Overview
The children will throw a paper ball with the letter U to an umpire as they recognize and name the uppercase letter U and lowercase letter u.

Literacy Activities
Throw U balls to an Umpire

• Write the uppercase letter U and the lowercase letter u on a whiteboard, name the letters, and have the children say the letter name as they write the U and u in the air with their fingers. 
• Have the children write the letter U several times on a piece of paper.
• Have the children roll the paper into a ball and tell them to pretend it is a baseball.
• Show the children the umpire graphic and explain that an umpire is someone who makes sure baseball players play by the rules.
• Set up the U target with the umpire graphic nearby.
• Tell the children they will try to hit the U at the center of the target with their paper ball.
• Let the children throw their U-paper ball at the target.
• Pretend to be the umpire and make comments such as:
  • The ball hit the U.
  • The ball didn’t quite hit the U.
  • That ball hit close to the U.
  • The ball was far away from the U.

Turn a frown upside down

• Show the children the face graphic with a smile and point out that the boy’s smile looks like the letter U.
• Show the face graphic with a frown and point out that when the U is upside down it looks like a frown.
• Let the children draw happy faces on a piece of paper by drawing a circle for the face, circles for the eyes, a triangle for the nose, and the letter U for the mouth.

More Practice
Write the letter U

• Have the children write the uppercase letter U and lowercase u on and around the target.
• Repeat the umpire game, allowing the children to try to hit any of the U letters.