The ABC chart is a great tool to use when teaching the alphabet. It helps children with letter recognition, letter sounds, and letter-sound correspondence. We have always used an abc chart with pictures to help kids associate the sounds with the letters. There are so many ways to use an abc letter chart. This is a great upper and lowercase abc chart for preschool or kindergarten!
How to Use an ABC Picture Chart
We have used an abc chart for kids in so many ways: in reading and writing workshops, small groups and whole group. Read on for 6 ways you can use this versatile chart. Get this free printable abc chart by signing up to our email list below.
1. Learning the Alphabet With an ABC Chart
When students are just learning the alphabet, teach them to point to the letters on the a b c chart as they sing the alphabet song. Have them sing slowly so they can keep up with pointing to each letter, especially around l-m-n-o-p.
2. Letter/Sound Association
Help kids associate the letters to their sounds with our letter sounds chart. Tap on each letter and picture associated with the letter as you say the name of the letter and the picture. Then tap on each letter and picture again as you say the sound the letter makes (ex. A..a..alligator, /a/…/a/…alligator).
3. Alphabet Match with an Alphabet Chart
Give the students magnetic alphabet letters or alphabet tiles and have them find where the letters go on the abc’s chart. When they find the matching letter, they place the magnetic letter on top of the letter on the chart. Working as fast as they can will help children with letter recall. You may want to start out with just a few letters. If you are working with a small group of students, you can give them each a handful of letters and race against each other. When working with one student, time them as they put the letters on the chart, then have them try to beat their time.
4. Letter Hunt
Kids love searching for things. After each student gets an abc alphabet chart, we tell them to put on their imaginary detective cap for this fun activity! The teacher says, “We are going on a letter hunt! I am going to tell you the sound the letter makes and you are going to search for the letter and point it out when you find it. Can you find the letter that makes the sound /p/?” Students search and point to it as soon as they find it.
5. Reading Workshop With Printable ABC Charts
Keep this abc printable chart next to your student as they are reading. When they come across a word or sound they don’t know, have them refer to the chart to find the beginning letter and see what sound it makes. Once they find the sound, go back to the word they didn’t know to try it again (now that they know the beginning sound). Check out our alphabet books like the one in the picture; great for sight words and beginning sounds.
6. Writing Workshop
Demonstrate how to use this chart when trying to sound out and write words. (ex. “I know bat starts with /b/…/b/ , what else starts the same way?” Look at chart, find bear. “/b/../b/..bear…bear and bat both start with /b/. Bat must begin with b.” Students write b on their paper.) Give students a copy of the abcs chart to keep in their writing folder or writing notebook.
ABC Chart How To Video
Watch this video for detailed instruction on how to use this chart in so many ways.
Free Alphabet Chart
Our kindergarten abc chart is perfect to hang in your classroom and/or use as handouts, and it’s free. To get our abc chart free printable, scroll up towards the top of this post and sign up for our email list. You will not only get this printable abc chart, but you will get the latest updates and special freebies that we only give our subscribers.
More ABC Fun
This alphabet video goes perfectly with our animal abc chart printable. Jack Hartmann videos are always a student favorite, and this one is fantastic!
Using a Different ABC Chart:
We love alphabet charts and have used many different ones in our classrooms. You can do the activities above with a different chart. However, Amanda Morgan explains why it’s important to choose your alphabet chart carefully… and we agree! Read her article, Does Your Alphabet Chart Need to be Recalled?
Alphabet Worksheets
Looking for other great alphabet worksheets? We’ve got plenty; CVC word worksheets, Word Family worksheets, Digraph worksheets and so many more. Click here to check out our Alphabet curriculum! You can get individual worksheets, or you can get a year long curriculum to teach the alphabet!
2 Responses
the alphabet chart that reflect the letter N and U i can never remember them for the life of me …. they are to foreign for my grandson! what can i do?
The letter Nn is a narwhal and the letter Uu is an umbrella bird. Hope your grandson loves the chart.