Kindergartners celebrate their ABCs with a P-A-R-T-Y

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Since school began over two months prior, kindergarten students at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School have been busy with a unit focusing on all 26 letters of the alphabet. The youngsters were able to celebrate the completion of their lessons with a “letter party” on the afternoon of Nov. 14.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    MARKING THEIR FIRST INITIAL — SeDoMoCha Elementary kindergartners Sammy Needham, front, and Lila Smith fill in the respective S and L boxes during a letter party on the afternoon of Nov. 14. Since the start of school the youngsters have been studying the alphabet and the unit concluded with a party featuring various games and activities, including filling in a graph of all the students’ first initials.

    “Starting at the beginning of the year we studied two or three letters a week, identifying the sound and writing the letter,” kindergarten teacher Erica Tapley said prior to the festivities for all four classes in the cafeteria. “This past week we finished up with our last letter so today we are having a letter party, playing all kinds of letter games.”
    Tapley explained the party games include a bean bag toss with students trying to hit a certain called out letter, bingo, painting with Q-tips, spelling out words with magnetic letters and having the students fill in an alphabet graph based on their first initial.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    ALL FUN AND GAMES — After studying all 26 letters of the alphabet since the start of school, SeDoMoCha kindergartners celebrated with a letter party on Nov. 14. The students rotated among five activities, such as bingo, a bean bag toss, painting and making words out of magnetic letters.

    “We are lucky to have some parent volunteers helping us out,” Tapley said in thanking Katie Day, Vanessa Hall and Abbi Moore for their assistance with the letter party.
    Soon after arriving in the cafeteria, the students were divided into five groups to rotate among the various activities. Those at the snack table were able to enjoy some packets of fruit snacks while taking turns coloring in a box on the letter graph hung on the wall. By the end of the party the J’s had the most filled in spaces of all the 26 letter possibilities.
    The party concluded with the students gathering in a circle on the floor. The pupils then sang their ABCs in several styles, such as with quiet and squeaky voices.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    T IS FOR THOMAS — Kindergarten student Thomas Day fills a box above the letter T during a letter party on Nov. 14 at SeDoMoCha Elementary in Dover-Foxcroft.