Teachers can use these 15 friendship books and videos for the classroom to teach kids friendship skills: how to make friends and how to be a good friend.
Social-emotional activities have never been more important for younger kids.
One of my favorite projects of the year is our End of the Year Memory Book. It's a special keepsake for students and parents that features photos, drawings, writing samples, and more. It's a project the class works on periodically throughout the year. I love it because it shows how much the kiddos change over the year. It gives parents a memento to remember the year by, rather than trying to save everything the child brings home. #guiltyofthat This is Ellee. She was in my very first class. She just started 10th grade! Her Mom sent me these pictures of her looking back on her Kindergarten Memory Book before school started last month. It made me so happy to know that she was reliving all of the fun we had in Kinder. Crazy to think 10 years has come and gone! You can see in the photos that Word Art was all the rage back in 2007. LOL. I've made some updates to my Kinder Memory Book since 2007, and I've also created a Preschool and 1st grade version. I have some tips for creating these Memory Books that will make them manageable. 1. If you have active parent volunteers, find a parent that will head up this project. My first year in the classroom, I had 26 kids in my morning class and 25 in the afternoon. 51 memory books! Thank goodness I had an amazing aide and some super parents that helped out. 2. Two options for binding the memory books... You can copy all of the pages you need and bind them over the summer/at the beginning of the year. However, I think it's better to wait to bind them until the END of the year. To keep it all organized, I have a file folder for each student. As we complete a memory book page, I file the completed page away in the child's folder. Then at the end of the year, all the pages are in order and ready to be bound. 3. Print extra copies for potential new students or for "Uh Oh" mistakes. 4. If you forget to take a photograph of a student for a certain page, they can draw a picture instead. The combination of photographs and illustrations will make it extra special. 5. You can send a page home for "homework" every now and then if you just don't have time to get to it in class. Be sure to tell your students how important these pages are so they come back in good condition. I would recommend sending them home in an envelope or file folder so they don't get ripped, folded, or destroyed on the way home. :) 6. I've included extra pages at the end for photographs. Students can personalize it, color it, add stickers, get autographs from friends, etc. The teacher can write a special note to the child in the back of the book as well. These Memory Books will work great for Homeschool Kiddos and for the crafty Mamas out there. Just print and use the pages you need. I'm thrilled to be making one with my preschooler.
These FREE Printables and Unit Studies for Eric Carle's Books will help you expand on what your kids are learning through these beloved books.
Book Inspired Kids Crafts Roundup - I Heart Crafty Things A big hello today to all of you lovely Glued to My Crafts fans! My name is Rachel and I blog
Explore Frida Kahlo with toddlers and preschoolers through art, books, and fine motor activities. Kids will love this simple art lesson, and you will love incorporating history and reading into a simple craft.
Is your child ready for Kindergarten? This post will help you decide plus free worksheets focused on kindergarten readiness skills like...
We love connecting projects to books, and we're always inspired by the amazing group of bloggers who participate in the Virtual Book Club for Kids (you can also check the club out on Facebook) as the group comes up with some great extension activities each month. This month's author was Leo Lionni. We chose to read and do a project using a book we've really been enjoying lately, A Color of His Own. This is the sweet tale of a little chameleon who is looking for one color to stay all the time, but keeps running into that challenge that chameleons change color. In the end, he winds up finding a friend to always be with so they can at least always be the same color together. I've used this book in the past as a primary teacher. It's a great way to talk about friendship and also about what makes us each unique. My boys have been loving the simple tale and the colorful illustrations this spring. For our activity extension we decided to use cray-pas and watercolors. I love how colorful this art technique can be. I sketched several chameleon outlines onto white drawing paper using permanent marker. (I'm including a printable copy here in case you just want to print one out, or use the printable to trace onto thicker paper.) Afterwards the boys and I each colored in a chameleon using the cray-pas. Big Brother and I thought about ways to create different patterns. Little Brother focused on just coloring his in, using mostly one color. After we were done coloring, we watercolored on top of the cray-pas. The watercolor doesn't stick to the cray-pas, and fills all the white spaces around it. We all had different strategies for painting. When they were done I cut the three chameleons out and we hung them in our play room. I love how they are a set but each one unique. That's part of what can also make this project a great classroom activity, especially for the start of a school year. Or turn it into a fun family project, with each family member creating a chameleon to represent themselves. What Leo Lionni books does your family enjoy? Have you read this one yet? This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties.
Anya, the founder of Montessori From The Heart, is an educational coach, a blogger, an author, a digital creator, and an influencer.
How make class books with your students in preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten to create motivation to read. Pictures and ideas for making class books.
