NEW - Cookie Sheet Alphabet Match with Magnetic Letters!
Have you ever wished for a meaningful, hands-on alphabet activity that young children can truly do ALL BY THEMSELVES? Then you are in luck, because even the youngest learners can be successful matching plastic letters to those printed in different fonts on our new Cookie Sheet Alphabet Match with Magnetic Letters workmats! I love these activities!
When young learners work with plastic or foam letters, they can really FEEL what each letter looks like, and that is SO IMPORTANT for kids that are learning the alphabet! Adding in that tactile element is really the heart and soul of the multisensory alphabet lesson, because when kids touch and feel a letter, they begin to understand the difference between the letters that they see printed on paper. And that is the beginning of starting to remember the difference.
For example, what is the difference between a capital O and a capital G or Q? For a child with visual discrimination skills that are still developing, being able to touch and feel the differences as well as see them can make a huge difference, and can help the child start to understand and remember the differences between them.
Of course, the musical element is something that I totally believe in! We practice drawing those letters with full body movements, singing our little hearts out! Here is an example below. Right now, we are offering a FREE 30 day trial of our videos on Uscreen. If you decide to try it after that, you can get them for as little as 99 cents a month with a minimum three month purchase. You can also get them on DVD, of course! Click here for our Letters and Sounds Animated DVD.
This year, as well as the past two years, I am teaching Transitional Kindergarten (TK). This means that my students all will be turning five sometime between September 2 and December 2, and will be going on to Kindergarten next year. So, most of them really need this type of extra practice, because they really are still four years old. Since I really give kids a new center unless we have used it together first, we used these materials together the first time in small groups.
I was quite surprised to find that this was actually a CHALLENGE for some of them! Some kids with little previous background knowledge in the alphabet just couldn't find the matching letter at all. Of course, many of the letters were upside down, and that made everything much harder.
The whole task became MUCH easier for the children when I had them match up the letters on an organizational alphabet mat FIRST. In fact, matching up the whole alphabet was actually a really good exercise that the kids really liked! I was amazed at how quick some of them could do it! Actually, I think they would have enjoyed matching the whole alphabet with all of the letter sets in each color!
Then, when they needed to match up the letters on the workmats, they were able to find them much easier. I do think that this had more to do with all of the letters being right side up than that they were now in alphabetical order, though!
By the way, I also tried this by cutting the workmats into individual letters (as shown below) and letting the kids just choose one at a time to work on, rather than a full sheet. However, I'm not sure if it made any difference to them, actually!
I was surprised to find that most of my students didn't even realize that my set of workmats was printed in alphabetical order! For example, one child had found the "b," "c," and "d." She was missing the first letter, which was of course the "a." She was searching and searching, but just couldn't find it! (The reason why she couldn't find it was because of the variant of the font on the letter a.) I actually enjoy watching these precious little mistakes though; it's part of what I love most about working with young children! It does make sense that the kids wouldn't notice alphabetical order if they hadn't been introduced to the concept, of course.
And speaking of alphabetical order, I have configured this set of workmats in two ways: alphabetical order and another set in random order. Not only that, but I provided both sets in both color and black and white, so there are actually four sets, rather than two! I'm grateful to my teacher daughter Kimberly for reminding me that not all teachers have access to a color printer. Otherwise, I might have forgotten! (Psss! Did I mention she also teaches TK??) :)
There are FOUR different versions provided of this Alphabet Matching Cookie Sheet Activity with Magnetic Letters, plus some printable letters:
- Set One has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in FULL COLOR and arranged in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
- Set Two has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in FULL COLOR, but arranged in RANDOM ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
- Set Three has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in ink saving BLACK and WHITE, and arranged in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
- Set Four has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in ink saving BLACK and WHITE, and arranged in RANDOM ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
- A printable alphabet to be cut apart if needed, just in case you do not have plastic letters.
- A printable alphabet to keep letters organized. It helps to teach kids to place their letters on top of this sheet before they begin, when they are not using them. I call it an Alphabet Organizer.
The complete file is 87 pages long.
And for anyone wondering where I purchased the magnetic letters, here's the link!! :)
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Questions? Comments?
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When young learners work with plastic or foam letters, they can really FEEL what each letter looks like, and that is SO IMPORTANT for kids that are learning the alphabet! Adding in that tactile element is really the heart and soul of the multisensory alphabet lesson, because when kids touch and feel a letter, they begin to understand the difference between the letters that they see printed on paper. And that is the beginning of starting to remember the difference.
