Creating Class Made ABC Books

Reading ABC Books and creating our own have always been an enjoyable learning experience for me and my students. I have given you ideas about some in my previous blogs, but I wanted to share a few more with you today. Maybe you will make a few with your students before the year is over, or use some of these ideas when you start a new year in August or September. Each year I choose a few class books to save for myself, and the rest I give away to students. The ones I have chosen to keep I will treasure forever.

Publish an ABC Book of children’s names in your class. Add parent letters of where their child’s name comes from or what the child's name means. Students could write acrostic or draw pictures of favorite things.

Publish a student illustrated ABC Big Book where there are several different children’s illustrations on one page .  Have students illustrate or find pictures in magazines that represent simple ideas like “birthday” for b “sleep” for s.  

Photograph one student or several students forming the letters of the alphabet with their bodies. They would have to lay on the floor while you stood on a desk above them. You can have them form the upper and lowercase letter and mount them on a page with the letter written in the corner.  Title the book “You, Me & the ABC’s”.  

Have each student hold an object that represents each letter sound and print and mount these photographs into a book. Remember printing from the computer in black in white is easier and just as cool to the kids as a regular photograph.

One year for our track and field day we created placards showing the A-Z of Sports: archery, baseball, coach, diving, energetic, football, golf, hockey, ice skating, jump rope, kickball, limbo, medal, net, outdoors, parachute, quarterback, running, soccer, tennis, umpire, volleyball, water skiing, xcellence, yo-yo, zoom!

A-Z of the Classroom: alphabet, boys, computer, desk, easel, flag, girls, hands, intercom, jackets, key, lunchboxes, markers, numbers, overhead, pencils, quilt, rug, scissors, teacher, umbrellas, vase, windows, xylophone, yardstick, zippers  

A-Z of Favorite Foods: applesauce, bananas, cookies, eggs, doughnuts, fish, gum, hamburgers, ice-cream, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, lemonade, milk, noodles, pizza, queso, raisins, spaghetti, toast, upside down cake, vegetables, watermelon, XOXO’s  (Hershey’s Kisses) yogurt, zucchini 

Here are a few more ideas to get you thinking! ABC’s of Your School,  The ABC’s of Your City, The ABC’s of Being a Kid, The Angry Alphabet Book, The Scary Alphabet Book, A-Z of Toys, and the A-Z of Birthdays ( don’t forget to tie in adjectives like ”surprised” and “excited”).

We don't always think of something for every letter, but we certainly try and we do our research on the Internet after we have exhausted our own ideas. Don't forget to read Alphabet Books as well throughout the year. They run the gambit from extremely simple to deeply thoughtful and clever. There are so many fabulous ones to choose from, but here are some of my favorites. 

The Turn-Around, Upside-Down Alphabet Book & The Letters Are Lost by Lisa Cambell Ernst.

Farm Alphabet Book by Jane Miller

Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood

Bad Kitty & Poor Puppy by Nick Bruel

Many Luscious Lollipops by Ruth Heller

ABC I Like Me! by Nancy L Carlson

The Z Was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg

Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth

Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak

On Beyond Zebra by Dr. Seuss

The Butterfly Alphabet Book by Kjell B. Sandved

Q is For Duck by Folsom & Elting

Tomorrow's Alphabet by George Shannon

ABC is easy as 123!~ The Jackson 5