Letter Time January 18th-22nd

The letter J had us jumping for joy! The children were introduced to Jumping Jill our letter pal of the week. We learned and jumped to her rather lively song. The children practiced writing her letter using the writing house method. This is something we have been using a bunch lately. In case you are wondering, the method calls for making a short manuscript line (the kind we are used to from school with a solid line on top, dotted line in the middle and another solid line on the bottom). I close off the two ends with a solid line essentially making a box with a dotted line in through the middle horizontally. A triangle roof is added on top complete with a chimney. The children and I discuss that the letters do not like going into the "attic"because it is dusty and they don't want to get dirty. I color this part in to further illustrate the concept. Then we discuss whether a letter is allowed in the upstairs, or have to stay downstairs. Some letters are lucky and get to go to the basement. You can see that this is an easy way to get used to the idea of placement for letters. It might help to use this method while writing at home!!!