Letters: Feel it, Build it, Write it

Some colleagues and I came up with the Feel it, Build it, Write it idea when we all agreed that we didn't want to do a whole bunch of worksheets! YUCK! We wanted students to enjoy learning how to form and write their letters not dread page after page of practice.

My texture cards on the left are just the ones with the hot glue gun.
I need to make new pom pom and sandpaper ones since I left
them at my last school for the other teacher.

Feel it:  Using the pre-made letter cards, the students run their pointer finger down/around the letter in the correct formation of writing a letter (top to bottom not bottom to up). They get to feel the different textures. Making these cards have taken a long time, but it is really helpful if you have parent volunteers. Use the following to make different textures: pom poms, sandpaper, felt, dried hot glue or any others.

Build it: Students are given supplies (popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners straws, and toothpicks) and are to build their letter. The supplies need to be cut in different sizes to form upper and lowercase letters. Students will soon figure out that pipe cleaners (unless you have other flexible supplies) are the only ones they can use for letters with curves.  Students also LOVE to use playdought to form letters, but expectations need to given and held to.

Write it: Instead of giving a full worksheet right from the beginning, I let my students write on little sentence strips (that have been laminated) with my "special pens." They are very excited to use my special pens to practice, plus they get to wipe off their work with a wet papertowel when they are done. Some sentences strips have the letters written for them to trace while others are left blank. (You will notice that I wrote the first upper and lowercase letter in black and the rest in different highlighter colors for tracing benefits).