Printable song sticks to use for transitions and circle time in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom.

Try one of these three easy DIY Reading Aids to engage any LEGO Lover, from reluctant to eager! Build them yourself or let your child get creative!

Introduce labeling to children is an entertaining post-it game called “Stick It!” Brainstorm body parts with your child & write each one on a post-it...

Preschool and kindergarten children learn best through fun, hands-on activities. This syllable caterpillar activity is super easy and inexpensive to make.

Exposure AND repetition are key to making learning permanent. Sometimes kids just need to see it (AND manipulate it) a different way before it sticks! #kinder #kindergarten #kindergartenactivities...

Use craft sticks to make synonym and antonym sticks to use while teacher kids language, vocabulary and creative writing skills! I simply used a variety of words and wrote it on craft sticks. One sticks

It’s true one little passage, taught the right way, can help every kid in your class! This is especially true if you have the right passages written to be decodable and engaging ! The lows, highs, language learners, and the little Einsteins can all benefit from the same single sheet of paper. True story. But you have to have the right tools, strategies, and games to make it happen! Fall units feature picture clues and 1 sentence per line through October. Each and every week will impress you with how well thought out and engaging the reading and writing units are ! The made-to-match art makes our classroom BEAUTIFUL! Now teaching kids to become fluent reading just became a lot easier because I am sharing my best secrets! However, before you can even teach these “Keys to Comprehension and Fluency”, you have to convince the kids that rereading is important. Are you ready? This is beautiful. I blogged about this a few years ago when I had about 3 readers. So I am going to chat about it again because it is the HEART behind Close Reading, comprehension, and fluency. Every time we read something, we get more from the text. It might be better understanding, it might be more enjoyment, it might be more words per minute. It is probably all of the above! Here is how the heart chart works. It’s a 5 minute lesson that will change the way your students view rereading. Even though this is a 5 minute lesson you are going to illustrate a whole week’s worth of rereading using 5 different colored markers. Once we have the kids totally hooked on rereading, we need to make it fun!!! Using voices (the pink sticks) is wildly fun and quite amusing! If you are reading the whole passage or just pulling a sentence, why not read it like an old lady/man? Why not read it in a grumpy voice? The interactive nature of the sticks can keep rereading going for longer than you think. Reading with voices is only the beginning though! I teach my class Punctuation Poppers. These are the green circles up there. In this case the kids read in their own voice, but when they come across punctuation in their passage, they make a noise. They might BUZZZZ if the bee stick is chosen or VROOM for car stick. They TWEET if the birdie stick is pulled. My favorite though is the surfer stick. The kids say DUDE in their best surfer voice when they come to a punctuation mark. This strategy literally helps the kids read the punctuation. Sometimes we laugh so hard when rereading that I am nervous a kid will wet their pants. I am nervous because it has happened. True story. “What happened buddy?”, I say to the wet child. “I was having fun and forgot I had to pee.”, he said. OK, speaking of fun. These reading games are OUTRAGEOUS! Crazy Professor comes to us via the Whole Brain movement and I love it with my whole heart! Kids act out text. They are not putting on a play, they are simply moving their hands to match the words. In the picture bottom left, the little girl in green is reading the word White House and making her hands into a roof! The kids go INSANE for this game. It can be played in pairs, table groups, or whole class. When we do it whole class, I read the passage and they act it out. We call this a Professor Party. In first grade we make up the motions together until the last trimester. Then they are ready to make up their own motions. Coincidentally, the motions tend to go with key vocabulary words and words that need vocal emphasis. So this game is great for vocabulary acquisition and teaching vocal expression. Reader’s Challenge is a blast too. It’s a verbal game where the teacher reads a familiar passage and pauses on a word. The first child to shout it out wins. Here are the details to play the game. Divide the class in half and line them up on either side of your room. One competitor from each team comes up. You read from the familiar passage and pause. First to shout the correct answer wins the round. Winner rejoins their line. The other child sits at their desk. The process of elimination continues until only 1 child remains. If there is ever a tie in the process, just keep reading and pausing until the tie can be broken. Last man standing wins the game for their team. I play this game on Fridays because by then we have worked with the passage all week. Since the kids are not doing any of the reading, your low kids and your language learners we really SHINE. I use art to motivate my little readers. I do art at least once a week and I do it Tuesday morning. Art is not for “Fridays only” in my room. Click on any picture to view more. You might be wondering how I have time to do art once a week. Easy. As we are doing the art, I pull a sentence from the passage, write it on the board and then we pull that sentence apart. While we are cutting out George Washington’s hair, we talk about the sentence and ways to phrase it. Then as we are gluing on the hat, we read the sentence with voices. And so it continues. We keep making the art and pulling apart the sentence. While I am pulling a sentence with the kids, it’s a perfect time to hit a couple of the “Keys to Comprehension and Fluency” Posters. By the time we are done with the 20 minute art project, I have reviewed several “Keys” and taken a few minutes to discuss the sentence from a phrasing and grammar point of view. A huge help in building readers who are fluent and can comprehend, is having daily 7 minute reading buddies. I go into this concept in GREAT detail in the unit, but I have to say that it is one of the main elements to a successful reading program. Dibels is a free resource, but I encourage you to think about maximizing your school day. I don’t love Dibels because it’s a lot of narrative text. Do your students really need to spend the WHOLE week reading about a rainy day picnic??? I would rather have them read a social studies or science text. And the truth is, the kids would rather read about the real world too. It is enriching, engaging material. It sparks their creativity, curiosity, and it fills their brain/schema with information to write about! PLUS, if you can get a social studies or science grade out of it, that is a major bonus! Please remember it is essential to choose the right material since they are going to be reading it all week. The other HUGE component to a rocking reading program is graphing. THIS is where the kids blossom! Unless you make reading growth visual, with a graph, they cannot sense their own growth. Kids hear us say, “You’ll be a better reader if you practice.” But they must ask themselves, “When?” If you stop to think about it, the language arts story gets harder every week. So their struggle continues week to week. Graphing is how kids can see that they are indeed becoming better readers! Also graphing their daily words per minute with their big buddy is a HUGE confidence builder. My students are addicted to the successful feeling that graphing gives them. I provided 4 different graphs for you to choose from. You know who else LOVES the graph? Parents. Most parents live and die seeing their child grow to be successful. Graphing gives the parents a tremendous amount of joy and increases the drive to help their children with their reading. Are you ready to have the time of your life teaching reading comprehension and fluency? Please join me! It is so fun and gets you results and data your admin is demanding. Your students will be engaged, happy, and strong readers using the strategies I talked about and tons I did not cover from this unit. Happy Reading, dear friends! Happy reading! If you want to read more about fluency, Lisa is hosting a linky party on her blog. You don’t want to miss the great ideas being shared.

