I’m working on creating an alphabet frieze inspired by nature to add to my preschool classroom. I want to make letter sound correspondences for all 26 letters using materials from by bioregion (Northeastern U.S.). This is a work in progress, and I will update this blog post as I progress. I hope to have it ready to share at a workshop I am teaching at the fall conference for the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children.

To construct them I have cut out cardboard letters and attached the materials. I want them to hang in my class all year, so I am using Mod Podge to add some durability to them. I want to use materials that are readily available and will be recognizable to my preschool students. I want these to be real materials, that will lie mostly flat, and will dry and still look nice. My list so far:

A- acorns,

B – bark, butterfly, buds, bugs, Birch Bark

C – clay, coneflower

D – dirt

E – eggs, eggshell

F – feathers, fur

G – grass

H – horsetail, hay

I-

J – Juniper

K – knot weed,

L – leaves, lichen

M- moss

N-nuts

O- oak leaves

P- pine needles, pine cones, pebbles

Q – quills (anyone have some to donate?)

R- rocks, roots

S – snakeskin

T- twigs

U-

V-valerian (though kids wouldn’t know this one)

W – wheat, weeds

X-

Y- yarrow (need to find some to dry)

Z -Zebra mussels (and teach about invasive species?)

Some of the letters are kind of stumping me, but I’ve asked a few friends to help me brainstorm a materials list. A special thanks to all the smart folks on the FaceBook groups “Loose Parts and Intelligent Playthings” & “April’s Teaching Tree”!

(Stay tuned!)