Winter Alphabet Activities

Yes...it's true...

We had our first 'brush' of snow yesterday- we read A Snowy Day and then I filled plastic totes with snow for the kids to explore and watch melt!

And today we are housebound with 12 inches on its way:

(my current view)

So it's only fitting that our centers and morning tub activities reflect the season!

If you didn't already read my Winter Math Centers post, be sure to head there too:

But today's post is all about ABC Fun!

Our school uses FUNdations and we are required to give the unit tests.  If 80% of our class does not meet benchmark, we cannot go onto the next unit.

Next week is our 'assessment week' for FUNdations Unit 1- which we have been in since the beginning of school.  The test requires you to meet 1:1 with each student, so I needed some activities for my kiddos to do independently while I conducted the assessments (we don't have full time teaching assistants in our district).  Since I will be doing them during my 'Word Work' block, I wanted my kids to still participate in 'word work' activities.

Here is the list of what we will be doing!  

The first few are not seasonally based but are goodies I can't give up!

1. Letter Locks

These are from Lakeshore and the kids L-O-V-E them!

I put a binder ring on each lock and they have to collect all the binder rings to show that they were able to match all the upper/lowercase letters (they haven't figured out how to 'unclip' a binder ring yet so shhhhhh!  It makes it easier for me to set-up because I don't have to unlock each one!)

2. Leaping Letters

We got this game from our classroom elf this Christmas and it is SO MUCH FUN!

It's like Perfection (am I dating myself knowing that game?!) but with letters!

And the letters don't actually FLY like they are on the cover...so no worries about chaos!

The elf told me he got it from BJ's Wholesale Club but he also said he saw it on Amazon!

3. Capital/Lowercase Letter Matching from First Grade Blue Skies

These are FABULOUS because the kids LOVE using the links!

This is a freebie from Jennifer White on her blog.

These were a morning tub activity, along with the locks, since about October.  I would just add the letter(s) we learned the previous week into the bucket until we had all the letters in there.

3. ABC Ice Fishing

I found this on Pinterest!  It is from Joyfully Weary and it's FREE!

She gives you the ABC fish in both lowercase and capital.

I had the fishing poles from a Lakeshore Phonics Game (although I have made additional poles using a dowel, string and a magnet) and I snagged 2 copy paper boxes from the copy room to make the 'frozen pond!'

I copied the lowercase fish on white cardstock and put 2 staples in each one as she suggests. 

(So smart!  I have used paperclips before and they always pull off & kids have a hard time getting them back on!)

I copied the uppercase set on blue paper and put them into sleeve protectors.  The kids are going to work in pairs to fish out the lowercase and match them to the uppercase fish.

4.  Snow Globe Letter Matching

This was another Pinterest find!  It is from Mom Inspired Life and she has an uppercase letter globe, lowercase letter globe and blank globe for you to download for FREE!

She has her child cover the letters with white stickers, but I wanted a reusable activity.  My magnetic letters were too big but my letter beads were the PERFECT size!

I have both capital and lowercase letter beads but chose to only use the lowercase ones for now since that is what most of our FUNdations work has focused on.

I put all 26 letters into a bowl for matching:

I printed the globes front/back so I could differentiate instruction:

To the kids its looks like they are completing the same activity, but you know you are giving each one what they need to practice at the time.

5. Roll and Cover

I got these alphabet dice while at the I Teach K! Conference in Las Vegas last July from a booth hosted by a company called 'Box Cars and One Eyed Jacks.'  They have an online catalog that sells them for both US and Canada.

The US dice can be found HERE.

The Canadian dice can be found HERE.

The dice are $1.50 each- I have used them for a few activities already this year and the kids LOVE them.

I made a mat, grabbed some Target Dollar Spot erasers, the dice and little plastic baskets.

These dice TAKE OFF when rolled on the tables...so having them roll them in the basket helps keep it in place and on the table...and less noise!

They roll a letter, say it's name and then find it on the mat and cover it.

I printed the mats front/back for upper and lowercase, but for now we're just using the lowercase side.  After some practice, they'll be allowed to choose a side for morning tubs.

You can grab the mat for FREE at the end of this post!

