The Boy Who Cried Wolf Activities & Other Fables {Plus, a FREE download!}

Ah...the little boy who is infamously known for his false cry of a wolf! A boy who lies so many times, that when the wolf actually does show up...none of his friends believe him.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf is one of Aesop's Fables. From it, comes the idiom "to cry wolf," which means to give a false alarm. Teachers around the world teach this story to students, in hopes that it will warn them of the consequences that come from telling lies.

As I did some brief reading about this fable, I discovered that an educational experiment was done that suggested that this fable, when read to children, actually increased their likelihood of lying instead of decreasing it - YIKES!

Regardless, I think it is still an important fable to read and teach! This 18 paged emergent reader simplifies the story for new readers while giving you a chance to focus on sight words at the same time.


I tried to include as many sight words as I could. The book is longer than I usually like to make them, but the kids didn't seem to mind at all.

This reader is also a perfect way to introduce and practice reading quotation marks. Have your students look for them and color/highlight/underline the words in quotes so that they can easily remember to read them with expression!



The last page of every book sneaks in a mini writing opportunity in which students reflect on what lesson is learned in the fable!

First, have your littles color the picture cards below on the left. They can think about the story while doing this. The picture cards are in order and the will help prepare them for what they will have to do later!

   

Next, have your kiddos bust out those scissors and practice their cutting! I intentionally left space between each of the picture cards so that students had 1) room for improvement and 2) room for mistakes! Once they are all cut out, mix them up!

Have students retell the story and glue the picture cards on the paper in the order that they go. Another option is to make a few master copies yourself, laminate them, and use them at a center year after year while also giving students a copy to take home.

And when it's all done and put in order, it will look something like this:



Get The Boy Who Cried Wolf Sequencing Activity HERE.

Get The Boy Who Cried Wolf Emergent Reader HERE.
Or... get it in a bundle with 20 other Aesops Fables Emergent Readers HERE.

Want to try out a fable emergent reader absolutely free? Your littles will LOVE having their very own version of The Little Red Hen to take home and read to parents or keep in their book box at school!



Get this FREE Little Red Hen Emergent Reader HERE!

Don't forget to PIN this post so that you can remember these activities for future planning!

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Thanks for letting me share these activities with you! I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teacher life & prep just a tad bit easier!

-Til next time

    

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Bek

Counting Leaves Fall Emergent Reader {Plus - a FREE Download!}

Fall came and went quickly for us. We actually had a lot of snow on Halloween this year! Bleh! Before the leaves get crunchy and crumbled, I wanted to show you an awesome fall counting reinforcement that I snuck into an emergent reader, a few other fall activities, and then I have a FREE DOWNLOAD for you to use with your kiddos!

Fall is a perfect unit for working on counting and color words. Students love collecting and looking at the beautiful leaves that fall from the trees.


Here's a full picture of the cover of the reader:

There are actually two versions you can choose from. One has a blank for students to count and write in the number of leaves on each page. The other doesn't and just includes the number word. Both include numbers 1-10.

You can get this Fall Counting Leaves Emergent Reader HERE.

If your kiddos are needing to simply just work on color words, there is a very similar emergent reader that focuses on that!


Each page simply introduces (or reviews) a new color word. They follow this format (see the next pic), and the last page has many leaves that they can choose to color whatever they would like. It's a great way to casually tie color words into your fall unit. It's also a great way to informally assess which color words your kiddos need to keep working on!

Make sure to have a few extra copies handy for kids who miscolor and need a new copy!
You can get this Fall Coloring Leaves Emergent Reader HERE.

Both of these readers, plus even more readers and other ELA and Math activities centered around Fall, are included in a Fall Activities Bundle.

This bundle includes yet another emergent reader that follows a simple "I can see..." format and introduces or reviews fall vocabulary.

Vocabulary posters are included to hang around your room for decor and most importantly, for use as a reference and also for use with a write-the-room activity.

Large, colorful pocket chart pieces are included as well!