Today I'll be linking up with two of my favorite bloggers for our top Pinterest picks!!! Thank you PAWSitively Teaching and Inspired Owl's Corner for hosting this. This first idea comes from First Grade Blue Skies . It's super cute, easy and eye catching. Everything that the busy teacher wants in a holiday board!!!! I was turned on to this second idea because Miss Peluso's Kindergarten posted it on Instagram. The post came from Scribble Shop. We plan on doing these cards in class to accompany our TBA Christmas presents. My teaching partner is in charge of those this year!!!! We will make one template, copy it on card stock and have the kids print away. Thank you Gina for the idea:) Last, but not least, photo ideas!!! We are a last minute family when it comes to the extras like cute Christmas photos. You'll have to follow me on Instagram to see which pose we choose.

Plenty of stick book activities and ideas can be found in this post, based on 'Not A Stick’ by Antoinette Portis, which is a definite must-read for kids!

Learn how to play the Kaboom game in your classroom to make practicing math facts, sight words, and more a blast for your students!

Everyone loves Wikki Stix! All of my kids – aged 12, 7, and twin 5 year olds all love these wax covered sticks of yarn. Ok, I admit it, even I love Wikki Stix. I love them both as a parent and I secretly enjoying playing with them myself. The first time I was exposed […]

Download a new playlist to list to in the car or classroom. These songs will build your child's literacy skills.

Make your die from the SEN teacher site or just use an old die and stick labels on it with the letters s,a,t,p,i,n

We've been working on silent e for over a month now. Students are seeming to get it and apply it (for the most part) during writing worksh...

