Alphabet Ideas for Any Letter
1. Letter Hunt- Give each student a letter written on an index card. Student has to find an object in the classroom that begins with that letter.
2. Alphabet Ball- Toss a soft ball to each student and call out a letter. Student has to say sound the letter makes and say a word that begins with that letter.
3. Alphabet Soup Game- Place magnetic letters in a large bowl. Each students has a turn removing one letter with a soup ladle. Student names letter, its sound, and a word that begins with the letter.
4. Upper and Lowercase Alphabet Match- Write uppercase letters on one type of paper shape and lowercase on a corresponding shape (i.e. uppercase letters on tree and lowercase letters on apples). Students match uppercase and lowercase letters.
5. Playdoh Letters- Write an alphabet letter on a piece of construction paper and laminate. Prepare complete alphabet. Student uses playdoh to form letter on top of laminated letter.
6. Alphabet Walk- Look for specific letter while walking around school
7. Musical Letters- Class sits in a circle. As music is played, children pass around a can containing letters. When music stops, child holding can removes a letter, names the letter, and says a word that begins with it.
8. Form letters out of blocks.
Ideas for Each Letter
A
1. Form A using Applejacks.
2. Make apple prints
3. Have apples for snack.
4. Glue magazine pictures beginning with a on to an
apple tree.
5. Play "Pass the Apple". (version of "Hot Potato")
B
1. Form B using buttons, beads, or beans.
2. Blue Day- Have students wear blue to school.
Lessons revolve around the color.
3. Have bananas for snack.
4. Glue magazine pictures of words beginning with b
on to a paper bag.
5. Ball Painting- Lay a piece of white paper in a tray. Add some dabs of different color paint. Children roll various small balls over the paper to make ball prints.
C
2. Make paper plate clowns.
3. Make cookies in the shape of a C.
4. Have carrots for a snack.
5. Grow corn- Place a small amount of popcorn and moist dirt in a ziplock bag. Tape bag against a window, where it can get sunlight. Over time, corn will grow.
D
1. Form D using Do-a-Dot paint bottles.
2. Make paper bag dogs.
3. Dinosaur Dig- Hide toy dinosaurs in a sandbox or box or rice. Children dig for them.
E
1. Form E using paper eggs.
2. Make paper plate elephants.
3. Write e's on an envelope.
4. Egg Float Experiment- Place a hardboiled egg in water and watch it sink. Add salt to the water until the egg floats.
F
1.Form F using fabric scraps or fish stamper.
2. Make paper plate fish.
3. Have Swedish fish for a snack.
4. Make fruit salad.
5. Have children design flags.
G
1. Form G using green paper scraps, glitter, or
goldfish crackers.
2. Graph gummy bears by color.
3. Have grapes for snack.
4. Grass Heads- Children draw faces on styrofoam cups using markers. Add dirt and grass seeds to cup. Grass "hair" will begin to sprout in a week.
H
1. Form H using heart stampers or make a giant H using student’s handprints.
2. Make funny hats.
3. Pick words beginning with H out of a hat and try to read.
4. Have Crazy Hat Day.
2. Graph favorite flavor ice cream.
3. Have ice cream for a snack.
4. Fill igloo with words beginning with I.
5. Color Ice Experiment- Melt blue ice cube in yellow water and watch what happens. (Use food coloring to dye water.)
J
1. Form J using jellybeans.
2. Graph favorite color jellybeans or jelly.
3. Have jelly on crackers for a snack.
4. Make jello.
K
2.Glue magazine pictures beginning with K on to a
kite.
L
1. Form L using leaf stampers or lace scraps.
2.Graph favorite color lollipops.
3. Make lemonade.
4. Make a paper plate lion.
1.Form M using macaroni or mini marshmallows.
2.Have marshmallows for a snack.
3. Make masks.
1. Form N using noodles or newspaper scraps.
2. Make paper neckties and write Nn on them.
3. Taste nachos dipped in melted cheese.
O
1.Form O using orange scraps of paper.
2.Taste orange juice.
