The 2017 Alphabet Letter Exchange is Ready!

This will be the 7th Annual Alphabet Letter Exchange, can you believe it?! Some of you reading this may have participated in all or most of them, and some of you might not know what it is yet. But keep reading and maybe you'll want to join us...

This is a collaborative project for teachers from all over the US, Canada, and Mexico and is a fun way to introduce or review letters and sounds for our students. It was inspired by this book

which is one I love to read to my first graders at the start of the year! I'm sure you do to. If you are interested in participating in the project, please read the description below. Your class will be assigned a letter to decorate and mail to the other teachers in your group. Hopefully you'll end up with a completely unique alphabet at the end of the project. If you decide to participate after reading about the project, please fill out the form at the end of this post. You can check out pictures from past years by clicking {here}.

To all of you are joining the project again, thanks for your support and for allowing this project to continue! I am grateful.

Thanks for stopping by!

Here's how the project works:

1. Your class will be assigned a letter of the alphabet and put into a group with 25 other teachers. Each teacher would have their class decorate 26 of that letter. A template like the letter below will be provided. You'll print it on regular paper or card stock and have your class decorate it. Decorate it however you like, just have fun and get creative!

Some decorating tips: Decorate letters with something that starts with the sound of that letter. You can cut out the letter or leave it on the whole page- whatever works better for your letter design.
Mailing suggestions: Some teachers mail letters printed on card stock in manila envelopes. Some teachers have letters that can be folded and mailed in letter-size envelopes. It all depends on how your class decorates the letter and what you want to pay to mail.

2. You'll need to mail 25 of the letters to the members of your group and you'll keep one. Each teacher is responsible for their own postage charges. At the end of the project you should have a complete, unique, student-made alphabet!

3. You could also include a short letter about your class, school, and where you live. This is optional.

4. During the last week of July you should receive an email that includes your group spreadsheet. This will tell you what letter you've been assigned and who else is in your group. At that time, please double-check your address information, make any changes you need to, and highlight your information so others know for sure it is correct. Then start planning how you'll decorate your letter! 

5. The project will run from about September 1st-30th to give everyone time to get back to school, decorate, and mail their letters.

I'd love to have you participate! Just a little favor, though, please sign up only if you really intend to follow through with the project. It is heartbreaking to kids and teachers alike to end up with an incomplete alphabet. If you do want to participate, just click below and fill out the form!

**I have stopped taking sign ups for this year. Please check back around the first of July when we'll start it all up again! Thanks for popping by my blog. 

I plan to stop sign-ups on July 23, as I'll need to get group lists ready before I have to start setting up my classroom. But since I need exact groups of 26, sign-ups could end early. I will post all project updates here on my blog as well as on my social media (links at the top of my blog). I hope you'll follow along!

Just a couple more little things:
I'm planning to stop sign-ups before the end of July so I can get the group lists out to everyone. Also, I'll be in touch via email to give you any updates and send out the templates so please watch your emails for that information.