Here is a sneak peak at something new we are working on–Winter Pattern Play! This isn’t your everyday pattern work. It is pattern work with a twist of word work (beginning sounds and blends), addition, shape drawing, and holidays around the world. It should be posted by the end of the week!
Category Archives: Core A
Word Work in a Snap!
Here is a great way to assess how your kinders are doing with their letter sounds, word building and sight word memorization. Word Work in a Snap! has a page for every letter; reviews long and short vowel sounds (as well as soft and hard sounds); has guided CVC and CVCC word building; and provides a great review of Pre-Primer, plus a few Primer, sight words. We started using these FUN worksheets last summer. They are a great review!
On each sheet your students will:
**1**WRITE the capital and lowercase target letter (prompts provided).
**2**IDENTIFY all pictures that begin with that letter’s sound (or end with the sound for the letter ‘x’). Use this section to assess your student’s phonemic awareness and understanding of long and short vowel sounds as well as hard and soft ‘c’ and ‘g’ sounds.
**3**BUILD CVC and a few CVCC (no true blends) words for each picture. Letter formation prompts are provided in this section to encourage accurate handwriting.
**4**MAGNIFY two sight words in the final picture.
**5**WRITE these sight words in the text boxes and on handwriting lines. This section focuses on a review of Pre-Primer and a few Primer sight words.
**6**FIND the two sight words among a framed box of various word choices and DOT them.
>The sight words in this pack include: and, away, big, blue, come, came, do, down, ate, eat, for, you, go, get, here, help, in, is, jump, on, make, black, look, like, me, my, not, now, one, out, play, please, say, said, red, run, see, saw, to, the, up, under, have, not, we, where, find, funny, yellow, yes, three, little.
Would you like to give WORD WORK in a SNAP! a try? Grab this {FREEBIE}.
First Day of School
Are you thinking about the first day of school, yet? I have a little freebie for you from MY CALENDAR: Holidays & Celebrations. It is a FUN way to introduce the calendar to your Kinders, or remind your Firsties about how we use the calendar. It is only available at my TPT store. So, hop on over and grab it while its there!
Comprehensive Sight Word Instruction
There are a lot, lot, lot of sight word products out there. And I have used a variety of them with my kids. But, this year I wanted to give my kindergartener comprehensive sight word instruction. Not simply a sight word practice page from this source, a build-a-sentence sheet from another source (often with words that I hadn’t yet taught them); an assessment sheet from another source, and finally some fluency practice from yet another source (again, with words that hadn’t yet been learned)! Plus, I wanted him to have FUN and build up his fine motor skills. Don’t we all want to make the most of the time our young ones are sitting still and attentive? I know I do!
Here is the Comprehensive Sight Word Instruction approach we used:
Step 1. Introduce the Word: Spot the Sight Word
With Spot the Sight Word he learned the sounds that made up the new sight word (colored and dotted them); found the sight word from among other similarly spelled words; wrote the word twice on the lines; stamped the letters (I encouraged him to stamp the sounds); wrote the word in prompted text boxes; found the word in a sentence he could read; built the word with letter tiles he cut off the bottom of the page; and finally, built another sight word (or high frequency noun) he had already learned from the remaining letters on the page (built-in review!) That is nine activities on one page! And some awesome fine motor skills work: cutting, stamping, dotting, coloring and writing!
Step 2. Use it in a Sentence: Color as You Read, Then Build a Sentence
Out next step was to use the new sight word in a sentence with other words that are already known. On each Color as You Read, Then Build a Sentence sheet the words to the sentence (plus the punctuation) are scrambled at the bottom of the page. They are also in the color code key and throughout the drawing. He colored the words in the picture; cut the words off the bottom of the page; unscrambled them; built the sentence; and then wrote it!
Step 3: Sight Word Application: It’s Craft Time!
We practiced the sight word “have” the same week we practiced “like”, so this craft used both words. Of course its a Melonheadz bobbleheadz kitty face. Four of my kids joined in on this craft and made their own cat. Four indoor cats that don’t need litter boxes are my kind of cats!
