Alphabet Books

"The Letters Are Lost" and "A Gardener's Alphabet"

Two books that I feel are "must-haves" for an ABC shelf are The Letters Are Lost by Lisa Campbell Ernst and A Gardener's Alphabet by Mary Azarian.  Both books are really appealing to young children and feature letters prominently on full-page spreads in their own unique ways.

The Letters Are Lost has a little bit of a plot to it.  In the beginning, all the letters are together.  Then, one by one, they disappear to have different adventures.  I like the way the author connects the letter to where it is or what it's doing.  For example, "B tumbled into the bath" and "K hitched a ride in a kangaroo pouch."  I'm planning to put letter "P" in a bowl of popcorn, just like it's presented in the book.  I'm going to ask the children what letter they think is in the popcorn and why they think it's that letter.  I'm also going to have a treasure hunt outside, where I will hide plastic letters around the playground and have each child find one and see if they can tell me the letter's name or something that starts with that letter.

A Gardener's Alphabet introduces really neat, new vocabulary words for young children, words like "compost", "Japanese garden", "fountain" and "harvest".  I believe that children can soak up so many words when being read and shown a book.  The pictures in this book are also bold, featuring bright colors and high contrast.  There is just one word on each page, which makes this book a quick read, but there are so many wonderful ways you can integrate science as you read this book.  You can talk to the children about conservation, habitats, living things, parts of plants, and more.

Alphabet Scramble 5

I made these letters for two purposes.  One is to laminate and place in the ABC center for permanent use, and the other is to use at the beginning of the school year for the kids to glue the matching letters on the paper as an alphabet assessment.

Hands Up For Letter Sounds" by Jack Hartmann and "Who Let The Letters Out?" by Dr. Jean are really great songs to use with these activities.because they say the letters in order, they say the letter sounds, and allow the children opportunities for movement.

I made a really cool set of ABC books for guided reading that are on sale now at my TPT store.  The product is called Grocery Alphabet Books.  Click the link and take a look if you're interested!


I'm really interested in finding out what your favorite letter books are.  Please tell me about them in a comment below.