Teaching Letter K: A Pre-K Lesson Plan with Activites on the Letter K
Lesson Objective: Students will understand the sound the letter K makes, be able to correctly form a capital letter K, and identify words which utilize the letter K.
Introducing the Letter K
Explain to the students that today, they will be learning about the letter K. The letter K is the eleventh letter of the English alphabet. It is also the 8th consonant. The letter K makes a sound which is very similar to the hard sound that the letter C can make. In fact, people often confuse the letters K and C when spelling words. The sound it makes is the ka sound.
Show students how to write the capital letter K by using a square box, drawn on a piece of paper. Have students make a small dot in each of the top corners of the box. Have them make a 3rd dot half-way down the left side of the box. The 4th and final dot will be in the bottom right corner of the box. These will be the points of reference when writing the letter K. Starting at the dot in the top, left corner, show students how to draw a straight line down - all the way to the bottom of the box. The next line of the K will begin at the dot in the top right corner of the box. This line should go from the top right corner on a diagonal to the dot which is located in the center of the left side of the box. The final line will go from this center dot, down to the dot in the bottom right corner of the box. Ta da! You have now formed the capital letter K! Once students have seemed to master these steps, you can continue to improve their handwriting by removing the boxes and substituting lined paper.
Image credit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Latin_K.png
Get Up and Move Around
You will need a large muscle area, or even grassy playground space. If neither are available, you can still have fun by pushing classroom tables or desks out of the way and taking turns.
Show students how they can form the letter K using just their bodies. Have students lie on their backs on the ground. Next, have the students extend their left leg out to the side, slightly. This will form the bottom of the K. Next, have the students extend their left arms out slightly - just like the leg, only pointing upward. This will form the top of the letter K.
Another variation which works especially well if you are short on space, is to have students work together in pairs. Standing back to back, have one student remain standing straight up and down, while the other student bends very slightly at the waist, to form the K. Their legs will be angled away from the person standing up straight - so when finished, they will actually be leaning on the person standing straight to maintain their balance. (Note: If you are having trouble picturing what this would look like, try to Google the phrase “people forming the letter K.”)
Classroom Visitor
As a compliment to your lesson, you may wish to consider having a classroom visitor! Perhaps you or someone you know has a kitten they would consider bringing into the classroom. Before the kitten arrives, read one of these related books:
- The Little Kitten, by Judy Dunn
- Kittens! Kittens! Kittens!, by Susan Meyers and David Walker
- All About Cats and Kittens, by Emily Neye
- If You See a Kitten, by John Butler
Ask the pet’s owner to discuss basic care for the kitten, including feeding and grooming points. You can let the children pet the kitten, but first be certain that no one in the classroom has an allergy to cats or cat fur.
Once the kitten has left, students may make their own kittens using paper plates!
Materials
- 1 paper plate per child
- black, brown and tan crayons
- small pink triangles cut from felt, foam or even pink construction paper
- black, brown or tan pipe cleaners (cut in half, and enough for each child may have 6 pieces)
- large googly eyes (2 for each child)
- large triangles in black, brown or tan (enough for each child to have a total of 2 triangles)
- black Sharpie marker
- glue (Elmer’s Glue will work better than a glue stick for this particular project)
For this letter K craft, have the students use a crayon in their choice of color (black, brown or tan) to color the entire back of their paper plate. This will serve as the kitten’s head. Next, have students glue on the cat’s googly eyes and pink square nose. Students may then add 3 coordinating pipe cleaners on each side of the nose to look like the kitten’s whiskers. Underneath the nose and whiskers, have the students use the black Sharpie to draw a mouth. Finally glue the large coordinating triangles to the back of the plate, at the top. These will be the kitten’s ears.
Image credit https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kitten_2.JPG
Word Find
For this activity, you will need a yellow highlighter for each student. You will also need a copy of the text sheet offered below. The text sheet contains a brief story about a kitten with a kite. Begin by handing out the sheet to each student. It is helpful if you also have a copy of the text to display on your whiteboard or SMART Board or even an overhead projector. Read the story out loud to the students. Help them to follow along by pointing to each word as you read it, and encouraging the students to do the same. When you come to a word that begins with the letter K, emphasize the word with our voice inflection.
Once you have finished reading the selection, have the students go back over the text to look for words which begin with the letter K. Once a word has been found, they may use their yellow highlighter to highlight the word. Even non-readers will have fun participating in this activity, as they look for the letter K.
After all of the students have finished, go back over the selection together, to be certain the students have found all of the words and highlighted them. For students having trouble identifying words with the letter K, repeat the activity in a one-on-one setting so that you may find the words together.
Letter K Story
A Special Snack
What is the perfect snack when studying the letter K? Why Special K, of course! If you are in a classroom with no known allergies, then you may wish to make Special K Bars as a cooperative group activity with the children. Here is a copy of this classic recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups corn syrup
- 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
- 5 cups of Special K cereal
- 6 oz. of chocolate chips
- 6 oz of butterscotch chips
- Combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar and corn syrup into a microwave-safe bowl. Mix well.
- Microwave for approximately 2 minutes. Stir mixture, and then return the bowl to microwave. Cook for another 2 minutes.
- Remove bowl from the microwave and add the peanut butter. (Be careful when adding peanut butter. Take precautions so that none of the heated sugar mixture splatters. You may wish for the children to stand back for this portion of the procedure.)
- Stir peanut butter into the mixture until everything is well combined.
- Add your cereal and stir to coat.
- Pour and press into greased 13x9" pan. You may find it helpful to grease a small plastic baggie and use it to help you press the mixture evenly into the pan.
- While the mix cools, combine the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips into a small microwave-safe bowl.
- Heat on medium power for 1 minute. Remove bowl and stir. Return the bowl to microwave for another 30 seconds if necessary, to melt chips. Continue this method until you are able to stir the mixture smooth.
- Spread the melted chips mixture over the cereal in the pan.
- Let the bars cool completely before cutting and eating.
If you are in a room with known peanut allergies, you may wish to consider simply serving a bowl of Special K to each child, instead. If there are no known dairy allergies, you can even add milk!
Do you have more to add to our pre K lesson plans for the letter K? If so, be sure to visit our comments section below.
