- box with small “b” materials (e.g., beans, buttons, blue stickers, berry stickers)
- cutout “B” stencil for each child
- glue
- letter card “Bb”
- markers and crayons
- paper and/or poster board
- tape
MA Standards:
English Language Arts/Foundational Skills/RF.PK.MA.1.d Recognize and name some uppercase letters of the alphabet and the lowercase letters in one’s own name.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Alphabet Knowledge Recognizes that the letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 7 Develop familiarity with the forms of alphabet letters, awareness of print, and letter forms.
Beautiful “B”
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
Skill Focus: Fine Motor Skills, Letter Recognition, Matching
Tell children they are going to create a beautiful “B” to hang in the room. Show children the box of materials and say, This box is full of a bunch of beautiful “B” objects! Explain that children are to use the beautiful “B” objects to create their beautiful “B.”
Give each child a large sheet of paper and a “B” stencil cutout.
- Tape the stencil onto each child’s paper (on four sides).
- Demonstrate for children how to trace the letter with a marker.
- Remove the stencil and have children decorate the page.
You might suggest that children decorate the inside of the letter differently from the outside of the letter so that the letter shape will stand out or “bounce” off the page. For example, they may want to color the inside of the letter blue and glue “b” items on the border of the “B.” As children work, have them trace the letter outline with their fingers. Talk about the name, shape, and sound of the letter.