Letter matching activity

I created these alphabet matching cards last summer for my kindergarten class. They have become very popular during centers. It is great listening to little 5 year olds talk in Greek about the pictures. It is even better watching them identify the lower case letter that matches the capital letter on the card.

To make them last, I printed them out on card stock paper and laminated them. The clothespins were purchased at the local discount store. If you use these at home or in your class, I would love your feedback!

Our Word Wall

It's an exciting time in Kindergarten!! We have reviewed all the letters of the alphabet and we are beginning to read words and sentences. The photo above is of our classroom word wall, where we put words that we know how to read. We review these words every session and include them in our word journals.

In this class, we follow the curriculum set out by Papaloizos Publishing for Kindergarten, so most of the words included in this area are from the chapters we have completed so far.

Καλή Χρονιά!

Happy New Year!

What better way to welcome the new year than by making a Greek calendar and learning the months of the year.

To find a template for a 2011 calendar in Greek from Microsoft Office, click here.



Have your students draw a picture depicting each of the 12 months of the year, add those drawings to the calendar, bind and there you have it, a Greek calendar for 2011 for them to practice the months, days of the week and seasons. You could even go through each month to highlight special days like Easter, 25th of March, OXI Day etc.

I can't wait to get started making these tomorrow!

Greek Bingo Cards

Image from bingocardscreator.com

Visit Bingo Cards Creator to make
Greek Alphabet bingo cards.

This great site allows you to make boards for
upper and lower case Greek letters.

Greek alphabet activity game/pocket chart

I use this chart in class for any number of activities. As a class we pull words out and sound them out together. We also practice putting the words in alphabetical order. The children work independently by picking words and writing them in their word journals, and testing each other on what the words say.

The word strips used for this can be found at the Cypriot Ministry of Education and Culture site, where they were origianlly used as words for a letter neighborhood (the letter neighborhood is explained in their post, and has pictures to go along with the explanation so you can see how it was implemented in a classroom setting). Click on the link that says Καρτέλες λέξεων-γραμμάτων . For durability, laminate all the word strips and letters and place a piece of velcro on the back so they can easily be placed and removed from the yellow section of the chart.

The letter pocket chart can be found at Discount School Supply. Simply print out the Greek alphabet and glue it over the English letters. In the photo above, vowels and consonants were printed out in different colors (red for vowels and blue for consonants just like they do at American school), and laminated before being pasted onto the chart.

If you would like more pictures for your chart, print out this wonderful resource, Η Αλφαβήτα Ταξιδεύει from Ε.ΔΙΑ.Μ.ΜΕ.

Twister anyone?

Not too long ago, I attended an early childhood educator conference where I took part in a session called "make and take". For those of you who are not familiar with this, basically, there were a couple of presenters who showed us how they take everyday items and make them into effective teaching tools. At that time, I was struggling with how to teach my Greek school class in such a way that the children would learn and have fun at the same time. I searched the internet for items to bring into my class, but really could not find any. My point in all this is to tell you something that the presenter said that really changed things for me. She said, there are teachers who buy things to use in their class, and then there are teachers who use the things around them and create things to help their children learn. Wow! That was so liberating. Yes, I could create things out of nothing and make them effective learning tools.

So, as I was cleaning out my children's game cabinet, I came upon a "Twister" mat with no spinner (my children have an abnormal fascination with game spinners). As I was about to put it into the recycling bin, I counted the circles...hhmmm...24 circles and then it hit me, I could repurpose this into a Greek alphabet game. So I drew out the letters of the alphabet on each circle, and the rest is history. My students enjoy this so much, my kids ask me to bring it home so they can play with it, and the best part is, they are learning their letters in the process. Not only that, but it teaches them left from right and body parts!

It is easy to make... find a "Twister" mat and with permanent markers draw a letter in each circle. If you do not have a mat, simply go to the dollar store and purchase a plain shower curtain. Lay it out on the floor, use a dish or bowl to make 24 circles and then draw the letters in the circles. Voila.. a useful game that cost you a buck!

To play, simply call out the letter sound, or a word that begins with a certain letter sound, tell the kids to place either their left or right foot on the letter circle you called out and have fun!

I have also used this as a matching game for upper case and lower case letters. If you put capital letters on your mat, print out or write out the lower case letters on index cards, and have the children take turns matching the letters.

Alphabet Work in class

We use many kinds of manipulatives in class to help us learn the alphabet and letter sounds. Here are some of my favorites....

Alphabet Wall: This is one of my best teaching tools! Children take turns using the alphabet wall to point out letters and for reference when doing their work.

Stamping: I have found so many uses for these Greek stamps! One of my favorite activities is having the children use this alphabet chart to match lower case and upper case letters!

Alphabet Bingo: Children take turns pulling a piece of the Greek alphabet puzzle out of a bag and call out the sound the letter makes.

Alphabet magnets with a magnetic board: These help children learn letters, spell words and match upper and lower case letters.