Have students practice their letters as they learn the letter Y. Now that they are nearly at the end of the alphabet, they can practice writing each letter that they have learned, and add the letter Y. Have them practice their Y’s in sand plates, saying the sound that Y makes while drawing in the sand with their finger.
Alphabet Book Students can Make
Have students add a page to their alphabet book for the letter Y. Have them brainstorm words that begin with the letter Y, and write them on the board. Then, since the students have learned all the letters except for z, they can write y words in their book for their y page. Some words they can write include yikes, yodel, yow, yelp and yellow.
Snacks that Teach the Letter Y
Serve Yellow cake to celebrate the letter Y day. You can use yellow food coloring in the icing, or spread white icing and pipe a yellow Y decoration on the cake. Another idea is to pipe small letter y’s all over the cake, so that each student receives the letter Y on their piece of cake. You can also serve yams, if you want another snack idea that starts with Y.
Activities that Teach the Letter Y
Teach students to yodel on letter Y day. Read the book Schnitzel, the Yodeling Goat by Bil Baird [Thomas Nelson & Sons 1965]. Have students practice and then hold a yodeling contest to see who can yodel the best. Cut out the letter Y from craft foam to give as a prize to the winner.
For your craft, you can have students make a Chinese paper Yo-yo. To make this craft, you will need a 1/8th or ¼ inch dowel rod, cut for each student to have a piece about six inches long. You will also need wrapping paper, cut in sections that are 7 feet long and 4 inches wide. Tape one end of the wrapping paper to the dowel, and wrap the paper tightly. Flick the dowel out and the paper should yo-yo out and back in.
Before finishing your discussion on the letter Y, make sure the children know that you can use the letter Y as a vowel in some words. Show them some examples of words that use the letter Y at the end, like party and yummy. Ask them to tell you what sound Y makes when it is used as a vowel.
Learn how to teach the other letters of the alphabet.
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