Next week is our last week. This calls for a special team meeting in which we come up with a survival plan. Task Number 1 What Should We Teach This...

A fun and active way to learn letter names and sounds with young children- noisy letter jumping! This is a game we used to play a lot while I was teaching Reception classes (4-5 year olds) and was always a favourite in our outdoor play area. There’s research to show that if children can connect...Read More »

Q and U are getting married! The wedding of Q and U will help your students remember that they always stick together. Your students will love these QU letter characters and all of the meaningful, fun activities in this packet. This QU Packet Includes: 3 Character Posters Invitation to Wedding Wedding Cake Activity Gift Activity Word Wheel Literacy Activities Hands-On Activities PLEASE NOTE: This packet contains generic worksheets that you can use with almost any book. It does not contain reading passages. Looking for more educational resources and fun ideas? Let's Connect! Follow me on Teachers Pay Teachers, Instagram, and Facebook!

Make learning phonemes fun by using sticky notes!

Another week! Happy happy Monday. :) This week I went with a super simple Monday Made It, but one that will be very useful next year! I introduce to you............. Mr. Spacer! I first heard about Mr. Spacer from Hadar and he has been pinned for a long while. Mr. Spacer is used to help your students leave appropriate spaces between words! Lots of my students last year could have used this, but I can think of one student in particular who I wish I would have had this for! His handwriting is pretty messy, and a lot of the time I couldn't tell which letters he was making, let alone where one word ended and another began. I will have him again next year so I am excited to see how his work will change with the help of Mr. Spacer! To make Mr. Spacers, you'll need popsicle sticks, googly eyes, and Mod Podge. I got my popsicle sticks and googlies from Hobby Lobby. The popsicle sticks are regular sized and the googly eyes are 4 mm. So tiny! All you have to do is Mod Podge two little eyeballs on top of each stick! I used a Q-tip to apply the Mod Podge and then just tossed it. That worked perfectly. These can also be used as pointers or trackers to support one-to-one correspondence in reading. I think I'll have these out in baskets on the students' tables so they can use them when they need to. :)

If you need a fresh idea for teaching context clues, then try using pictures! Pictures are an engaging and alternative method for building vocabulary, and they don't really require reading! This blog post provides personal insight on teaching context clues using pictures in speech therapy, so read more here!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! So, to add a little fun to our phonics mini-lessons I decided to create our "Talking Turkey" cup. It's so simple to make, and you probably have the supplies already on hand! I use this quick activity to go over our phonics rules for the week. Even though it's

Looking for fresh ways to review spelling Word Cards with your child? Here are 10 motivating ideas that will increase the fun of review time!

Item description Penguin Math and Literacy workbook with printable worksheets, writing templates, a penguin mini-book, and a small group reading game.  Penguins are super cool, and students love learning about them.  It is great fun to immerse the kids in reading and writing about penguins, and also have themed math activities.  Students can learn a little about penguins from the mini-book and penguin facts sheet.  Most of the worksheets are aligned to the common core standards practice, so kids can master kindergarten skills while having fun learning. Kindergarten Penguin Math and Literacy Workbook Includes: *Penguin song *T-chart (record what students Know and Learned) *Uppercase and Lowercase letter writing practice *Circle the beginning sounds *Write the beginning sounds *Circle the ending sounds *Count and Circle the Number of Syllables *Ice Cube CVC Words (write the CVC words) *Bubble Map (record facts about penguins) *Penguin Facts page (non-fiction read aloud) *Tree Diagram (list what penguins “are”, “have”, and “can do”) *Mini-Book “I Can Read About Penguins” (short 8 page pre-primer and primer non-fiction reading) *Mini-Book “Penguin Counting” (practice reading pre-primer, primer, and number words 1 to 6) *Penguin writing templates *Build A Penguin Sentence *Penguin Picture Card Match Recording Sheet *Picture/Word Cards (practice reading CVC, CVCC, and CCVC words) *Number Flash Cards *Penguin Mystery Picture (Hundreds Chart) *Dominoes and Penguin Match Worksheet (numbers 1-5) *Tally Sticks Worksheet (numbers 6-10) *Tally Sticks (cut and paste 1-8) *Penguins and Dominoes (cut and paste 11-20) *Complete the Patterns (cut and paste) *Adding Penguins (ten frame addition for sums to 10) *Winter Objects Count and Graph Activity *Fishy Comparisons (Identifying the group with more) *Fishy Comparisons (Identifying the group with less) Find More Kindergarten Worksheets PDF File in My Shop Here are a few of the resources for sale Alphabet Letter Formation Printable Worksheets Beginning Sounds Resource Unit Write and Read Sigh Word Fluency (List 1) Winter Math and Literacy Unit for Kindergarten Shapes Graphing Worksheets PDF Bundle My Kindergarten and preschool worksheets are PDF files and printable using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, and most of the worksheets and activities are Common Core Standards aligned and cover many of the Math and ELA standards for kindergarten. I hope you like this Penguin Math and Literacy Workbook for kindergarten, and that your students have fun learning.