Step 4: Sight Word Assessment and Review: Read it, Match it and My Sight Words
Periodically through our First Series of sight words I gave him these Read It, Match it Assessments to complete. He cut the simple sentences off the bottom of the page and matched them to the pictures.
Every couple weeks we’d review the words that he learned on his My Sight Words sheet. I LOVE these! It is so fun to see all the words he is learning in one snapshot. He built the word with letter beads; colored it on his sheet; and finally used it in a simple sentence, or phrase.
Step 5: Fluency
Fluency is a big buzz word these days! We all want to be assured that our kids are truly reading. And more than that, I want to know that they understand what they read. So, our fluency sheets for each sight word include comprehension.
I like to use these fluency sheets toward the end of the week. Before I give him the sheet, I cut off the pictures at the bottom of the page.
To complete the sheet he reads and dots the word’s phonemes; writes the word in a prompted text box; reads each sentence once–dotting the circle at the end of the sentence and writing the sight word where it is missing in the last sentence; cuts the pictures apart; reads the sentence again and finds a picture that matches the sentence–dots the cameras as he completes this task; finally, he reads the sentence again demonstrating proficiency–dotting the last circle.
In the Ultimate Sight Words {First Series} there are also three comprehensive fluency sheets. These he would simply read. I would mark them as correct.
Step 6: FUN! Games and a little motivation!
We played a variety of games with our sight words–matching (with two copies of the words he had learned); Go Fish!; noun match (matching the high frequency noun with its picture); Do-Uno? (a Uno-style game); unscramble the sight words; Superstar bingo; and a Superstar Sight Word Game.
It is always FUN to learn and play! It is also FUN to celebrate what you have learned. The Superstar Punch-Card gave him another way to demonstrate his mastery of the sight words. Every few weeks I’d have him read what he new and hole-punch ’em!
Kindergarten Jedi
If you have four boys like I do, you probably have a few lightsabers lying around your house. Here are some printables especially designed for your youngest padawans. New today! Kindergarten Jedi is loaded with great literacy and math learning. Best of all, your little ones will have FUN with every activity.
The literacy printables include:
**Solo’s Sound Wars–a word-building game that will improve your students’ sound/letter recognition and blending skills. It includes double consonants and true blends so your students at all learning levels will LOVE it!
**Jedi ABC Order
**Wookie has a Cookie—rhyming words
**Stormtrooper’s Letter S
**Roll it, Say it, Trace it—lowercase letters
**Circle the Letter Match
**Vader’s Swap the Vowel—Replace the vowels to form new words and match them to their picture.
**Leia’s Sounding out CVCs—Spin for a beginning and ending consonant. Form a word with “a” and decide whether it is real or nonsense.
**Vader’s Vowel Sort—Sort the consonants from the vowels.
**Vader’s Vowels—A responsive reader focusing on the short vowel sounds.
**Chewie’s Listen to the Vowel—Listening for the long and short a & i vowel sounds and sorting the pictures.
**Star Wars Sight Word—”the”—Getting to know the sight word “the” and the Star Wars characters.
The math printables include:
**Counting Strips—Star Wars figures that are used on the next three pages for counting.
**Luke’s Flip it, Name it and Count it—using dominoes
**R2-D2’s Roll One & Add 2
**R2-D2’s Roll Two & Subtract 2
**R2-D2’s Roll Two & Add
**Star Wars Count, Tally & Graph
**Han’s Numbers 1-6 Match & Write—Number recognition and handwriting practice.
**Leia’s Spin 2 & Add
**C3PO’s Spin and Subtract 3; Count by 3
You can WIN a copy of KINDERGARTEN JEDI at Teacher’s Notebook. Just click on the image below to enter the giveaway (now through May 3rd).
