Do you have a favorite thing about teaching? While there are so many things about teaching I love and am passionate about, teaching kids to read has to be at or near the top of the list. There’s something about reading that opens our kids to new worlds. And being part of helping them unlock that . . . well, it’s pretty amazing! For our youngest learners, that starts with the alphabet. Teaching students to identify the letters and their corresponding sounds is the foundation of reading. Today I want to share some ideas and tips to help your students master the letters of the alphabet!

Teaching the Alphabet is a BIG Deal

Have you ever tried to decipher written words in a foreign language? How did it feel? Depending on your familiarity with the language, I would guess the process was a bit clunky. I know for myself that trying to read in another language feels super overwhelming really quickly! This is exactly how our students feel if they are trying to read words without first knowing all of the letters of the alphabet. This causes frustration and, ultimately, a lack of confidence. Not what we’re going for, right?!

Conversely, have you watched new readers light up with excitement when they DO know all the letters and sounds and it translates into reading?! It’s got to be one of the BEST feelings out there as a primary teacher. I want your kids to light up with excitement, and I know you do too! So, let’s talk about 10 tips for teaching that alphabet that will set your kiddos up for success!

1. Make the Alphabet Part of Your Daily Routine

This first tip is going to be a game-changer. As teachers, our schedules are packed! We’ve got a million things to cover and a short timeline to do it. Because of this, I’m a big fan of weaving practice opportunities into our daily routine. Think of this as an automated way to ensure that your kids are getting practice with the alphabet daily. You won’t even have to think about it once it becomes a habit!

There are many different ways to do this, but I’m a fan of using the morning meeting time. It happens first thing, ensuring it won’t get moved to the bottom of the list. Plan to go through the letters and their sounds each day at whatever time works best for your class. To do this, I would suggest a repetitive chant over singing the well-known alphabet song that students already know. This makes what students are learning in class different from what they already know. This daily review will provide the repetition students need to master the letters and their sounds. You can also utilize flashcards and alphabet posters to point to as you chant. Call on a different student each day to be the “pointer” and keep this fun.

2. Consider ‘Letter of the Day’

‘Letter of the Day’ is a fun way to focus on a specific letter and its sound for a day so that it gets its own dedicated focus time. Each day for the first 5-6 weeks of school, choose a focus letter and use a variety of fun activities centered around it. Here are some of the things we do for each letter:

• identify students in our room whose name starts with that letter
• go on a letter/word search around the classroom to find it
• practice naming words with that beginning sound
• letter formation rainbow writing
• letter crafts

These activities are fun and allow us to focus on each letter individually. It’s a great way to make sure that the entire class has the same foundation for each letter before moving on. If you are in a Pre-K classroom, you can translate this to Letter of the Week to be more age appropriate.

3. Print an Alphabet Chart for Each Student

Teach students to use an alphabet chart as a tool. I like to keep individual sized alphabet charts in the classroom for students to use. I also add one to their take home folders so they can reference it at home too.

As part of their evening “homework”, ask parents to randomly select letters and have children name them. As students progress, this can also be done with beginning sounds. Ask the children to produce a word that starts with ‘A’ or point to a letter and have them make the sound. Either option is a great way to get those wheels turning!

4. Be Intentional About Pointing Out Letters Everywhere

Letters of the alphabet are everywhere! Be intentional about pointing them out as you head to recess, the cafeteria, and the library. It won’t take long for your students to start pointing them out too! They will be thrilled to see what they are learning outside of the classroom! You can even assign a letter to each student to find on your way to wherever you’re going. Their task will be to stay in line and quietly search the halls for their letter. Allow a little extra time for this in your walk and get ready to be amazed by how excited your kids get!

For a fun, interactive homework activity have students find letters they know out in the community.  When they find one, have parents snap a photo and email it to you. Then, share those pictures and let students share the letter(s) they found with the class. They will love it – I promise!

5. Use Hands-on Learning to Master the Alphabet

Young children learn by doing, and tactile, hands-on activities are your best bet for alphabet mastery! This is just one of the reasons I am such a big fan of using playdough in the classroom. These Alphabet Playdough Mats will be the perfect companion to modeling dough. Students will love rolling the dough into “snakes” to form letters. Each page also includes a picture to represent the beginning sound and the word for the picture.

