Teacher’s Brain

Simple Strategies to Teach Alphabet Letter Writing In Elementary

As teachers to little learners, we know the crucial role that letter writing plays in developing strong literacy skills. Kindergarten is an exciting time for the kiddos to embark on their journey of reading and writing, and mastering the ABCs is a foundational step! 

If you’re wondering how to teach alphabet writing, you’re in the right place. 

letter writing activities

In this blog post, I’ll share some friendly tips and engaging activities that will help your kindergartners practice and perfect their alphabet letter writing skills. So, grab your favorite marker and let’s dive in!

Introduce Letter Writing Gradually

Begin by introducing the letters of the alphabet one by one, focusing on both uppercase and lowercase forms. Each week, dedicate time to a specific letter, allowing ample practice before moving on to the next. Encourage students to trace the letters using their fingers or with tactile materials, fostering familiarity with the shapes and strokes.

Multisensory Approach

Engage your students’ senses and make it FUN by incorporating a variety of activities to reinforce letter writing. Use playdough to shape letters, allowing them to experience the tactile sensation. Draw letters in sand or shaving cream for a sensory experience that reinforces muscle memory. This multisensory approach not only makes learning enjoyable but also supports their kinesthetic and visual learning styles.

Letter Formation Songs and Rhymes

What kiddo doesn’t love music and rhymes?! Use catchy tunes or create your own letter formation songs to help children remember the proper formation of each letter. Singing and dancing along to the songs not only makes learning fun but also helps reinforce the visual and auditory aspects of letter recognition and writing.

Letter Tracing Activities

Provide your students with tracing worksheets that guide them in forming letters correctly. Just make sure that the worksheets have large, clear letters, and ample space for practice. You can encourage them to use a variety of writing tools, such as markers, crayons, or colored pencils, to keep their interest high. You can also laminate the worksheets to create reusable surfaces, allowing for repetitive practice.

Hands-on Manipulatives

Incorporate hands-on manipulatives to make letter writing interactive. Use magnetic letters, foam letters, or letter tiles for children to arrange and build words. This not only reinforces letter recognition but also helps students associate sounds with symbols, building phonemic awareness alongside letter writing skills.

Letter Writing Crafts and Art Projects

Combine creativity with letter writing by incorporating alphabet crafts and art projects. Encourage children to create collages using magazine cut-outs of objects that begin with the letter they are learning. They can also form letters using various materials like pipe cleaners, yarn, or clay. You can even get some finger-paint out and allow them to create art by painting letters! These activities not only reinforce letter formation but also foster fine motor skills.

If you are looking for the perfect resource for alphabet letter writing or letter writing activities, I have you covered! 

Grab the Alphabet Writing Practice Pages, Tracing Worksheets & Crafts Bundle! 

letter writing activities

Letter recognition and sounds are so important for students to grasp quickly and what better way than to practice! Use these printables and crafts in centers, whole group, small group, or for homework. This is an A-Z bundle!

These provide hands-on options as well as worksheets to help with busy mornings. Students will learn how to work independently after the first couple of letter sets are used because every unit follows the same pattern. There are plenty of things to choose from for the week if you are doing a letter a week. Students will practice fine motor skills with writing, cutting, and tracing.

letter writing activities

What is the download?

  • Letter A (16 printables which includes 3 crafts, a spinning game, letter identification, forming letters, playdough letters, BINGO daubing, tracing letters (upper and lowercase), letter sounds, and beginning sounds of words.) 
  • Letter B (16 printables which includes 3 crafts, a spinning game, letter identification, forming letters, playdough letters, BINGO daubing, tracing letters, letter sounds, and beginning sounds of words.) See Previews
  • Letters C-Z (These will follow the same format as units for letters A & B, but with different crafts.) 
  • Over 450 Print & Go pages
letter writing practice

Want to try it out first? No problem! Grab the freebie here! 

letter activities

If you love these ideas, I share even more alphabet practice activities here! 

5 Beach Themed Resources for Your Beachy Classroom

Ahoy there! 

As the waves of a new school year approach, it’s time to dive into a world of creativity and adventure in our elementary classrooms. 

beach themed resources

Today, I want to dive into the delightful wonders of bringing beach themed resources into the classroom. So grab your sunscreen and join me on this journey that will have your students riding the waves of excitement while learning important skills along the way!

How do you have a beach day in the classroom?

As teachers, we know how important it is to create a captivating and engaging atmosphere in our classrooms. By incorporating beach-themed resources, we can transform our learning spaces into sunny, sandy shores where imaginations soar and students thrive. 