For example, what is the difference between a capital O and a capital G or Q? For a child with visual discrimination skills that are still developing, being able to touch and feel the differences as well as see them can make a huge difference, and can help the child start to understand and remember the differences between them.
Of course, the musical element is something that I totally believe in! We practice drawing those letters with full body movements, singing our little hearts out! Here is an example below. Right now, we are offering a FREE 30 day trial of our videos on Uscreen. If you decide to try it after that, you can get them for as little as 99 cents a month with a minimum three month purchase. You can also get them on DVD, of course! Click here for our Letters and Sounds Animated DVD.
This year, as well as the past two years, I am teaching Transitional Kindergarten (TK). This means that my students all will be turning five sometime between September 2 and December 2, and will be going on to Kindergarten next year. So, most of them really need this type of extra practice, because they really are still four years old. Since I really give kids a new center unless we have used it together first, we used these materials together the first time in small groups.
I was quite surprised to find that this was actually a CHALLENGE for some of them! Some kids with little previous background knowledge in the alphabet just couldn't find the matching letter at all. Of course, many of the letters were upside down, and that made everything much harder.
 |
| When doing this in a small group, I gave each child a piece of colored foam to keep their letters on, and also gave each child different colored letters to keep them separated. |
The whole task became MUCH easier for the children when I had them match up the letters on an organizational alphabet mat FIRST. In fact, matching up the whole alphabet was actually a really good exercise that the kids really liked! I was amazed at how quick some of them could do it! Actually, I think they would have enjoyed matching the whole alphabet with all of the letter sets in each color!
Then, when they needed to match up the letters on the workmats, they were able to find them much easier. I do think that this had more to do with all of the letters being right side up than that they were now in alphabetical order, though!
By the way, I also tried this by cutting the workmats into individual letters (as shown below) and letting the kids just choose one at a time to work on, rather than a full sheet. However, I'm not sure if it made any difference to them, actually!
 |
| In this case, I cut apart the workmats so that the children could work with just one letter at a time. |
I was surprised to find that most of my students didn't even realize that my set of workmats was printed in alphabetical order! For example, one child had found the "b," "c," and "d." She was missing the first letter, which was of course the "a." She was searching and searching, but just couldn't find it! (The reason why she couldn't find it was because of the variant of the font on the letter a.) I actually enjoy watching these precious little mistakes though; it's part of what I love most about working with young children! It does make sense that the kids wouldn't notice alphabetical order if they hadn't been introduced to the concept, of course.
 |
| Believe it or not, putting the letters in order was NOT a dead giveaway for most, but a helpful clue for some. |
And speaking of alphabetical order, I have configured this set of workmats in two ways: alphabetical order and another set in random order. Not only that, but I provided both sets in both color and black and white, so there are actually four sets, rather than two! I'm grateful to my teacher daughter Kimberly for reminding me that not all teachers have access to a color printer. Otherwise, I might have forgotten! (Psss! Did I mention she also teaches TK??) :)
What's included?
There are FOUR different versions provided of this Alphabet Matching Cookie Sheet Activity with Magnetic Letters, plus some printable letters:
- Set One has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in FULL COLOR and arranged in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
 |
| Set One: Alphabetical Order in Color (both lower and uppercase.) |
- Set Two has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in FULL COLOR, but arranged in RANDOM ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
 |
| Set Two: Random Order in Color (both lower and uppercase.) |
- Set Three has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in ink saving BLACK and WHITE, and arranged in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
 |
| Set Three: Alphabetical Order in Black and White (both lower and uppercase.) |
- Set Four has both lowercase and capital letters printed in different fonts in ink saving BLACK and WHITE, and arranged in RANDOM ORDER. Kids will match their plastic letters to the letters printed on the workmats.
 |
| Set Four: Random Order in Black and White (both lower and uppercase.) |
- A printable alphabet to be cut apart if needed, just in case you do not have plastic letters.
 |
| A printable alphabet, just in case you cannot purchase magnetic letters. It happens! |
- A printable alphabet to keep letters organized. It helps to teach kids to place their letters on top of this sheet before they begin, when they are not using them. I call it an Alphabet Organizer.
 |
| An Alphabet Organizer, in black and white and in color (blue consonants and red vowels.) |
The complete file is 87 pages long.
And for anyone wondering where I purchased the magnetic letters, here's the link!! :)
******************************
Questions? Comments?
----------------------------------
Follow me! Did you enjoy this post? Do me a favor and share it with your friends! And follow this blog by signing up for my email updates here, or follow on Bloglovin', or follow me on TPT! I'm also on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube, too! Don't forget to sign up for our email newsletter for special deals and promo codes that you won't find out about anywhere else.
