Alphabet scavenger hunt for your preschool and kindergarten group
Do you have trouble getting your class to recognize the alphabet? You are not alone. Teachers everywhere must adapt to many forms of learning to reach all students. Although the following suggestions are not necessarily original, sometimes we need to remember how many options there are for working with the alphabet.
If you’re just getting started with introducing the alphabet and it’s possible to get around your neighborhood on foot, go on a letter scavenger hunt. Pencil and notebook for the teacher and scrutinizing eyes for the students is all that is needed for this adventure. Walk around the area looking for signs containing your letter and write down what you find. Don’t restrict your search to just written forms, search nature for the natural forms of your letter. Clouds, blades of grass, and even tree branches can naturally produce some letterforms.
Do you have old magazines, newspapers and books available? (If not, you can always print various pieces from the Internet for this activity.) If so, you can keep the letter scavenger hunt indoors on those chilly mornings. Assign each student a letter (upper and lower case) or assign the whole group a single letter, whichever is most appropriate for your classroom. Scissors in hand, students will spend time on their assigned letter, cutting and gluing the treasure found onto a blank sheet of paper. You can make a game of this, who can find more? Or you can create a wall decoration using the pages filled with assorted letters. If each group or student was assigned multiple letters (for example, one word of the week was the name James, each group or student could focus on just one letter of the word), once the pages are dry, cut out one larger form of the letter and post the full word on the bulletin board. This activity is incredibly easy to do and reinforces letter recognition and spelling at the same time. Not to mention the added bonus of some motor work.
Another form of the scavenger hunt concept is the classroom-style hunt. Before students arrive, place multiple copies in various sources around the room. Be creative in placing the letters, hide them in the building center and also in the science center, not just attached to the wall. The letters can be made with textured papers, various colored construction papers, salt dough and even fabric scraps, don’t limit yourself to just the standard magnetic and/or plastic letters that can be purchased at super centers or dollar stores.
Set aside discussion time for the scavenger hunt. It doesn’t matter what search style has been incorporated in the day… Discuss it. Ask the children to remember the clouds that looked like W or where they found the letter N. Was the letter N located at the bottom of the sand bucket? Or hanging from the ceiling… or both? Did the students place more than ten or less than five? Bonus: basic introduction to addition and subtraction. Do the students like the new room decorations they helped create? Discussion time is an important part of the day when students know that their small voices can be heard. For the teacher, it is important as a moment of reinforcement of the day’s lessons.
Teaching the alphabet can be a fun part of any day. With just a little imagination and some creativity, adaptations can be made for each student.
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