Awesome Alphabet Songs and Videos

Hi friends! It's Alex from The Kindergarten Connection. I don't know about your class, but in my class, we LOVE to sing! 

We sing songs all the time, and they really help us learn. I often find favorites on YouTube that we can learn to sing, and then also watch the video. It engages my kids and lets them learn in a fun way!

Since it is the beginning of the year, we are focusing hard on the alphabet! Here are some of our favorite alphabet songs! 

Learnin' My Letters! by Harry Kindergarten 

This is a fun rap for kids and has simple, catchy, repetitive text! A nice break from the traditional ABC's, and we can get up and move to the beat a bit!

ABC Phonics Song by The Learning Station

This one is a little slower and great for really looking at letters and their individual sounds. It combines, letters, sounds, and a word that starts with the sound.

Alphabet Song by Have Fun Teaching

This is upbeat and even while it's sung like a rap, you can hear the tune of the traditional ABC's in the background. It also goes through the capital letters as well as the lowercase letters, which I really like!

Letters Sounds Song by KidsTV123

This is a slower one and I love it for transitions. I often put it on as they are cleaning up or after lunch when we need a few minutes of rest time. It is calming but still one they start to sing along to. Simple, yet they are learning!

The ABC Song by KidsTV123

This is the traditional ABC song, (or very similar to it) but I like how it shows one letter popping up at a time, first in uppercase A-Z then in lowercase a-z. It helps them know that as we sing we are saying ONE letter at a time (especially for l, m, n, o, and p)  :)

And... just for fun - we love this one....

Backwards Alphabet Song by ABCMouse.com

This is mostly just for fun, but my class enjoys a moment for silly and also to see if they can, indeed, say the alphabet backwards!  :)

What are your favorite alphabet songs? I would love to add more to my collection for my class!

Blending Sounds to Improve Fluency

Hi everyone! I am Pam from Mrs. P's Specialties. I am so excited to be part of this group of amazing teachers and bloggers. There is nothing more exciting than hearing and sharing ideas!!

I'm here to talk to you about teaching students to move beyond individual letter sounds to blending sounds into a word. 

This Blending Sounds Fluency set has been so helpful in helping my students move towards fluent reading. In my classroom I have students of all levels and abilities, so I have designed this set to be flexible and easy to adapt. 

Here is how I use the set for students who know individual letter sounds:

Next, students slide their finger along the arrow as they say the three sounds quickly. This can be a hard concept for students at first. Sometimes, for my visual learners, I add a hand signal to help students understand that you say the sounds "fast". I move my hand from left to right quickly as I model saying the sounds quickly. 

Lastly, students find the picture that matches the word they read. 

Here is what it looks like after a student has read and found the matching picture:

If you have some students that aren't yet ready for this full center you can modify it in a couple different ways:

1. Have students only work on labeling the individual sounds.

2. Have one student sound out and read the word while another student is only responsible for finding the matching picture.

3. Give students the card with the matching picture already attached. Have students practice spelling the words or practice "reading" the word based on the picture. This option is a great time to talk to students about looking at pictures for clues when you come to an unknown word. 

This sound blending set has been very helpful in getting my students to become fluent readers. If you are interested in more details, click HERE.

CVC Sliders & FREEBIE

Hi, friends!  Ashley here from One Sharp Bunch.  Before I share my "Make-It Monday," I'd like to take some time to introduce myself.  Let's see...I honestly live a pretty normal life, nothing too crazy.  When I'm not teaching or creating, I like to spend time boating with my hubby.  It's my most favorite way to relax; and since the summers here in Michigan are relatively short, we try to hit the water as much as we can.  During the school year, I spend my time enjoying my sweet kinders.  I have been a kindergarten teacher for 11 years, and I can honestly say it is my passion!

One of the things I love most about kindergarten is the students' eagerness to learn.  They are like little sponges absorbing every little thing they hear or see.  Plus, everyone loves everyone, and that makes my teacher heart happy!  Kindness in kindergarten... it's the little things!

I take a very hands-on approach to learning.  I want my kiddos interacting and manipulating something while they are learning...so it is no surprise that I created these CVC sliders.

I wanted the beads color-coded, so that my students would know to slide the green bead for the beginning sound, the yellow bead for the middle sound, and the red bead for the ending sound.  Think of it as a stoplight...green means go and stretch it out, yellow means say the sounds slowly, and red means stop at the end of the word.  I actually made two different versions of CVC sliders. 

One set of sliders used wooden beads and shoelaces.  I, and by "I" I mean my hubby, simply spray painted the beads green, yellow, and red.  The beads are 20mm and came from Joann's.

The other set of CVC sliders were made with acrylic beads and pipe cleaners (again from Joann's).  I cut the pipe cleaner in half, added the beads, and knotted each end.  This set was far less time-consuming to make, and I am very certain my hubby thanked me for not having to spray paint anymore beads.  Ha!

If you all know me, I couldn't just stop there!  I HAD to create some CVC slider word cards with picture support...

word cards without picture support...

and picture segmenting cards.

The colored coded dots on each card are perfect for left-to-right directionality.  First, we touch each colored dot as we say each sound.  Then, we slide our finger across the arrow as we blend the sounds together to form the word.

We also use our color coded CVC slider as we segment the word.  The students will slide one bead for each phoneme in the word.  After sliding all three beads and saying all three phonemes, they will push the beads back and say the word.  In the beginning of the year, I like to use the cards with pictures to provide extra support.

As the students become better at segmenting and blending, we will use just the color coded word cards.  This is a bit more difficult, as the students are not able to rely on the picture support when blending the sounds back together.

To differentiate even further, we often use the CVC Slider picture cards.  These cards require oral segmentation of the word without letter support, which is a much more difficult skill.

I am so happy I made the CVC slider strings and cards!  They really have helped my struggling readers segment words and blend sounds. Feel free to grab the sample below to give them a try in your classroom!

I have discounted the full set of my CVC Sliders containing 107 picture cards and 150 word cards for today only!

I hope you have enjoyed this Make-It Monday!  Until next time!