Preschool Storytime January 7, 2021: Letter 'Z'

Singing the Alphabet

Today we sang the alphabet forwards and backwards to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

We like to practice our letters in all different ways! Kids tend to learn the alphabet by rote…they memorize it quickly. Switching up the tune or singing the alphabet backwards really challenges them to connect each letter's shape with it’s name and/or sound. We also slow down (especially spots like LMNOP which to many young learners sounds like it’s meant to be a single name or sound)

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

Zoom, zoom, zoom! We're going to the moon. (2x)

If you want to take a trip, climb aboard my rocket ship.

Zoom, zoom, zoom! We're going to the moon. In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Blast off!

...Far, far, far, we're going to the stars...

...Fun, fun, fun we're going to the sun...

Breathing & Calming

We love to practice calming and focusing!

Today we took deep breaths by pretending we were smelling and blowing on hot cocoa that was still too hot to drink. How many marshmallows will you put in?

There Was a Crocodile

Just like in the song "BINGO' where we replace a letter with a clap each verse, in this song, we remove the verbal part of an animal's name with each verse only making it's motion and singing "in our head".

There was a crocodile, (clap arms together as crocodile mouth)

An orangutan, (make “monkey arms”)

A flying eagle (arms out to sides “soaring”)

And a silvery fish. (hands together “swimming”)

A bunny, (make bunny ears with hands)

A beaver, (use pointer fingers to make beaver teeth)

A silly elephant! (swing arm back and forth like an elephant’s trunk)

Da-na-na-na-na-na,

Da-na-na-na-na-na!

(Dance around in a circle)

The “What Is It?” Game

The "What Is It?" Song:

What is it? What is it? What is it, do you know?

What is it? What is it? Can you tell me so?

I told everyone that I had something in my "What Is It?" bag that started with our letter of the day (letter Z). The hints I gave were that: these things are something that all of us have used and they can be used to open and close things, and I let everyone listen to the sound they make.

Today I had a zipper in my bag. We knew that zippers are often found on coats, pants, pillows, sleeping bags, and backpacks!

This game can so easily be played anywhere! Kids LOVE to talk about all of the things they know! You don't even need a bag...you can just have something in mind, and give them a few clues and see if they can figure out what the object is. Once they guess, let them tell you all the things they know about it, and give them a little more information to help expand their knowledge.