Adventures in Second Grade!

Have you read 6 Sticks by Molly Coxe? It is a darling beginning readers book about a pair of creative mice who discover lots of funny and wonderful things to create with six popsicle sticks. It

We all love things that are creepy and crawly. I know the kiddos do!!! I am going to post my Insects & Bugs Centers. Please be aware that...

Our #1 decoding hack, Switch It, is a fun game that also teaches phonics, phonemic awareness, and decoding all in one. Snag a free guide with lists & videos

We all know that children learn best with practice and repetition, most of us cover this in our daily planning and delivery. However, planning activities that are fun and hands on can be more difficult. I have come up with 5 fun ways to learn sight words that are also hands-on. I have teamed up […]

Pronoun Sort, Worksheets and Fun Pronoun Sort, Worksheets and Fun is a resource aimed at improving Kindergarten and first-grade students' understanding of pronouns. This kit combines the excitement of a game with the goal of mastering simple pronouns such as 'he', 'she', 'it', 'we' and 'they'. It transforms challenging tasks into engaging activities to increase student involvement. Versatility in Application The resources within this kit can be laminated which are inclusive of bowls, pretzels, and directions for placement at a Literacy or Daily 5 word-work station in conjunction with a response sheet. Additionally, it has usability as an interactive pronoun sort or file folder game using Velcro making it well-fit for Response To Intervention (RTI) sessions. Other Uses: Increase difficulty by distributing different bowls and pretzels with various pronouns amongst the students. Create competition by turning sorting into a game where kids flip pretzels over into correct bowls. Suit whole-group instruction where pairs work together finding synonyms for given pronouns in books or periodicals. Ideal for All Learners: This product is designed to assist ELL students or learners needing extra exposure to concepts of pronouns. Also perfect as an addon to existing morning work schedules or overflow activities along with being used in Interactive Notebooks! What's included: Six colored (and black & white) bowls bearing instructions & target pronouns; Six pages comprising 60 sorting nouns including one blank additional page; Sixty paper-based tangible brown/black & white make-believe pretzels; A single-page sorting response sheet and two worksheets usable for formative assessments or informal evaluations. In conclusion, Pronoun Sort, Worksheets and Fun facilitates a fun-filled way of learning pronouns. It is ideal for educators at the Grade 1 and Grade 2 levels striving to offer an interactive twist on their teaching methods. Especially suited for Language Arts classes focusing on Grammar. Pronoun Sort, Worksheets and Fun

Present early math concepts such as counting, numbers, addition, and subtraction with these FREE printable rhymes. Just add chip clips!

This post has a super fun story starter block activity for kids! You can use this to inspire creative writing ideas in young learners.

Those short vowel sounds can really trip up our young readers. Several of the vowels sound so similar it’s no wonder that they can be so tricky. Discrimination activities, such as this vowel sticks activity, can help our kiddos hear the differences between the sounds. This activity can be easily differentiated as you can choose […]

Is grammar outdated or still necessary for a homeschool education? Learn the pros and cons and find some great, free resources for teaching this often maligned topic.

