EASY Prep Writing Center

I wanted to jump on and share an easy prep writing center for you!
I shared this on my Instagram story the other day, but thought I would share it with you here AND add a FREEBIE :)
Writing center can be tough with kiddos who do not know how to write independently just yet.  One thing that I have been doing for years is putting word cards with pictures in my center.  I add our writing paper we use during Writer's Workshop and let them be in charge of their learning.  They can write just the words on the card, a sentence, or they can use the word to spark an idea for a story!
I put a picture on the word card, so the students who are not reading yet will know what the word says.  This cuts down on students coming up to you and asking what it says.

I have created different themed writing centers for the different parts of the year and these include word cards and writing paper.  They also include sentence builders, making lists, and sentence starters/prompts sheets.  The examples here are from my Halloween pack!

I have created FREE word cards for you that includes a writing sheet.  These cards have a food theme, so they can be used throughout the entire year.

Leave a Comment halloween, writing, writing center

Puzzles for Young Children Book Review

I received the book "Puzzles for Young Children" by Michael Wallach and El Otmani Al from Central Park Tutors.  The book was written to prepare children for the gifted and talented test they take to qualify for this program.

I found this book extremely interesting because I haven't worked in a school that had such a program, so it was interesting to learn the reasoning behind practicing these puzzles in preparation for the test.
Children's way of thinking is "the combination of observation, play, and patient, persistent experimentation."  When children follow this combination to learn and solve these puzzles will separate the gifted and talented children from other children.
You're probably thinking-what!?  Yes, the way these puzzles are laid out really make children think in an abstract way which sets them apart from other students.
Obviously, having a 4 or 5 year old "study" sounds silly, but if you can spend a couple hours on each section of puzzles they will have a huge advantage!  Some sections will take less time and some more based on the level of difficulty.
There are 10 different kinds of puzzles.  Some of the puzzles are patterns, letters/phonemic awareness, and number recognition.
Each puzzle is on its own page.  The left side has "hints" for parents and teachers to use if a child is struggling or to discuss the puzzles more.  It also has the answer.  The right side is a full page for the puzzles with 4 possible answers.
Here is an example of a puzzle:

It seems like the puzzles start easy and get harder as you go on. 

If this seems like something your students or children could use, check them out here! 

Leave a Comment book review, gifted and talented

Apple Week Activities

I wanted to share some fun apple themed activities with you! 

The beginning of the year in kindergarten is BUSY!  Busy learning how school works and throwing in some academics when you can!
Sometimes learning includes strengthening motor skills.  I have a fun activity that works on just that.
Ripping paper is great practice and can strengthen their little hands.

Another thing we are working on is their name!  I created these letter apples and name plates to help with checking that their name was spelled correctly.

A couple fun math activities were sorting and making patterns with the apples.

I also had fun hiding apples around the room.  We would find them and count how many we found. 

Another idea is to hide the letters in their name and have them find the letters in their name. 

To make apple letters a little more challenging, than just spelling their names is to use it with sight words or CVC words.

Leave a Comment apples, fine motor, math, math centers, names, patterns, sorting

Community Helpers Garbage Truck Shapes

I found a cute pin on Pinterest for my community helpers unit.  I thought it would be a great activity for MATH.  Yes, MATH!

I created a FREEBIE that can be used during your community helper unit for your math block.

You can cut out the shapes yourself out of construction paper or you can print the templates on various colors have have your kiddos cut them out.

The wheels can be printed on white and then colored black or you can cut out the wheels yourself.

How cute!?  

If you wanted to add more to it, you could have your kiddos write simple about garbage trucks do on the back.

Leave a Comment community helpers, garbage truck, math, math center, shapes, writing activity

Red, White, and Blue Rhyming

In honor of Labor Day, I pulled out some of my red, white, and blue rhyming activities! 
The first one I have to share has your kiddos up and moving around!

You can use any rhyming cards-since this is a red, white, and blue themed post, I used those colored stars.  Each star has a word on it.  I placed the stars around the room and have the students stand on on one side of the room. 

I have a pile of cards that rhyme with one of the stars.  I will call out a word and the class will WALK to find the star that rhymes with it.  If a student finds one, they will will step on the star.  You can give the card to the student that found the rhyme or you can just keep playing. 

Leave all the stars out, so the students still have to go through all the stars to find the rhyme.
This could easily be done with rhyming cards that you have for class too.  Put half the cards out and keep the other half while you call out the words.

The next activity I have is a matching game.  Students can play in a small group or you could play as a class.  You might have to print off more than one set of cards if playing with a whole class.  I would just lay them out face up or face down and have the students match the pictures that rhyme.
These cards can be found HERE!  These cards would be great when you are learning about the US symbols too!

Leave a Comment rhyming, USA