I enjoy sharing my stories and experiences with you, but if you don’t want to read the backstory behind using the Alphatales books in my classroom, you can jump down to the book details here:
Table of Contents
When I found out that I would be teaching kindergarten for the first time, I was overwhelmed, to say the least. Kindergarten is arguably the most crucial grade of them all as students are building the foundations for the rest of their school careers. Some students come into school knowing absolutely nothing. You teach them letters, numbers, character traits, discipline… the list goes on and on.
My biggest concern was teaching those five and six-year-olds how to read. It was a daunting task, but a necessary one. Of course, the first place you start is learning letters and letter sounds.
Enter my mom. She was an educator long before me and knew the immense responsibility I had in teaching those young ones. So like any good teacher, she did some research and purchased me a phenomenal resource.
I cannot even begin to explain how much this resource helped me.
My school was older and underfunded (as many are). I was a late hire in the school year – about three weeks in, because they had too many kindergartners enrolled and needed to add a seventh teacher.
Because there were so many classes, there were no materials for my classroom. No books for my library, no teacher manuals, nothing.
AlphaTales Books
Enter AlphaTales. This collection of stories was so much fun and gave my students an incredible introduction to the alphabet.
There is one book for each letter of the alphabet. All the books are full of alliterative text and fun stories. Each book of course has a story, but there is also a hide-and-seek picture page and letter poem in all of them.
In addition to the stories, this box set also came with a teacher guide that includes some tips and activity suggestions. But it also includes mini-books for all 26 stories! That means you can send these fun stories home with students to read with their parents too.
I highly suggest snagging this box set of books if you’ve never taught the alphabet before. It is a great tool to build your lessons from.
Oh… and if you loved these, you might want to check out their similar sets for phonics and sight words!
Phonics Tales Books
This set of read-aloud storybooks focuses on essential phonics skills such as short and long vowels, vowel pairs, blends, digraphs, and more.
Each engaging story features a phonics riddle and a motivating phonics cheer to reinforce learning.
This set also includes a comprehensive 120-page teaching guide packed with practical teaching suggestions, phonics exercises, and miniaturized versions of every story!
Sight Word Tales Books
These titles are designed to kickstart reading proficiency by methodically instructing the most crucial 100 sight words! Every book incorporates an entertaining read-aloud narrative that introduces four essential words, along with a variety of captivating activities that reinforce the words.
This collection also comes with an extensive 144-page teaching guide that features simple lessons, practice sheets, and reproducible editions of all 25 storybooks.
This is a great toolbox to help your students grasp high-frequency words.
Creation Castle
Heather is the author of Creation Castle. She has experience with general education, special education, and ESL students in kindergarten through fifth grade. She specializes in early elementary math and literacy, as well as organization.
