Alphabet Ornaments

We've been decorating our classroom for the holidays this week, as part of our focus theme of families and things that they do together. I pulled out a small, artificial tree that we don't use anymore, and let the kids decorate it for dramatic play. But I decided to add a literacy element so that we could also use the tree as a learning tool.

I cut red and green foam into circles, wrote an alphabet letter on each one, and punched a hole in the top. I decided to do both upper- case and lower-case letters on separate colors to help scaffold a later activity. 

Here are some activity ideas for using these letter ornaments. 

Fine Motor

I involved the students in helping me to finish the ornaments by threading pipe cleaner through the hole, and twisting the top to secure a hanging loop. Many students jumped right into identifying the letters on their ornaments, and some searched to find the letters in their names.

Sorting

When they finished threading an ornament, they sorted it into my sorting box by color. 

We might return to this sorting activity later, with a focus on upper and lower case letters. 

A letter formation extension to this process could be tracing over the letters with glitter glue or puff paint and letting them dry before placing them on the tree. 

Dramatic Play

Once all the ornaments were threaded and ready to hang, we added them to our other tree decorations in the dramatic play room. The kids were really excited about decorating the tree. 

Letter Matching

 I strategically placed the tree next to the world wall so that we could make connections between the ornaments and the letters and words we use on a daily basis. At first when I noticed kids selecting alphabet ornaments, I would give them a challenge to find that same letter on the word wall before putting it on the tree. This opened up conversations about the letter name, sounds, and even words that started with that letter, if there was a word for that letter up on the wall. Some of the more tricky letters also led to conversations about letter formation and made for great visual discrimination practice. After a while I let the kids interact with the ornaments on their own, but some students would still come up asking about a certain letter they didn't recognize. 

We will still be using the ornaments even now that the tree is decorated. This ABC order, matching puzzle is one example of an activity that could be student or teacher led.

You could also take down a set amount of upper- and lower-case letters to play a memory matching game. I kept upper- and lower-case letters different colors for this reason, to give a visual cue for the type of letters. Depending on the level of the student, you could play this game with the letters face down or face up. 

Letter Hunt/"I Spy"

We will also play a letter hunt or "I Spy" game in different ways, depending on student needs. For example, I may ask one student to find a letter on the tree that makes a certain sound, or to find a letter in their name, etc.