Thursday, May 28, 2015

Kindergarten Math and Literacy Pack for Summer (No Prep!)


Could your student(s) use a review of kindergarten math and literacy this summer? If so, then take a look! 

This math and literacy pack includes 44 pages of kindergarten materials. It would make a great review of the basics so that your child avoids the "summer slide!" The pack has pages that focus on letter sounds, upper- and lowercase letter matching, CVC and CVCe words, counting, addition, subtraction, sight words, writing sentences, and more! Every page has a fun, engaging summer theme! 


What's Included

Writing in the Sand & Beach Letter Match: On these pages, students will match and write upper- and lowercase letters. 
Summer Sounds & Beginning Sounds: These 2 pages have students match an object with its beginning sound. 
Summer Scramble & Sunny Day Scramble: Students cut out and rearrange letters to make CVCe words. 
Sets of Summer: Here, students count each set of objects (<10) and write the numbers.
We Love to Count & Let's Count Seeds: On these pages, students cut out objects and glue the correct quantity of them to match each number.
Lemonade Stand & Pack a Picnic!: Here, students match each quantity of 10s and 1s with the correct teen number.
Catching Fireflies & Adding Ants: These pages have addition problems showing the objects. 
Summer Subtraction & Subtracting Shells: These pages have subtraction problems showing the objects. 
Add Within 5 & Surf and Subtract: These pages have addition and subtraction problems with sums and minuends of less than 5. 
Share the Surfboards & Share the Ice Cream: With these pages, students will practice matching sets of the same number.
Read, Write, and Draw (#1-#3): These 3 pages each provide students with a sentence to copy and space to illustrate the sentence. 
Summer Sentence Fun, Writing in the Sand, Summer Splash, & Watermelon Fun: For each of these pages, students will cut out a scrambled sentence, arranged the sight words in the correct order, and copy the sentence. 
2 Roll, Read, and Color pages: Here, students roll one die and read the corresponding sight word sentence. The first person to read the same sentence four times (developing fluency) wins! 
Water Balloon Sort, Sandwich Sort, Let's Go to the Beach, Shells by the Seashore & Sunny Sort: For these pages, students read and sort short vowel words according to word families. 
Sight Word Sort & Backyard BBQ: Here, students read and sort sight words according to the number of letters in each word. 
Sight Word Spin: This is a fun sight word game to play with 2 players. 
Sweet Treat Spin & Catching Bugs: These are CVC word games to play with 2 players.
How Many Water Balloons? & Wendy Loves Watermelon: For these games, students will spin and count the number of objects. 
Summer Shape Sort: On this page, students will sort the summer objects according to shape. 
Color and Graph: Students will identify and color shapes, then graph them. 
Campers Like to Count!: Here, students will cut out and glue the numbers in the correct position from 1 to 20. 
Keep on Counting!: For this page, students will cut out and glue the numbers in the correct position from 21 to 50. 

Just click on the picture below to take a look at this math and literacy summer review pack for kindergarten! 

Click on the picture to see it on Teacher's Notebook.

Happy teaching! 

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Letter Sounds FREEBIE from Miss D's Classroom



This week, my youngest son practiced his letter sounds using this great FREE packet from Miss D's Classroom. The set comes with letters A-E. On each page, students color the objects that begin with that letter sound. 


Miss D's letter sound FREEBIE is nice for fine motor practice, too. My son is a "reluctant colorer," but he'll do it when there is a task to be completed. 

To quote Miss D, "This resource will be useful in the classroom as beginning readers need to know beginning sounds before progressing to other sounds in a phonics unit. By using these worksheets, they will be engaged in learning the beginning sounds of each letter in a fun way -- coloring!"

TEACHING TIP

Miss D recommends having students use letter cards first in order to become familiar with the sounds. "You can even turn it into a game," she says, "For example, who has the card that makes the sound of /b/? Children would look at their cards and shout "I do"! The choice is yours!"

Just click on the picture below to download this great PRINT AND GO FREEBIE for your student(s)! CLICK HERE to see the whole workbook ($4) that's available in Miss D's store!

 

Happy teaching!

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Summer Book Recommendations for K-2 and FREE Reading Logs



I want to share a few of my favorite K-2 books with you. For years, I was so focused on providing students with "great children's literature" (Caldecott winners and the like) that I forgot the most driving force behind reading: choice. Children, like adults, are excited to read about subjects that pique their interest. They are much more engaged and willing to read when THEY have chosen a book about something they love. Just click on the title at the top to see each book or series on Amazon.com.

You would not believe how popular this set was with my students! I have had whole groups of students who learned to read early because of this set! It comes with 10 (or maybe 12) small books just right for little hands. Each book focuses on a different word family (like -at, -et, or silent e words) and has high picture support. They are very well done and build on each other. This is a great set for beginning readers! 

