Letter “D” -Letter of the Week Program

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I found this dinosaur craft at this fantastic blog, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas. Since our felt story was about a dinosaur I thought making a dinosaur out of the letter D for our craft would be a great experience for the kids.

Our letter D books this week introduced the children to the sound of D.  I find most kids have an easy time remembering D because an important person in their life (Daddy) starts with the letter D.  We often refer to a letter by who’s name starts with that letter.  So the letter D is for Daddy.

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I explained how to print a capital D first on paper and then through a story format. My daycare children love to hear stories. I grabbed some pieces of craft felt and made the letter D.  I used different colours of felt and one dark green piece of felt bunched up to represent a leafy bush. The felt worked as the landscape for my story about a dinosaur.  The children gathered around on the carpet and I began my story.

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Long ago there lived a little dinosaur. Every night he slept in a beautiful valley. The little dinosaur woke up one morning and was very hungry.  He decided to take a walk to his favourite leafy bush. The little dinosaur walked straight down the valley.  He went across green fields until he reached the delicious leafy bush. (I started the dinosaur at the top of the letter D and marched him downwards in a straight line until he reached the bottom). The little dinosaur was hungry after his journey and ate lots of leaves from his favourite bush.

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After his meal, the dinosaur felt full and happy.  He also felt filled with energy.  He was so energized that he took a giant leap into the air and soared all the way back to his valley! The little dinosaur was pleased with himself.  He loved running and jumping and leaping.  However, all this activity was making him thirsty.  The little dinosaur decided to walk around the edge of the forest and over the black rocks to reach the pond for a drink.  (Have the dinosaur walk in a curved line to reach the bottom of the letter D.)

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The little dinosaur arrived at the pond and took a big drink.  He decided to sit down and enjoy the wonderful scenery all around him.  It was a beautiful day to be a dinosaur.  The end.

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After the story, I ask the children to imagine if the dinosaur had left muddy footprints during his journey.  Those footprints would look like a letter D.  Each child got a chance to pick a dinosaur from our collection and retrace the little dinosaur’s steps.  Remembering the story and making the motions of the letter D on the felt was enjoyable for the children.

We then went to the table and traced letter Ds on paper. Today I gave the children Over/Under Writer Markers.

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These Crayola Over Writers add a little fun twist to printing.  First you use an ‘under writer’ marker as your base colour then you choose an ‘over writer’ marker colour.  The top colour shows up brilliantly when it is written on the base colour.

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This burst of colour inspired the kids to try their best to trace exactly on top of each line of their letter D.

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The next day the children were busy building an elaborate train track.  I remembered that Rockabye Butterfly (one of my favourite blogs) had made the number four with train tracks in one of her number lessons.  I decided to ask the children if they wanted to try to make a letter D with train tracks.  Here is our attempt!  It’s not the greatest D in the world but the brain storming and cooperative learning was fantastic.  The children remembered the different parts that we needed to make a D (straight line and a curved line).  It was important to the kids that the train travelled around the track so we had to round the corners a bit.

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We put the little dinosaur from the story in a train car and he was pulled around the track. We played the letter D song on our LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set as the train went around the track.  I’m not a big fan of toys that blink, flash or talk.  However, we have been given a few electronic toys over the years that I do find helpful.  Our fridge alphabet set is one of them.  Every child in my daycare has enjoyed this set and I like the catchy tune it sings for each letter of the alphabet.

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We finished up our letter D activities by tracing the Letter D on our Alphabet Wipe-Off Activity Cards.  I also have a few wipe off activity books and I find them helpful when you have multiple children.  They are great for practice and the children enjoy using the big colourful dry erase markers.

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I gave the children a chance to trace letter cards A to D to have them review the letters we have learned so far.

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I hope your letter D week is Delightful!