One last thing...

I have a FREE DOWNLOAD for you to use with your kiddos.
Get these Fall 3-Pieces Puzzles to use with your fall unit!

They include a black/white version too. A perfect filler for fast finishers who finish their center work and want something more to work on! Have them color it, cut it out, and give it to a friend to put back together.


Don't forget to PIN this post so that you can remember these ideas for when you need them!

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Thanks for letting me share these activities with you! I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teacher life & prep just a tad bit easier!

-Til next time

    

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Bek

Veterans Day Resources and Activities for Kinders

Veterans Day is approaching quickly! How can it be November already? 

We've had warmer than normal weather here in Illinois, making me just a bit in denial about what month it actually is! 

Anyway, I wanted to share some resources and activities that you can do with your littles in the upcoming week in celebration of all Veterans who have and do serve our country.

A great way to introduce Veterans Day to your kids is with this short six-minute video of Michelle Obama & The Penguins of Madagascar: 

Continue to reinforce what Veterans Day means with a Build-Your-Own Veterans Day Emergent Reader that will allow you to pick and choose which pages you include for your students. 

There are 21 pages to choose from. Here are what some of them look like:

Have your students work on the words "We are..." or "I remember" or mix each page up and alternate!

Here are some other Veterans Day themed picture books that you can use as read alouds. Hero Mom & Hero Dad are my personal favorites, along with The Poppy Lady. But they are all very good.

If you love FREE resources, you can print out my Veterans Day Roll-Add-Color sheets. There are three available. Simply give your students a pair of dice. Have them roll the dice, add the numbers together, and color the area in the picture that has the answer. 

I've also marked down my Veterans Day BUNDLE of Activities, which includes two different emergent readers, Veterans Day mazes, Posters & Pocket Chart Pieces, Color-By activity sheets, ABC Order Practice, & more! 

The ABC Order Activity Sheets that are included in the bundle are kept very simple, with none of the words repeating the first letter. I highly recommend this activity for your more advanced students or as a fast finisher activity. 

 Students can also get some number practice in with a Counting Poppies Math Emergent Reader. There are two versions of this math reader so that you can choose which better meets the needs of your kiddos! 

 I found some adorable craft ideas on Pinterest that your littles can create. 

These Paper Poppies are easy to make and serve well as a visual reminder of why we celebrate.

 Another one I really liked is a little bit messy, but the kids will remember it forever...hand-shaped flags! This is a good one to bring parents in to help with. You can even make it into a card to give to a Veteran.

A BIG Thank You to all Veterans out there. We look forward to celebrating you on November 11th! 

Thanks for letting me share these activities with you. I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teacher life & prep just a tad bit easier!

PIN ME FOR LATER!...

Til next time,

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Bek

Gingerbread Man Emergent Readers, Scented Play Dough Gifts, Crafts, & more!

The Gingerbread Man is one of my favorite units of the year! I'm going to give you a handful of gingerbread ideas today, including: three Gingerbread Man emergent readers that you can use with your kiddos, a recipe for some Gingerbread scented play dough, a video from my favorite YouTube channel for kids, & a couple of simple crafts.

**This post may contain affiliate links.**

Let's start with the emergent readers first. One of them covers the fairy tale story itself, one uses manipulative printouts to practice positional words, and one teaches students the directions left and right.

1) The Story of The Gingerbread Man

2) The Gingerbread Man Positional Words Practice

 Students won't even realize that you've snuck some positional word practice into the lesson as they work on building their reading skills with this interactive emergent reader! 

A printable Gingerbread Man manipulative moves around on the pages of the book.

Activity mats are also included to use at your centers. Glue corresponding mats back to back and laminate them so that on one side students will have a guide, and on the other, they will be able to practice on their own with the manipulatives. They are a great way for students to self check what they know!

 3) The Gingerbread Man: Left or Right?

