The One With April Plans, Week 1

Hi! I'm recovering from my Easter-food-coma and ready to blog! 
Here are the objectives for the month:

Here is the printable calendar for the month of April. Print it out and slam this badboy on your fridge for a quick reference in times of desperation! That's what I do! 

V Dot Art*
Directions: print file. Introduce the letter of the week: V!  Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase V. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) You can read Dr Suess's ABC book and demonstrate which letter is big V and which one is little v. Introduce the fact that /v/ makes the "vvvv" sound, (but not "vuh!") I always said to my students that it sounds like the noise a vacuum makes! :)

Diamond Coloring Page*
Directions: print file. Introduce the shape of the month, a diamond. Count the sides and corners together. Note: In most curriculums (in Texas, at least) they are now using the vocabulary term "rhombus" instead of diamond, even in kindergarten! So if you would like to stay on level with schools, you can use the word rhombus! I will definitely mention this to my kiddos, but I probably will end up still calling it a diamond. (Just being honest!) Encourage them to decorate their diamond and hang up their art in order to refer to it later! Try to find diamond shapes throughout the day. 

Diamond Flower Creations: 
Directions: Cut out lots of various colored diamonds of of construction paper. Invite your child to create fun flowers out of them and glue down the pieces. As you work together, describe the parts of a flower (stem, leaves, petals, roots, etc). This is a fun and simple activity that reinforces the shape of the month and also introduces vocabulary for our flower theme. 

V Snack: Violin Nutter Butters
Directions: Introduce that violin begins with the letter V. Make a violin snack togther! :) Use a nutter butter cookie for the base of the violin. Use peanut butter to stick pretzel sticks onto the nutter butter as a neck. Another stick can be the bow. Have fun, and make sure to use peanut-free products for those with allergies!

V is for Vase Craft
Directions: Cut out a large letter V shape in construction paper. Encourage your child to glue down the V as a vase. Add and glue some cute paper flowers to your vase. It's a simple a easy way to work on phonics. As you work together, try to think of other words that make the v sound! :)

Purple Crayon Introductory Page
Directions: print file. Introduce purple as the color of the month. Show the toddler the crayon and ask them to decorate it purple. (Using crayons, markers, paint, water colors, etc) Spell out p-u-r-p-l-e for them. Older preschoolers can trace the letters in the word purple. Throughout the day, look for purple things around the house. If you have the book "Harold and the Purple Crayon" it would be a fun one to read together! We also had "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse", which is fun for older toddlers. 

V Letter Recognition
Directions: print file. Hopefully our kiddos will be able to recognize the letter V by Friday! Test this out by printing off this page. Show them the Vv in the top right corner of the page. "This is a vase that starts with the letter V!  Can you see any V's hiding on the vase?" Invite them to mark the V's with dot art markers, stickers, or even just circling them. Have fun!

Kite Counting:
Directions: print file. Poke a pipe cleaner through the paper at the base of each kite. Secure each pipe cleaner with tape on the back of the page. Invite your kiddos to lace items on each kite. (You can use cheerios, beads, noodles, etc!) "This kite says 6 on it. Can you put 6 things on this pipe cleaner?" This would be a great activity to keep them busy while you work on dinner! Reinforce the number 9 as the number of the month. Count out 9 beads to lace onto this string. This helps with fine motor skills, counting skills, and hand-eye coordination. 

(front)

(back)

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Printables here:
Vv Dot Art
Diamond Coloring Page
Purple Coloring Page
Vv Letter Recognition
Kite Counting