The ABC countdown is such a great end of year tool to bring excitement to the classroom. You can review so many skills that you’ve covered throughout the year with a fun and engaging countdown and I have compiled a way to make your ABC countdown standards-based and fun! If you scroll to the end of this post. You can get an exclusive free 5 day sample here!
ABC COUNTDOWN IDEAS
Here’s a list of the ABC countdown that I will be using this year.
ABC Countdown Crafts
Crafts are always at the heart of ABC countdowns and I totally understand why but I personally struggled with doing a fun end of year ABC countdown and making sure I was teaching the standards and reviewing. I decided to marry the two and came up with the ULTIMATE ABC COUNTDOWN. It includes: Morning work, phonics work, reading, crafts, writing, handwriting, collaborative math work, math worksheets and a fun science based activity every day!
This post will outline the basic themes and books I’ll be reading everyday to give you some ABC countdown ideas.
Z is for Zebra
Read a zebra themed book in your class! I like How the Zebra Got It’s Stripes. Dress in black and white. Do a fun zebra craft. Bring in math with counting zebra stripes. Z is also for FIZZ. Do a fun fizzy experiment by adding vinegar to baking soda to watch the change in matter.
Y is for Yarn/Yak
Read a letter y themed book. We will read Extra Yarn this year and making a yarn craft. I couldn’t find a really good Yak book but I would love a suggestion so please pop it down below in the comments if you have one! I did make a really cute yak craft just in case. We will be working with tally marks in math using cut yarn and in science we are making pulley’s with yarn! We tie string around two chairs and move a bucket back forth across the classroom. The kids always love this activity!
X is for Box
Or should I say…. X is for Not a Box! This book is adorable and I instantly fell in love with it last year. I also love how personalized this craft is because each kid will come up with something different to make out of their box! For science, I will do an oldie but goodie. We will trace our hands and use Q-tips to make the bones for an X-Ray.
W is for Watermelon
We will read The Watermelon Seed this year. This book is adorable and I have a cute watermelon craft to go with it. We will use the same theme in math and count with watermelon seeds or black cubes to represent them. Our science for the letter W is a water experiment. You may have heard it called “walking water.” We will set up two cups with colored water and one with clear water. The clear water goes in the middle. We will fold a paper towel to connect the cups and watch the water walk over to the clear water and change its color.
V is for Veggies
We will read Vegetables in Underwear . The magic giggle word in kindergarten is UNDERWEAR. They will love this one. This book is perfect for an ABC countdown too! During math, we will use a vase math mat with flowers to compose and decompose numbers using flowers (aka cubes). The science activity today is eating a whole plant. I will bring baby carrots, celery, and spinach to represent the roots, stem and leaves of the plant.
U is for Unicorn
U is for unicorn of course and we will read Thelma the Unicorn this year. I love the message in this book! We will integrate math with some fun unicorn themed worksheets and composing number by building a “unicorn horn” out of pink and purple linking cubes. In science, we will make unicorn water! This experiment is done by changing the density of the water by making each layer more dense with 2 extra tbsp of sugar. Each layer has a bit of food coloring to and then we will slowly pour them in a jar to make our unicorn water.
T is for Taco
T is for taco and since Dragons Love Tacos is one of the cutest books ever, that is what we are reading for the letter T. In math we have shape taco that will have different toppings made of different 2D shapes that we will also graph. Our science activity will include leaving water outside and testing is temperature with a thermometer.
S is for Squirrel
S is for Scaredy Squirrel! We have a fun craft and some squirrel themed math sheets and I will let the students do their addition problems on their desk in shaving cream. Science is using that same shaving cream to make fluffy slime.
R is for Rock
Okay, this is one of my favorite books on this list. The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors is entertaining and the perfect book to read for letter R. We will use rocks as manipulatives in math to add and subtract. During science we will explore rock features with magnifying glasses and pass them around.
Q is for Queen
Q is for queen and even though we read this book at the beginning of the year. This is a review after all and we loved The Recess Queen. We will revisit Mean Jean who is perfect for the queen theme. Math will include making a crown with various 2D shapes as jewels. Science will be quicksand! But full disclosure, it’s just cornstarch and water to show the liquid/solid matter that is fun to play with and explore.
P is for Pug
P is for pug but not for just any pug. Pig the Pug! Our math has some fun pictures of pugs and science is all about precipitation! We will draw the water cycle on a plastic bag and put a small amount of water inside. They we will tape them to the window. We will do one bag per table group.
