Choose a "letter of the day" and post it in in a prominent location in your classroom. Write it on the chalkboard or make a special "letter of the day" poster board to display on the door. Throughout the day, ask students to point out words they come across in reading, math or writing activities that begin with that letter. For older students, ask them to keep a running list and then share these words with a partner at the end of every day. Each day, the rules of the game remain constant but vary the letter itself until you have used every letter in the alphabet. Give a small reward to the student who discovers the most words using the letter during the school day.
Create a folder game to teach students about letters and their sounds. Write one letter of the alphabet on the front of a plain folder. On the inside, write the basic directions to the game. Invite students to look through old magazines and cut out photographs of objects that begin with the letter and sound on the front of the folder. Leave the folder in your reading or writing center and allow all students in the classroom to contribute to the folder throughout the day.
Write each letter of the alphabet on a separate note card. Bring students together and have them choose one note card from the stack. Ask students to walk around the room and find one object that starts with that letter or sound. To increase the difficulty of the game for older students, ask them to find an object that uses that letter sound at the end of the word, rather than the beginning.
Write, "I Spy something with the letter A," on a blank note card. Make a set of note cards with each letter of the alphabet. Laminate these cards to preserve them for use in the classroom. Allow students to choose one card from the stack, read it aloud and fill in the sentence. Play this game as a group or place it in a center so students can play it alone.