Letter G Name © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 76 Letter of the Week! Letter g Name © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 77 Letter of the Week! Ideas and Activities for the Letter: Gallon Use a scale or balance to weigh and measure a gallon of different liquids. Gallop Play a relay game. Separate the class into two or three teams. Each team’s members take turns galloping to a basket filled with gloves. They find a matching pair of gloves and gallop back to their team and the next person takes a turn. The game ends with the first team who has every member holding or wearing a matching pair of gloves. Garbage Clean up the garbage in the neighborhood, play yard or a nearby park. If possible, watch the garbage trucks collect the school’s garbage. Garden/Greenhouse/Grass Read stories about all the different things that grow in a garden. Plant a small school garden or build a greenhouse. Talk about the tools used in gardening. Add toy garden tools and garden gloves to the outside sandbox. Harvest some of the vegetables and make a garden salad and serve them with salad dressing or dip. Visit a local greenhouse and learn about how a greenhouse works. Grow grass in a clear plastic cup. Fill small clear cups with soil and sprinkle on grass seeds. Water and observe the roots and grass grow. The children can watch the grass grow. They can then cut the grass with kid-safe scissors. Gift Make a gift for someone special. Provide wrapping paper, bows and tape. Giggle Encourage the children to tell riddles then have fun watching the children giggle. Giraffe Learn about giraffes. Giraffes are the tallest of all animals, up to 18 ft. tall and weighing over 4,000 lbs. They have short upstanding manes, the same number of neck bones as all other animals, sharp eyesight, and unique pattern of patches (like human fingerprints). They eat leaves from acacia trees and twigs from tops of trees. They live in Africa and travel in “herds.” © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 78 Letter of the Week! Girl Invite all of the girls wearing something green to line up first. Glasses Encourage the children to wear funny glasses (clown glasses, sunglasses, glasses with spring eyes, goggles, etc.) in the Dramatic Play Center. Globe Look at a globe to find where you live and other places of interest. Gold/Gray/Green Use gold/gray/green paint with brushes at the easels. Play “I See Something Green.” Eat green foods for snack (grapes, cucumbers, peas, string beans, mint ice cream, pickles, green Jello®.) Make a nature collage with green items (grass, leaves, buds, needles, moss, clovers). Invite the children to either wear something green or bring something green to school. Encourage them to talk about what they wore or brought to Show and Tell. Dance with green ribbons. Golf Use a hammer to pound golf tees into blocks of Styrofoam. Have the children play golf with a child’s golf set. Grandparents Write a note to a grandparent. Invite grandparents to be special guests for a snack of grapes, grapefruit, granola, graham crackers, and grape or grapefruit juice. Grasshopper Collect grasshoppers and keep them in a clear tank with a net cover. Allow the children to observe and listen to them. Grate Grate cheese for macaroni and cheese or tacos or cheese wraps (sprinkle cheese over a tortilla and warm up in an oven until the cheese melts. Roll them into wraps). © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 79 Letter of the Week! Groceries Make a list of things found in a grocery store. Ask the children to help their parents unpack the groceries and put them away. Grow Write a list of things that grow (children, plants, flowers, trees, grass, weeds, hair, fingernails, animals). Plant flowers or a tree in the schoolyard. Observe the growing changes over the school year. Grownup Ask: “What is a grownup?”, “What can grownups do that you wish you could do?” or “What do you think you might like to do when you are a grownup?” Write their responses on a large sheet of paper. Guitar Listen to a tape of guitar music. Ask a local musician to come to your class and play the guitar. Other words that begin with the letter G: These words may arise in naturally occurring conversations throughout the day/week. As you use these words, point out that they start with the letter “g” and write them on an index card to add to your word board. garages (Building and Blocks Center) gate (outside) glad, good, gentle (interactions) glue (art) go, give (directions) goodbye, good morning, good night (greetings) graph (math/science) grill (cooking) gum (candy) gym (place in a school) gift © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 80 Letter of the Week! Picture Cards game gate gift giraffe girl goose gum goat guitar © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 81 Letter of the Week! Word Cards globe gloves goggles gourd guitar greenhouse garlic game griddle giraffe glasses golf ball grass grate garbage can garage © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 82 Letter of the Week! Picture Cards – These cute illustrations can be used in a number of ways. Here are just a few suggestions: Construct a simple matching game by making two copies (using heavy paper) and cutting them apart. The children turn the cards over and try to find the matches. Make a simple sound sorting game by taking pictures from two different letters and asking the children to sort them by their first letter/sound. For example, copy the “B” and “P” letter/word cards and have the children look at each picture, say its name and place it in either the “B” or “P” pile. Display the picture cards with the matching word cards on the classroom bulletin board. (Not all pictures cards come with a matching word card. In this case, make your own using standard index cards.) An activity for older children can also be made using the cards. Instruct them to match the appropriate picture and word cards together. In addition, the cards represent long and short vowel sounds. Copy several picture card sets and ask the children to sort them by short vowel sound. Start with two vowels, then include cards representing three or more vowels. Or use cards that represent the long and short sounds of one vowel (i.e., long and short “a”). Ask the children to sort them into two lunch bags, demonstrating how they can discriminate between the two sounds. Or develop sentences or stories using cards and words from one or more vowel group. Some of the cards include pictures that begin with initial blends. As mentioned earlier, blends should be taught after initial consonants are introduced. Blends either combine two sounds together or they represent their own sound. The picture cards can be used to make matching games or in sound sorting activities. Word Cards – These word cards can be used to match with the picture cards, label items in the classroom, or used in an “Explore Tub.” Create an Explore Tub by using an empty water table, a large box, or a laundry basket. Collect the “real” items on the word cards. And then tape the word cards to the matching item. Allow the children to explore the items. The teacher can point out the word (emphasizing the initial sound) and then have the children repeat the word. Some children may be able to tell you each letter in the word. Trace and Write – Encourage the children to use this page to practice writing the letters using correct form. My Alphabet Book – This reproducible page reinforces the skills learned by providing practice for the child in writing the letters correctly. Children can also write simple words that begin with the chosen letter and draw a picture of an object that represents the letter of the week. At the end of the year, have the children assemble them in alphabetical order and attach them together in a binder or staple them into a student-made book. © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 6 Letter of the Week! Trace and Write Trace and write the letters. Color the picture. Name Uppercase G GGGGG Lowercase g ggggg © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 83 Letter of the Week! My Alphabet Book Name I am learning about the letter G g. This is how I write it: GG gg Here are some words that start with the letter G g: This is my picture of a © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company . 84 Letter of the Week!