Category Archives: Preschool

Time to Celebrate!

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How do you celebrate your Kindergartener’s birthday while inspiring their little minds to grow? I’ve got something fresh and fun for you to use:It is jammed-packed with hands-on, independent learning for your pre-K and Kindergarten kids!

1.  Your students will celebrate by sorting SHAPES of presents, balloons, cakes and candle flames on the party mats.

2.  Your students will celebrate with COUNTING and NUMBER ORDER. They will count and clip cupcakes; count and tally gifts and candles; roll, move, and stamp (or write) numbers from 1-6; put the candle numbers in order; and color-by-number sense code.

3.  They will celebrate with ONE MORE and ONE LESS. They will count the gifts and clip the number that is one more. Then count the balloons and clip the number that is one less. Finally, they will roll one die and stamp dots on the presents–decorating the wrapping paper; roll two dice and add sprinkles to the cupcakes; roll three dice and add candles to the cakes.  All of the adding sheets have ten and twenty-frames to help your newest mathematicians total their rolls.

4.  They will have a blast celebrating with MORE, LESS, or the SAME (>,< or =). Your students will follow the signs on these clip-it cards. They will clip all of the object that are greater than, less than or equal to the target number. {This set covers numbers 0-5}.

5.  Time to have some fun with PLAY-DOH! Your students will form their number and then roll that number of balloons, candles and presents.

6.  Your students celebrate with LETTERS and ABC ORDER! Using the gift letters, or any other lowercase manipulative you have on-hand (you can also use a dry-erase marker), your students will finish the alphabet sequence. There is also a birthday crossword puzzle to enjoy!

7.  They will celebrate with LETTER SOUNDS and MATCHING UPPERCASE with LOWERCASE.  They will strengthen their phonemic muscles as they sort the pictures that begin with FR from those that begin with PR. They will also build easy-cut (gotta have easy-cut!) Party Puzzles–matching the uppercase and lowercase letters with items that begin with that letter sound (hard sound for G and long vowel sound for I).

8.  Celebrate all of those BIRTHDAY MONTHS by sorting appropriately decorated cupcakes and month symbols. You can practice recognizing and ordering the months of the year; print a second copy of the cupcakes or monthly symbols and match them; match the cupcakes to their month symbols; and build the months of the year using the sorting mats, month name cards, cupcakes and symbols.

9.  Finally, grab those crayons, scissors and some glue! It is time to celebrate by COLORING icing with the Cupcake Colors booklet (includes one version with colored prompts and another completely black-and-white). Your students will also practice SEQUENCING the steps they take to wrap a gift.  After ordering the cards, they will match the phrases they have to the cards and then glue the phrases (in order) to their recording sheet.

You will definitely be crowned Teacher of the Year after this fun week of school! Your kids are going to LOVE completing all of the activities that lead up to the BIG celebration of their birthday.

Grab this jam-packed set for half-off this weekend!!!

Spring Photo Booth Writing Prompts

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We had some fun this week celebrating sping and looking forward to Easter. My kids love it when we celebrate with a photo booth (Krista’s props make them especially fun) and I love it when we work on their writing skills :). So, I put together some fun spring writing activities that you can use as crafts, as a display, or in a photo booth like we did.

1. Our Easter is Filled With—Why is Easter special? How do you celebrate it? Your students will write and draw about their Easter traditions using this brainstorming writing prompt. They will put each idea on a separate egg and then place it into their Easter basket.

2. In the Spring (Five Senses)—Using their five senses and descriptive words, your students will write about spring. Their responses can then be used to write a spring cinquain. Four colors of flowers are included.

3. Spring Cinquain—Your students will use the descriptive phrases and action words they came up with for “In the Spring” to write a Cinquain (a short, unrhymed 5 line poem of 22 syllables). Cinquain poster and instructions are included.


4. Rain is a Blessing—Your students will ponder HOW (what if it did not rain), WHY, and to WHOM rain is a blessing in this photo booth writing craft. This also a fun writing craft to use after discussing the water cycle.

Grab this set of PHOTO BOOTH WRITING PROMPTS for half-off today only!

New, Updated and On Sale!

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We have been working on correct letter and number formation this year and our clipart now ready to be incorporated into your classroom! It applies the instructional methods developed by Handwriting without Tears.  Your students will always “begin at the smiley face.” I’ve added directional arrows and numbers to help your little learners navigate each letter (and number). There is also a visual “Stop”.

You will find these Handwriting Helps on our 0-20 NUMBER SENSE ANCHOR CHARTS.

And on their matching NUMBERS 0-20 PLAY DOUGH MATS. This set includes play dough mats with correct number formation, ten frame, tally marks and number word for 0-10; and correct number formation, twenty frame, take away from 20, and number word for numbers 11-20.

Finally, I’ve updated our ALPHABET PLAY DOUGH MATS. They are filled with independent, hands-on learning! And are perfect to use with your Letter of the Week program. Your students will not only be working on their fine motor skills, they will also learn the correct letter formation of both uppercase and lowercase letters and their sounds. They will count (1-12) objects that begin with the target sound and exercise their creativity on every page.

