Chinese New Year - Activities to help you celebrate!

So...I have a confession to make.

I might just happen to be a Panda Express lover. Ok, so I really, really am. In fact, this year my friend, knowing how much I love orange chicken, gave me a Panda Express gift card that was disguised in a cute little Chinese food box full of fortune cookies! I wish I had taken a picture of it! 

Anyway, the Chinese New Year is right around the corner.
And 2023 is the year of the...rabbit! 

I'd like to share a Chinese New Years Activity Pack with you that's full of many different activities to choose from.
--> It also updates each year to match whatever the new year it is! <--

From emergent readers to a variety of craftivities...

...rhyming, beginning, vowel, and ending sounds...

...mazes, posters & pocket chart pieces...

...labeling worksheets, ABC order and counting by 2s...

...Write the Room, Flip Book, & Graphic Organizer

SO much is included!

You can get this Chinese New Years Activity Pack HERE!

And now...I leave you with a virtual fortune cookie! 

VIRTUAL FORTUNE COOKIE

Wishing you tons of luck this year 

(and orange chicken too)!

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!

Happy New Year!

    

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Bek

Bible Time: The Lost Coin Parable Emergent Reader

Not too long ago, I started a Bible emergent readers series. I was wanting a variety of Old and New Testament stories that could be simplified for a Kindergarten student to be able to read and understand. 
Much prayer was spent before making each Bible reader. My goal was to retell the Bible stories in a way that helps emerging readers understand God's Word while also meeting them where they're at and building their reading skills. My prayer was that God would help me simplify each story for these younger loves, without taking away from it. 
The Lost Coin is one of the parable stories that I created! I'm super excited to share it with you. Here is a pic of the cover of this emergent reader. I asked my 7th grade daughter to color sample pages of the book for me to post. She kept writing and re-writing my name as the 'Reader' trying to make it look like an adult had written it, ha!  I have created many Bible emergent readers that tell the story of various parables Jesus told. The ones that tell a parables all start out with "Jesus told some people a story." 

Each page crams as many sight words as possible into the sentences, while also trying to keep them as short and simple as possible. Students are also introduced to quotation marks. Since it's Jesus telling the story, the kids only have to focus on one character voice when reading them! 

This next page throws a little sneaky counting and number practice in! Shhh...don't tell!

Large, simple pictures help keep a little reader's focus on the text as they read. 

This particular emergent reader has 11 pages to it. You can shorten it by easily omitting 3-4 of the pages if you feel it is too long for your specific child's needs.

You could even go as far as turning this book into a mini play activity by having students pair up and take turns being the Narrater while the other acts out the story as it's read. It's not always easy to choose what sentence go into my Bible readers. Bible stories, and even just the words/names alone, can sometimes be difficult to put into a book for new readers. As you read, and use these books with your students, if you come across wording or parts of the story that you feel might need a little more attention, please know that I would love for you to reach out and let me know your thoughts! 

Have students keep these books in their book boxes at school or send them home and encourage students to read the story to their parents!

I hope your students love this emergent reader as they learn and grow in God's word! Get The Lost Coin Parable Emergent Reader HERE! The Lost Coin is also available in a bundle with my other Bible based readers in this: Bible Emergent Readers Bundle Get this Bible Emergent Readers Bundle HERE! Don't forget to PIN this post so that you can remember these readers 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 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

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!

PIN ME

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

    

Read more »

Bek