This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a small commission at no extra charge to you when you purchase through my links. Than you for supporting my family and me! Going back to school has me thinking about the alphabet. Yes, the alphabet! I think about it all summer because I know I will have a whole new group of students that don't know their alphabet. I shared all about how I teach letter recognition HERE including using manipulatives, Heidisongs, and crafts to introduce the alphabet. This summer I have been exploring new ways to use magnetic letters because my students are really drawn to them. I started with a basic sort by color. This is a stress free way for those students that have little to no alphabet experience. You can get this set of magnetic letters HERE (I love the fun chunky font) or a set with more traditional capital and lowercase HERE. With either set the bright colors are so fun! I also use the blue and red type of letters because it is a nice way to isolate those vowels. Sort by color with hints for those vowel letters. I always encourage my students to sing the alphabet song as they go along and sing it at the end to check their work. They can switch out papers and do a mixed up version of the alphabet. This one is a little more challenging but those vowels are still highlighted with the colors. When they are done I encourage them to mix them all up again so the next person has to start from scratch. Sometimes we just want to focus on the shape of the letters. Or just fill in the missing letters. I bought this blue and red set at Lakeshore years ago and they hold up so well. I also like this set from Learning Resources because they are a full magnet on the back and hold on really well. The whole point is to get their hands on some letters for the greatest amount of exposure. Before I taught kindergarten I wouldn't have thought playing with letters would make a big difference but it really does! We use the first few weeks of school to focus on our names, learning the letters in our names and our friends names, and playing with buckets and buckets of magnetic letters. Once students start making the connection between letters and sound they can work with first sounds too. It is also in order so they can check themselves when they finish by singing the alphabet song again. The possibilities are endless! These centers will be really easy to set up and will last me throughout the month of August and well into September. They can be used as interventions later with students that are struggling or as warm up activities during small groups. You can see the templates HERE but a plain old cookie sheet (just a buck at the dollar store) and some magnets are a great start! Want to pin these ideas for later? Here you go! P.S. Get a FREE alphabet activity page HERE when you sign up for my newsletter!