Magnificent M
In kindergarten, after B, we always teach M. M is for Me, mouse and monsters, which are all great things to talk about at the beginning of the school year. M is also a letter that most kids already know. Here are some fun ways to review or teach M to your little one.
1) Make A List of Words That Begin With M: Every Monday morning after calendar, I read an Alpha Tale book from a Scholastic series I bought the first year I started teaching. Then as a class we brainstorm a list of words that begin with the letter of the week. The M book is called Monkey's Miserable Monday by Valerie Garfield.
Here's my brainstorm list of words that begin with M:
· macaroni · mad · magazine
· magic · magnet · magnificent
· magnifying glass · mail · mailbox
· make · man · many
· map · marble · March
· marker · market · Mars
· marshmallows · mask · mat
· maze · me · meal
· melon · meow · Mercury
· mermaid · mess · microscope
· middle · milk · minute
· mirror · miserable · mitten
· mix · mockingbird · mole
· Mom · Monarch butterfly · Monday
· money · monkey · monster
· moon · moose · mop
· more · moth · mother
· motor · motorcycle · mouse
· mouth · mug · muffin
· mum · mummy · museum
· mushroom · music · my
· M&Ms
2) Letter Detective for M: Look through a magazine and hunt for pictures of things that begin with B. (Parenting and home good magazines are great for this!) When you come across a baby or a basket, cut it out and glue it on a sheet of paper. You or your child can label the picture with a corresponding word to make your very own picture dictionary page.
3) Marshmallow M's: Each letter has a specific shape. Some have similar parts, while others are quite different. Many are mistaken for other letters such as lowercase b for lowercase d and believe it or not M for W. Sometimes it's tricky for kiddos to remember each letter, so studying the shape of the letter when learning it helps. One way to study the shape of the letter is by drawing large letters on construction paper and having your child place small objects on top of the lines to form the letter themselves.
For this activity, I wrote a capital and lowercase M on a piece of paper for my daughter. I thought my son would want write his own however, he told me he was only "good at the little m's" so I wrote his uppercase M and he wrote his lowercase m.
Then I gave my children a large bowl of marshmallows and had them put marshmallows over the black line to make marshmallow M's. I thought about having them glue the marshmallows to the line with Elmer's glue, but decided against and thought we could pull them out and do this activity again at a later time. Although, I won't tell you how many marshmallows my children consumed while completing this activity, so you may want to opt for the glue so it's only a one time activity.
4) Make a M Bag: I love making the letter of the week bag for review at my house each week. It's really fun to walk around thinking of things that can go in the bag. Simply find a small gift bag, if you're like me you might have about 100 or so of these that you've been saving up after each gift giving time to reuse on others. I found a small little striped bag and perused the toys around my house for M items.
Here are the items I found:
milk, a magnifying glass, Minnie Mouse, mustard, a motorcycle, money, a microphone, a mushroom, and a mitten. As your child becomes more advanced in his/her letter knowledge you could also let him/her find their own things for the bag. I'm anticipating that my son will join me for item hunts later this year.
5) Make ME: One of my Open House projects at the beginning of the year, that we complete during M week is coloring 'mini-me's' to put in our chairs. Simply cut out the shape of a body on large chart paper and have your child decorate it.
Here is my son's 'me'. Do you notice the little red circle head and x on his shirt? That's the skull and crossbones from the pirate shirt he wore to school that day. I love to read 'Me' books when we complete this activity at school. Here are some of my favorites:
6) Shape Monster: Read and make your own Shape Monster book. Then make a Shape Monster and act out the story to review basic shapes. (Follow the link above for more directions on this activity).
7) Make M&M Cookies: In my professional opinion it's a great idea to connect yummy food to a letter. These chewy, delicious cookies are sure to help your little one remember M!
They are best served warm, with a tall glass of milk (which also starts with m).
8) Read a Book with Lots of M's: Here are links to some of my favorite 'M' books.
What are some fun things you do to teach the letter M?