Preschool Writing:
Alphabet Book
Today's Snack: It's sometimes hard to find the cereal
Alpha-Bits, but if you can, that's a fun snack for preschool writing projects.
Or just give each child a half-cup of Cheerios and a napkin, and challenge them
to form the first letter of their name on the napkin by lining up Cheerios.
What to drink with it? Make an "m" for milk!
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Supplies:
Oaktag, cardstock or
paper, cut into strips that are 11" or 12" wide x 3½" or 4½" tall
Seven strips for each
child, stacked and book-folded | Preprinted titles - see below
Capital and lower-case
letters, pre-printed and cut out
Gluestick for each
child
Die-cuts for items
that start with each letter of the alphabet
Envelope for each
child to keep their project together until it's bound
Staple-bind, plastic
comb bind, or just double-staple the edge to bind
If you can laminate
these books, it makes them more special
Children
are so very proud of their own work! You can make the alphabet extra-special to
a child if you help the child make an alphabet book!
You
might do just four pages per day and spread this project out, since it is
rather challenging for a preschool child.
First,
stack the seven pieces of oaktag, cardstock or paper, and book-fold in advance
for the child. That way, you can see that there are 28 pages in this mini-book.
The first page is for the title and the child's name, and the back page should
contain the name of the program and the month or season and year the book was
completed. Each of the remaining 26 pages will feature a different letter of
the alphabet.
Print
out the title in advance, using color ink, such as:
Alphabet
Book
Name __________________________
You
can glue it in place on the title page. The child can write his or her name in
the blank. There! Page 1 is done!
Now
give each child a set of alphabet letters, and a set of the matching die-cuts.
With the adult leading the way, show the children to glue the Aa to the upper
left-hand corner of Page 2 - the other side of the title page. Then glue the
die-cut item you've selected to represent the letter a. An apple is a good
example.
Continue
on to page 3. This time, glue the Bb to the upper RIGHT-hand corner of the
page. Then glue the die-cut item you've selected to represent the letter b. It
could be a boat or a banana.
Page
4, for the letter Cc, will be on the next left-hand page. Continue on through
the alphabet. You will end up with Zz on the inside back cover.
After
completing four pages, put the project into an envelope to store, to keep
everyone's book neat and tidy.
For
the back cover, you can print out the name of the sponsoring program, and the
season, term or month and year in which the book was completed. Give one to
each child to be glued onto the back cover.
It
adds a lot to the child's delight if you take the time and expense to laminate
each page, and then have them saddle-bound by stapling, or plastic comb-bound,
so that they will lie flat and can be used over and over.
This
will be a real keepsake as the child continues on through preschool and K-12
school. This is the sort of preschool project that usually is displayed at the
high school graduation party! So take time to make it really nice.
