Have you ever shopped at Teachers Pay Teachers? It’s an amazing site where you can find almost any education printable you could possibly be searching for. One of its top sellers is the talented Elissa of Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station. I had the privilege of meeting her at a blog conference last year, and I’m thrilled she’s sharing a guest post with us today!
Here’s Elissa…
When you are looking for ways to teach your students or children the alphabet the Measured Mom is a great place to go. There are so many engaging and fun alphabet activities that can get your toddler and preschooler learning their letters and sounds available to you here. I wanted to add to the abundance of FREE alphabet resources Anna provides with a mini alphabet flipbook.
As a kindergarten teacher I found myself looking for resources that met the needs of my learners. Some children came to me knowing all of their letters and sounds, while others weren’t about to recognize their own name.
I searched high and low, but was unable to find many that would work for whole group, small group and independent practice, so I created my own. Once my son was born I chose to stay home and learned of the site Teacher’s Pay Teachers. Then it hit me. I could create more alphabet resources to meet the different needs of those little learners in preschool, pre-k, kindergarten and first grade and make them available to teachers and parents!
Teaching the alphabet
As a homeschooling parent or classroom teacher, exposing your children to the alphabet through chants or poems, visual aids, active learning, small group or 1-on-1 instruction and independent practice will help them to learn their letters and sounds and build a strong foundation for reading.
Teaching the alphabet to a large group
In the classroom or at home it is important to have time set aside for short 10-15 minute lessons that focus on each letter or a group of letters. Creating different learning experiences is easily done during whole group instruction to meet the needs of your visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners so that ALL benefit from this short amount of time.
- Auditory learners will enjoy hearing the letters and their sounds through chants and actions.
- Kinesthetic learners will remember their alphabet by playing games like Alphabet Twister – putting letter posters on the floor and pulling out flashcards.
- Visual learners will enjoy creating alphabet charts by drawing pictures for each letter and seeing the visual aids around your learning space.
Teaching the alphabet to a small group
By working with your children in small groups or having children work together during literacy stations, learners are able to practice what they are learning through hands-on games and activities.
In the classroom setting, I taught many alphabet activities at my teacher table as a warm-up for our time together. This served two goals…it allowed me to see what my learners were able to do and help as needed, as well as introduce an activity that could be used in their word work or literacy stations.
Whether, you are working with play-doh, putting puzzles together, writing the room, reading emergent readers, or sorting letters, you are guiding your learners through developing alphabet knowledge that will stick.
Independent practice with the alphabet
This is the part I struggled with the most as a teacher…finding resources to help my learners practice the alphabet independently on THEIR level. I wanted my learners working on their own at different times throughout our literacy block: no partners or groups, just quality independent learning time!
However, not all of my learners were able to complete the same level of work, and some needed more help with certain skills than others. While one child might need extra handwriting practice to form their letters correctly, others needed to become familiar with initial sounds. So I created a variety of printables for various levels of alphabet knowledge, as well as resources that my learners could use to aid their independent practice.
Free alphabet flipbook!
This is where our FREE resource comes in…during whole group and small group instruction have your learners recite their alphabet flip-chart for the letter(s) they are learning. Providing your learners with a flip-BOOK of their own that models the flip-chart will help them relate the learning throughout the day to their own independent practice.
This book is small enough for a pencil box. And let’s be real… it’s just plain adorable! (Am I the only one that loves everything in miniature form…so cute!) At only three pages this resource is easy to print. All you need is a small metal ring that you can grab at your local dollar store or order from Amazon.
If you need more alphabet ideas be sure to check out the resources on this site, as well as, the mega-pack of alphabet resources I have in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. It has been a pleasure sharing my passion of creation with you and I hope that you and your little learners are able to enjoy learning the alphabet together.
P.S. Would you like to learn more about teaching the alphabet?
The Measured Mom has written a free e-mail series just for you!
You’ll learn
- The pros and cons of Letter of the Week
- 7 Tips for making Letter of the Week work for you
- Answers to common questions about teaching the alphabet
- What Letter of the Week should look like
- The best activities for learning letters and their sounds
Just click here or on the image below to sign up!
Looking for more ideas for teaching the alphabet?
