The Outstanding Letter O

The letter O is usually the FIRST vowel we teach in kindergarten.

It is such an important sound to master and be able to use throughout the whole school year.

It makes it critical to make this letter meaningful and FUN.

{I am a huge fan of memorable learning.}

I know you are expecting me to start with letter and sound activities.
But I am actually going to start with some math activities.A great activity to complete in small groups is this number and letter OREO sorting game.

This is a fun way to do a quick assessment or
activity to see who knows the difference between letters and numbers.

Of course your students will think they are sorting Oreo cookies into glasses of milk.

I also love to use these oranges to fill ten frames.

This is an easy math center or activity.

There are 11 oranges, one for numbers 0-10.

After laminating,

my students take a dry erase marker to draw in dots to match the number on the card.
This seems simple, but remember the abilities of a newbie Kinder.

Most of my students have to count each square as they add to the ten frame.

The more often they practice using the ten frames,

the faster and more accurately they will be at using ten frames.

Plus the cards just make this activity THAT much more fun.

There is also an additional printable to support the activity or to reteach ten frame use.

This sheet is also an excellent way to track student progress over time,

since all my letter packs have these types of sheets.

We also have to work a LOT on letter formation.

Frequently. Often. Everyday.

One of my favorite writing activities is using this

Frog Street Press Smart Start paper and an orange marker.

I write what I want them to copy onto the paper.

Then I laminate the sheets.

With a dry erase marker, these writing mats are ready to go.
{I use the thin Expo Dry erase markers.)

Not only can I reuse these mats again and again.

BUT… using a marker allows your students to concentrate on the letter formation

and motions

rather than how hard they are bearing down on the paper.

And we have all taught a student who writes SO DARK and almost hurts their hands.

I also love to use the Alphatales books.

The series comes with a book of printables if you buy the set of books.

I made a class set of copies 11 years ago and they are still good today.

I read the large, teacher color copiy to my students on Mondays.

Then we use these readers on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday together.

This is a great way to practice listening to reading, turning pages, and tracking text
using the Alphatales Audio CD.

On Mondays, we read the Alphatales book.
Next, we do a full sensory phonics lesson.

We use these printables for our formation practice.

I love to use sand trays

and gel bags to guide letter formation.
Here is Sensory Phonics Ideas.

I also use these phonics printables for my phonics activities for three days a week.

We use the same image on each sheet for a
solid, concrete visual to guide our mindsets.

These phonics activities are two sided.

You can see on Day 1, we practice writing the capital O.

Then we trace the letter O and identify the letter O in the box.

On the back we use the images to learn and write the initial sounds.

In this page, we have orange juice, a cloud, and an orange.

Then we have a sight word review.

We make a chart on Fridays.

It is always fun to see how their brains are working!

Another independent activity we love to complete is this Color the O and o activity.

I like to do this in the beginning of the week so I can quickly see who can identify their letters.

Although I have assessments that tell me this,

I think these activities are important for many reasons.

1. It is a recent assessment and therefore more accurate.

2. I make the identification pages with other letters on it that can be tricky for them.
I know what letters are confusing with the letter O so that is the letter exposed to them.

3. It is another activity that is FUN and allows for easy success.

4. Coloring is a great way to build hand strength.

5. Easy data if needed.

Another fun activity for the letter O uses this Octopus notepad from Carson Dellosa.

I took the pack of 50 sheets and broke it into 5 sets of 10 pages each.

Then, I used a phonics activity we could do in paper form and cut out the images.

After taking a different color marker for each set;
one red, purple, blue, green, and black,

I add dashes for the letters in that word.

After laminating and cutting out, I linked each set together.

Now we have more interactive and engaging phonics center to write words that have an O in them.

Notice that I wrote the letter m in mop on the pages.

I know that letter is harder to write, so I wrote it for them.

Since we are focusing on the o,
the letter m is a bonus if they can use it, but not an area of stress of formation.

We also use these Letter O readers I made.

We print them back to back, then staple down the left side.

Once they are cut in half, you have two mini readers perfect for kinders hands.

If you teach at a title school with limited funds for books, printables readers are the way to go!
I also love using these for extra reading materials for Daily 5.

You can make sure they have reading materials at home.

I also love these O themed ABC Handwriting practice.

Not only do I teach my students to write the letter O,

but we practice ALL our LETTERS every week.

I take these printables and put them inside page protectors.

We write with THIN dry erase markers.

These mats are all different and have different O word images on them.

If a student needs more help, they can just grab a different sheet.

And they think they are doing a totally NEW activity.

I also recently added some new activities to this pack.
I added a new number writing mat set.
There are 4 differentiated mats to choose from, all with an orange background.
Students take a laminated mat and write their numbers on it.
I did this mat in red so you can see it.

THEN, they take the solid mat that is also provided and cut it apart.
Then take the pieces and match them to the written numbers to form a puzzle.

We also added a FREEBIE counting sheet for oranges in a basket.

I also added an awesome short and long vowel sound sorting activity.
It is based off the letter Oo and orange juice.
Here is the mat with the short octopus spot with the long oval spot.

The student looks at the images and says the word.
Then the sort that orange slice into the long or short vowel sound side.

And here is the matching printable for a quick assessment.

I hope this letter pack inspires you and your students.
AND I have a freebie for you.

To grab this freebie, you have to click the PREVIEW bar and download the preview file.
And here is a glimpse of the whole Letter Oo {Print & Play Pack}.