Alphabetbooks

Why Alphabet Books?

Alphabet books as a genre of children’s literature has been in existence since the 1600's in the form of primers and horn books. In more recent times, this genre of children's literature uses the alphabet to organize information and provide a visual context for conveying information about a theme or body of knowledge. Alphabet books are not designed to teach the alphabet but rather to provide a visual form of the letters of the alphabet with text written often in poetic prose and engaging illustrations depicting the sound(s) or [|phonemes]represented. Using an alphabet book, younger students can readily visualize a picture to a letter while older students can use the structure of the alphabet to learn new information or share new found knowledge in a readily identifiable structure.

Below, you will find resources on some specific examples of alphabet books, alphabet books, lists of alphabet books, and lessons to use to make this genre of children's literature relevant to your students' learning. Some of the resources involve ways for students to develop their own alphabet books such as using the alphabet structure to brainstorm favorite book characters. Please add your favorite resources and alphabet book/how you use it in the discussion section.



//**[|Antics]**// by Cathi Hepworth is a delightfully illustrated book using words that have ANT within them. Examples are RembrANT, BrilliANT, and HesitANT with engaging illustrations such as the hesitant diver on the H page and the wild haired professor (Einstein) on the B page. This alphabet book is an example of how one would not use it to teach the alphabet but rather to introduce new vocabulary in an entirely new way. [|The Frayer Model] may be a good graphic organizer to model this book's vocabulary and then use the Frayer Model in another content area. You might also use the book to teach skills such as word analysis, prefix/suffix/root, or what's in a word. Students may enjoy creating their own classroom alphabet book with another word part such as ENT or perhaps a spelling vowel combination they are studying. The possibilities are endless!

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 * //[|Capital! Washington D.C. from A to Z]//** by Laura Krauss Melmed is a 2003 book now available in paperback. For any grade level 2 - 6 classroom where U. S. government or Washington, D.C. is introduced, this alphabet selection provides a book tour of the city's attractions from monuments to Congress to other points of interest in Washington, D.C. This book provides models of key Social Studies skills such as a map on the inside of the various landmarks using the alphabet letter of the word (example: A is for Air and Space Museum and the A has looks like a shuttle blasting off) marking the building or monument's position on the map, time lines, diagrams, flow charts, an illustrated inside view of the White House, and more. The basic introductory text about the letter is written in a poetic, verse form. Additional information including that of famous Americans is written in short nonfiction paragraphs that cover either one or two pages of the alphabet letter. It is an engaging and informative book for ages 6 to 11. Laura Krauss Melmed has also written another book entitled //New York, New York!: The Big Apple from A to Z// that some other readers have enjoyed.



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 * [|S is for Story, A Writer's Alphabet]** by Esther Hershenhorn and Zachary Pullen is a September 2009 addition to Sleeping Bear Press' alphabet book selections. This picture book offers not only an alphabet connections to aspects of writing but also quotes from children's authors and writing tips within this 40 page book. This would be a great book to have at a writing center or station within your room or to use various letters as examples within an opening lesson on the topic. The level of the book is for grades 2-3 (read aloud or shorter prose verse read independently) and grades 4 -- 8 (independent.)=====

Here are a few excerpts from the book.
O - Then O? It's for the verb Observe, a writer's job when out, to see, to hear, to taste, touch, smell, to sense the world about. "The world, under the microscope of your attention, opens up like a beautiful, strange flower..." - Kate DiCamillo N (Notebook) Excerpt from longer sidebar section: 'Several children's books feature notebook-carrying characters. For instance, in //Harriet the Spy,// sixth grader Harriet M. Welsch writes down everything she sees in a secret notebook, determined to become an author one day. A Writer's Tip: copy words, sentences, or poems you admire into your Writer's Notebook, to reread, study, savor, and model. '

