I am posting some of my first alphabet activities of the school year. In my school, the kindergarten reviews the alphabet one letter a day (we started reviewing today). Here are some of the things I do:
Today we reviewed the letter Aa. I asked each child, “Do you have any a's in your name?” If the answer was yes, I asked, “Uppercase or lowercase?” This really helps the children distinguish between uppercase and lowercase. I use a large tag board to write this down – writing the featured letter in red and the other letters in black. We count how many uppercase A's do we have? How many lowercase a's do we have?
Next, we become “Letter Detectives.” We determine what kinds of lines are in the uppercase letters and the lowercase letters. There are three basic straight lines used: a sleeping line (horizonal), a standing line (vertical) and a leaning line (diagonal). There is one basic curved line. For example, in the uppercase A – there are two leaning lines and a sleeping line. In the lowercase a – there are two curved lines and a standing line.
Finally, we create an artsy alphabet! (All the finished letters go into a small pizza box and will go home at parent conferences). I found the wonderful Totally Tots blog with great ideas for this project. For A, we made alligators! We practice making the sound of A!
Working With Names:
I challenge the children daily to name as many children as they can. We began by looking at our new friends. Now we are looking at their names at the chart paper. So far, one child could name 8 children! The first week of school I made a book of friends that I printed for each child to take home. “Friend, friend, who do I see?” I took a photo of each child and under their photo typed “I see ___ looking at me.” with the child's name inserted.
My first two sight words are I and see. I wrote “I see ________.” on the white board and asked each child to stand in front of the blank space. Then we read the sentence, saying the child's name. Again, I modeled pointing to each word and then the child (like they were a visual icon!). So fun! The children loved it! By the fifth child, they read it without my help!
I try to incorporate the student's names into as many activities as I can in these first weeks of school.
Thank you for sharing! Excellent ideas 🙂
ReadWriteSing
Love the ideas.
I make a Hello Book with the children pictures in it. It is in alphabetical order. The Big Boss reads it every morning to take attendance. It helps children with call and response, eye contact and good manners- learning to great someone. It is the first book they learn to read!
Absolutely love this! I’m definitely going to use these ideas thank you!!
Thank you Sally! Love the ideas!
Yay! Love sharing!
What a great idea/game! Your so awesome!
Thank you Sally you have given me brilliant ideas to do on Monday with our children
I appreciate.
Hi Sally, I’m your newest follower! I’m a blogging Prek teacher! I can’t wait to read about all your projects!
Susan @ homeroad.net
I love your ideas.
@Susan – I jumped over and took a peek at your blog – WOW! I love it! I can’t wait to look at your tutorials!
Thanks so much for sharing your ideas. Can’t wait to start school again and use them.
Yay! Inspiration is so important during our breaks!
Great inspiration Sally! Love these ideas with the names!
Amazing…such warmth and love. This year I plan to set up my room using an “our pre k” town theme. I am excited to make our town warm, safe and an amazing learning place full of self motivation and curiosity! Thanks for all your inspiration!
Love your idea!
Thanks. I loved these ideas
Such super ideas!! I am a person who has a hard time coming up with ideas on my own, I need others inspirational ideas. So thank you!
One thing we do here is to go all over the house to find things that have certain letters in them also.
Love!
I like this use of a classic story. So simple and so powerful. I plan to make this book soon even though our school year is nearing the end.
What great ways to learn the alphabet and also recognizing each child. I have used “Handwriting Without Tears” which also implements letter formation with relationships to sounds.
Yes, I have used “Handwriting without Tears” too. Love!
I see…. Reminds me of the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear who do you see?
Just thinking we could make our own book with the students’ photos and names.
Thanks for the idea!
Wouldn’t that be a treasure for the whole class? I love that idea!
Hi to all teachers! 🙂 What I use is an A4 laminated sheet with 3 boxes which corresponds to 3 different ways of learning how to read and write their name. 1st box it’s the child’s name e.g.Max where they are encouraged to read it, 2nd box child has to build his/her name with magnetic or wooden letters and the 3rd is tracing the name. It is a very successful strategy and they like to do it
Great game ideas, and great way to introduce upper and lower case!
Very inspiring activities, especially for kinesthetic children!.. Thanks a lot!
Thank you!
I just love it!! Thank you for sharing your lovely inspirational ideas.
Thank you for sharing!
AmAzing ideas and strategies.
I love doing sign in activities with the kids.
They get so much vakue from signing in every morning with tjeir picture and name /
Daily exposure to these letters
I can’t wait to try this next year! Cute idea. Fun to send hone so parents can put a name to a face too.
I am looking forward to trying some of these wonderful ideas
Let us know your favorite!
Very inspiring, I especially liked your investigation with upper and lower case.
When I read your post on working with names…I said to myself…”Ditto”.:-) My kids even love playing it like a game in class and make sure that they get everyone’s name involved.Love it!
I have a name wall in my preschool class. When a child is able to write their name, they replace my handwriting with theirs.
https://pinterest.com/pin/567242515560876415/?source_app=android
I love putting alphabets on a table and when they r able to recognize letters. They start using those alphabets by compiling them to form their name
Wow, love this reminder! We love using names to call children to various activities and challenge them by showing upside down names or having them read each others!
What fantastic practical ideas! You’re inspiring us all the way over in Australia. Thanks for creating a world wide learning network Sally.
Hi Sally,
I love your ideas and it is an inspiration to come to your page and read your posts!
Thank you!
Chris Rodi
I love this idea thanks a lot Sally
I use name cards for my group and each day before our activity I show them the cards and I ask who is this? The children can for the most part now recognize the letters in each child’s name and can identify who it is.
Votre blog est génial et je suis heureuse de l’avoir découvert! je suis française et la pédagogie Reggio est très peu connue. J’adorerai me former mais il n’y a pas de formation en France!
Thank you for your lovely ideas. I write children’s name on popsicle sticks that are used by children for variety of purposes from talking sticks to choosing their duty monitors while assigning tasks at circle time, choosing their buddy partners, etc.
I love putting out their names dotted on laminated paper ao they can trace their names, erase and do it again. Or just on paper. They love spelling their own names “by themselves”
Thanks for lovely ideas ,awating to implement in class.
I really love these ideas.They are very creative and interesting.We can use them in morning warm up activities as well.
I really need this. Thank you
Since I am a children’s librarian I don’t have a classroom in the traditional sense but I do conduct regular storytimes that emphasize early literacy. We use songs, rhymes, fingerplay, and stories to introduce young children to early literacy skills like print awareness, phonemic skills and the joy of stories. One of the things I do to help children recognize their name and letters in their names is to use the song, Pat a Cake. Instead of Mark it with a “B” we use the first letter of the child’s name. I often use name tags so I can frequently use each child’s name during story time. Each child finds their name tag at the beginning of each storytime. I encourage parents to label items in the home, including their child’s personal items and space. Perhaps, most importantly, I emphasize making these games a part of their child’s everyday life by talking to their children about everything, exposing them to print during play, and singing silly songs that are about their child.