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We begin our kindergarten year with Alphabet Bootcamp! We start off reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and we closely look at all of the letters. The kids learn that letters make sounds! Then our classroom mascot, our special unicorn, stops by with a surprise!  She brings magic letter beans (Trolls' Cereal) in a treasure chest. She whispers a magical spell in my ear that the kids repeat, "Boppity boo! Dippity detters! We are ready to learn our letters!" The kids hold their hands out and wiggle their fingers. At the end of the spell, I shake the treasure chest all over the place, shouting, "It's working! It's working!" The kids go wild!!!! I ask our unicorn to make them stop shaking, and she does. Shew! Then I place one magic bean in each child's hand. I ask them to put the bean on their tongues and not to bite it. As it dissolves, I start to wiggle my body. "I feel the magic!!! Do you feel it?! I'm ready to learn letters now!!!" The kids react the same way!  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Anchor ChartFrom then on, the kids are hooked; they remind me of the magic letter beans working often! For the first 26 days of school, we look at our Chicka Chicka anchor chart to find the letter of the day.  Once we find it on the chart, our unicorn shares her magic "CHICKa" bag that holds name cards for students who start with our special letter to our classroom word wall. The kids are so thrilled with the honor!  Students get alphabet activity books to practice our brand new letters each day! The first page is the coloring sheet, where we practice saying the beginning sounds of the pictures for each letter. The kids keep these coloring sheets for fast finisher work. Then we learn how to write each letter. Below is the handwriting packet we use for the entire year! For Alphabet Bootcamp, we use the rainbow writing sheets. They are perfect for just getting started with letter writing practice, as the kids just trace letters and then write them in a space, allowing them to focus on letter formation and not the lines quite yet. Letter Learning for the Whole Year!So obviously letter learning is NOT just for the beginning of the school year! We explore and review all year long! Here are ALL of the letter and beginning sound resources we used to keep the kiddos engaged all year long!! This BLOG POST shares where we go with our letter learning next! Yep, There's More!We tie our entire curriculum together, creating independent learners along the way! I invite you to take a look at more resources to use for the entire year in our DEEPLY discounted ULTIMATE MEGA BUNDLES! FREEBIES!Here are a few FREE activities to help teach letters to get you started! And! A Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Name CraftWe had some letter stickers at home that happened to work well with this craft, but your students could also write with markers. In the past, we have also used foam letter stickers. I cut the pieces out for this three-year-old, but using the glue stick takes coordination for him, and he's also practicing visual spatial skills.  We put our letter learning to the test with a name activity, as learning names is a big deal for our little ones! At a young age, kids easily connect with concepts when it applies to themselves. At our house and in our classroom, we start with learning the first letters in names of people who are in our families and in our class. We practice comprehension skills and make connections to text by creating our personalized crafts! Our first name craft of the school year is our Chicka Chicka trees!  I love the concentration and excitement you see here! Also, do you know how tricky it is for little ones to get stickers off of a page? This activity is PERFECT for fine motor practice! Can you tell that I've had some AMAZING occupational therapists in my life?! They have taught me so much, and I've been fortunate to have them all to myself (okay, and my students have been there, too) for weekly lessons!   Hands On Alphabet ActivitiesLooking for more hands-on opportunities to introduce letters? Your kids WILL love these fun activities!  Looking for More Ideas?Krazy for Kindyland has LOTS more was to add MAGIC to your classroom learning activities! We're so happy to share! Take a look at our PLANS, organized by theme, containing resource buttons and blog posts for the entire year!
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