Trace the Alphabet Worksheet Sets

What is alphabet tracing?

Trace the alphabet worksheet sets are a common activity found in pre-k and kindergarten classrooms. These pages help young learners grasp the alphabet and how to write them. 

But they have another important task: proper letter formation. 

Learning to write the alphabet letters with proper letter formation is a super helpful skill for kids to pick up early in life. 

Best practice says that when we are teaching kids how to write their letters in the early years of three or fours years old, educators do not correct their handwriting. 

But all of this changes when the children are in pre-k and kindergarten. 

No longer are teachers accepting names written in all capital letters. Instead we are looking for an uppercase beginning letter and lowercase letters that follow.

How Do You Do Tracing Alphabets in Word? 

Creating a trace the alphabet worksheet can be pretty simple if you have the right tools. I recommend designing all worksheets in Microsoft PowerPoint instead of Microsoft Word. 

PowerPoint allows for text boxes to be added and moved around easily. Word can be a bit more jumpy and often blocks text and images end to tricky spots.

So, here’s how I make that happen. First, I open up a new Microsoft PowerPoint page. I go into Design and I change the page layout to 8 ½” by 11” so it prints on a standard piece of paper. 

Next, I add a textbox at the top of the page that simply says name. A new text box is added with an alphabet letter or letters in a typical font. This means no tracing. I need the students to be able to see exactly what the letter looks like before I ask them to trace it. 

Then, I add a new textbox with the tracing font up just below. I like to add the alphabet letter font that shows the arrows and direction the line should make.   Then, I add the dashed lines for the trace the alphabet worksheet right next to it. 

Next, I add a line of tracing all by itself. Finally, I add a blank line that has the top and bottom full lines with the middle showing a dashed line.  This gives the students a chance to write it themselves. 

How Do You Write a Letter Trace Worksheet? 

Also, a teacher needs a great tracing font to create trace the alphabet worksheet pages. Luckily, there are many great free downloads on the internet these days. 

Choose a font that aligns with the handwriting your school district supports. 

For instance, one school district that I worked at required a script font such as D’nealian as that was taught across the school corporation. Some districts prefer this font as it helps the students transition into cursive handwriting more easily. 

If your school uses more of a block print like Zaner-Bloser, then find and download a font similar to that. 

Then, it’s as easy as typing the letter or letters out that you want your students to work on.  It’s also very typical to add an image to support that letter.

My letter writing pages focus on just one uppercase or lowercase letter at a time. Choose what works best for you and how it incorporates into your curriculum best.

Trace the Alphabet Worksheet PDF

Once I get my alphabet worksheets formatted the way that I’d like, I always save them as a PDF.  The trace alphabet worksheets PDF format allows me to pull them up and quickly print. 

Every now and then those amazing fonts that I use to create my trace the alphabet worksheet set can get a little jumpy. 

For some reason, sometimes I save them as a pdf and they look beautiful but then disaster strikes.  When I reopen them to edit them the lines are off or something is just wrong. 

Creating a set of trace alphabet worksheets PDF lets me know that they’re ready to go at the click of a button. 

I also make sure to separate my set into uppercase and lowercase letters. I find that the more organized I am, the faster that I can find things.  

This equates to more learning for my students and less stress for me. I love a win-win.

Want a freebie to help you help kids with autism? Click here to sign up for the download.

Writing Alphabet Practice Sheets

When I first started teaching kindergarten and special education students, I was using some pretty boring writing alphabet practice sheets.  

Don’t get me wrong; the fonts were good and lined up with expectations from my district. 

However, they really didn’t seem to teach the kids the proper formation. The arrows and the dashes were really the only thing guiding students.  This was a problem.

Now, please know that my handwriting is atrocious. However, all of my letters have proper formation. 

My early childhood teachers did me justice and I really want to do the same thing for my students. 

Proper handwriting formation decreases writing fatigue, makes your handwriting more legible, and makes the transition to cursive writing easier. 

So, I decided to take my love and my students’ love of music and singing to make a more successful way to teach with writing alphabet practice sheets.

First, I came up with easy to remember rhymes for each alphabet letter. 

Starting first with lowercase letters, I made a two line sing songy rhyme for each of the twenty-six letters.  The rhymes describe the writing motion and the letter’s name.

Then, I found an amazing clip artist, my talented hubby!!!, to create detailed images that have each letter within and go along with the rhyme. 

Teaching Songs for Alphabet Writing

So, the little rhymes that I made for each alphabet letter were put to music. And just like that, my first set of teaching songs for alphabet writing was created. 

I use the same jingle for every single song and then I made an audio recording of each of them. 

This helps me when I’m teaching a whole group or small group as I can just press play and my voice is amplified to all of the students. 

This has also really helped other teachers who I’ve shared this with along with my instructional assistants in the classroom. 

Parents who ask for extra help for activities at home are given this so they can sing along with the jingle or just press play and let me sing to them and their students. 

Have some wiggly students? Check out Caroline’s favorite things for movement at school.

Tracing Letters for Kids 

Lastly, I realized a main component that I was missing. The students don’t just need an alphabet tracing font for a trace the alphabet worksheet. 

They need to see the act of tracing the letter and then writing the letter. 

So, I always model this on the wipe off board. But, unfortunately my body gets in the way. 

No matter how much I angle my body or stretch my arm out, some body part always seems to block a bit of my demonstration. 

But, no worries! I realized that I needed to turn this into a video.

So, I took my handwriting posters and deleted it out the letter itself.  

Next I use an amazing writing app on my iPad called Notability to write out each letter one at a time. 

Then I added back in myself singing the song.  Finally, wolah!  A trace the alphabet video!!!

Trace the Alphabet Worksheet + Letter Songs A to Z

This set of letter songs A to Z has become a staple for me teaching young students and those with special needs how to correctly form the letters of the alphabet. 

After I created a set for the lowercase letters, I moved on to the uppercase letters. 

I use the same tune for both sets.  Some of the letters, like C & S, even use the same song. 

No need to confuse students when the letter formation is the same for both upper and lowercase except for the size! 

What started as a set for trace the alphabet worksheet time ended up as so much more. 

I created alphabet tracing posters, alphabet tracing rhyming songs, trace the alphabet worksheet pages, and how to trace alphabet letters videos. 

I have used this over and over with great success with both young students and students with special needs.

To all of my teachers in pre-k kindergarten for special education: please teach letter formation!  Reinforce it as a school year goes on. 

Take the time to sit down with students and correct their formation. 

Give them videos that they can watch. 

Make sure they have practice time in your literacy centers. 

Finally and most importantly, make your trace the alphabet worksheet pages fun!

Click here to get Caroline’s set of uppercase and lowercase trace the alphabet worksheet set.