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In searching for other titles from Sleeping Bear Teacher Guides, I stumbled across PDF Teacher Guides for many of their alphabet books. The teacher guides have many ready to use activities for your students, again possible resources for a learning center. You can use these ideas as springboards to create your own. Below is the Story Guide for //S is for Story, A Writer's Alphabet//. For writing genre, you may also be interested in the //R is for Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet// listed below.=====  Sample Alphabet Books with connections to Science, Social Studies, Fine Arts, or Language Arts in this Sleeping Bear Press series are listed below:
 * //A is for Abraham: A Jewish Family Alphabet// pdf, 2.2 MB]
 * //A is for America: An American Alphabet// pdf, 702 KB]
 * //A is for Anaconda: A Rainforest Alphabet// pdf, 923 KB]
 * //B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet// pdf, 839 KB]
 * //B is for Big Ben: An England Alphabet// pdf, 668 KB
 * //C is for Chinook: An Alberta Alphabet// pdf, 472 KB]
 * //C is for Ciao: An Italy Alphabet// pdf, 796 KB]
 * //D is for Dancing Dragon: A China Alphabet// pdf, 951 KB]
 * //D is for Democracy: A Citizens Alphabet// [[|pdf,] 887 KB]
 * //D is for Drinking Gourd: An African-American Alphabet// pdf, 943 KB]
 * //D is for Drum: A Native American Alphabet// pdf, 777 KB]
 * //G is for Galaxy: An Out of this World Alphabet// pdf, 640 KB]
 * //H is for Honor: A Military Family Alphabet// pdf, 1.3 MB]
 * //I is for Idea: An Inventions Alphabet// pdf, 1.2 MB]
 * //M is for Masterpiece: An Art Alphabet// pdf, 732 KB]
 * //M is for Melody: A Music Alphabet// pdf, 488 KB]
 * //P is for Passport: A World Alphabet// pdf, 800 KB]
 * //P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet// pdf, 696 KB]
 * //P is for Piñata: A Mexico Alphabet// pdf, 496 KB]
 * //R is for Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet// pdf, 618 KB]
 * //S is for Save the Planet: A How-to-Be Green Alphabet// pdf, 786 KB]
 * //S is for Shamrock: A Ireland Alphabet// pdf, 582 KB]
 * //S is for Spirit Bear: A British Columbia Alphabet// pdf, 1.3 MB]
 * //S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet// pdf, 1.04 MB]
 * //T is for Teacher: A School Alphabet// pdf, 656 KB]
 * //V is for Venus Flytrap: A Plant Alphabet// pdf, 1.66 MB]
 * //W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet// pdf, 1.12 MB]
 * //W is for Wind: A Weather Alphabet// pdf, 508 KB]
 * //W is for Woof: A Dog Alphabet// pdf, 634 KB]
 * //Z is for Zeus: A Greek Mythology Alphabet// pdf, 629 KB]
 * //Z is for Zookeeper: A Zoo alphabet// pdf, 568 KB]

ARTICLES
 * [|Alphabet Books for Everyone] - Article with concrete suggestions of how to use alphabet books in upper elementary and middle school.
 * [[file:Lang_Using_Alphabet_Books_.pdf]]

ONLINE ALPHABETS
 * [|Alphabet books online]- Great resource for K - 2 with lists of online alphabet books (some created by students) and activities for primary grades.
 * [|Animated online alphabet]- Click on the letter for the upper and lower case letter to come on the screen along with a sentence (that is read to child) containing words that start with chosen letter.
 * [|A is For Air]- A set of alphabet pages related to environmental themes developed by SuperFund, part of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
 * Ben's Guide to Government -[| Ben's ABC's] is a set of pages arranged alphabetically that offer U.S. symbols explained easily with illustrations and links to other websites.

BIBLIOGRAPHY of PRINT ALPHABET BOOKS
 * [|Bibliography of Alphabet books] by Dr. Sue LeBeau
 * [|ABC3D] - This web page advertising this book has a movie showing how the 3D book actually looks. You might follow up with a learning center on how to make pop up books or cards. Here is a video of [|How to Make a Popup] but be advised there is an advertisement before the four minute video. Please preview first.
 * [|Book Scoops]– Alphabet books for ages 8 – 14
 * [|Lists of Alphabet books] from JacketFlap and [|Mrs. McGowan First Grade Website]

RESOURCES and LESSON PLANS
 * [|Alphabet Blog]- This is a wonderful blog of different types of alphabets. There is a wonderful poem entitled 'Alphabets' by Seamus Heaney of Ireland that may be of interest.
 * [|Enchanted Learning Resources for Alphabet] and Letter Activities
 * [|Mrs. Alphabet -] Many poems, activities, and ideas are posted at this website for primary aged students.
 * [|Q is for Duck - Using Alphabet Books with Struggling Readers] - This is a ReadWriteThink lesson plan is designed for grades 3 - 5 for writers who need more scaffolding and support in their writing through patterned types of writing.
 * A different type of alphabet but Reading Rockets offers the [|ABCs of Teaching Reading]with a wealth of professional development and ideas in the area of reading!
 * [|Using Alphabet Books for Graphophonic Strategies] (for students learning sound-letter relationships.) These ideas include word walls!

STUDENT PROJECTS USING ALPHABET BOOKS and/or ALPHABET STRUCTURE
 * Blog with [|Children’s Alphabet Arranged by Book Characters]
 * [|Surfing for ABC's]is a web site in which younger students found links to topics of interest beginning with the letters of the alphabet.


 * Chapter: **Using Alphabet books with First Graders** - Google Reader (go to top Table of Contents and click on chapter to read.) media type="custom" key="4446089"
 * Webquests (Webquests are student centered, inquiry based online activities where students explore the web with predetermined/provided Internet links and complete a set of activities.)
 * [|ABC - is this a job for me?] is designed for fifth grade, uses online resources for career development, and two alphabet books -- // __Q is For Duck: An Alphabet Guessing Game__ // by Mary Elting and // __The Z Was Zapped__ // by Chris VanAllsburg.
 * [|Oceanography Webquest] is geared for grades 2 - 6, uses online resources on oceanography, and two alphabet books are listed - //An Ocean Alphabet////Swim Through the Sea//.