ABC Order for Firsties

This week's lesson for my first grade classes is all about ABC order which leads nicely into shelf order.

Source

 I will be reading the book Alpha Betti by Carlene Morton.

After discussing why putting things in alphabetical order makes them easier to find, we will be completing this shelf order sheet. You can get a copy of it by clicking HERE or on the picture above.

If it looks familiar, that's because it is a similar version to an activity I did with second and third grade earlier this year. This one is one simplified since my firsties are still learning ABC order. It's a good first step to letting them explore the shelves on their own.

Right now, my first graders are still choosing books from a practice shelf until they get the hang of using a shelf marker. This usually takes until November.  They are very eager to let loose.  In fact, I was out last Wednesday with a nasty stomach virus and my Wednesday class my sub, which I was not supposed to even have, allowed that class to go to the shelves for the first time.  Yeah, it was not pretty.  Many of them went home with middle grade fiction books.  I tried my best to collect as many of those books when I got back and have those students choose more age appropriate books, but many of them did not have those books with them.  So far I haven't gotten any emails or phone calls from parents, which does make me wonder if parents are even looking at what books come home. It also tells me that that class especially needs that just right book lesson, and ironcally, that was the class that missed it because I was out.  *sigh*

How do you teach shelf order to your younger grades?