6. ABC Winter Express

Each kid has a train...they find the upper, lowercase and a picture for each letter.  

Click the picture to find it in my TpT Store.

7. 'Snow' Writing

I love sand/salt trays...but they are usually bulky and inevitably always get knocked over!

I filled 5 plastic crayon boxes with a mixture of salt and glitter (well not so much 'FILLED' but poured enough in to cover the bottom!)

I put letters a-z on a word ring (in FUNdations you only practice writing the lowercase letters for the first 12 weeks- after our Unit 1 test we will learn how to write uppercase letters) and in each box.

They open the box, take the word ring out, find 'a' and write it in the salt.  They GENTLY shake the box side to side to erase the letter and flip to the next letter.  They continue to write, shake, turn until they have practiced all 26 letters.

This was an inexpensive center to set up- 1 container of salt covered all 5 boxes and I only used a little bit of glitter in each!

DO be careful to keep the boxes flat...the salt is so fine it 'leaks' out the seams if put on it's side!

You can find the writing snowballs in both capital and lowercase for FREE at the end of the post!

All 7 of these stations will be set up and they can travel freely to any they want to do as long as their is room at that table/area.

I do want each of them to visit the salt tray station because they each need handwriting practice, so there will be a 'sign-in' sheet at that table.  After they complete it they will write their name next to their printed name so I can remind those that haven't done it yet to do so.

Want to grab the roll/cover mats and snowball writing cards?

Click HERE:

and if you didn't already visit the Winter Math Center freebies, head there now:

I have been pinning a lot of cute ideas to my Winter Pinterest Board too:

If it's snowing where you are...stay warm and safe!

If not...send some sun our way please!

Until next post,

Holiday Centers & Candy Cane Word Work!

There is definitely excitement in the air so my motto this time of year is 'if you can't beat them, join them!'

All of my centers for next week are holiday related...

Stamping Center:

The kids will stamp their sight words in the ornaments and then use Holiday Smencils to write the words!

Want to make for yourself?  It's super easy:

Simply insert a table into a PowerPoint document.  Type the words you want and then insert ornament clip art (you can find images for free) to match the number of letters.

The following week (yes...we go until 3:30pm on 12/23!) they will write the letters with white crayon in the lightbulbs and then use watercolor paint over them to 'reveal' the letters to make the lights 'twinkle':

(I copied this one on cardstock to make it sturdier!)

Sight Word Puzzles:

You can find 27 'Ready To Go' Puzzles, plus editable templates for 2-5 letter words here:

My kids LOVE doing these puzzles!  Some weeks they choose to do 2 puzzles instead of going to early finisher baskets!

Listening Center:

They love the Froggy stories!  They will write about/draw what Christmas looks like to them!

Phonics Center:

I am breaking out stockings for this one!

I have 'stuffed' each stocking with pictures and they will reach in and pull out a 'toy'- they will write what letter the picture (toy) starts with!

You can find this editable pack here:

Read It, Build It, Draw It:

The students read the sentence (our sight word this week is 'said') and then build the sentence.  Some students draw and others re-write the sentence.  They then circle 'said' in the sight word reader and practice reading it to a friend.

We do this center every week and it has really helped them with sight word development, concepts about print and given them confidence as readers!

If you are working on 'said' and would like this set, you can download it for free here!

And their new favorite center...

Read the Room:

This will be our second week doing 'read the room' this year.

They will be walking around to find the holiday images.  They will ID what letter the picture on that card starts with and write it on the recording sheet:

It is specific to the letters we are currently working on and my students are having trouble with, but if you can find it useful, as well, I have put it up for FREE in this Dropbox download!

As I mentioned earlier, we go until 12/23, so for the following week I have a candy cane word work activity all prepped and ready to go!

It came from an idea I saw on Pinterest:

  

shared by Carolyn Kisloski on her blog Kindergarten Holding Hands and Sticking Together.

I thought it was such a cute idea and I shared it on my Facebook page it and it got so many shares!

But I didn't want my students to just glue words without practicing them, so I came up with an idea!

I printed large 'J's' on red cardstock (because I couldn't find a candy cane image without stripes!) and then found a 15-spot spinner from Graphics From The Pond to put all the sight words we have covered onto it!

