Literacy Day
A New Event on My Calendar
Schools have jazzed up the calendar with Dr. Seuss Day and with the 100th Day of School Day. These have quickly become wonderful party days in their own rights. I'm proposing a new one: ABC Day.
September 8 is already marked on calendars as International Literacy Day. I suggest that this day be celebrated by displaying the ABCs in all their 26 letter glory, dotted and curlicued and beautified. Here are some ideas for how to stage a blow out party to do just that.
Photo: TF Sherman
September 8 is already marked on calendars as International Literacy Day. I suggest that this day be celebrated by displaying the ABCs in all their 26 letter glory, dotted and curlicued and beautified. Here are some ideas for how to stage a blow out party to do just that.
Photo: TF Sherman
Countdown toNew Countdown!
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New Countdown!: September 8, 2014
Table of Contents
The ABCs generate over a million words in the English language alone!
ABC Books
My Storytime Favorites
ABC books have been around since before Gutenberg, fashioned out of horn book -- an early tough material like board books -- for young scholars to con their letters and catechism. They've increased in sophistication as each generation's foremost illustrators have created beautiful new ones. Here are some examples of some of my newest favorites.
Alphabet Twister
Visit this site: Toddler Approved for the directions to this kinesthetic fun game for young kids to learn the letters of their name.At the Library, a Month Long Celebration
Ideas for ABC Activities
Celebrate the ABCs throughout the whole month. Assign each letter a day of the month, and change it out each day.
- 1On "A" Day, greet kids with the ASL sign for the letter A.
- 2If the visitors' names begin with the letter A, ring a bell! They get a prize!
- 3If they check out a book about a thing that begins with that letter, they get their hand stamped. (With that letter, of course!)
- 4If they can find what part of the library has authors whose name begins with that letter, they get their hand stamped. (With that letter, of course!)
- 5Keep a box of words on your desk, all beginning with that letter. Offer them a word. They get to choose. Would they like an...alligator? Or applesauce?
- 6Hide some objects around the room, or pictures, that begin with the letter. Challenge the child to try to find them. Want to teach some library skills? Hide pictures in books and give them a few Deweys as clues.
- 7Have a snack available. Nothing fancy. Apple slices. Or fried alligator.
- 8Choose a few books as "sponsors" for the day. Well, everyone knows that Arthur is an aardvark, even though something seems to have happened to his nose.
- 9Make a craft or coloring page available.
Snacks for ABC Day
I would make a nice mix of these, combine them all together and maybe throw in some items like Raisins and Marshmallows and Pretzels just to bring the mix to another level.
ABC Storytimes
- Storytme Kate
- Storytime Kate has done a fantastic job of puttng together a great storytime for EVERY LETTER OF THE alphabet, with excellent book choices, songs and crafts.
Alphabet Day Co-Sponsors
- 1Angelina Ballerina, The Avengers
- 2Bad Kitty, Bob the Builder, Babar, Batman
- 3Cat in the Hat, Curious George, Captain America
- 4Dinosaurs and Dogs
- 5Eloise
- 6Fancy Nancy, Froggy and Fly Guy
- 7Geronimo Stilton
- 8Horton, Harry Potter
- 9I Spy, Ironman, Incredible Hulk
- 10Junie B. Jones, Percy Jackson
- 11Kipper
- 12Llama Llama, Lorax
- 13Max, Madeline, and the Magic Tree House
- 14Nate the Great
- 15Olivia
- 16Pete the Cat, Pirates & Princesses!
- 17Quiet!
- 18Ruby
- 19Splat the Cat, Star Wars, Superman
- 20Thomas the Tank Engine, Thor
- 21Capt. Underpants
- 22Vet Volunteers
- 23Wimpy Kid, Winnie the Pooh, Willy Wonka
- 24Your Worst Nightmare
- 25Zoobooks, Hank Zipzer
Activities for ABC Day
- 1Get some foam or cardboard letters and just pitch them all over your floor. They'll look festive, and the activity is -- put them in alphabetical order!
- 2Draw a road on a shower curtain liner, lots of curved streets, enough to accommodate all 26 letters. Provide a lot of match box cars, all different makes and models, and let the child play at driving them to the right spot.
- 3Play letter bean bag toss. Make a big alphabet on the floor, and provide the bean bags to toss on it. Each player tosses the bean bag onto a letter. If they can act out a word ("Wave for w") they get points. Most points wins.
- 4Type and print out children's names in different alphabets, then let them decorate them.
Alphapath Photo by TF Sherman
Click images for larger view
Make Your Own Alphabet Book
How cool is this free website? Just download your own photos and print out them out, creating your own alphabet book for your own little one.Project Alphabet
A grandmother at one of my storyhours is doing a letter every week with her grandchild. Each week she takes a photo of his alphabet craft and is going to have a book made on Shutterfly for his mother.