3. Make paper bag owls.
4. Make paper plate octopi.
P
1. Form P using popcorn or purple and pink scraps of
paper.
2. Make popcorn for a snack.
3. Make paper plate pigs.
4. Make paper plate pumpkins.
Q
1. Form Q using Q-tips.
2. Make Q into a queen. Give each student a paper
Q. Children draw eyes and lips on it. Children
then cut out a paper crown and glue it on top
of Q.
3. Make a class quilt.
R
1. Form R using ribbon or red scraps of paper.
2. Make rainbow R's using 3 crayons taped
together.
3. Make "rainbow cookies" (cookies covered with rainbow sprinkles)
S
1.Form S using sequins or stampers.
2. Make mini sandwiches uses Ritz crackers, cheese, etc.
3. Have children work collaboratively to form a giant letter S on the floor using their shoes.
T
1.Form T using tissue paper.
2. Make paper plate turtles.
3. Squirt toothpaste in aluminum tray. Write T's in the toothpaste.
U
1.Make umbrella and write U on it.
2. Have an umbrella bean bag toss. Open umbrella and lay it upside down on floor. Children to to toss a beanbag into it.
V
1. Form V using violet paper.
2.Turn a V pattern into a vase of flowers. Students
draw flowers coming out of V.
3. Make vegetable prints.
W
1. Form W using woodsy shapes or wheel shaped pasta.
2. Turn W pattern into a wagon by gluing on paper
wheels and a yarn handle.
3. Watercolor a W pattern.
X
1. Turn X pattern into xylophone by gluing on paper
bars and sticks.
2. Show students real x-rays.
Y
1. Form Y using yellow paper or yarn.
2.Taste yogurt.
3.Graph favorite yogurt flavor.
4. Sing Y.M.C.A.
Z
1. Make zigzag Z’s using rik rak ribbon.
2. Turn Z pattern into a zebra. Children glue black
stripes on to a white Z pattern and glue on
paper ears, mane, and tail. Students then draw
eyes and a mouth.
3. Make a class zoo map.
Alphabet Book
Students create a page for each letter we study. When we complete the alphabet, students create a cover for their alphabet books. I punch a hole in the pages and bind them.
The page for each letter is as follows:
A is for apples. some green, some red.(tissue paper apples)
B is for bakers who bake crusty bread.(draw baker's face)
C is for cars you see in the street.(trace car pattern)
D is for doughnut, so round and sweet. (color doughnut and glue on foam "sprinkles")
E is for eggs that mom uses to bake. (glue on paper yolk)
F is for fish that swim in the lake. (crayon resist fish)
G is for grapes, some purple, some green. (Do-a-Dot paint bottle purple and green grapes)
H is for hat, the funniest I've seen. (cut out hat pattern and decorate with sequins and a feather)
I is for icecream, a treat for me. (color icecream cone and paint a cherry on top using fingerprint)
J is for strawberry jam and grape jelly. (watercolor one jar red and one jar purple, glue on aluminum foil jar lids)
K is for king, so tall and proud. (decorate king's crown with sequins)
L is for lion whose roar is so loud. (glue yellow paper strips around lion's head to be mane)
M is for mask that can hide your face. (decorate mask with sequins)
N is for newspaper that is in Dad's briefcase. (glue newspaper squares on to briefcase)
O is for octopus with eyes big and round. (glue wiggly eyes on octopus)
P is for pumpkin that grows on the ground. (paint pumpkin)
Q is for quilt, so warm, yet so light. (glue felt squares on to quilt)
R is for rainbow, so pretty, so bright. (draw rainbow with markers)
S is for stars, their sparkling twinkle we see. (make stars using stampers and glue on gold glitter)
T is a teddybear I love and he loves me. (color teddybear)
U is for umbrella that keeps me dry. (color umbrella and fingerpaint raindrops)
V is for vegetables I must eat, but don't know why. (trace vegetables stencils)
W is for whale that swims in the sea. (color whale)
X is for x-rays, I hope not for me. (draw white chalk skeleton on black rectangle)
Y is a yo-yo, watch it go. (color yo-yo and glue on yarn string)
Z is a zebra, it’s the last you know. (glue black paper strips on zebra)
I begin my weekly review of the alphabet using the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
Below are ideas I use after reading the story:
1.Story Retelling- I mount a palm tree on the chalkboard and distribute magnetic letters to students. As each letter is read, the student holding it hangs it on the palm tree. Palm tree patterns can be found on:
http://www.dltkkids.com/books/chicka/chickacoloring.htm
http://www.ourschoolfamily.com/pdfs/Chicka%20Tree.pdf
2.Art- Paint student’s forearm brown and press on to blue paper to represent tree trunk. Paint student’s hands green and press on top of tree trunk to represent palm fronds. Once tree is dry, glue on letters (stickers, foam letters, stampers, alphabet cereal).
