As a kindergarten teacher, I always love the start of the school year. I get to share my excitement for learning letters and sounds with a new group of students. I like to make learning the alphabet fun and engaging, but meaningful and academic too.
To help my new class of kindergarten students learn their alphabet letters and sounds, I use a few different activities. I also try to make some of the activities include sensory play and fine motor skills. Almost all kindergarten students need more practice with fine motor skills.
To introduce each new letter and letter sound, I always start with our letter chart. I draw a circle on chart paper and add the focus letter to the center. Next, I give my students clues as to what the picture we are adding to the chart might be.
Example- Some of you came to school today on this, it is big and yellow. (bus) I then glue the bus to the chart. Once all beginning sound pictures are added to the chart, we go over them again. I also ask students to choose one and use it in a sentence.
This activity is great because it can really help your English Language Learners with vocabulary and speaking in general.
One activity I am looking forward to using this year is Alphabet Hats. These hats give students practice in identifying beginning sounds and writing letters.
Another activity I like to give my students is Alphabet Letter Search pages. My students at the beginning of the year use crayons to color in the correct letters. After a few weeks, I switch the crayons for bingo daubers.
To add some sensory play into learning our letters, we use Alphabet Playdough Mats. My students practice forming each alphabet letter with playdough.
For fine motor skills, I use several different activities. My students really like the PomPom It activities and these Poke It activities. Both require the use of objects that help strengthen students' hands.
One final thought, having a variety of ways to expose your students to letters and sounds can help reach all of your students. What doesn't stick with one child, may very well stick with another.