Alphabet Snacks
A caveat: Last year I really did try to have a different snack each day, but even with a grocery story just across the street, the was too much. Either plan ahead or do the whole week's at once.
Nothing wrong with offering leftovers from the day before. "Today is Fig Newtons, but I have a Dorito left over from D-day if you'd rather." Funny! Or to have two for one letter. "Chocolate or cashew?" Really brings home the point.
If you buy a lot of small individually wrapped packages, you can give out the leftovers at Halloween! I bought a mixed package of Hersheys so I could put a couple of different brands to good use.
If you buy a lot of small individually wrapped packages, you can give out the leftovers at Halloween! I bought a mixed package of Hersheys so I could put a couple of different brands to good use.
- 1Animal Crackers
- 2Bubblegum, Banana Chips, Bread & Butter
- 3Chocolate. (Hershey's minis) or cashews or crackers. I did offer little individually wrapped saltines and the kids went for them plus chocolate - I guess they had smores on the brain.
- 4Doritos, Donuts
- 5Egg (those robin's egg ones that are chocolate), edamame
- 6Fruit Snacks, Fig Newton, Fortune Cookie,
- 7Mr. Goodbar, (from Hershey's mix), Gingerbread Man, Gumdrop, Gummi Bear, Grape
- 8Hazel Nut
- 9Ice Cream. Next year I'll see if I can get gift certificates from the local ice cream store for a small taste. This year I put out my clear glass snack bowl with IDEAS on it.
- 10Jolly Ranchers, Jelly Beans
- 11Krackels (again from the Hershey's) Kiss (Hersheys!)
- 12Lollipop
- 13Marshmallow, M & Ms
- 14Nerd, Nut
- 15Oreo, Olive
- 16Pretzels, Dried Pineapple, Peanut, Pez -- just dispense one!, pea, potato chip
- 17Quick bread (I know, this is kind of cheating, but would you rather serve quinoa?)
- 18Blue Raspberry or Rootbeer (leftover) Dum Dum lollipops or Jolly Ranchers, Raisin, Radish
- 19Sweet Tart, Snickers
- 20Tic Tac, Teddy Graham, Twix,Tomato (cherry!),Tangerine -- or leftover Sweet Tarts in a pinch!
- 21U-No-Bar
- 22Vanilla Wafers
- 23Whoopie Pie, Whoppers
- 24Xantham gum
- 25Yoghurt (coated raisins?)
- 26Ziti, Zucchini, Zweiback
OTHER Alphabets
Include other alphabets in the texture of your event to raise the diversity level and stir up added excitement about how many alphabets are in the world. ASL for the deaf, braille for the blind, Morse to communicate over the wires, and ship flags to spell out messages at sea. Then there are the alphabets of other countries, Hebrew, Cyrillic, Armenian, about 20 altogether.
Alphabet Sources
ABC Products
This is a lens I created to act as a shopping catalog for the ABC materials I have available for patrons to use in my library. It also serves as a fundraiser for my library. Any monies generated through amazon purchases made through this site are spent on purchasing more educational toys for my library. I make sure I tell the parents this!
At last!
A PHONETIC alphabet poster
Booklists, Crafts and Games
My pinterest board here contains an ever growing number of links to ABC crafts and games, as well as examples of beautiful letters made of buttons, of scrolling, of the superheroes...
- Pinterest Ideas for ABC Day
- ABC Displays, games, songs, arts and crafts
- Alphabet Art for Kids
- Alphabet display of art and craft projects for kids.
- Alphabet Art
- Photos of beautiful and diverse alphabet displays and posters.
- 43 Best ABC books form Childrens Books Guide
- A very nicely done list with excellent description -- although of course, my favorite Star Wars ABC book isn't on it!
- Mel Avila's Pinterest board of alphabet activities
- ABC games for kids who love to move and may not be into crafting.
- No Time for Flashcards
- A page full of crafts for every letter in the alphabet, plus alphabet games of all kinds. A very rich source.
- Letter Parties
- Pink Lemonade and her daughter planned a letter party for each Friday.
- Free downloads of beautiful letters in a variety of designs.
- Elmer, polka dots, seashells, beach scenes -- very stylish alphabets!
- The Attached Mama
- A compilation site where ALL bloggers are invited to post their alphabet crafts. Truly the motherlode!
- 10 Ways to Remember the ABCs
- Misnamed -- this site is the ten TYPES of ways to remember the alphabet, like playing in sand in clay, art, kinesthetic games, etc. VERY complete.
I am very stumped about what some of the animals are, so I'm hoping you'll come in and help me work on the cheat sheet. Come in on the day sponsored by your initial and you'll get a prize! (We're up to D right now, sponsored by Donald Duck and dinosaurs)
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