Alphabet Tracing

It's February and it is that time of year when I start to worry about my kiddos that are still struggling with letter naming. Don't get me wrong, I worry all year long....but this is the time of the year that I really start digging into my toolbox to make things happen. I tried something new this week that really worked!

I've tried just about everything with a couple of my kiddos this year and nothing seems to stick. I was reading in one of the many kindergarten groups I follow on FB (can't remember which one...seriously, my feed is just full of kindergarten!) about Jan Richardson's "tracing" activity so I had to go buy her book. Thank heavens for Kindles.....I love instant gratification! I am enjoying every single word in this book! It is full of practical advice for reaching all of your little learners. Here is a link if this post inspires you to read it too!  

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The premise behind alphabet book tracing is that students will learn the letter names, sounds, and correct formation by tracing the uppercase and lowercase letters daily with a tutor. After one week of doing this I am a believer! Take a look:

Connecting back to the pictures for each letter has been a huge boost for my students and I can see how tracing the letters is helping to get those letter names and sounds into their muscle memory. When I did our regular assessment this week one little guy was actually tracing the letters on the page before he said them (even though they were the tiny letters on the assessment). I have hope we will get this by the end of the year now!

The pages in the pictures and video are available HERE. I made this set to re-do my entire room in real pics but it never happened. I was super happy I had them on hand for this though.  I just laminated, 3 hole punched, and attached the book together with 3 binder rings.


       

 

I have included links just in case you aren't using your own personal laminator in the classroom yet. It is a total game changer! I love mine so much I have one at school and one at home. The laminating is really thick and holds up better than the "school" type laminating.

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I hope this was helpful to you or at least gave you a little hope that maybe, just maybe, there is a way to help it click for your little ones! Thanks for stopping in! 

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