This fun Gingerbread Man reader will take students visually through the story while practicing right and left directions. It also focuses on the sight words "my" "little" "is" "to" "the" "of" and repeats them on every page of the book.

Have your kiddos trace the dotted arrows on each page so they are focusing on which way each direction goes. 

The last page lets them draw a picture of themselves, as the Gingerbread Man stands to the left of them.

All of these readers can also be found in a large Gingerbread Man Bundle of 21 math and literacy activities that includes 230 Gingerbread Man related pages to print for your kiddos. Wow!

Here's a sneak peek at some of the other activities included.

There's over 230 pages total to print!! 

Cool School is one of my favorite YouTube channels for Kindergarten. Here is Cool School's version of the story of the gingerbread man!

Also, here is a recipe for making gingerbread smelling play dough. I especially like the Christmas gift idea! Check it out:

Here are some cute Gingerbread Man crafts that are easy to set up and simple to do. 

I like the tray idea for this first craft. It's way less messier than putting the items into individual bowls or cups!

I love this next one... A gingerbread man ornament craft. Simple enough to do individually at a center!

Thanks for letting me share these with you. I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teaching life just a tad bit easier! 

PIN ME FOR LATER!... 

-Til next time

       

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Bek

Doodle It Phonics: Interactive Drawing Notebook & Phonics Interactive Poetry Notebook

We're all about doodling lately. Are your kiddos into it, too? Doodling with regular pencils. Doodling with scented pencils. Doodling with scented crayons, and those Mr. Sketch gel crayons and markers of all kinds... Basically any type of writing utensil they can get their hands on, they're using it to doodle! 

**This post may contain affiliate links.**

So I thought I'd meet them where they're at with their interest in doodling, and find a way to sneak some fun phonics practice into their doodle time. Which leads me to introduce Doodle-It Phonics! A doodling notebook that draws (haha, bad mom joke!) a kid's focus and attention to phonics while letting them exercise and explore their creative side at the same time.

Doodle-It can be used as individual worksheets, or it can also be glued into a composition or regular notebook to create an interactive book that students can flip through time and time again. It covers a wide range of phonics. It includes Alphabet, CVC & Rhyming, Digraphs, Blends, & Long Vowel practice.

There are two ways you can have your learners doodle... they can use guided doodling version, or they can jump right into it and try it on their own. The guided version helps them write words and shows a picture so that they can see a visual of the word and either doodle their own version of the object or doodle one like the picture. They can doodle the word as well! Instructions and examples are included in the download.

You decide how you want to use this resource. You can use the 180 pages here and there as you need them, or you can pick and choose what sounds you're currently working on and create a spiral or stapled notebook for students to hang on to. If you use a 3 prong folder, you can continue to add to it all throughout the year!

You'll notice that on the guided doodling version, students have the option to repeat the picture already shown, or they could also draw their own. At this age, some students don't know where to start when it comes to drawing, so I wanted to make sure that even reluctant drawers had a starting place...even if it meant just attempting to doodle the picture already shown. 

Get Doodle-It HERE.

Another interactive Phonics notebook that I use with my kids is this Phonics Poetry Notebook that includes original poetry from my good friend from Let's Learn S'more. 

This Phonics Poetry Notebook gives kids a hands-on approach to learning and practicing their reading skills. There are four versions included for each focus. One version has students writing in the various vowels, diphthongs, blends, or digraphs. The other doesn't. And both of these come in either a less-ink, color-me option or a full color option.

Students cut these out on the solid line and glue them in a composition or spiral notebook, which allows them to continually review prior ones completed! Woohoo! 

Labels are an option that are also included to put on the cover. 

Here's what's covered in this book. Pick and choose what you need:

The Phonics Poetry Book is also available in a Poetry Books Big Bundle:

The bundle includes five different types of poetry books that you can mix and match or do separately. 

Get the Poetry Books Big Bundle HERE.

Well, that's a phonics overload for today. Thanks for letting me share these with you. I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teaching life just a tad bit easier! 

-Til next time

       

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Bek