My HRTs all make Lesson Plans, but I made this collection of Suggested Activities with Japanese and English translations (sorry, the Japanese was made using Google Translate only. I apologize if it's not accurate) to print and show my HRTs, and they can pick whichever suits their class the most.
Everything is listed and organized in the Suggested Activities file (.doc and .pdf versions)
Some of these were taken from/inspired by other ALTopedia activities too, I just thought to summarize the ones I find most effective to the teaching goals.
But the ones below are my recommendations:
I. Activities to practice the Correct Order of the Alphabet (from A to Z)
B. Silent Singing: “What’s the Last Letter?”
Teacher will clap her hands or tap the desk with her hand to represent each letter being sung.
Students must sing-along silently.
When teacher stops clapping / tapping her hand, students must answer the last letter that she tapped.
Example: (8 claps) = H (A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H)
Teacher will change the speed of her tapping from very slow, slow, fast, and very fast.
II. Activities to practice the Shape of each Letter
A. Finger Alphabet
Teacher will say a letter name and demonstrate the correct stroke order or form the shape, and students to repeat the letter name WHILE forming the letter shape with their fingers.
Option 1: trace the letter shape in the air, using correct stroke order
Option 2: make vertical, horizontal, curved lines with the fingers to make the letter shape
Other Option: Use tablets, whiteboards, or pen and paper to write the letter shape instead of forming with their fingers.
III. Activities to practice Letter Recognition (Listening Activities)
B. Halloween Pyramid Game
Print 1 worksheet per student, OR
Share this file with students, through Loilo Note.
File Name: 3年_Unit6_Alphabet_Listening Activity_Halloween Alphabet Pyramid
Teacher will review the letter names together with students.
Emphasize the difference in mouth shape and in sound.
Teacher will say a sequence of letters, representing a path to a specific Halloween monster.
Students will use an eraser or pencil to mark the path, starting from the top to the bottom.
Students will go down the path, based on the letter that the teacher said.
Students will answer / guess the monster at the bottom of the pyramid.
C. Guess the Name / Guess the Word
Share this link with students, through Loilo Note.
https://www.kumamoto-kmm.ed.jp/kyouzai/web/Alphabet/index.html
Give 1 copy of the printout or share the digital file with students, through Loilo Note. Focus on 1 category at a time.
File Name: ４年 Let's Try Vocabulary Cards.pdf
Teacher: Choose a random name from the list of students’ names, or choose a random picture from a group of pictures.
Spell out the name/word, slowly saying the letters in correct order. Repeat.
Students: Listen to the teacher say the letters, and put the letters on your tablet.
Teacher: Have students raise their tablets and facing the front, to check if they spelled it correctly.
Students: Say the name of student / say the word that has the same spelling as their tablet.
IV. Activities to practice Letter Recognition (Speaking Activities)
A. Memory Sequence Game
Give 1 copy of the printout per student, or share the digital file with students, through Loilo Note.
File Name: Review and Speaking Activity_Memory Sequence Game.pdf
Teacher to ask students about which pair of letters are confusing or seem similar.
Teacher to review the letter name and shape for the 2 letters.
For example, G and Z.
Teacher to demonstrate by putting the letters G and Z in a random sequence of 5 or 7 letters. (G,G,Z,Z,Z,G,Z)
Teacher will show the sequence for 5 seconds, then hide it.
Students must try to memorize the exact sequence of letters.
Students to say the correct sequence of letters.
Students play the memory sequence game in pairs – taking turns to write their own random sequence of letters, and the partner memorizing the sequence.
This helps students say the proper letter name 3-4 times each.
B. Connect 3 Game
Give 1 copy of the printout – 1 copy for 2 students, or share the digital file with students, through Loilo Note.
File Name: 3年_Unit6_Alphabet_Review and Speaking Activity_Connect Three Game.pdf
2 students use 1 copy of the Connnect 3 Board Game.
They play Rock, Scissors, Paper to find out who will start first.
The first player will pick 1 circle from anywhere in the Board Game, and say the letter name.
If he says the letter name correctly, he marks that thing with a blue pencil.
The second player will also do the same. The second player will use a red pencil.
They take turns in playing.
Once a player has 3 circles of the same color in 1 straight line (horizontal, vertical or diagonal line), they connect the 3 circles, and score 1 point.
The game is finished when all circles are taken. The person with the most points wins.
C. Spell a Color / Fruit / Food / Sport
Give 1 copy of the printout or share the digital file with students, through Loilo Note. Focus on 1 category at a time.
File Name: ４年 Let's Try Vocabulary Cards.pdf
Students to form pairs.
One student will start by choosing a secret word from the list of words and pictures.
He will spell or say the letters in the word.
The partner will listen to the letters and guess the secret word from the list.
They exchange roles.
V. Match the lowercase and uppercase letters
Share this link with students, through Loilo Note. (full credits go to FrostiiMaple)
https://aberg07.github.io/alphabet-challenge/
The activity is a quiz-style game. A lower case letter will appear on the screen, and the students have to choose its upper case pair from the options. All lower case letters will appear once, and then the game will end on a "try again?" screen.
There is also an easy mode and a hard mode. In easy mode, there are two options for the students to choose from, and in hard mode, there are four.