Writing Activities
Make Your Own ABC Book
There are endless possibilities for having children create their own alphabet books. This is a project that can be done individually or collaboratively with each child making a page for one letter. Let them dictate a story or sentence to you and have them add their own pictures. Older children can independently write their own text with corresponding illustrations. Have ABC books that have fun with words such as Peter Catalanotto's Matthew A. B. C. and Judith Viorst's The Alphabet from Z to A (With Much Confusion on the Way) available for writing prompts.
Uppercase vs. Lowercase Letters
Younger children learn the important skill of differentiating between uppercase and lowercase lettersfrom many alphabet books. Use books like Alison Jay's ABC: A Child's First Alphabet Book and Sheila Moxley's An Alphabet Books of Cats and Dogs to guide children in seeing the two different forms of one letter. After you're done looking through books with clearly marked letters in both uppercase and lowercase try this fun activity from Wow! I'm Reading! Fun Activities to Make Reading Happen: (source: Hauser, Jill Frankel. Wow! I'm Reading! Fun Activities to Make Reading Happen. Charlotte, VT: Williamson Publishing, 2000.)Collect 52 plastic milk caps. Have the adult print an uppercase or lowercase letter clearly on the flat side of each cap. Sort the letters into two piles of uppercase and lowercase so that you can see each letter. Sing the ABC song with the child while searching the pile for each uppercase letter, and set the letters up in a line. Try it a second time, this time matching each lowercase letter beneath it's uppercase mate.
You can also use the plastic milk caps by placing them inside a bag. Reach inside the bag for a letter and have the child identify if it is uppercase or lowercase by yelling "uppercase," stretching arms high or "lowercase," crouching down low low.
Sentence building
Read Anita Lobel's Alison's Zinnia aloud. As you're reading ask children if they notice a pattern to the story. At the end of the book discuss how the book began the first page by starting each word with the letter "a" and ending the sentence with the letter "b." Read the book again, this time pointing out how this style continues with the second sentence using words beginning with the letter "b" and ending with a word beginning with a "c."Using a chalkboard or dry erase board let the children collaborate on a story following this style. Have the first child start a sentence with the letter "a" and end the sentence with a word beginning with "b" and so on. Encourage the children to get all the way to starting the last sentence with a word beginning in "z" and the last word beginning with "a."
Acrostic poems
After reading through acrostic ABC books such as Steven Schnur's Summer: An Alphabet Acrostic, ask children if they have ever written something in a similar style. Many will probably say that they have written their name vertically and come up with an adjective for themselves beginning with each letter of their name. Encourage them to expand on this idea by writing out a word (such as their name) and writing a poem by starting each line with that letter.