I’m sure that we can all agree that learning the alphabet and letter sounds is super important for our Kindergarten students. It can also be confusing for those students who already know them in English, but are now expected to know them en français. Our students need lots of practice and exposure to the French alphabet in lots of different ways – singing their ABCs over and over is not going to cut it!
Alphabet posters and référentiels, anchor words that begin with each letter (that are CONSISTENT among activities, resources, and even grade levels), guided reading games, books, literacy centres, and a variety of activities that reach different learning styles can all help our students master their letters and their sounds.
In this blog post, I will be featuring 8 different FREE resources that you can use to help you with your alphabet instruction at any point in the school year.
Side note – as always, any and all freebies that I have made are available in my Free French Resource Library, if you’re a member. If you aren’t a member yet, just CLICK HERE, enter your info, hit the pink button, and I will send you an email right away with the password and access instructions!
2. FREE ALPHABET CHART – For French Immersion
If you are looking for a free Alphabet Chart en français, Lucy has a great one. I actually use my alphabet posters and just print them 16 to a page (double sided) to keep things consistent, but if you don’t have your alphabet posters available digitally, I highly recommend using this chart. You can use it as a warm up during guided reading (have your students go through and say each letter name, sound, and the image), and it also makes a fantastic référentiel to keep in their writing folders for when they are trying to sound out words.
3. ALPHABET COLOURING PAGES – Mr. Printables
These colouring pages are nice and simple and feature one image per letter. For some students, colouring an image that begins with a target letter is a great help for them to remember the beginning sound for that letter.
4. LECTURE DE VITESSE – Maternelle avec Mme Andrea
Lecture de vitesse is an activity that I use as part of my “Lecture a soi” literacy centre. You can read more about that here. This free, non-seasonal version of the game can be used at any point of the year to encourage students to work on their alphabet fluency.
To play, students grab a deck of alphabet cards and a stopwatch (I bought mine on Amazon). They will start the timer and say the letter names or sounds as fast as they can. Once they get through the deck, they stop the timer and record their score on the recording sheet. Then they can try again and see if they can get a faster time. The stop watch makes it a pretty big hit!
5. ALPHABET BOOKLETS – Frog Jump French
I like sending home alphabet booklets with my students who are struggling to master certain letters. I find that the extra one-on-one practice at home can make a huge difference. I will often send home the booklets in my Alphabet poems resource, but these booklets by Frog Jump French are a great free alternative. They are also easy to print and prep and don’t use a lot of paper. Her free sample includes booklets for A, B, and C.
Alphabet matching puzzles always go over well during literacy centres. These ice cream cones are cute and fun, and your students will love matching upper- and lowercase letters. I teach my kids how to check their answers against our alphabet posters, and I put matching stickers on the backs of each pair to make them self-correcting.
7. JEU – L’ALPHABET EN ORDRE – Yvette Rossignol
This game is a great one for practicing ABC order. Students can easily use your alphabet posters or even Lucy’s alphabet chart to check their answer. I love to see my students work together to get this one right!
8. EEK! REQUIN! – Maternelle avec Mme Andrea
My students loooove EEK!, and so do I! I use it both as a warm up game during guided reading and as an independent centre. Students fill the game board with alphabet cards and roll a die. If they can say the letter name beside the number they roll, they get to keep the card. If they roll a six, the shark eats them and all the cards go back in the cup. The game never ends, so it makes a perfect literacy centre!!
I hope that some of these Freebies will help you out as you teach your French students their alphabet this year. Some students take a long time to learn their letters en français – be patient and give them as much exposure and make it as fun as you can!
Eventually, they will all get there :)
PS – Are you a member of my FREE Resource Library for French primary teachers? If not, what are you waiting for?? Sign up below for access to every freebie I’ve ever made… and will ever make!