O is for Otter
O is for otter. Do Unto Otters is a great review about manners. Especially when our kids are extra rowdy this time of year. I have some fun otter themed math sheets and the science theme is observing. We will go outside and observe an experiment. I may drop Mentos into a diet soda to see what we observe! 🙂
N is for Ninja
N is for ninja! There are so many good ninja books to choose from. Ninja Red Riding Hood, The Three Ninja Pigs, My Nanna is a Ninja. I will probably read them all! I don’t know how to choose. We have a cute ninja craft and ninja themed math worksheets. Our letter Nn science activity is a nature walk! Hopefully, it is nice outside!
M is for Monster
M is for Monster! This theme has a lot of great books too! My pick is this Monsters Love Underpants book! Like I said, it has the magic word for Kindergarten! They will love it. During math, we have a monster shape craft and science is exploring with magnets.
L is for LLama
L is for LLama. This story is great and I especially love the Ludacris version which I will definitely be playing for my students. If you haven’t heard it yet. Here’s a link…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFtHeo7oMSU You’re welcome! During math we have fun llama themed counting worksheets. Science is lego engineer. I will task them to build a bed for llama and other L words such as a ladder!
K is for Kite
K is for Kite Day: A Bear and Mole story. That is exactly what we will be having in kindergarten, a kite day! We have kite themed math composing numbers from the kite bows and then for science we are going to try and fly a kite. Confession, I have never flown a kite in my life so it may not happen but we are going to try!
J is for Jump
J is for Jump! This fun book is perfect for letter J day. We have little frog jumpers that we are going to use to jump with and frog themed math subtraction with frogs jumping off the log. We may also measure how far we can jump the frogs if there is time. In science, we will use an empty soda can in a mug to jump out by blowing in the mug.
I is for Ice Cream
I is for ice cream and this is a classic book for kindergarten. It’s perfect for letter Ii day. We have a fun ice cream craft as well. During math, we will be counting sprinkles on the ice cream and in science, we will make ice cream in a bag!
H is for Hat
H is for Hat. This is another old one but good one. I remember this book from my childhood. I think it is one of the first books I was able to read on my own! We have a craft and measure hats during math. Science is heating matter. We will be going outside to see if some things feel hotter than others. We will feel the playground equipment, grass, sidewalks etc. and discuss why some things might feel hotter.
G is for Gorilla
G is for Gorilla! We will read Good Night Gorilla and have some laughs of course. Then we have a gorilla craft and writing. Next for math, we have gorilla comparing worksheets. Our gorilla will stack cubes and we will compare sizes.
F is for Fruit
F is for Fruit! Not just any fruit… Fruits in Suits! We have a “fruit stand” for math that will cost some coins in order to purchase. This is great for our money review. Science is plant review and making a fruit salad. 🙂
E is for Elephant
E is for elephant and Elmer is the cutest. It also ties in perfectly for reviewing patterns and graphing what colors we used in our patchwork elephant craft. Science is going to be elephant toothpaste of course!
D is for Donut
D is for donut. We will be reading this little gem and having donut themed math worksheets. I may also bring the kiddos donuts today. For math, we are exploring darkeness and shadows with a flashlight. This will help us review the day and night sky.
C is for Cookie
C is for cookie! If you give a teacher an ABC countdown, she will probably want to read this book! We have cookie themed math and will do a cookie experiment to see if the cookies will sink or float in milk.
B is for Bear
B is for bear. They crankier he is, the funnier it is. 🙂 We are using counting bears in math to help us graph. Science is a balloon race. We will tie balloons to a straw and put the straw on a piece of yarn hung across the room. Then we let the balloons go to see who will win the balloon race.
A is for Apple
A is for apple! We are tasting and graphing apples today. I actually didn’t have a change to do it this year but I would still be doing it again! The kids always love it and it is a great way to end the ABC COUNTDOWN! It ties in the five senses for science and math!
ABC COUNTDOWN LESSON PLANS
If you are looking for all the tools you need in one place then check out my Ultimate Alphabet Countdown resource. It has everything mentioned above outlined for you!
You will get Lesson plans with TEKS and CCSS. It contains morning work mazes, handwriting, phonics pages, crafts with 3 varieties to choose from, story response sheets, writing prompts, collaborative math mats, math worksheets, and a science activity. Over 450 pages! It also has editable lesson plans!
If you are interested in this resource, you can click here.
If you don’t have these books then I encourage you to check them out from a library but if you want to purchase them, I have affiliate links with each picture.
