Alphabet Fun!

Sorry all!  I really need to get the hang of this whole blogging and going back to school business.  I'm beginning to realize that I may have to actually plan my blog posts ahead of time and not just do the "by the seat of my pants" approach. 

My little owls will officially arrive on Tuesday.  I am all planned for next week and am looking forward to starting another school year. 

This will be the start of my 8th year and each year I feel like I get a bit better at the whole beginning of the year part.  I've learned that it is alright to slow things down at the beginning.  I'm really focusing on having my owls build their stamina and to really model my expectations.  Please make sure to hold me to this if you notice that I'm posting things that seem to go against this!

With this in mind, I have been looking through Pinterest to find simple alphabet activities that would allow all to participate even if they don't know all the letter names yet.  I came across this...

I love this!  What a simple way to get all the owls working with letters at the start of the year.  Click on the picture to look at some of the other ideas that were listed.

 

Now this activity is ideal if you have a circle table, which I do not.  I didn't want to give up such a great idea because of a lack of table, so I created my own version with posterboard.

 

 

For the letters, I simply used foam letters that I had laying around the house.  I wrote uppercase letters on glass beads that are used in vases for a decorative touch. 

 

 

I had my little man test out the activity!  He pulled out a letter glass bead, looked at the letter, and found its match around the circle.  He did really well and told me that it was "fun."

 

For my owls that already know their letters, I will have them tell me the letter's name before they match it.

 

I also made a set of uppercase letters using water bottle caps.  If this goes over well, I will change out the letters manipulatives to keep the activity fresh and exciting.

 

~Erin