ABC, Really Easy As 123?

recently at our pre-school, we have expanded MWF classes, and opened T/TH as well. since there are only ten kids on T/TH, i teach all three subjects that our pre-school has to offer. We took these children on at mid year and adapted to their previous teachers curriculum as it was different from ours. When assessing their current knowledge, i discovered that they caught on a LOT quicker to numbers as apposed to learning their letters.
so in an attempt to overcome that, i have been racking my brain to try and figure out what would be the best way to get the alphabet to stick. simply enough, i have decided that kids need repetition through variety.
now that that is clear as mud, i will give an example.
every single one of my kids was able to sing their ABC's...that is GREAT that it is all familiar to them, however...when it came to word recognition, they had no idea what the difference was between Z and U. So, i have devised a few *very* simple activities to help them start to remember.

activity 1:

materials:
       26 popcicle sticks
       Sharpie
       cup, can, jar, decorated or not. :)

excuse the fact that they are backward. :) I'm a lefty so as i wrote, i slid
to the right...hence, a be-jumbled alphabet. :)

all i did was write the alphabet all caps on one side of the stick and in all lowercase on the other side of the stick.

then, i threw them in the cup/jar/vase/ box etc. and we passed it around in a circle.

my munchkins took turns pulling out different the letters, telling the class what letter it was, and then each child would pass around the stick and look at the letters and say it to themselves.

suprisingly, it showed results with such a simple project and they stayed entertained!

Activity 2:

Materials needed:
      26 laminated multi-color papers
      marker
      dancing music

(refer to previous post on instructions...this one kept them busy a LONG TIME)

just a couple of my little twinkle toes playing this letter
recognition game. :) 

these are the only two projects i have come up with thus far...i have only been brain storming for a couple days so when i know, you'll know and i'll post. :) the prep time on these activities did not do justice for the things we learned. who knew it didn't take six up all nights and two migranes later to get the curriculum to stick!

happy teaching!!