Thursday, September 29, 2011

Letter Books

Part of our ELA time is spent working on letter books. When we learn about a specific letter, each student comes up with a word that begins with that letter and makes a page that says "___ is for ___."  In the beginning this is a shared writing time where they write part of the sentence and I'll write the rest. For example, they write the first letter and I write "is for ____." Then the next week they will write the first letter and the word "is" and I'll write "for ___." until they get to the point where they are writing everything on their own. They illustrate the page and highlight the focus letter with a yellow crayon. When everyone is done, we compile a class book. The fun part is that the students get to take the books home (and bring it back the next day) so they can show off their work/other students' work to their parents and siblings. It's a great chance for the students to practice pointing to and reading the sentences with their parents. The finished product is below.





You can get the explanation page to parents here and the letter book covers here.
The letter book cover font is a Kevin and Amanda font - Pea Hollee, and the border is from DJ Inkers.

9 comments:

Jon and Suzanne said...

Such a wonderful idea!! Thank you!:)

Mrs. Brown said...

Thanks so much! I love for the kids to make books and send them home to share with their families. I keep all the pages and then at the end of the year, I compile a book for each child of their work from the year!

kellybrown28021@gmail.com

Judy Lau said...

@Kelly B - what a great idea! :) I never thought to compile it for each child. I will have to do that at the end of the year. Thanks!

Mara said...

Hi Judy!
I've been following your blog since I started teaching Kindergarten this year. I was teaching second grade and it's BIG change!
I love your ideas and you are so kind to share them with everyone. I was wondering if you could tell me how you introduce letters and in what order. I'm kind of struggling with this. Our district doesn't have a specific reading program....they just have a model of literacy. It leaves us hanging with specific curriculum. Do you use a specific curriculum? I noticed your sight word journals and I love those! How do you decide which words to introduce and when? If it's easier to e-mail me back that's fine too!
Thanks for your help!
Mara
mara.b.arnold@gmail.com

Judy Lau said...

Mara - working on the email right now! :)

Mrs. Shelton said...

I Heart Your Blog....see my blog for the award!

Sarah
Kindergarten Korner

Judy Lau said...

Sarah - thank you SO much!! :)

Sheehan Lunt said...

Hi Judy -

I am a first year teacher and love looking at your blog for great ideas. We do the daily five and it has been a big help to see some of your work!

Much like Mara, I'm wondering what order you introduce your letters and how you introduce each one?

Thanks for all of your lovely ideas!

Sheehan
sflunt@gmail.com

Judy Lau said...

Sheehan, forwarding the email to you now!

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