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This activity is a crowd pleaser. Children enjoy the suspense (What letter will it be?) and the affirmation (I knew it would be D.). Keep the name of each new letter a secret until you finish writing it. Children will be excited to repeat this activity. What are children learning? They’re learning alphabetical order, letter recognition, associating capitals with their friend’s names, start at the top, and stop on a line.

Materials

• Whiteboard or blackboard with wide stop line near bottom • Erasable crayon, marker, or chalk

Activity

1. Write A, describing each step: Big Line, Big Line, Little Line. 2. Ask, Whose name begins with A? Wait for children to respond.

Adam’s name begins with A. 3. Introduce Adam. Pause to let children finish your sentences.

This is . . . Adam. Adam starts with letter . . . A.

The first sound in Adam is . . . /a/. 4. Adam signs in with a Big Line down from A. He stops on the line.

Continue to write letters so that children can sign in alphabetically.