40+ early literacy activities for preschool and kindergarten children. They're simple but meaningful ideas for preschool at home or in the classroom.
It is time for our transportation unit in kindergarten! What are different ways of going places? We started our investigation by asking this question. We made a really basic KWL chart to record what we already knew about transportation and what questions we have. Our questions were great! How are cars made? Why do people ride buses? What is the thing called that people fly on that has a parachute and a fan? (I had to look that one up!) and Why do people use horses for travel? I will use those questions to guide what we are learning about over the next couple of weeks. Here is an a example of what our chart looks like. Our next big activity will be sorting types of transportation into land travel, water travel, and air travel. We started by handing each student a card with a picture of a form of transportation on it. The students sorted themselves into groups that go together. It took them some time to figure out that they had objects that traveled on land, water, or in the air but once they started getting it the groups came together quickly. We did this as our activity piece during morning meeting. Then we put them on an anchor chart to use later in the day. The cards can be used later in a center as an additional sorting or writing activity too. I love having real pictures for students to use instead of just clip art. The book that we are using from our reading series this week (Reading Street) is Max Takes the Train by Rosemary Wells. I love Max and Ruby! They take me back to when my kids were little and they loved the TV show so this is one of my favorite stories to read to my kindergarten students. We discuss all the different ways that Max travels throughout the book and if his choice of travel really makes sense. Would you take a plane to the ice cream parlor? I made a fun activity for this one too. Each student gets a travel card with a clothes pin attached. Name a place in the world (near or far) and they answer with the card how they will get there. With this one I focus on: travel on my own (walk), travel by non-motorized vehicle (bike or skateboard), travel by land (car, train, or bus), travel by air (plane or helicopter), and travel by water (boat or ship). Modes of transport are the key here. After we did this activity together the students went to Writer's Workshop with a prompt (we don't usually do prompts, but this was special) We posed the question, "If I was going to ________, I would take a _________" Their responses were really cute! If I was going to my grandma's I would take a car. I provided the students with the sentence stems, but you can see that they didn't all use them. I prefer the inventive spelling that this student used. He is totally independent when it comes to writing! If I was going to my friends I would take a scooter. On the flip side, this student did use the sentence stems and it supported him enough that he completed the assignment. This is huge for him! If left to his own devices he will sit and destroy the paper rather than writing anything so I was super impressed when he wrote this all on his own! If I was going to the library I would take a motorcycle. This student is a high flyer but doesn't always elaborate when writing. He is happy to write 3 words for a sentence and get moving on to the next thing. He took a lot of time today and even used bigger words like library and motorcycle. All in all this activity was a good fit for any level of student! Another fun book to read about getting places is How Will We Get to the Beach by Brigitte Luciani. In the book Roxanne tries to go to the beach in many different forms of transportation but they are never quite right. I created some retell cards for this one so we can retell the story afterwards. After we do the retell together we will do a cut and glue retell page all together. My students really enjoy those. To add in a little STEM fun I bought the book If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. The illustrations are fantastic and I think students will really love this activity! After reading the book students will plan out a car and then draw it. I have a page ready for a final copy so they can just draw their car but I am thinking I want to let them create the car out of old junk. Am I crazy? I'm thinking yes but I'm still going to give it a try! The last idea I have to share today I'm probably the most excited about! We have turned our classroom window into a transportation display. Students are creating different vehicles at our Fun Friday craft station and they decide where they go on the board. They are so fun! To see the whole unit click HERE to preview it in my TPT store. I created some templates for vehicles to get you started but to be honest I just set out some old crafting paper and let them create on their own. You can get the templates FREE here. Transportation will be our theme for the next 6 weeks as we work through Reading Street Unit 5. I will be using their questions to guide that instruction as we move through this unit. Here are a list of books we plan on using during this time. They are all great jumping off points for more questions and inquiries! These are Amazon affiliate links which means if you buy through this link I receive a small amount. Thanks for supporting my blog! To top off our unit I also created some literacy stations that have a transportation theme too to replace my Valentine themed stuff that is still hanging out there. February is a weird month because the first 2 weeks are all pink and red and hearts and then the last half is just "Please help me get to spring break" mode. These will help fill the gap. I focused on digraphs and blends, sights words (40 words introduced in Reading Street for Kindergarten), alphabet recognition, word families and nonsense word fluency. I will add in some hot wheel cars, letter magnets, and other manipulatives to make these as hands on as possible. You can click HERE to see them in my store. Wow! That was a lot! We have plenty of activities to use the next 6 weeks or so! Thanks for stopping by today! What to save this post for later?
Hi! Today, I wanted to share some of my favorite crafts to use for teaching digraphs. I try to make my blog posts useful for teachers in the classroom, and […]
These measurement activities for preschoolers are great for introducing measurement concepts in a practical, hands-on way.
The Peg Board Rhyming Activity is a fun and novel activity for the preschool and kindergarten age group. Just long enough as an afterschool exercise.
Animal breakfast is a fun phonemic awareness activity that allows children to merge pretend play with phonemic awareness practice and matching beginning sounds!
Last year I got rid of the toys. It might sound cruel--but my children have benefitted in more ways than I could have imagined. I call it toy minimalism.
