X lesson Plan! Xavier Fox
Hello, friends! I apologize for the lateness of this plan, I have been hard at work finishing your memory books. I am excited about my home visits and dropping the books off. Thank you for your patience with me as I have worked through them. As always, I have tried not to send you anything that takes a lot of prep time on your part, feel free to pick and choose.
Goals for lesson – Recognize X – begin to listen for the X sound (/ks/ or ex- at beginning of word)
X sound – I am pronouncing it like this /ks/
X – Xavier Fox Motion – this seems a little complicated for me to explain verbally, so there is a short video online. You take two pointer fingers, cross them back and forth like you are knitting.
For x, I do things a little differently because many words we focus on, do not actually start with X. In fact, our animal is a fox and x is the last letter in that word! Instead, in school, my focus is on words the children can hear the /ks/ sound in OR words that actually sound like they start with X (caused by the ex- blend).
Gross Motor – Great week for gross motor work! We make big X shapes with our bodies and little ones by crossing our fingers or arms.
-We focus on EXERCISES! Specifically, things like Jumping Jacks, which we can hold to make a big X with our bodies. We go –EXPLORING outside– counting birds, looking for colors, etc.
-(this sounds crazy but they love it) We play You Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer – When Mr. Hammer says “You Can’t Touch this” in the song, we make an X with our hands because, as a symbol, X can mean no. The rest of the song we just dance around.
Map Skills- Reasoning – Make a simple treasure map. Hide their snack or a book where X marks the spot. At school, I keep it very simple and the special snack is usually waiting beside a tree, on a blanket. This treasure was in my front yard. You can also give your child simple oral directions–this is GREAT for listening skills
Music – Xylophones – if you still have that baby toy, get it out! Let them make music. Here is a neat 2 minute clip of a professional Xylophone player on Youtube.
Fine Motor – Look around the house and see what kind of things you can make the letter X out of. Rulers, pencils, chopsticks, pens, remote controls, silverware, string, etc.
Sensory – Find the Buried treasure in Sand. Building on your Map/Treasure idea from Gross Motor, bury a few things in the sand for your child to find. This isn’t a direct tie in (unless you hide letter X’s in the sand!) but they love it.
Art –
-X Ray – Trace your child’s hand on paper or on the driveway. Have them draw in bones or use pasta, qtips, whatever you have on hand at home to make bones in their body. If you are outside, trace their body with one color of sidewalk chalk, use another to make bones. It is always fun to sing the bones song with this, though it really doesn’t have anything to do with Xrays. Make sure they first know what an xray is – a camera to see your bones. Here is one version of the song. The Skeleton Dance | Super Simple SongsMy favorite way to do X is resistance painting. Make an X on a piece of heavy paper using painter or masking tape, have them paint around it, then remove the tape. 
You can make a xylophone from the letter X. Ask your child to put the pieces in order, smallest to largest to see how they do.
Writing Practice X – I like the way Measured Mom does her writing practice.
Scissor Practice –
Instead of having them cut out X’s, although that is great. We have them do “Scrap Paper Cutting” and make the /ks/ sound. With every cut, they make the sound.
One thing they love is EXTREME SPORTS – I find a short clip of some random sport, and we watch it together. then we try to make our own sport up!
Books that use the letter X (I had to get creative here) – Fox in Socks, books about Taxi’s, Jessica’s XRay (HA!), and any kind of books about Foxes
There aren’t a lot of X songs so I will be singing I’m a Little Teapot instead. 🙂
I am really EXCITED about dropping off memory books starting next week.
Also coming this week – science EXPERIMENTS with Mrs. Jessica! I am going to vary it up with the book reading.
Thanks! Jessica