My apologies for my absence last week. Like many of us this Winter, I finally succumbed to this miserable crud that is infecting so many. And I can't even blame it on having to shovel snow or scrape ice. I no longer do such frigid tasks, here in Southern California. But I'm back on track - mostly. Although my poor cat, who likes to sit on my lap, has become extremely distrustful. He's easily disturbed by loud noises, and my coughing and honking evidently count as such. But, he'll get over it, in exchange for some treats. So, on to this week's post. We tend to talk a lot about use of core vocabulary and expanding functions beyond requesting, but we don’t talk quite so much about social skills and pragmatics with AAC users. The Pragmatics Profile for People who use AAC was developed based upon the Pragmatics Profile of Everyday Communication Skills in Children (Dewart & Summers,1988), which the authors assert is useable by many populations, as it is descriptive rather than a measure of skills. The Profile allows clinicians to collect information to describe an individual’s communication skills functionally and usefully. While the original Profile was written for the preschool population, it soon extended to Elementary aged students, and then adults. The original authors suggested that the Profile could be used with a wide variety of students; including those with physical and other disabilities. This version for students who use AAC was adapted so that it is simple to administer to describe the pragmatic communication skills of students using, or who have used, AAC. The Profile provides a 5 point scale that includes “Does this,” “May do this,” “Does not do this,” “Not applicable,” and “Potential target.” Communication functions questions range from gaining attention to the full array of communication functions/intents and participation in various communication interaction types. There are example provided and space for narrative remarks. At the end is a summary chart, that can be used by teams to establish objectives and measure progress. The Profile can be accessed here And it was featured on the PrAACticalAAC blog here Until next week .........Keep on Talking!

It is so important for young children to develop a solid understanding of numbers and letters in the early years, in order to set them up for learning success as they progress through school. This Beginner Learner's Toolkit Volume 2, little sister to our original Beginner Learner's Toolkit, will get your little learners off to a great start immersing them in playful activities that focus on early literacy and numeracy skills as well as fine motor practice.

Here are a few of my favorite activities for introducing and teaching short vowel sounds and CVC words. There’s a little bit of assembly involved for each activity, but you’re done, you’ll have three activities that will last for years! Enjoy! 1. Vowel Sticks Those short vowel sounds can be so tricky! It’s so important that […]

Decorate your students work using this fun and ready to print Easter Bunny Page Topper. Students can colour in the bunny, cut it out and stick it on their work. Makes for great classroom displays and gets everyone in the mood for Easter. As always, your feedback is appreciated and please feel free to follow me on instagram - @miss_amandakate Thanks, Miss Amanda Kate :)

70 CVC Word Mats that are perfect literacy centers for your preschool, pre-k, or prekinders classroom. These CVC Word Mats are a great way for your students to practice their short vowel (consonant, vowel, consonant) words while building their fine motor skills that will be necessary for writing. Want even more CVC Word Mats? And want to save $$? Get three fun varieties in the CVC Word Mat BUNDLE! Outlines, Play Dough, and Snap Cubes included! CVC Word Mat BUNDLE Each CVC Word Mat option includes varied activities at the bottom of the mats, so kids will benefit from using all three styles! Your children will love these hands-on CVC word mats! Not only will they work on word building, but they will also focus on fine motor skills, and beginning writing skills. Use these basic outline mats with play dough, Wikki Stix, buttons, mini erasers or just to trace with a dry eraser marker. So versatile! What CVC word families are included? CVC -a- word families: -ab, -ad, -ag, -am, -an, -ap, -at, -ax CVC -e- word families: -eb, -ed, -eg, -em, -en, -et CVC -i- word families: -ib, -id, -ig, -im, -in, -ip, -it, -ix CVC -o- word families: -ob, -od, -og, -om, -op, -ot, -ox CVC -u- word families: -ub, -ud, -ug, -um, -un, -up-, us, -ut, -ux **Please note: When possible 2 words for each word family are included for a total of 70 CVC words. There are a few word families that only one word was possible. **Every letter of the alphabet is included with the exception of q to give your students the most effective beginning reading experience. These 70 CVC Word Mats make great literacy centers for your pre-k or preschool classroom. Print and laminate the color activities for low-prep, hands-on learning. Some tips for using the CVC Word Mats: To save on laminating, use a write and wipe pocket. Save on colored ink by printing the black and white CVC Word Mats or use the black and white mats for individual practice. Use dry erase markers or crayons to trace the CVC words at the bottom of each mat. This is a digital file. You will receive the PDF or .zip file for you to download and print.