We are starting off 2022 with a look at some alphabet books. Alphabet books are a wonderful way to build understanding of the alphabetic principle, how letters represent sounds. Alphabet books are also fantastic for building vocabulary and often have pictures that promote engagement and conversation around the book.
Our first book (January 11-13)was A is for Axel by Kurt Browning. We talked about Kurt Browning and how he is a figure skating expert who shared his knowledge in the form of an alphabet book.
If your child would like to learn more about figure skating Olympics.com has a great overview that includes facts, videos and information. If you would like to learn more about Kurt Browning check out Kiddle for an information page on his life and career.
Our second book, for the week of January 18-20, is Alphabeasts. This is a fun and quirky alphabet book that highlights Walace Edwards artistic expression, with simple but engaging rhyming text .
Alphabeasts is a winner of a Governor Generals Literary award. If you would like to learn more about the Governor Generals literary Award check out the webpage here.
January 25-27 we will be sharing local Author Shasta McCoy’s book The Alphabet Mandalas. We will examine the beautiful photographs in the Mandala’s for each letter of the alphabet and talk about the local plants, rocks and minerals featured. We will also talk about list type alphabet books and search and find type books.
Please talk to your child about the books we have shared and consider checking out a new alphabet book soon. A list of Alphabet books found in our library is available here.
A fun game you can play is to think of a category (animals, hockey words, winter words) and challenge your child to think of a word for each letter of the alphabet. It’s okay if you can’t think of one, consult google and see if you can learn a new word. A variation for a student who is writing independently is to label a piece of paper with the letters of the alphabet and see how many words they can come up with in a set amount of time.
You may consider writing and illustrating your own Alphabet book as the students in Ms. Baller’s K-1 class did last year. Check out their book here.