Alphabet Fun!!

It seems every year I have at least one student focusing on the alphabet.  Sometimes, I am teaching preschool so it is natural to fit into the curriculum and same with kindergarten.  Other years I have 2nd graders, who I have to sneak the learning in on.  This year.... I have both.  I am working with kindergartners and 2nd graders.


I wanted to share just a few ideas that have worked great for me.  Some I have shared before, some are new.  I hope you can use a few and I would love the read about some of things you do, so please leave a few comments below!

So let's jump right in!!

Oh Pumpkin is a game I made a few years ago that is still going strong.  It is simple  to play and the kids love it! You print out the cards, laminate for durability and then put them into a basket (I try to use something seasonal to add to the fun factor).  The kids take turns drawing out one card at a time.  I differentiate by having some kids say just the letter, some kids say the sounds, some even give me a word that starts with that letter.  Then the student passes the basket.  If the student gets "Oh Pumpkin!" They have to put all of their cards back.  This game has been a hit with my kindergarten students this year and I have tied it into our social skills learning by having the kids say to the person before them "May I have the basket, please?".   If you like this game, there is another version here that was requested by some of my paraprofessionals a few years ago.



An activity that I am doing this year that is also with one of my kindergarteners centers around whatever the theme is for the week.  When I took these pictures, our theme was bats.  I printed out a clipart picture of a bat on card stock and cut it out.  On day one, I had my student punch holes around it.  Day 2, he had to lace it.  Day 3, I wrote letters on the bat and he had to match the round stickers with the same letter to the letter on the bat.  This worked out great and I have continued to do this with other shapes. You could also write numbers, shapes, or really anything on the object to have the student match.  It all depends on your needs.

With my 2nd graders I had to sneak in the learning a bit.  I took these spider webs that I made last year and put them on the ground.  I then gave each student a fake spider.  I called out a letter sound and they had to be the first to find the letter and put their spider on the web.  I had strict rules on no pushing or shoving.  You would have thought that I was giving the winner a free trip to Disney World. The kids loved it and have asked to play again.

This next activity is just a simple ball that was on the giveaway table a few years ago.  You could do the same thing with any ball, you would just need to write your own letters on it.  I have used this ball with one student up to 5.  We toss the ball back and forth and where ever your right thumb lands you need to use that letter.  I differentiate by having a student name the letter, sound, or word that starts with that sound.  This is another activity that spans the grade levels.

I hope this gave you some ideas that you can use in your classroom!!