Try these 5 fun and easy ways to gamify your phonics activities that will get your students up and moving!
I thought it was time to share some alphabet activities for preschoolers. Alphabet activities and How Wee Learn definitely seem to go hand in hand! I have shared with you oodles of letter activities before AND a (rather lengthy) post about why I don't actually suggest teaching letters in ABC order. But I have not
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
As a teacher, one of the things I get asked the MOST about is teaching kids to read. For some children, it comes so quickly and naturally. And for others... it doesn't. So this post is for the mama of one of those "others" (and I say that in a kidding and kind way, of
Super cute Printable Colors Book for kids is a fun teach colors to kindergarten and preschool students. Print free printable mini books pdf and go!
This year for preschool we are part of a co-op preschool group. I put together name recognition activities for all the kids in the preschool. Here are the activities. Name sticks To make this activity. I got paint stick stirrers and used Mod Podge to glue the letters of the child's name on to the stick. Then used mounting tape to stick the letters onto the clothespins. Your child matches up the letters to spell their name. Name Block Matching This can be made in any word document or you could make make it easily be hand. Name Puzzles Here are free puzzles patterns for 4, 5, 6, and 7 letters names. You can either hand write your child's name or open in a word document to add your child's name Just right click on the each image, save and print. I recommend printing on cardstock paper so it is more durable 4 letter name 5 letter name 6 letter name 7 letter name Name Tracing You can download free front from this website to make these tracing cards in a word document. The font is called ABC Print Dotted. This is laminated and so it can be used over and over again. Name Path For this activity, you can use any word document and create a table. Then can choose what letters you want to use and what path to create to spell your child's name. This is also laminated so it is reusable. Progressive Name Tracing This idea is also part of the Preschool learning binder I put together. I download free front from this website to make this in a word documents. The names of the fonts are ABC Print Arrow, ABC Print Arrow Dotted, and ABC Print Dotted. All of these activities are stored in a laminated 9 x 12 folder. I used an X-acto knife to cut a slip in the top. I like this folder idea because it keeps things together and can be passed around easily to each home when it it our turn to teach preschool.
Get your kids excited about learning numbers with our free dot marker worksheets! Perfect for preschoolers and kindergarteners, these fun and colorful printables help children develop number recognition and counting skills while improving hand-eye coordination
Teaching times tables to kids can be difficult (am I right?!), but we’ve got 15 ideas to make teaching multiplication fun. With tons of free printables to choose from, these multiplication games and activities are perfect for 2nd to 5th grade learning, and can be used both in the classroom and at home.
Grab your FREE hair salon scissor skills printable to use with your preschool and kindergarten students! Use at home and at school!
It's time for some fun geography hands-on learning! I love mapping activities and have put together a fun printable set to build a city map. This fun printable set is 15 pages long and includes 5 different
Kids will have fun learning about other countries, famous landmarks, and geography with this France for Kids FREE Printable Mini Book.
A fun way to teach alphabet recognition to kids. Tips for naturally exposing children to the alphabet and includes over 100 tools and resouces for fun learning. I used these fun learning methods to teach my son so many new concepts such as...
As with anything for kids, learning to write and practice name writing has to be fun! Making it a hands on experience can be so much more meaningful.