From shells to surfboards, the beach offers a treasure trove of possibilities that will captivate and inspire our little learners.

One of the greatest advantages of using beach-themed resources is the versatility they bring to our teaching. Whether you’re teaching math, language arts, science, or social studies, there’s a seashell, starfish, or sandcastle waiting to enhance your lesson plans! 

These resources can be easily integrated into various subjects, helping us create interdisciplinary connections that deepen our students’ understanding of the world around them.

Here are the top five beach resources to use in your classroom this year! 

Beach Themed Classroom Decor

beach themed activities

Bring the relaxing calm feel of Hawaii to your classroom! This is a Hawaiian Beach Themed Classroom Decor Editable BUNDLE with pineapples and palm trees! It has 6 Resources bundled using Hawaii photographs and watercolor clip art and bundled for a LOW price.

Beach Themed Visual Schedule 

beach themed visual schedule

Need a way to help your class transition to the next task and display your schedule for all to see easily? I have you covered with this editable BEACH THEMED PowerPoint schedule! Use these cards on a pocket chart, wall, or magnetic board to easily edit and move your schedule around. Allow students to take a card to the next task, if they have trouble transitioning.

Beach Party Turtle Mystery Escape Room

beach themed escape room

Are you ready to be the most memorable teacher of a child’s life? Use these step-by-step instructions to guarantee student engagement while they practice addition, writing, and reading skills to solve a classroom mystery and SAVE the stolen sea turtle eggs. 

With a little prep, your students will work as a team to break into a box, which breaks them out of the classroom as they beat the clock! This Escape Room involves a missing turtle egg mystery that leads your students to a beach day!

Virtual Beach Field Trip

beach themed virtual field trip

Be every student’s favorite teacher by taking them to the beach from your classroom! Virtual Field trips are a great way engage students in learning.  Use these interactive, editable Google Slides to easily have students copy and paste movable parts, learn about beach safety, ocean life, what to bring to the beach and so much more!

Beach Themed Day Resources

beach themed day

Are you looking for great Beach theme celebration ideas for your classroom? Students love to learn about the beach so why not incorporate a beach theme into your classroom that integrates math, science, and language arts! Be that teacher they remember!

For more beach themed classroom fun, check out my post here! 

What are your favorite beach themed resources? Let me know in the comments! 

Engaging Weather Activities For Kids in Elementary

One of my favorite topics to teach when I was in the classroom was weather patterns! There are so many weather patterns activities that you can do with early elementary students that are engaging and fun for students! 

weather activities

If you’re looking for weather activities for kids or weather STEM activities, you’re in the right place!

The ideas I’m sharing today are perfect for early learners, ideally preschool through first grade. Weather is such an exciting topic, and I hope these ideas will make learning about it a breeze!

Create a Weather Collage

Provide your kiddos with a variety of weather-related pictures from magazines or printouts. Ask them to cut out the pictures and create a weather collage by sorting and pasting them onto a large piece of paper or poster board. They can categorize the pictures into different weather types, such as sunny, rainy, snowy, or windy. 

Play some Weather Bingo

To do this activity, create a weather-themed Bingo game by making Bingo cards with different weather symbols or pictures. Use weather-related vocabulary like sun, cloud, rain, snow, and wind. Call out the words or show picture cards, and students can mark the corresponding symbol on their Bingo cards. Your students will love this game!

Take a Weather Walk

Take your students on a weather walk around the schoolyard or a nearby outdoor area. Ask them to observe and document the current weather conditions. They can draw pictures or take notes about what they see, feel, and hear. After the walk, gather as a group and discuss their observations, allowing them to share their experiences and develop their descriptive skills.

Try out Weather Dramatic Play

Set up a weather-themed dramatic play area in your classroom. Include props like hats, umbrellas, raincoats, sunglasses, and fans. Encourage students to dress up and pretend they are experiencing different weather conditions. They can take turns being the weather reporter, describing the weather and acting out corresponding movements. This is such a fun play-based activity! 

Try a Weather Science Experiment

For example, fill a clear jar or container with hot water and place a small dish of ice on top. As the steam rises and hits the cold lid, it will condense and form “rain” that falls back into the jar. Explain to students how this demonstrates the water cycle and how rain is formed. So fun and simple!

If you are looking for the perfect resource for your weather patterns lessons in kindergarten and first grade, check out this resource! 

weather activities

This week unit is loaded with enough resources to stretch it out for two weeks, if needed! If you need to teach weather patterns, the water cycle, rainbows, and more, I’ve got you covered with engaging activities and printables to make your life easy!

weather activities

What’s included?