Just like the set above, this set of 10 books is highly appealing to superhero AND Lego™fans! The words in this set tend to be a little more difficult, but students do well with them after repeated readings. My son learned to read with this set! (There is also a very similar set available with a Star Wars theme. We have that set, too!) 

I discovered this set last summer. They are PERFECT beginning chapter books. Ms. Greene miraculously uses mostly sight words to write these books. They have simple, everyday story lines, yet manage to engage even the adult! 

These books make such great read alouds! Junie's "voice" in the book just cracks me up. While there are some not nice words included (I'll admit that sometimes I skip them), Junie is saying just what many kindergarteners are thinking. Plus, if you're looking for a quick read, these books are just the thing. 

5. Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne (1-2, or read by a parent to K)
These books follow Jack and Annie on adventures to different places and times of historical and/or geographical significance. They appeal to both boys and girls, as well as adults. There is always an interesting story line and several titles have nonfiction books to go with them. 

I hope you find this little list of books helpful. At the very least, I hope it gets you and your student(s) thinking about what they're going to read this summer. No list would be complete without some FREE READING LOGS to keep track of student reading. Just click on the picture below to download a set for FREE! 



Happy summer reading!

Friday, May 22, 2015

FREE Letter Sort for Preschool or Kindergarten


Don't miss this cute TEACHER FREEBIE from Cherry Workshop! It comes with upper- and lowercase As for students to sort. My son had fun "picking" the apples from the tree and placing them in the correct upper- or lowercase basket. The repetition provided my preschooler with enough practice to now be able to differentiate the letters! 

A TEACHING TIP 

Katya, from Cherry Workshop, says, 
"I'm doing a lot of sorting games with my kids and they are always excited to play. What usually grabs their attention is when the game is contextualized in some way. e.g. tell them a story how you're going apple picking and you need everyone's help. It even cooler if the apples are all around the room. The same can be played with any thematic pictures or objects (even better) as a scavenger hunt, or they win the letters in a game and then sort. The possibilities are numerous. As long as there is some story behind the activity, even the simplest one, kids' imagination does all the work for you."

Just click on the picture at the top or the one below to download a set for your classroom.  I hope your students enjoy it as much as my son did! 


Happy teaching! 


Thursday, May 21, 2015

10 End-of-Year FREEBIES for First Grade


Here are 10 wonderful FREEBIES, just right for some end-of-the-year or summer review. Take a look at each one and download a set for your students! 

Download this freebie for an easy-to-assemble addition center. Students will use addition mats and fish manipulatives to solve for each sum. 


Students can use this set to practice basic facts and find equivalent expressions. They would work well for small groups, as a whole class activity, or as a math center.


More fish! This game has cards for a word to picture matching game. It's an easy peasy  literacy center! 


This set has 3 pages of print-and-go word problems. Students will use number lines, ten frames, equations, and drawings to represent each problem. 


This set includes 3 different games: addition, addition with 3 numbers, and multiplication. Each game board comes in color and blackline. 


Students can use these 10 task cards to review nouns, adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, and verbs. It comes with 2 levels of recording sheets. 


This memory book rocks! It has a rock star theme with 5 different pages. This is just adorable and perfect for the end of the year! 


This FREEBIE has 7 pages of print and go math activities. 


This tri-fold brochure about summer reading includes links to reading websites, tips about summer reading, and more! 


This fun freebie would be great to send home as part of a summer pack. It has an activity tic-tac-toe, a summer reading log, and a summer vacation mini-poster. 
Thanks for reading! 
I hope you found a few great FREEBIES for your students!

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

CVC Words Super Pack and a FREEBIE!



Could your student(s) use some CVC practice? If so, then don't miss my CVC Words Super Pack

In the picture above, my son (kindergarten) sorts the real and nonsense CVC words. Then, he writes a few words from each set. 


This is just one of several activities included in this set. The CVC Words Super Pack also includes:

* 31 print and go activity pages!

* CVC write the room set. This set has 30 word cards (6 for each vowel), 2 full color recording sheets to laminate, and a blackline recording sheet.

* Real & Nonsense Word Sort. This center activity includes 30 words, a sorting mat, one full color recording sheet, and a blackline recording sheet.

* 20 CVC word and picture puzzles (4 for each vowel). Students will enjoy matching the words with the correct picture using these self-correcting puzzles.

* 20 Spell the word picture puzzles (4 for each vowel). Each of these puzzles has 3 pieces. Students spell the word while reconstructing the picture. This center helps students understand that letters go together to make words.

