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

I Am Thankful Thanksgiving Flip Book & Other Activities

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday to celebrate! While we should always be grateful every single day of the year, I love that this time is specifically set aside to celebrate our blessings. 

Sometimes, it's easy to get wrapped up in the busyness that comes with the holiday...cleaning the house, shopping, preparing the food, traveling, and so on. In the midst of all there is to do, it's important that we take some time to also help our kids make their own moments for reflecting on their blessings as well! 

Here are some fun, and even yummy, ideas to help you do that! 

This 'I Am Thankful' flip book gives kids a chance to practice writing (and cutting & gluing) skills while thinking about what they are most thankful for in life. 

There are nine covers for the book to choose from. If you're going to use this with your students, the books make a wonderful hallway display outside your classroom that they can take home for Thanksgiving break. 

Besides the cover, there are six additional pages to the book. Each one has kids focusing on a specific area to be grateful in. From family, to food, to friends, and more! 

One page throws a little word making fun into the book and asks students to think of all the smaller words they can make from the letters used in the bigger word 'thankful.' 

The 'My Family' page asks kids to draw and label members of their family.  When they are done, they can cut them out and glue them together at the top (don't worry, the tabs show where to glue on each page).  You can get the I Am Thankful Flip Book HERE! Here are some other cute ideas to get your kids thinking about what they're thankful for: This first idea would make an adorable bulletin board display. Imagine...a turkey with hundreds of feathers filling up the board! This next one is a Grateful Game...and it looks yummy and can be used with Skittles or M&Ms. This is a great one to do in small groups throughout the classroom!

This one is my favorite...though meant to keep kids busy while you're cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I think it actually makes an excellent math adding center during the week of Thanksgiving! An attention grabber for reluctant adders for sure!  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 Turkey Craft & Writing Sheets

Looking for an easy, fun, & festive activity that you can use to decorate the bulletin board or hall outside your classroom? These Thanksgiving Thankful Turkey Craft & Writing Sheets are a quick print favorite addition to the other Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade lessons, crafts, & activities that you have planned for your kids this fall!

The Thankful Turkey Craft  comes with five different turkeys to choose from. All of them have different feet or shoes to add. Mix them up amongst your students to add a little spunk as you line the turkeys up for display in the hall.

Each turkey has 8 blank feathers. Have your kids think of 8 things they are thankful for. It always helps to come up with many things in large group or at carpet time and write them on your chart or white board. This way, students who are struggling to come up with 8 or who need help with spelling, will have something to refer back to for help. 

These two Thanksgiving writing sheets  also give students a chance to reflect on what they're thankful for! Let them choose if they want the boy or girl pilgrim next to their list. 

Get Thankful Turkey Craft & Writing Sheets HERE!

This November Mega Pack also includes the above shown activities plus, TONS more!







Get the November Mega Pack HERE!

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

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

Labor Day Emergent Reader and Community Helpers Activities

How can it be that Labor Day is already upon us?! My kids have been in school for over two weeks now. I'm curious to hear when you went/go back.

Since it kinda just snuck up on me, I'm going to cram this post in real quick so that you'll have a few extra Labor Day ideas for your littles.

Here is a Labor Day Emergent Reader you can use over the next few days (or even next week) to reinforce the high frequency words "I", "Can", & "See" while celebrating Labor Day at the same time.

 Each page goes through various community helpers including:
-police officer
-fireman
-teacher
-garbage collector
-nurse
-hair stylist
-baker
-crossing guard
-farmer
-soldier
-doctor

The book is 12 pages total and is created two to a page for easy copy machine copying, stapling, and slicing.


We tie in Labor Day with our Community Helpers unit.
Here are a couple of Community Helpers activities to add to your plans.

These Community Helpers Writing Activity papers are great for a bulletin board or hallway display.
 

Many occupations are included, most coming in both male and female characters.

Two different formats allow you to choose what's best for your students.

PLUS, there are blank ones so that your littles can write about what they would like to be when they are older.


Pocket chart pieces are a must for your Community Helpers unit.

These ones include:
-artist
-chef
-construction worker
-doctor
-farmer
-fire fighter
-mail carrier
-police officer
-hair stylist
-nurse
-teacher
-vet


Choose from a full color version, or a less-ink one.


Each snapshot is 4"x4.5" in size.


Enjoy your Labor Day!

Til next time,

        

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Bek