For more alphabet practice, these pages can also be used with mini-erasers, stickers, BINGO daubers, and even good old-fashioned crayons! No matter how you decide to use them, they are a fun and effective way to work on learning the letters of the alphabet and beginning sounds.

6. Sing and Dance the Alphabet

I think we can all agree that when you’re teaching young students, we must make room for some wiggle time! Kiddos need breaks from pencils and paper to move, sing, and dance! Why not make the most of this natural tendency and weave some alphabet songs into your day? YouTube is absolutely packed with awesome songs that will help children learn letters and sounds.

For example, this one is great! It shows both the uppercase and lowercase letters, gives the sound, and shows two words and pictures for each letter. Try using a video like this one when students seem distracted and ready for a break. I promise everyone will love being able to get up and move!

7. Give Students Lots of Opportunities to Interact with Letters

Centers are a great time to give students a variety of opportunities to work with letters. As they hunt for letters, build letters, match letters, write letters, and then do it all again, they are reviewing and reinforcing all that you are teaching them. Things like magnetic letters, puzzles, letter beads, stamps, and clip cards are all great options. It’s important to use variety in your letter activities to keep things interesting and fun! Remember, we want to keep engagement high, so the more exciting we can make center time, the better! I always keep an eye out at thrift stores and garage sales for letter games and classroom tools. You’d be amazed at what you can find out there to be repurposed in your classroom!

8. Use Alphabet Practice Pages

Another great way to weave alphabet practice into your daily routine is with engaging worksheets. For best results, choose pages that will keep students’ attention through a variety of different activities. For example, these Alphabet Practice Pages focus on letters in 6 different ways! The multi-sensory approach will not only help your students master their letters, but they’ll have fun in the process! These pages have students do the following on each page:

• name it
• trace it
• write it
• rainbow write it
• circle it
• find it

The great thing about these pages is that they’re super easy to incorporate into your lessons as well. I first introduce this page to the whole class, but after modeling it and completing it together a few times, students can easily work on it independently. I use these as part of our Letter of the Day activities or as morning work the day after we focus on the letter. These also make great homework pages, and even activities for those fast finishers in your room.

9. Read Alphabet Books

We can’t forget about alphabet books! There are so many awesome read-alouds out there to help students learn their letters. Many of them are written in a catchy, rhyming style that makes them even more fun. Incorporate these into your day, and watch as your students quickly read along with you! Here are some of our favorites:

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
• Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
• Eric Carle’s ABC by Eric Carle
• Dr. Seuss’s ABC by Dr. Seuss

Make sure to check your school and local library as well. I always find a few gems on the shelves there, too!

10. Try Alphabet Directed Drawings

Looking for one more low-prep way to practice the alphabet in your room? I know you’ll love these Alphabet Draw and Write Directed Drawing Pages! The idea behind these is that they will help give your students practice with letter recognition and letter formation while having fun learning to draw new things too! To use, students will follow the directed drawing step-by-step instructions to draw a picture for each letter. Then, they will complete the letter tracing and writing part of the page.

Students will work on uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and simple words for each letter. Finally, they add the word to a sentence. These sentences were also written to support the practice and review of simple sight words and color words, to further enhance learning! Best of all, though, these are fun! Students will enjoy following along to draw the picture for each letter. Both uppercase and lowercase letter pages are included and will be a favorite way to practice the alphabet in your classroom!

Have Fun with the Alphabet in Your Room

I hope you found a new idea to try on this list! The big takeaway here is to weave alphabet activities into your day wherever you can. The more opportunities we provide to practice and the more variety we give in our activities, the more likely our kiddos are to succeed! And don’t forget, success with the alphabet means success in future reading, so that’s a big win! If you want to take a closer look at any of the alphabet activities mentioned here, you can find them all in my TPT Shop. Happy teaching!

Looking for More?

Here’s some more primary teaching posts to read next!

• Exploring Seeds in the Classroom
• Fun Hands-On Rocks Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
• 5 Simple Ways to Weave Prewriting Skills into Your Routine

Save This Post

Make sure to pin this post on Pinterest so that you can keep these alphabet learning ideas handy!