New York State Elementary Test Prep: ELA 4- Kindergarten

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault

Read this book aloud several times to the children, allowing them to read along with you. Tear brown construction paper into tubes to represent tree trunks. Tear and glue green leaves to top. The children can use cut out letters or letter stamps to act out the story. You can also use this as an on-going bulletin board: each time a new letter is introduced, read the story or listen to it on cassette (the cassette also has the book being sung by Ray Charles) and staple the upper and lower case letters to a construction paper coconut tree on the board.

Alphabet Bugs by David A. Carter

After reading this book aloud, give the children cut out letters to identify. Once they have identified a letter, allow them to use the letter as the basis for creating alpha-bugs. Provide sequins, feathers, eyes, etc., to encourage creativity. Have the children think of a name for their alpha-bug ("A-fly", "J-phid", etc.) and share with the class. Store in a decorated box to allow children to continue to explore letter names.

Black and White Rabbit's ABC by Alan Baker

Read aloud and discuss the letters and objects. Have on hand a variety of rabbits traced on white paper (enlarge the rabbits from the book and trace). Have the children paint the rabbits with diluted black paint, leaving some white on the rabbits. Have each child identify a letter and either paint free-hand or use a pre-traced letter. Cut both out, attach the letters to the rabbits' paws and share with class.

The Alphabet Tree by Leo Lionni

This books lends itself beautifully to a discussion about letters, words and sentences. It allows the children to begin to understand the concept that letters make words and words make sentences to communicate ideas, while offering a message of peace and goodwill. Read the book and discuss the various letters on the pages. Allow the children to roll brown construction paper into tubes, cut traced leaves out of green and staple to the top of the tube/trunk, forming trees. The children can then use alphabet stamps to stamp letters (or words, depending upon individual levels) on the tree leaves. Share with class, identifying the letters they stamped.

Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson

This is a wordless picture book in which the letters of the alphabet are "hidden" within the city scenes. No reading is required and the kids can hunt through the pages to find the letters and to determine how the letters were made. For example, the letter A on the front cover and the first page is created from the legs of a sawhorse. Z can be found by tracing a fire escape. Students can go on an alphabet hunt around the school to determine if their environment has any hidden letter formations; if so, take digital pictures and assemble into a book called Alphabet School.

Reading is fun!