In our classroom last week we were busy learning about our names and our character trait “acceptance. We read “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes to launch a discussion on both of the…
Our Kindergarten teachers approached me with a request for an art project for the back cover of their memory books. The kids have filled out pages in their memory books all year and they wanted a colorful back cover. I found a fun and easy way to make fingerprint art on the Frogs Snails and Puppy Dog Tails blog. Then, we used a great end of year poem by Helen H. Moore. We started by dripping water in pans of … Read more... →
Get hands-on with these history activities for preschool and kindergarten! Here are crafts, books, and more for bringing history alive.
ALL ABOUT FRIENDSHIP Friendship and conflict solving skills are so important to teach our kiddos. Our job is to teach them important social skills. They need these tools to ensure successful relationships with their peers and adults. It is tricky, but it can be done! I am sharing some
Get inspired with the best books teachers love! Transform your classroom with adaptable books that will enhance your students' learning experience.
Creating self portraits at the beginning of the year is a great way to have students celebrate their differences and what they like about themselves. Great back to school activity!
Blank books provide a great way to encourage kids to write. Here are 3 easy ways to assemble blank books for your writing center, literacy center, and beyond.
When I think of the world that we live in and how many colors are all around, I am truly amazed. Rainbows, fish, butterflies, flowers...there are many colorful things in our world. So, when it comes to teaching colors to my little learners, what better way than to let them know that these colorful things come from God.
You will LOVE these SUPER CUTE alphabet coloring pages perfect for helping kids learn their ABCs and work on phonemic awareness. NO PREP, free printable.
These 15 picture book activities go great with your preschooler's favorite stories. Great hands-on activities that help to further explore the books!
Dot marker printables and dot sticker sheets are such a fun and easy activity to do with toddlers and preschoolers. There are over 100 pages to grab!
I know I have said it before but...... Making Memories Month by Month is one of my favorite books published by Creative Teaching Press. T...
Teaching growth mindset vs. fixed mindset is so crucial for elementary teachers. This lesson connects growth mindset, art, and picture books!
Crafts are a great way to visualize stories! In the classroom or homeschool, use these 25+ crafts that were inspired by children's books!
What could be more fun than a day full of Rainbow Fish activities? Children love this book with beautiful illustrations and a wonderful ...
These FREE Printables and Unit Studies for Eric Carle's Books will help you expand on what your kids are learning through these beloved books.
Each year, we collect work examples and art projects to create our year long scrapbook. It is something that takes time and effort BUT it is so worth it in the end.
This free printable All about Me worksheet is a fun activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. PDF template available in color and B&W
Here are some of our most favorite free printable paper dolls set that is so much fun for learning and having fun with. So many fun
These cute coloring and sorting pages can be used to introduce color words and color distinction to little learners. Included are 10 color pages and 5 sorting activities. Click HERE for the free download! Need a book to go with the activities? Check out some of our favorites: *Contains affiliate links. See my […]
I think it is so important for students to take ownership of their learning environment. I want the students to feel at home in our classroom and feel like it is their room. This year, I had the students create our alphabet chart so it was THEIR alphabet chart using their handprints. Students were so excited about this activity. Each student was able to create a letter so it became their letter. I added the little details that were finishing touches to each of the letters. It was such a fun project to complete! The students were so happy to see their handprints hung on the wall and it made them so excited about our alphabet chart since it was created by them. They enjoyed it so much, thay I also created a class handprint alphabet book for our classroom library. Is is such a great way to get students interested in learning the letters of the alphabet. This can also be made into students handprint alphabet books. You can check out this product in my TPT store by clicking on the image below. Included are directions and examples to make each of the letters, the letter and the word for each letter as well as a template for an alphabet book. For the posters, all consonants are in blue and vowels in red to help students learn to identify vowels. It is an editable product so if you have a different picture that you wish to use for one of the pictures, you will be able to! I also made little flashcards to match the handprint pictures. They can be used to help students learn letter names and letter sounds and also learn the vocabulary of the pictures. You can download the flashcards for free by clicking on the image below.
Graduation Directed Drawing and FREE Book Covers: Graduation Directed Drawing! Use directed drawings to create an End of the Year Memory Book.
Our latest art project for kids is inspired by Elmer the Elephant! Kids will use sponges to stamp patterns and colors and then turn their artwork into an elephant! Follow our Art for Kids Pinterest board! We’re back again this week with our final post in the Preschool Book Club Series. This week’s book is Elmer by David McKee! After reading …
11 free, printable Dot Sticker Art Activities for Kids. Kids place dot stickers on pictures according to a key to make awesome dot art.
Learn about science curriculum created for self-contained special education classrooms by a real special education teacher!
