Prepping Alphabet Fun!

I’ve been super busy in my classroom all week trying to get everything ready for my *24* kiddos coming next week! This may seem like a normal (or even small) number for many of you, but for me – it’s HUGE.  As, I’ve been getting ready, I’ve been pulling games and activities out of storage to get ready for these little sweeties!

Here are some of the things I’m getting ready: 

1. Letter Muncher

This lovely lady is my alphabet muncher.  I made her a few years ago.  She’s seen better days.  I found these little mini trash cans at the Target dollar spot.  I added some hair, googly eyes and some stickers.  (PS – Don’t use doll hair – it’s really hard to manage!). 

Here’s how I play this game:

Pass out letter cards or magnetic letters to the kiddos.  Let Mrs. Muncher “whisper in your ear” (be VERY dramatic) the letter/sound she is hungry for.  The child with that letter gets to feed Mrs. Muncher and you and the class get to make all sorts of dramatic noises (specifically the name of the letter and the sound).  Super fun, and easy to have on hand.  There are all sorts of different letter munchers out their on the WWW, just Google it and you’ll find lots of ideas!

2. Pocket Chart games

This pocket chart game is a phonemic awareness activity that you can find in my Backpack Boogie pack.  It simply involves listening for the target letter that is on the wheel and deciding if it comes at the beginning or end of the word.

Find the hidden…..these games are my favorite time filler! We LOVE them.  We practice all sorts of skills with this game.  This friendly blue cat game and more like it can be found {here}.

3. Dramatic Play – I LOVE my dramatic play center.  The children do to!  They play there all year long. But, I do understand the pressure of academics too.  I’ve made some fun little activities to put into my dramatic play centers.  I always start the year off with the kitchen!

4.  Literacy Center games

Since I have such an increase in kiddos this year, I’m having to re-work the way I do literacy centers.  I usually do 5 groups of 4 kids, but this year, the children will be working in partners.  So, I’m getting games ready for them to play the first few weeks.  Alphabump is a fun game that I created this summer.  I can’t wait for the kiddos to play it!  You can find it {here}.

5. I Have Who Has games.  I LOVE these games! We play them all year long!  There are great because I can change out the skills and the kids still know the rules! I love having these handy for a sub!  We’ll start out the year with this letter I Have Who Has game.  This game is also in my Backpack Boogie pack!

What activities are you preparing for your little sweeties the first few weeks of school?