You’ve taught them the new song for the month…. now you need to REPEAT aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand REPEAT it!!! Children (and adults) learn best with repetition so we thought we’d compile a list of ways to repeat a song without the children hearing, “One more time” and “Play it again” or “From the top”. The best kind of Singing Time when repeating and reviewing a new Primary Song is the one where the kids don’t realize they’re singing the same song over and over again! This is also great for them the repeat the words again and again, learn and melody, and feel/understand the message of the song. So you wanna know the ways to do this for your Primary? We came come up with this list as a resource for you to draw from!!! Alright, here is the list, “from the top” : 1-Play Hot Potato. Pass an object around the Primary room as they sing the song to review. The child that ends up with the object gets to say something they love about Primary. Hot Potato Option 2 – Have the Piano play and children sing and pass the “hot potato”. Arrange for the pianist to stop suddenly during the song at different times. The child who has the potato when the music stops says the next word or line to the song (they can get help from the Primary, if needed). 2-Voice Changer. Let the children pick a different voice to sing the song. For example, have them change their voice to sound like: -Computer Robot (staccato) -Baby Voice (sweet and lispy) -Underwater (plug nose, or move pointer finger up and down in lips) -Grandma Voice (pinch a small piece of your neck and move away and then back toward your neck really fast) -Opera (self-explanatory - use hand actions too!) -Feather Voice (whisper) -Bee Voice (Hum) -Chipmunk Voice (sing high, tighten neck and show teeth) -Ninja Movie Voice (move mouth in between words and pauses) -Giant Voice (sing deep and low) -Cowboy Voice (like a country singer) These voices can be chosen from paper strips on the chalkboard, punch out board, rolling a dice (each number represents a way to sing), spinner wheel, or any of our holiday/seasonal pick-and-choose activity. For our Ultimate list of Different Ways to Sing (over 50 ideas) CLICK HERE. 3-Singing Meters. Most kids love a challenge. They like to see how well they’re doing, so Singing Meters are perfect for that. Singing Meters can control their speed, volume, and overall how well they all are singing. A helium balloon as a meter or Eddie Spaghetti, Billy Bubblegum are great for this. Also our Racecar Singing Meter. 4-Stop/Go, ooooo ahhh, boys sing/girls sing Signs. Hold up a sign that tells the children who or how to sing. Switch them during the song so they have to pay attention. 5-Different Lead Sticks. Bring a variety of leading wands/sticks and display them on the table. Choose a child to pick one and lead the song. Tell the children you will be watching to see who is singing their best, and you will pick another child to pick a wand and lead. 6-Hot N Cold. Choose 2 children. One is the hider and the other is the seeker. Have the seeker go into the hall. Have the seeker hide a small object in the Primary room. Call the seeker back into the room and have the children start singing the song. The closer the seeker is to the object the LOUDER the children should sing. The farther away from the object, the QUIETER. If they find the object before the song is over, KEEP SINGING! My Primary children never get sick of this activity! 7-Silent Singer. One child goes out in the hall. Another child is chosen to be the “Silent Singer” meaning that child “lip sings” the song. Have the child in the hall come back in and all children sing – except for the silent singer who is lip singing. See if the child that was in the hall can guess who the “Silent Singer” is. Finish singing the song even if they guess before it’s over! 8-Rubberband Primary Band. Have some recycled instruments displayed on the table. Pick a child for each instrument. Sing that song as those children with their instrument keep the beat. At the end of the song, have them pass their instrument onto another child. Sing the song until each child has had a turn. Some examples of instruments are, oatmeal tube as a drum, egg carton and stick as a Guiro, 2 paper plates as cymbals, comb (scratch fingers across), spoons back to back (hit knee and hand), tap 2 wood spoon together on the stick part, large and wide rubber band around an open box or Tupperware bowl, etc. You could also use bells, shakers, etc. and to finish the song, have a special helper be the finishing cymbal and clap two chalkboard erasers together!!! 9-Hat Review. Display different hats on the table. Sing the song and whichever class sung the best gets to pick a hat from the table and have their teacher wear it! You could also have different categories such as: The class who is sitting up the straightest and folding arms. The class that is smiling the most. The class that is the loudest. The class that is singing the most enthusiastically. Which class know the song the best without the visual? The class that is overall the best in all categories. 