I’ve added simple, visual directions to help your students use these sheets independently.

Now, for the best news!!! They are ALL 50% off today and tomorrow! Hope you all enjoy these new, and newly revised products. Happy Teaching!

PS. Student Number Sense Cards are in the works! Similar to our Star Wars set; perfect for everyday use!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Star Wars Jedi Centers for Number Sense & Counting 0-10

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New math centers for your Jedi half off until Sunday!

This set of STAR WARS JEDI CENTERS is loaded with Number Sense, Counting, and One-to-One Correspondence activities for the numbers 0-10.

Each numeral is represented with a Star Wars character ten frame, Lightsaber tally marks, Death Star dominoes, Tie Fighter dice, stars, money, counting fingers, and in its number word form.

“I CAN” Droid Direction cards for independent work are included for each activity.

Your students will:
** Sort Odd and Even numerals
** Identify numerals that are Greater Than, Less Than and Equal to others
** Identify Before and After numbers
** Count-On from a given number
** Count Back from a given number
** Complete a variety of Number Sense/One-to-One Correspondence activities for each numeral (counting fingers, number word and money; tally marks, dice and stars; ten frame and domino)

Three One-to-One Correspondence Mats are included for any target number (1. Number word, ten frame, Lightsaber tally marks and stars; 2. Number word, counting fingers, money and Tie Fighter dice; 3. Number word, ten frame, Lightsaber tally marks and Death Star dominoes).

Sort counting fingers, numeral word, and money for each number

Sort lightsaber tally-marks, tie fighter dice and counting stars for each number

Your students can compare any of the numeral tiles in these activities.

Hook two Count On or Count Back strips together to challenge your students.

There are six “THE NUMBER” recording sheets to asses what your students have learned after they have completed a variety of the centers. These sheets ask your students to complete various tasks including:
** Identifying if the target number is odd or even
** Writing the number word
** Dotting the ten frame
** Counting the number by circling or coloring objects or drawing their own
** Showing the number on dice, dominoes and fingers
** Drawing the number as tally marks
** Identifying the numbers that come before and after
** Identifying numbers that are greater or less than the target number
** Counting on, or back from the number.

Grab them today while they are on sale! Your Jedi are going to love them!

Valentine’s Day Photo Booth WRITING PROMPTS

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These Valentine’s Day Photo Booth Writing Prompts are a quick, fun way to work on descriptive writing and make some memories, too! There are three writing prompts to choose from:

1. LOVE IS…Your students will draw three pictures showing what they love, what makes them feel loved, or how they show love to someone else. Then they will describe the acts of love they have depicted.

2. FRIENDS ARE…Your students will add seven adjectives to their box of chocolates describing the qualities of a friend.

3.  VALENTINE SIMILESThis mini-simile workshop is perfect for your ice cream party! Your students will describe ice cream as they finish the six similes on the yummy shake.

You can grab them here during the TpT sale!

Teaching Correct Letter Formation

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How do you teach correct letter formation?  I like to begin with Handwriting Without Tears’ wood pieces (for capitals) and the chalkboard. But, what do you do to reinforce this initial instruction? I’ve found these Alphabet Letter Formation and Recognition Cards to be so helpful that I just had to share them with you!

The correct letter formation that is demonstrated on each card is similar to that taught by Handwriting Without Tears. Your students will always begin at the happy face and follow the arrows and dotted lines, pause at the larger dots and stop at the stop sign.

We use the bottom portion of each card for:

  • handwriting practice
  • letter recognition (we use these alphabet manipulatives)
  • lowercase/capital letter matching (with handwriting or manipulatives) and
  • beginning sound identification (using miniatures)

Included in this set are twelve “I CAN” task cards that visually demonstrate the target activities–helping your students to work independently:

I like using pencil boxes to hold these activities. They are perfectly sized for organized, individual and interactive seat-work. Simply put the task card and letter formation cards in the pencil box, plus any manipulatives your students will need to complete the task.

You can grab this set TODAY and TOMORROW for 50% off! Check it out here.

Flash Freebie Alert!! {Winter Pencil Box Fun}

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Fall isn’t over yet, and neither are my flash freebies! Grab this one today.

I love using pencil boxes for our center activities. They are perfectly sized for independent seatwork, and they can hold all the manipulatives your students need (counting mats, counters, dice, recording  sheets, and dry erase markers) to complete each task. They are also great for storing all of the parts and pieces that make center activities FUN!

So, grab a pencil box and let’s get started!

WINTER PENCIL BOX FUN is full of number sense activities for your Preschool, Pre-K and Kindergarteners. Each task has an “I Can” Instruction Card. You can use the recording sheets, or just the manipulatives. Here are some of the activities included:

Ten Frames

Twenty Frames

Counting Snowflakes

Counting Snowmen

Color Matching & Color Words

Counting Fingers

Tally Marks

Roll, Count and Build a Snowman

Number Sense for any number (1-20)

Grab it today while its FREE! Hope you LOVE it!