Learning the alphabet should be fun and Mary, a Pre-K Teacher, in Boston, MA has a way of doing just that. When we asked how to best teach the alphabet in a fun and engaging way, she shared how she’s been doing it for years. It’s also a great way to help dual-language learners recognize their letters! Learn how she did it below.
Teaching the Alphabet with Music
“Young children learn best when they’re encouraged to move throughout the day. A game my students thoroughly enjoy is Musical Letters, a variation of the classic game, Musical Chairs,” explained Mary. “I place large alphabet letters in a circle on the floor, adding a few more than the number of children playing. This gives each child the opportunity to play a few rounds of the game.
To begin, each child stands on a letter. When the music begins the children walk around the circle, stepping on the letters as they go. When the music stops, each child hurries to stand on a letter. At first there will be an extra letter or two so everyone gets a letter to stand on. As I pick up one of the extra letters from the floor the children say, ‘Goodbye (name of letter)!’ I then ask each child to identify the letter she/he is standing on. The music begins again.
Soon there are more children than letters. A child unable to find a letter to stand on is ‘out’ and gets to identify the next letter to be removed from the circle. At the end of each round, I ask the remaining children to name their letters. The game continues until only one child is left standing on a letter.
Hint: As the year progresses we incorporate lower case letters and numbers into the play. You can also use this game to review blends, clusters, word families, etc.”