Summer has reminded me that kids are highly creative…when there’s not a screen involved or a rush to get to the next activity. This afternoon they created a game called Train Inventory Here’s how to play. Take inventory of every train piece and block by SORTING, MATCHING, and GROUPING them into various piles. COUNT and […]
Use the latest fidget toy, for Pop-It learning activities! The sensory seeker child will be more engaged and willing to learn using a toy!
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
These free Printable Digraph and CVCe Activities are perfect for practice with identifying digraph sounds and reading long vowel words!
If you have a preschooler, I guarantee that you also have a need for these calming activities! Calming activities for preschoolers would definitely be in the parenting handbook (if only there was one). My boys tend to be on the busy side, so I am sure to include a few extra calming bins with our quiet
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If your child Child cries about everything - these tips are for you. They are from parents who have been there and learned how to help their child.
This comprehension passage "A Tiger" is designed for students who are beginning to learn to read using simple words & common sight words.
Our Muslim Homeschool uses affiliate links in posts and sidebar ads. Please refer to my Disclosure Policy for more information The following post is from Shannen at Middle Way Mom It just me, or do very few homeschooling methods refer to little ones being in the mix of a typical homeschooling day? One of the things
Matching pairs like this doesn't have to be just about sight words! Replace the sight words with letters, numbers, or even with beginning letter sounds.
Use these free printable snowflake segmentation mats to practice phonemic awareness during winter for preschool and kindergarten.
How to teach your kids to cut with scissors in preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten. The proper sequence of cutting skills to help kids be successful.
Naps are no more, but the kiddos (and mama) need a little rest. Enter quiet time bins! Full of fun, educational, and quiet activities for preschoolers.
Are you ready for spring? I am! If you’re not, you can get in the spring mood with this FREE Build a Flower Letter Sounds Sort! This pack features 25 beginning letter sound sorting flowers {excluding x}. *The free download link is towards the end of this post. Just look for the teal, oval button! *This ... Read More about Build a Flower Letter Sounds Sort
Practice fine motor skills with printable Camping Tracing Worksheets for preschoolers! Fun activity for Camping theme or summer.
Bonitas láminas con las cinco vocales para imprimir gratis en pdf. Estas láminas son apropiadas para la ambientación del aula en educación infantil y también pueden ser utilizadas por las niñas y niños para ponerlas en su carpeta de trabajos. La vocal A mayúscula y minúscula con dibujo de avión La vocal E mayúscula y minúscula con dibujo de elefante La vocal I mayúscula y minúscula con dibujo de isla La vocal O mayúscula y minúscula con dibujo de oso de peluche La vocal U mayúscula y minñuscula con dibujo de uvas Láminas con dibujos de las cinco vocales en mayúsculas y minúsculas
In this post, I am going to tell you several new things to try with children that just can't seem to sound out words, even after MANY d...
Another month has come and gone and our little Audrey is 1 year old. I can hardly believe we are about to enter the toddler years with her! This week I’d like to share some of our favourite play activities from her 12th month. Audrey has been enjoying lots of transferring during her play. She […]
My new obsession this year has been making and using anchor charts for my lessons. Here are just some of the anchor charts I have made this year. Some of these charts are original ideas but many are ideas I have seen and used from other teachers. I am not good at drawing so I use clipart from my computer to add pictures to my anchor charts. I print them out and glue them onto the chart! It’s so much easier and looks so much better than what I could draw! I also laminate my anchor charts so I can use them year to year. By laminating the charts I can easily write and erase on them by using an Expo marker. Click HERE to download the worksheet writing templates for opinion writing, informative writing, step writing, personal narrative writing, fictional narrative writing, and postcard writing that match these anchor charts from my TpT store! Click HERE to download the files needed to make the Sequence of Events and Transitional Word Examples anchor charts from my TpT store! Click HERE to download the file needed to make the Fiction/Non-Fiction Sort anchor chart from my TpT store! Click HERE to download the words I used on these anchor charts on my TpT store!
The celebration of Matariki, the Māori New Year, has grown in popularity in recent years. Read on to learn 5 ways to introduce Matariki in your classroom.
As we are working more and more with letters, these alphabet picture sorts for beginning sounds are a great way to introduce kids to the beginning stages of reading. Whether your child needs to work with you while you demonstrate the letter sounds or can work independently to sort through the beginning sounds of multiple letters, these alphabet picture sorts are sure to be a great tool for learning letters!
Community Helper activities and lessons encourage preschoolers to think more closely and appreciate all of the people in their community
Here is a simple activity that will help children match beginning sounds to objects.
If your kids love cars, they'll love these free transportation alphabet posters! Hang them near their play space at eye height and watch them engage.
I'll admit to being a little SUPER excited to have Monday off! Tuesday we'll talk about Christopher Columbus. We'll read a story: We'll also learn a song about Christopher Columbus, discuss and color our story retell sheet and then take them home to share the story with our families: Then, Wednesday we'll retell the story using our pocket chart pieces: And we'll also complete our writing activity: If you're interested in using any of these activities click HERE. Packet is on TPT for $3.00 For a Freebie Song about Columbus click HERE. I hope you are enjoying an extra day off also!
