We begin school this week! I've been busy in my room decorating and trying to make it look inviting and fun for the students. As I am working I have been thinking of my little kinders that will be coming to me soon.
What will they know already? How much of the ABCs will they need help with? Will they know how to write their name?
So I am trying to get my mind geared with activities that will help these little guys on their way to learning the alphabet and to recognize and write their names.
Letter Experts
This is a favorite activity for my kinders. They are the Letter Expert for the day. I put the letters from their name plus a few extra into a basket. They get to sit in a special chair and hold the basket for their friends to pull letters out of. The student tells the Letter Expert the name of the letter they drew out and if they think it is in the Letter Expert's name or not. The Letter Expert tells the student if they are correct or not. They also tell the student the name of the letter if the student doesn't know the name of it. They love this game!
Letter Sorts
I like letter sorts for my students. They must pay attention to the formation of the letters- are the letters made from straight lines, curved lines, or both? It really helps student to pay attention to the attributes of the letters.
Rice Box Activity
A definite favorite is the Rice Box! There are many ways to use this: hide the letters in their name and they must match the letters up to the ones on their nameplate, find and match lower case to capital letters, and you can even use numbers in different ways. You can fill the box with rice, sand, beans, pom poms, etc... I would place the box on a cookie sheet to help contain the rice or other materials to help with clean up!
How Many Letters in My Name?
Kids love anything to do with their own name so this is a fun activity for them. They find their name card and place it in the chart. Then count the letters and place the number card in the chart. Then they can use a pointer to "read" the chart.
ABC Chart
We also read our ABC chart every day...every day! Forwards, backwards, across, down, vowels only, etc...
Matching Capitals/Lower Case Letters
14 Different Ways to Sort the ABCs
4 Different Letter Sorts
Learning Your Name!
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Great ideas Lori! I have a middle school student who is new to the country who does not know how to spell his name in English...I think I will be using some of these ideas!
ReplyDelete-Maria
Everyone deServes to Learn
Love the idea of a "Letter Expert"-lots of fun ways for them to work with letters. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteNotJustChild'sPlay
I did the Letter Expert last year with my Title I kinders, and they enjoyed it. I did it the first of the year, and it really helped me to see who was familiar with their name and who knew letter names.
ReplyDeleteTheir names are powerful tools to helping nudge them towards literacy. Great ideas!
ReplyDelete❀ Tammy
Forever in First
Such great ideas! I need to pass these along to a few K teachers I know.
ReplyDelete:-)
Susanna
Whimsy Workshop
Great ideas, thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteMaria, I hope the name activities help your student!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Miss Trayers! The students love Letter Expert!
ReplyDeleteLee Ann, I am glad to hear that your students like the Letter Expert! :) Thanks for coming by!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Tammy, their names are great motivators for learning!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susanna! I hope the letter and name activities help your K teacher friends!
ReplyDeleteThank you Nancy! Glad you came by!
ReplyDeleteLove these ideas! They need lots of practice! These make it fun!
ReplyDeleteSandi at Literacy Minute
I agree, all those games at the beginning of the year are great. I have them use clipboards and walk around the room asking friends to spell their name. Then they write it under "We have letters that match - or - We have no matching letters in our names." Thanks!
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