Updated Letters

I am hoping and praying that no one has already printed 26 letters for the project!   I decided to change the format of the letters from portrait to landscape.  Please download a new set here. . .if you've already printed your copies please e-mail me.

Thank you so much!

Letter Exchange

I know the first month of school is super crazy, exhausting, and unpredictable (especially in kinder and first grade) so I really appreciate your willingness to work collaboratively with other teachers during this project! I hope your students absolutely love it.  My kiddos loved getting mail last year when we completed several projects.

If you haven't received your letter assignment that means I'm missing your school mailing address, and I couldn't assign you to a group.  There are about 5 teachers in group 4 who have submitted their addresses, but I cannot send out the information until the entire group has provided all of their information.  If you're still interested, go ahead and send me your school mailing address as soon as possible.

Below you'll see the letters for the project.  I left them as plain as possible without a border or any extra details.  Be as creative as you'd like to be with your decorating skills, but keep in mind that when the letters are mailed they may get jostled around a bit!  Remember to print 26 copies of your assigned letter on white cardstock.  Keep one for your own classroom set, and mail 25 to the teachers who are in your group.  I'm planning on hanging all of the letters in my classroom on a clothesline to show them off so I can't wait to see what you and your students come up with.

This project is  based on the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. . .but here are a few additional alphabet books that I love to use during the first few weeks of school!

    

    

   

  

Here are a few optional ideas:
I also love to use Google Earth to keep track of the location of each class.  If you're interested in using Skype with another teacher/class, you can contact one of the teachers in your group via email.  Also you can send a short written letter or picture with your letter of the alphabet if you'd like to.  I think my class is going to brainstorm a list of simple clues that describe our letter and send them out.  We'll give clues to let our group know whether it's a consonant or vowel, describe the letter features, and name words that have our letter in them.

You have from September 1-30 to work on the project with your students.  If for some reason you run into a problem or need to send your letter a little later,  please e-mail your group members so they'll know when to expect your mail.
Letter Exchange Project

Thank you again for your help. . .please let me know if you have any questions or if you need anything else!

Updates. . .

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. . .Here's a sneak peek at my room!  

There are so many fun little spaces in this room-I can't wait to post more pics!  I have more things to do so April if you're reading. . .I can still use your help!  I still have to finish my word wall, add my fish tank, add the reading loft, add the palm tree, get out all of my back to school goodies, add in new shelves for my classroom library, and label a few lot of things!  

My favorite part of the room so far is the Promethean board cover. . .it's amazing how something so small and inexpensive can really make a room look and feel great!  I spend a lot of time in my classroom so I want it to be a place that reflects my personality and a place that's warm, cozy, and inviting.  I still have 5 additional tips to share for a How "Tues"day post that I started several weeks ago.  Once the room is completely finished, I'll post those-hopefully by next Wednesday!

The Letter Exchange lists are almost ready to go. . .I hope to e-mail them out some time this weekend.  We actually need more teachers to complete the 4th group-18 to be exact!  I apologize for running behind on my original date, but I want to try to include a few more teachers if possible so that the 4th group will be complete.  If you know of a teacher on your team who you think might be interested, please tell them to e-mail me.  I'll e-mail out the list of teachers who are in your group, along with your assigned letter, some great books to read while completing the project, and the template of letters.  I know you have 1, 284 things to do during the month of August so I will really do my best to get the information as soon as possible.  

One last thing.  .  .

Here's a cute and simple project for the first day or first week of school.  It's actually a project that can be ongoing.  It was inspired by this create your own-time capsule that I saw at Target.  I think this would be especially cute if you have a pirate or ocean/beach theme, but it's a great activity for any group of students!

For this project you'll need an empty canister with a lid and scrapbook paper.  

I used this one which was full of some delicious popcorn. . .

  You can have your students draw a self-portrait, write a message, or complete a more specific task (depending on the age of your students) to place inside the capsule.  Select a time frame when you would like to open the capsule and review the contents.  Another idea (which I'm going to do) is to hide the capsule somewhere in your school.  Create a map and guide your students to the location.  I'd like to hunt for our capsule when we study about maps and Christopher Columbus.  I would also like to place something else in the capsule and complete another hunt close to the end of the school year.

Maureen from First Grade Splash has a really cute printable that can be used, and I found this really cute treasure map from an amazing blog that I recently discovered called Hip Hip Hooray-little kids, big celebrations! 

We're on day 33 of triple digit heat here in Texas. . .yes-33!!! Yesterday it was 110 degrees, and it's almost unbearable-hoping it cools off in the next couple of weeks-you know how important recess is-for students and teachers!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Letter Exchange

I would love to host a "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" letter exchange at the beginning of the school year.  This post has all of the details so if you're interested just leave a short comment with your name and email address.  Based on the number of responses I get, I'll either move ahead with the project or wait until a later date.  

Here's what you'd need to do to participate.  . .

1.  Your class will be assigned a letter of the alphabet and placed in a group with 25 other teachers/classes.   Each teacher will have their students brainstorm ways to decorate their letter of the alphabet then decorate 26 of the same letter.  There will be a template posted on my blog with the entire set of letters in a basic font like the one below.  You'll need to print out "your letter" on white card-stock paper and then start decorating.  You can decorate the letters with all kinds of materials...be as creative as you'd like!  

2.   You'll mail 25 of them to your group members for their complete set, and keep one for your own set.  Each teacher will be responsible for postage charges.

3.  After the project is complete, you'll have a complete set of custom alphabet letters.

4.  You can read the familiar back to school book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" to introduce this activity.

5.  Another part of the activity, which will be optional is to send a short letter from your class with information about where you live, your grade level, and how your school year is going.  I have also used googleEarth to map the locations of where mail came from in the past, and my students really enjoyed that.

The dates of the project will probably be September 1-30 which will give you a full month to complete the entire process of brainstorming, decorating, and mailing.  Let me know if you're interested!