Reviewing the Alphabet

Today we started our morning by reading The Alphabet Book by P.D. Eastman. This simple book has a different page for each letter of the alphabet.  Every time we came to a new vletter on a page I asked the children to name the letter and make the sound of that letter.  Then I read the phrase from the book that described the picture.  My preschoolers laughed so hard at some of the pictures that I couldn’t help but laugh, too.  “Cow in Car” and “Vulture with Violin” were just two of the pages that got big laughs. 

I printed this alphabet game from Confessions of a Homeschooler to use as a center activity today.  (Be sure to check out Erica’s whole post which has lots of great downloads.)  I let the children work in pairs to play the game.  They rolled a die and counted how many spaces they were to move their marker.  When they put their marker on a letter they were to say the name of the letter, make the sound of the letter, and then name something that started with that letter.  I loved how the game incorporated counting and letter recognition skills. 

Another center I had available was an A-Z letter matching activity I found at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  The children were to match the correct magnetic alphabet letter to the corresponding alphabet card.  I also asked them to say the name of the letter as they matched the magnetic letter to the picture.

(Sorry for the bad pictures today.  It was a busy morning and pictures weren’t a top priority.)  I printed the A-Z floor mats from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I put each page into a sheet protector (easier and cheaper than contact paper or laminating).  Then I had pairs of children look at one letter page at a time and find a magnetic letter from a basket that matched the page.  I put the pages in a binder, but Erica has some great ideas for using the mats on her blog.

We had a good day reviewing the alphabet and working on some Mother’s Day projects which I will share on Friday.  Have a great afternoon.