Meet Elissa
Elissa is an early childhood teacher turned work-at-home mom. She loved creating centers, printables and other resources when she was teaching, as well as finding fun ways to engage her students and organize her classroom. She is now able to use these resources with her own preschool children, ages 4 and 2. You can find her activities and ideas on Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station and her Teachers Pay Teachers store.
© 2016, Anna G. All rights reserved.
I love your wonderful gifts to us and I noticed your pipe little chart stand. Did you make it or where did you buy it? If you made it I would love to know exactly what the dimensions were and where you got you round clips. I used to have a small one and somewhere around moving and life I lost it. I haven’t seen any like this and would love to build one. Thank you so much for all the wonderful products you make for everyone. You are truly an amazing woman and we appreciate you and all your hard work.
I’m so glad you like the chart stand, Deborah. My husband made it for me and the dimensions are 11×13 inches. The rings are just 2 inch metal rings similar to these (http://www.amazon.com/ACCO-Loose-Binder-Capacity-Silver/dp/B00008XPLC)
I need to make another stand, so I’ll post a tutorial on my blog soon!
I can’t wait for the tutorial.
Wow! Love this little book! Can’t wait to make one for my future classroom! I am studying to be a teacher and am gearing up! Thank you!!!
You’re welcome, Tammy! Elissa did a wonderful job!
I too love the chart stand. Did you buy or purchase? Thanks for great ideas!
Thank you so much, Michelle! My husband built the chart stand for me and I’ll be posting a tutorial on my blog soon!
These are SO sweet. Thank you!
You’re welcome, Liz! 🙂
My kids will LOVE having their own little book! Thank you.
You’re welcome, Jan!
This was great to read! Thank you for writing it all down. Sadly though I couldnt download the free mini alphabet flipbook 🙁 going to see if my dad will make me one of those cute stands for one if I can find one somewhere else. Thanks agan!
Why couldn’t you download it? Did you try the tips here? https://www.themeasuredmom.com/how-to-download-free-files/
Yes tried those tips. When I click on the link it takes me to a page that says it can’t be found. That’s okay. I shall search somewhere else for so,etching similar 🙂 taphank you though it’s a great idea!
It’s definitely there, and this can usually be solved – so I’d like to help you get it if possible. What happened when you did the “right click” and “save link as”? Did it still say that it can’t be found?
Thanks for sharing this. I have some preschool students who are getting really interesting in writing words, so I think a set of these on a ring at the writing center will really be helpful.
I love the idea of using these at a writing center!
I’m not able to find the mini size to download at all. I’ve done everything I know and gone to every site and it isn’t there. Sure would like to have the small one. Thank you for sharing.
Did you try the big green box that says, “To get your free printable click HERE” ?
Anna, It wasn’t easy but I finally got it. Thank you again. My Chrome has been hacked along with my FB last week. I didn’t know about the Chrome until I tried it instead of Firefox. Then 2 of my cartridges in my printer were low. But I prevailed.
Happy Easter. Mary
Sounds like technology has been giving you a hard time, Mary! That’s no fun. 🙁 I’m glad you were finally able to download it!
Love this AND the “Do a dot” pages. Can you tell me where I could get those also please? Thank you. Have a great weekend! ~ Peggy
Hi, Peggy! The do-a-dot pages are here: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/dot-sticker-pages/
You are amazing! Nuf’ said! 😉
You’re very kind, Heather – thank you 🙂
I just printed your lady bug printable, super cute! 🙂
My Mom told me you were on teachers pay teachers, glad I came across your activity!
I’m so glad you found my site, Mandy! I hope you find many more activities you can use.
Thank you.
You’re welcome, Verna!
If i missed the directions on how to assemble the flip book please excuse me. Print Cut into quarters and put them together. It’s not back to back right?
You’ve got it right, Tanisha! Just print single sided on cardstock, laminate if desired, and cut apart. Put together with a metal ring.
thank you for sharing these materials. it is a great help.
You’re very welcome!
What you’re doing is such a blessing! Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for your encouragement, Amanda!
Hii, I’m so excited to try this flip book, just one question, when we purchase the digital download do we also get to print it? I’ve gotten several alphabet worksheets and games for my four year old that are great and really helpful but would like to purchase some also.
Oh yes, you can always print anything you purchase from my digital store or from TPT, provided it’s in pdf format (nearly all of them are unless they are a powerpoint presentation, video, or something like that).
This will be great for my son to learn his letter reconginization since now he is in school! Such a cute and great idea.