10-Missing Mystery. Send a child in the hall. Pick another child to be the “missing mystery” – meaning they hide behind the chalkboard (or piano) for the song. Call the child back out from the hall and have the children start sing the song. See if the child from the hall can guess who’s missing before the song’s end. If they guess who it is, too soon, keep singing until the end of the song! 11-Headbands. Choose some words that are sung in the song and write them on an index card size paper. Call up a child who is up for a challenge. Put a headband (like a basketball sweatband) around their forehead. Clip the index card with the written word to the band. The child should not be able to see the word. Have the Primary children start singing the song. When the word on the card is to be sung, have them skip over it (don’t sing that word). Have the child with the headband try to guess what word is on their forehead. If they don’t guess it the first time, sing the song again and this time have the children sing that word LOUD and obvious, make sure they sing all the way to the end of the song. 12-Musical Measles. All you need for this one is some small round dot stickers. Be careful the measles are contagious! Original post HERE. 13-Guess the Leader. Have one of the members of the Primary Presidency go out in the hall with a child (or by themselves, depending on the child). Choose another child from the Primary to be the “leader”. The “leader’s” job is the have the other Primary children follow their actions during the song. Have the child in the hall come back in and all start singing. The leader starts doing different actions such as clapping, rolling arms, pat head – all the children follow. Have the child who was in the hall try to guess who the “leader” is before the end of the song. 14-Class action. Each class is assigned a secret word (such as the, am, I, etc.) from the song. As a class, they decide on an action to do or sound to make when this secret word is sung in the song. Examples of actions are, jump up off their chair, clap, dab, meow like a cat, etc. Sing the song until all secret words are figured out for each class. Option 2 – Pick some different words that get repeated a few times in the song such as “I or to”. Tell the children NOT to sing that word but to replace it with an action or sound (examples are above). You can replace a different word every time, or have them build on each other each time to make it a fun challenge! 15-Mindful Singing. First, start by having the kids rub their temples on the head to get their “minds ready.” Next, have the children sing the song - to refresh their minds. Then, have the pianist play the song and tell the children to sing the song in their head (mind). Have the pianist stop suddenly and see if the children can say what the next word or line of the song. Have them raise their hand if they think they know it. Sing the song out loud again all together, then play mindful singing. Make sure to give your pianist a heads up on this singing activity before it starts! 16- Heads or Thumbs. Before you sing the song to review, have the children stand up and either put their hands on their head or give a thumbs up – whichever one they want to choose. Sing the song, after the song is sung, flip a coin. If the coin lands on heads, those with their thumbs up, sit down. If the coin lands on Tails, those touching their head, sit down. Start over with those still standing. ALL children sing. Flip the coin at the end of the song. Repeat and sing until there is one child standing! 17-Switching Seats. Have one child go out in the hall. Have another 2 children from the Primary switch seats. Have the child in the hall come back, primary start singing the song, and before the songs end, see if the child that was in the hall can guess who switched seats! Well, now there you go!!!! You have 17 ways to REPEAT a song in a fun way! We hope this helps you feel empowered to help the Primary children review any song. Keep in mind that not every one of these work for every song. Some songs are longer than others and may not work, or some songs are to be sung more reverent than others. Thanks for visiting our site and be sure to check out our other pick and choose review ideas and following our Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook pages!!! -iheartprimarymusic
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As the excitement of the Summer Olympics captivates audiences worldwide, it presents a golden opportunity to inspire our younger generation not just in sports but in the realms of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). These disciplines, often perceived as complex, can be made acc
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FREE Call Backs and attention getters for the kindergarten classroom! Great classroom management tool!
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Learning how to tie a quilt is a great way to give some hand quilted charm to your projects. Continue reading for 6 fun ways to try it out!
Checking for Understanding Formative Assessment Exit Slips
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Hey there friends! I am so excited to get this post put together! I’ve been accumulating pictures from the past few weeks in order to put them all in ONE fancy post! 🙂 This year we approached addition head on with all of our fun strategies! After a couple of weeks we found the instruction...
Looking for clever, fun, & unique ideas for what to do with boxes? You've got to see these box activities and easy cardboard crafts!
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Learn how to finish a seam and when to use it with one of these 9 seam finishes. There are different seam finishes for knit and woven fabric.