* CVC cut-and-glue books for each vowel. Each book has 3 pages to copy and 6 pages of print for the child. For each page, students cut out the letters, glue them together to make the word, then write the word. 

It has everything your littles need to master CVC words! 


This is one of my favorite activities from this set. In the picture above, my youngest son (preschool) completes the CVC word puzzles. He says each sound then merges the sounds to say the word pictured in the puzzle. As he finished each puzzle, he felt so successful! He is well on his way to learning to read! 


CLICK on the picture above to see this set on Teacher's Notebook.

Thank you so much for taking a look at one of my latest products! Just click on the picture below to download a FREE set of CVC word mats! This 5-page set covers 2 word families for each short vowel sound. They are perfect for small group practice or as a literacy center activity. 


I hope your students enjoy using the freebie! 
Happy teaching! 


Monday, May 18, 2015

Number to Quantity Match FREEBIE



Here's a useful MATH FREEBIE for preschool or kindergarten from Mrs. Daleo
My son had fun cutting out the numbers and gluing them under the correct quantity of dots. 

This set comes with 4 different number to quantity matching sheets: 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, and 15-20. They are perfect for helping students develop number sense, as well as for cutting and gluing practice.


These sheets would work well for assessment, independent practice, as a whole or small group activity, or as a math center. 

Mrs. Daleo's Teaching Tip
She created this set as a math assessment. She says to "plan your report card assessments ahead of time. Try to find as many assessments that can be done as a whole group rather than one on one. In kindergarten, one on one time is hard to come by, so any assessment that can be done by all the students at the same time is a great timesaver!"

Click on the picture below to download a set for your students! 


Happy teaching!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Alphabet Readers: Letter J FREEBIE!





Don't miss this adorable FREEBIE from 2 Scoops of Kindergarten! This beginning reading book has students practicing words that begin with the letter J and sight words. It's perfect for your preschool or kindergarten students who are just learning what reading is all about. 

With this book, STUDENTS WILL COVER:

* Words that begin with the letter J
* The left to right progression of print
* That spoken words are represented by sets of letters
* Recognizing upper- and lowercase J letters


My preschooler felt so successful reading this book! The touch points below each word helped him follow along with the text. He also enjoyed finding the Js at the end of the book! You can download a copy of this TEACHER FREEBIE by clicking on the picture below. I hope your students enjoy it! 



Wednesday, May 13, 2015

End of the Year Awards FREEBIE!



Today's TEACHER FREEBIE comes to you from Lori at Teaching Tykes!

It's a set of 40--yes, 40!--printable awards for the end of the year. Each award comes with a cute saying that goes with a different brand of candy. Below are a few of my favorites. Okay, okay! These are my favorite kinds of candy--and the awards are nice, too! 




What's great about this FREEBIE?
The best thing about this TEACHER FREEBIE is the nice selection of awards. There is something for everyone! Plus, it comes with a blackline version for those of us who like to conserve ink. Just click on the picture below to download them for FREE


Thanks for reading!


Number Puzzles FREEBIES for Preschool and Kindergarten




I simply MUST blog about the wonderful discovery I made this week! My youngest son is working on rote counting and number identification. I found this great TEACHER FREEBIE on Teacher's Notebook that is not only academically helpful, but fun, too! 

This set of NUMBER PUZZLES comes from Ms. Denise at PlayLearnTeach. The set includes 4 different puzzles: 2 puzzles for numbers 1-10 and 2 puzzles for numbers 11-20. The puzzles have an Earth Day theme, but the beach and playground scenes make it possible to extend their use into the summer. 


My little guy had such a fun time putting the puzzles together! He couldn't wait to do them again to show Daddy! 

HOW WE ARE USING THE PUZZLES

1. After laminating and cutting them apart, I place the scrambled pieces in front of my son.
2. I ask, "What number comes first?" When he finds the number one, I sometimes have to remind him to put it on the left, as he is still working on left to right progression.
3. I keep asking him to find the next number. Sometimes, we have to count from the beginning again so he can recall which number is next in the sequence. (This is especially true of the 11-20 set.) 
4. After one of the 1-10 sets has been completed, we count from 1-10 as we point to each number. Then, we move it to the middle of the table. 
5. We finish the 11-20 puzzle in the same manner. After both puzzles are finished, we point to each number and count from 1-20. 


Isn't the beach scene very eye-catching? My little guy loves this one! As he completes  these puzzles, my son is working on number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, and rote counting. Click on the picture below to grab your own set for FREE


And, I just found ANOTHER FREE SET today! This set has a summer theme. It covers numbers 1-10, 11-20, counting to 20 by 2s, and counting to 100 by 10s. Click on the picture to download it, too! 

As always, thank you for reading!