This rainforest ABC order activity has kindergarten and 1st grade children line up animal picture cards by first letter and write them in order. Answer key included.
This Christmas easy alphabetical order activity gives K-1st Grade children twelve holiday picture cards to line up by first letter, with a recording sheet, practice page and answer key included.
This letter order activity has kindergarten and 1st grade children find the letter hidden under a parked car and write it, with an answer key included for easy checking.
This Ocean Hard Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of words about ocean vocabulary in alphabetical order.
This farm hard alphabetical order activity lets 2nd and 3rd grade students sort picture word cards and order words that share first letters, with a practice page and answer key included.
Using Connect Four Putting Letters in Order Activity, students play Connect Four to practice putting letters in alphabetical order.
This Winter Hard Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of sight words with repeating letters in alphabetical order.
The St. Patrick's Day hard alphabetical order activity helps 2nd and 3rd grade students alphabetize words that share a first letter using picture-sorted word cards. Answer key included.
This winter easy alphabetical order activity gives kindergarten and 1st grade students two sets of winter picture cards to put in ABC order by the first letter. A practice page and answer key are included.
This Christmas Hard Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of words about Christmas in alphabetical order.
This Ocean Easy Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of words about ocean vocabulary in alphabetical order.
This Earth Day easy alphabetical order activity gives kindergarten and 1st grade students two sets of nature picture cards to put in ABC order by the first letter. A practice page and answer key are included.
This Farm Easy Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of sight words in alphabetical order.
This Dogs Easy Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of sight words in alphabetical order.
This Easter Easy Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of sight words in alphabetical order.
This Earth Day Hard Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of sight words in alphabetical order.
This dogs hard alphabetical order activity has 2nd and 3rd grade students sort dog word cards and order words that share a first letter. Answer key included.
This St. Patrick's Day Easy Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put sight words in alphabetical order and build recognition.
This Easter Hard Alphabetical Order Activity will teach your students how to put three sets of sight words in alphabetical order with repeating letters.
A before B, and then it gets tricky
Alphabetical order starts with simply knowing which letter comes next. Kindergarteners and 1st graders put letters in order and then sort words by their first letter: apple, bus, cat. In 2nd grade the challenge grows. When two words start with the same letter, you look at the second letter, so bat comes before bird. By 3rd grade kids go to the third, fourth or even fifth letter and use guide words to find entries in a dictionary or glossary. The click is when a child realizes ABC order is a tool for finding things fast, not just a song.
ABC order is a step-by-step skill. These moves build it one letter at a time.
Give each child a word card and have the whole class line up in ABC order without talking. When two kids share a first letter, they have to compare their second letters to settle it. It's noisy thinking with no noise!
Why it works: kids understand an idea best when they touch it, then draw it, then write it, the order the U.S. Department of Education recommends for elementary math.
Try it withAlphabetical Order To The First Letter WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Write sun and sand on the board and think out loud: "Both start with s, so I peek at the next letter. A comes before u, so sand goes first." Then do one with three matching letters. Kids copy your exact words when they're stuck.
Why it works: showing first, practicing together, then letting kids try alone is the "gradual release" model teachers have relied on for decades (Pearson and Gallagher, 1983).
Try it withAlphabetical Order To The Second Letter WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Move one step at a time: first letter, then second letter, then third and beyond. Review the earlier level for a minute before starting the new one. Each step feels easy because the last one is solid.
Why it works: the brain holds on to what it meets again and again over time; spaced practice was rated among the very best methods (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withAlphabetical Order To The Third Letter WorksheetWorksheetsOpen it →Sorting words is surprisingly fun when there's a theme and a timer.
ActivitiesKids put sea creature words in ABC order to help the fish swim home. A great first step for little ones.
Open Ocean Easy Alphabetical Order Activity →
WorksheetsSort bird names into ABC order, then race a partner to find the last bird in the list.
Open Birds ABC Order Worksheet →
WorksheetsUse guide words to decide which page a word lives on. The fastest detective calls out the page number.
Open Dictionary Skills Alphabetical Order Worksheet →Teacher favorites right now: Rainforest ABC Order Activity, Christmas Easy Alphabetical Order Activity and Letter Order Activity.
Kids put letters in order in kindergarten and words by first letter in 1st grade. Second graders alphabetize to the second letter, and 3rd graders go to the third letter and beyond and use dictionaries with guide words.
Look at the second letter. If those match too, move to the third letter, and keep going until the letters are different. The word with the earlier letter comes first.
It's how dictionaries, glossaries, indexes and contact lists are organized. Knowing ABC order helps kids find information quickly, which they'll need all through school.
Have your child alphabetize the spice rack, a shelf of books by author, or the names of family members. Three or four items at a time is plenty to start.
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