My Royal Numbers 0-20
My Royal Numbers is a super-FUN way to teach your children all there is to know about the numbers 0-20. It is loaded with hands-on learning, and best of all, it is Print and Teach! Each number 0-12, has 14 activities for your little learners:
- Color and count the given number graphically
- Glue the given number next to its name
- Spell and trace the number word
- Read, by sound mapping, the number word
- Trace the number
- See the number counted on fingers*
- See the number counted on dominoes*
- See the number counted on dice*
- See the number tallied*
- See the number as that hour on an analog clock*
- Glue in the numbers that come before and after the given number (they must choose the two correct numbers from four possible answers)*
- Dot (ten frame) the number
- Find and color, or dot, the given number—using a variety of fonts to help your students recognize the number in various printed and published styles.
- Plot the number and its subsequent jumps on a number line
For numbers 13-20, there are 13 activities for your children to complete:
- Color and count the given number graphically
- Glue the given number next to its name
- Spell and trace the number word
- Read, by sound mapping, the number word
- Trace and write the number
- Tell if the given number is even or odd
- Identifying if the given number is greater than, or less than, another number
- Solve the Sum (writing the missing number that when added to ten equals the given number)
- See the number tallied*
- Glue in the numbers that come before and after the given number (they must choose the two correct numbers from four possible answers)*
- Dot (2 x ten frame) the number
- Find and color, or dot, the given number—using a variety of fonts to help your students recognize the number in various printed and published styles.
- Plot the number and its subsequent jumps on a number line
*These sheets can be adapted to each of your children’s learning levels. Have your more advanced students use the number choices and tally marks as a guide—writing their own answers on each page instead of gluing on the tiles.
And once your children have mastered 0-20 it is time to celebrate! This pack includes certificates and royal crowns for your Princes and Princesses to celebrate their achievement! Then they’ll have a smile like this one:
Play-Doh ABC Fun!
Here is a super FUN addition to your “Letter of the Week” program. It is hands-on, loaded with great learning, and lots of FUN! We all know kids who love to create with Play-Doh. As a mom of seven, I have “eaten” quite a few Play-Doh cookies. With Play-Doh ABC FUN your students will have FUN while learning (now what mom/teacher doesn’t love that)! Your students will work on their fine motor skills as they learn the shapes of uppercase and lowercase letters, each letter’s sound, practice counting from 1-12 and exercise their creativity on every page.
To really enjoy these sheets will need:
*Play-doh (I’ve included a recipe for one that lasts forever!!) 3 colors
*Plastic knife
*Garlic press tool
*Toothpicks
*Silly Putty (to use with Q)
*Play-Doh Number stamps (optional)
*Play-Doh cookie-cutter or press to use with N
*Page protector (or, if you love to laminate, you can do that instead!)
With my younger children I pre-roll the dough (two “snakes” with two of the colors; a “pancake” with the third color; and an unshaped piece of the third color). Your students will lay the “snakes” on the letter and bend, or cut it to make the right shape. I like to use number stamps for the counting portion on each sheet. If you don’t have these, just have your students cover the right answer with their Play-Doh “pancake.” The final frame allows your students to get creative with the target sound.
Have some fun with your students this week–enjoy this FREEBIE from Play-Doh ABC FUN. Just click the link below the picture to download!
Be sure to stop by on April 2nd for more GREAT giveaways!!
Record This Year’s Favorites
As we enter the last month of our homeschool year, I find myself making mental notes about next year, and getting nostalgic about this one. Another school year is coming to a close. Yes, it is good to be nearing the finish line, but I want to capture where each of my kids is right now and bottle it up. What if I forget the joys from this year? And the struggles that motivated us to work harder and dig a little deeper? I want to be able to look back years from now and reminisce about our homeschool journey. So, this week I had my kids record this year’s favorites and look ahead to our summer break. Here is a look at what we used:
There is one for the boys and another for the girls. All of my children enjoyed filling in their favorites. My first grader needed a bit of help spelling a few things she wanted to write, but otherwise had fun on her own filling it in and coloring it! (The recording sheets in My Favorite Things are printer-friendly,black-and-white, and can be colored by your kids). There is also an autograph page, so you can record all your students’ signatures. Click on the picture below if you’d like to grab them to use with your kids.