3. Language Arts- Match lowercase coconut patterns to upper case palm tree patterns.
4. Math- Place the correct amount of coconuts on each palm tree according to the number written on it.
5. Science-Taste a coconut or coconut milk. Graph who likes and does not like the taste.
Alphabet Review Using Dr. Jean
I made a large doghouse, which I laminated, and hang it on my chalkboard. Inside the doghouse, I stick magnetic alphabet letters. As I play the song, I place the letters outside the doghouse. Another way I use the doghouse is by distributing the magnetic letters to the children. As a particular letter is sung, the child holding that letter sticks it inside the doghouse.
The Alphabet’s in my Mouth (Kiss Your Brain CD)-
I made Letter Baby by cutting out 2 posterboard circles and attaching them with a brad. The bottom circle has the alphabet written on it. As we sing the song, I move the wheel so the letter we are singing about is in Letter Baby’s mouth.
Alphardy (Sing to Learn CD)-
You can download a book to use with the Alphardy song on http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2005/03_Mar/pg04.html.
I got mine bound at Staples and it looks like this:
VOWELS
To introduce each vowel I use a poem and
"Valerie the Vowel Bear" puppet.
"Short A"
A says /a/ quite often.
/a/ is a lovely sound.
It's used in words like apple,
And other words like bat, fan, and cat.
"Short E"
Ellie the Elephant says
Eh-eh-eh, eh-eh-eh, eh-eh-eh.
She loves the short e sound.
It's used in words like egg,
and ten, bed, and leg.
"Short I"
Izzy the Inchworm says
Ih-ih-ih, ih-ih-ih, ih-ih-ih.
He loves the short i sound.
It's used in words like ink,
And six, pig, and pink.
"Short O"
Ollie the Octopus says
O-o-o, o-o-o, o-o-o.
He loves the short o sound.
It's used in words like octopus
and sock, fox, and lock.
"Short U"
Uh-uh! Rain falls down.
Uh-uh! And umbrella opens up.
Uh-uh! It's raining short u words
All over town!
"Long A"
On a day that is rainy and gray,
Amy and Kate stay inside to play.
They wear aprons to paint
And shape some clay
Until the rain goes away.
"Long E"
Paint a picture
On an easel
Of a single bee.
Or paint two or three
By a leafy tree.
"Long I"
In the sky I see islands
And icecream, brides, and kites.
All of them white, fluffy, and bright.
"Long O"
Oh, I like my overalls!
New or old, striped or bold,
Overalls are great to wear!
I own four pairs
That I hate to share!
"Long U"
Use a rocket to fly up high
Through the bright and starry sky.
In all the universe
You are unique,
Like each star and place
That astonauts see.
WORD FAMILIES
Word Family Houses- Each word family
lives in a house I laminated and display
on the pocketchart. We practice reading
the words each morning during Circle Time.
PHONICS
GAMES AND MANIPULATIVES
1. Magnet Spelling-Color and glue pictures on to sentence strips. Program with blank lines next to picture and laminate. Use magnetic letters to spell what pictures are.
2. Alphabet Arc- Practice a-b-c order by placing magnetic letters in order on arc.
3. Flowerpot Alphabet Match-Match lowercase letter flower popsicle sticks to uppercase letter flowerpots(styrofoam cups).