I then made text boxes for all the words with dotted lines so the kids could cut them out to glue to the candy cane.

I made an EDITABLE TEMPLATE for you for FREE to download too!

(The first set is the set of words you see here, the second set can be edited to fit any words you are working on!)

Each child (or you could have them work in pairs) gets a spinner, candy cane and set of words:

Using a paper clip/pencil, spin a word: 

Find the word that the paperclip landed on in the pile of words: 

and then glue it to the candy cane: 

Continue to spin, read word, find word and glue it to the candy cane until the candy cane is full and/or you have run out of words!

If a word is spun that was already landed on, spin again: 

Extra words can be glued to the back: 

To make the candy cane 'neater' you can trim off the excess white from the word strips: 

And here is your completed candy cane! 

BUT it doesn't have to stop there!

You can then use the candy cane and spinner for a word work game!

Put out some fun pom poms (or holiday erasers, candy, counters, etc!)

Students spin and then cover the word on their candy cane! 

Continue to spin/cover until all the words are covered!

The kids could even take the spinners home and continue to practice and play with their families over holiday break!

If you are still in need of some holiday resources, you can find my free and paid resources here:

and be sure to check out my New Year goodies too so that you are all prepped and ready to kick off 2016!

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season!

Until next post.

'Raking' In Some Letter Sound Learning!

Although it has been Fall for 6 weeks, the leaves are just beginning to turn and the Autumn 'nip' is finally in the air!  So this week we will be learning all about Fall and exploring leaves!

I am all about 'themed' learning, so my centers are all Fall/leaf 'inspired' this week too!

One of our centers will be for practicing identifying letters and letter sounds!

Back in August (yes- August!) I found these leaves at Dollar Tree:

I had originally bought them to make this 'pinterest-inspired' candle holder:

but after staring at them for so long, I thought of a way to use them in my classroom!

I had bought extras (with the thought of using them in a Fall-themed sensory bin) but decided to write letters on the leaves (using a Sharpie marker) instead!

My students are working on matching letters to pictures that begin with that letter/letter sound, so I made this printable to use with the leaves:

I will have the leaves spread across the table and they will pick a leaf (aka 'rake it in!'), identify the letter on the leaf, make the letter's sound and then find a picture on the page that starts with that letter.

They can color the picture, mark it with a bingo dauber or place the leaf on top of the picture (you can print on cardstock/laminate and make it re-useable too!  Dry erase crayons/markers would work for this too!)

Some of my students always finish early, so I am putting this page on the back of the printable.  They will pick a leaf and then practice writing that letter!

You could also have them write its upper/lowercase 'partner' or use the leaves to build CVC and/or sight words!

We will probably use this center for 2 weeks- one week to 'practice' and the next to 'master!'

I know other teachers are working on similar skills, but may not have covered the same letters as I have (we follow Fundations order), so I made the printables editable!  

Simply download it HERE.  It will open in Power Point.  

You can insert pictures onto the acorns (I used this set of alphabet clips I purchased) to make my set, but you can use whatever images you have available.

You can also insert text boxes to add letters and/or words to the blank acorns!

I used KG Red Hands on mine, but you can use whatever font you have available.

To make the dotted lines, I used KG Primary Penmanship (directions on how to create the line are detailed in her product description).

You can be as creative as you'd like and/or need with the leaves and printables!

Here are some ideas:

*Write lowercase letters- they match for uppercase (or vice versa)

*Write letters- they match for pictures that start or end with that letter

*Write vowels- they match for pictures that have that medial vowel sound

*Write CVC words- they find pictures to match the word

*Write letters- students gather leaves to build words (CVC, sight, spelling, etc.)

Here is an image to pin so that you remember this post and the activity:

Looking for more Fall ideas?

There is a pinterest 'make and take' linky on my post on The Primary Pack!

Come on by and see what pins others have posted and if you have a great pin to share, the linky is open for additions until 12/20/15!

You can also find some fall-themed resources and freebies in my TpT Store too!

I am hoping to get some pictures of my kiddos 'raking' up their learning this week so I can share this activity, as well as the other fun I have planned!

Until next post,