•Pg. 1 Cover

•Pg. 2 Table of Contents

•Pg. 3 Lesson Plan

•Pg. 4 Standards

•Pg. 5-7 HOME CONNECTION Meteorologist Project

•Pg. 8 Weather (KWL Chart)

•Pg. 9 Act Out Animal Motions

•Pg. 10 Rain (tune of Bingo)

•Pg. 11 Circle and Count the weather pictures

•Pg. 12 Venn Diagram- Sunny and Rainy

•Pg. 13 Venn Diagram Answer Key

•Pg. 14 Crazy Weather Facts to Read to the Class

•Pg. 15 Crazy Weather Facts Writing Paper

•Pg. 16 Label the Weather Picture

•Pg. 17 Weather Mini Book 

•Pg. 18 Cut and paste the weather picture

•Pg. 19 Draw and write about the weather cycle

•Pg. 20 Write a Weather Report about facts you learned from this study.

•Pg. 21 Rainbow Dot Art (Craft)

•Pg. 22 Easy Cloud Science Inquiry Lesson (Enrichment Activity)

•Pg. 23-27 Posters 

•Pg. 28-36 Science Journal with Word Bank, 5 Day Weather Tracker and Rubric

•Pg. 37 Photo Example

•Pg. 38 Credits

weather activities

What are your favorite weather activities for kids? Let me know in the comments! For more weather fun, check out my post here!

3 Magical Ways To Have A Wizard Theme Day With Your Students

Raise your hand if you love Harry Potter! Don’t we all? There’s just something so magical about The Boy Who Lived and his incredible story. It’s been captivating kids since the late nineties! 

I am all about incorporating student interests in order to get them more engaged in what they’re learning, and Harry Potter, naturally, is one interest that never fails to capture their attention. If you’re looking for Harry Potter theme day activities, you’re in the right place! 

wizard theme day

Theme days in elementary are great for getting students more engaged in what’s going on in the classroom. 

Here are three enchanted ways to have a wizard theme day in your classroom (plus a bonus activity!)

  1. Magical Decor and Costumes: Transform your classroom into a mystical realm by adding enchanting decorations. Hang colorful banners with stars and moons (or house colors!), and create a magical atmosphere with twinkling lights. 

Encourage students to dress up as wizards, witches, or fantastical creatures to fully immerse themselves in the theme. Provide props such as wizard hats, capes, and wands for those who may not have their own costumes. This will spark their imagination and set the stage for a day of wizardry and wonder.

  1. Spellbinding Lessons: Incorporate the wizard theme into your lessons for an engaging and educational experience. Introduce a “Potion Making” activity where students explore mixtures and chemical reactions using harmless ingredients. 

You can also teach “Wizard Math” by turning math problems into magical quests and challenges. Additionally, have students create their own spellbooks where they write creative stories or practice spelling and vocabulary. 

  1. Magical Games and Activities: Organize a variety of wizard-inspired games and activities to keep the excitement alive throughout the day. Set up a “Wand Dueling” tournament where students use foam or paper wands to cast spells on each other, promoting friendly competition and physical activity. 

Create a scavenger hunt with riddles and clues that lead students to find hidden magical artifacts around the school. You can even host a “Magical Creatures Parade” where students showcase their homemade creatures and share interesting facts about them. 

If you’re looking for the perfect resource to end out your magical wizard theme day, I have you covered! This virtual field trip to a Wizard School is just what you need! 

wizard theme day

Virtual Field trips are a great way to engage students in learning.  Use these interactive, editable Google Slides to easily have students use movable parts, learn about Fiction and non-fiction, the life cycle of a frog, what to bring on a trip and so much more!

wizard theme day

This also makes for a great book companion!

What is in this download?

28 Google Slides with Titles, Edit Text Boxes, Directions, Movable Parts 

GREAT for Virtual or In-Person Teaching

  • KWL Chart
  • Packing A Suitcase for the Trip
  • 1 Minute Take OFF Flight Video
  • 13-minute Wizard School Field Trip Video (Review Fiction and Non-Fiction Definitions, Learn about the Frog Life Cycle and take a Wizard School Adventure)
  • Sequencing Events, 3 Writing Prompts, Counting Objects (under 10), Labeling Parts, Frog Life Cycle Song, and Comprehension Questions
  • One extra slide for you to add anything you would like to the lesson. (videos or an assignment)
  • Home Connection Optional Assignment for students to write a fiction letter, potion recipe, or story. 
  • Black and white ink-saving Writing Pages and Home Connection Page for in-person teaching.

Check it out here! 

For more theme day ideas, check out my post here! 

What are your favorite theme days to do with your students? Let me know in the comments!