Alphabet Notebooks

Ezra is an important part of our mornings. As a brand-new three-year-old he's very eager to do everything his older brother does, but he's just not big enough to keep up quite yet. I've been trying to find ways to include him in our work without asking him to do more than he's ready for or putting any real expectations on him.

As I was looking for ways to encourage Ender in a bit of writing when I came across the Alphabet Notebook on Homeschool Share and thought that sort of thing would be great for Ender to practice some writing without a lot of new material. He already knows all his letters and sounds, but he's ready to start writing a little more and this seemed like the perfect avenue for him. And when I really started to work on putting the material together I realized it would be a good way to include Ezra as well. He's doing every portion of this plan except for the writing. He's madly in love with scissors and cutting paper, so he's even doing all of the crafty portions.


We are going to use some of the elements from the alphabet notebook linked above, but I am creating some of my own components as well.

In order to have a schedule (which works for my very schedule-oriented son) but also maintain flexibility (which I need), I set up a plan for each week. We are planning to cover 1 letter each week, with occasional weeks off scattered in there to review. The plan for each day of the week will  stay the same week to week to provide routine for Ender. Below you'll find our generic plans. I will share pictures of our finished work every week so that you can see how our alphabet books are growing.


Monday


Decorate the letter of the week (markers, paints, stickers, whatever strikes our fancy) and discuss the sound of the letter. The decorated letter goes on our display board that we will add to all week long.


Tuesday

** Trace the letter in rice or sand with a finger and pactice the sound.
** Think of words that start with that sound to add to the display board. (I will ask Ender to write these words on cards as he is able, but I expect that to be much later in the school year. I will have him write just the first letter until he is ready for full words).
** We will also make something for the notebook page for that letter.


Wednesday

** Practice the sound of the letter of the week and review the cards we made the day before.
** Illustrate the cards
** Make something for the notebook page for that letter.


Thursday

** Painting, clay or a food for the letter of the week.
** We will review the cards and sound of the letter as well.


Friday:

** Put together our letter of the week page for the alphabet notebook.
** Revisit any activity we did that week that the boys really enjoyed.



Ender will also have copywork each day that is just the letter of the week- tracing a few and writing a few of his own.


If you'd like to follow our alphabet notebooks, I will be posting our alphabet work as a series on Mondays. I hope you'll join us and share your own alphabet ideas!