about how to have a healthy body Experiment day- do different science experiments all day, read books to go with them, write about them, graph which one was their favorite Read The adventures of taxi dog by debra barracca, My little yellow taxi by Stephen Johnson, or my taxi ride by Jennifer swender- brainstorm and make a class book for where your taxi would take you Read Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad day by Judith viorst, brainstorm and make a class book for things that happen to make you have a bad day Letter y When we were young (bring baby pictures to show of when they were babies) yellow day- wear yellow, brainstorm things that are yellow, etc. Letter z Zebra day (wear black and white, eat a black and white snack like oreos or Little Debbie zebra cakes) read Zella, Zack, and Zodiac by Bill Pete (this is a story about zebras) make construction paper zebra faces, do a writing response to the story Read zoo books and zoo activities

Read Mrs. Toggles zipper by robin pulver, graph are you wearing a zipper or not Zig zag art