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So that I could get a handle on where my new students were, I always liked to do some fun assessing of my first graders the first week of school.  With that in mind I designed Alpha Bird.  Students choose from a variety of colored pattern pieces and glue them to their paper plate bird body.

 When everyone has completed "Alfie" play "I Spy" by calling out a letter.  Students find and trace both the upper and lowercase letter.  When they  have done so, they raise their hand, so that you know everyone is done.  With just a glance, you can see who is struggling.  Call on a child to choose the next letter.  Play 'til all of the letters have been traced.

Alfie offers a simple, quick and interesting way to whole group assess, while providing a nice review of upper and lowercase letters.  The birds also make a stunning hallway wall border.  Simply tie a yarn loop at the top and suspend from the ceiling.  Caption: "We know our letters and that's something to TWEET about!"

Alfie, the alpha bird is a special 100 followers FREEBIE in my TpT shop.  Click on the link to grab your copy.