The 12 Days of Christmas Flip Book & Emergent Reader Activities

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...! This nursery rhyme and Christmas song is already being sung by the kids in my house. Christmas seems to be hitting us earlier this year. We've had record breaking temperatures and snow as early as Halloween. It seems to be inspiring people to put up trees and decorations a little earlier than normal. 

As you begin to compile activities for your Christmas lesson plans, there are two brand new 12 Days of Christmas activities in The Barefoot Teacher shop this season that you won't want to miss out on. 

This '12 Days of Christmas' flip book gives kids a chance to practice writing (and cutting & gluing) skills while practicing counting to 12. 

There are 12 pages, plus a cover included. There is one page for every verse of the song.

Here is a close up of just the cover that the kids will color and cut out:

Each page has a 'glue' tab at the top to show students exactly where to glue. Glue sticks are best for this. That way, if they make a mistake, it can easily be fixed! 

Here's a peek at the last 12 pages of the book:

When they are done, they can cut them out and glue them together at the top (don't forget, the tabs show where to glue on each page). And the complete project looks like this: It's great for helping the kids remember the order of the song. Even I often forget which number has maids milking or pipers piping, lol!  You can get the 12 Days of Christmas Flip Book HERE! The second activity goes right along with the flip book. It's a 14 pages emergent reader that comes in two versions, which I'll explain below. This book will fit right into your kids book boxes and is great for keeping at school for reading practice.  This reader is printed two to a page so that you can use the copy machine's double staple function when making your copies, and then use a slicer to slice the books apart. The first page students will read is set up to introduce all the objects given during that 12 days of Christmas.  Students can highlight number words and practice counting on each page!  I included two versions of this book. You can use: 'seven geese laying' OR 'seven geese a-laying' for your little readers. Get this 12 Days of Christmas 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

Thanksgiving 'I Am a Turkey' Differentiated Emergent Readers

Most people only think about turkeys as being a delicious part of their Thanksgiving meal. We can describe what they look like and how scrumptious they taste, but really don't know much else about them. Well, not anymore! By the end of this post, not only will you know more than you would ever want to know about the life of a turkey, but you'll also have seen an awesome differentiated emergent reader that you can use to teach your students more about them as well.

Did you know that a turkey hen lays 9-13 eggs in her clutch in a shallow hole in the ground that's only about 1/2" deep? These I Am a Turkey emergent readers not only tell all kinds of facts about the life cycle of a turkey, but are differentiated as well. Meet your students right where they're at with their reading abilities.  Turkeys do not see well at night, which is why they fly to trees for sleeping. A mother hen, however, will stay on the ground for 28 days, sitting on her clutch to keep them warm and risking her own life to protect them from nighttime predators. It isn't until a poult (baby turkey) is 4 weeks old that it will be able to fly to safety above ground at night with its mother.  Each level of the reader takes students through the basic development of a turkey from inside of an egg, to hatching, to young poult life, to adult life.  At 6 weeks old, a poult will molt it's feathers for the first time. It will molt multiple times. Each time, larger feathers will grow until the poult is an adult.       My favorite part of this informational emergent reader set is that the last page that sneaks in some writing practice! It asks students to write down some of the favorite facts they learned about turkeys. Get these 'I Am a Turkey' readers HERE. Don't forget to PIN this post so that you can remember these books 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

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