The Tortoise and the Hare Reader and Activities

Hello friends! I've got quite a handful of activities to share with you.

Get ready to feel excited about fables with The Story of the Tortoise and the Hare emergent reader! Your littles will LOVE having their very own kid-friendly version of this story to read on their own.

Read more »

Bek

Summer Goals Flip Book Plus 3 FREE Downloads

{This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission at no cost to you when you click on the link and purchase something through Amazon.}

My how the school year flies by! It's already Spring Break this week for my kids, which means one thing: The countdown until summer break has begun! 

We had one snow day this year, which means our last day is now after Memorial Day. I'd love to hear when YOUR last day of school is? (Leave in comments below!) 

Today I'm going to highlight a brand new end of the year activity that I'm super excited to use with my kids. Plus, I'm going to share some fun ideas and also give you three free downloads that you can print now and set aside for use at the end of the year with your students. This way you won't be scrambling at the last minute looking for something new and fun to do. 

So this Summer Goals Craftivity is fun, easy, and will go right along with the other activities, ideas, and crafts that you have planned for your kids to do at the end of the school year.

Six tabs provide a variety of goals for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade littles to make as they begin to think about planning out their summer break. Pssst... they will also be incorporating writing practice at the same time!

Let me show you  a closer look!

There are actually six different covers that you can choose from for this activity. There are ten different characters for your kiddos to pick from. 5 girls and 5 boys. Encourage them to find the one that most resembles them. They can improvise if needed (add glasses, or whatnot).

I had my Kindergarten daughter help me make a sample so that you can see the steps students need to take to complete this project. 

Start by having them pick a cover and color it. 

Then they can grab a pencil and fill out the beginner writing portions of all the pages included. The first page has the "I will eat..." and "I will read..." tabs. Nali (my daughter) plans to eat ice cream and read Pete the Cat books!

The next page gives students a place to write a goal about something they want to play. I plan to encourage my kids to think about something new to try. My daughter was not creative at all in her example, as she has been very eager for warm weather so that she can play outside!

Then, students can make a goal about how they can help someone this summer. My daughter wants to help her next door neighbor clean up her toys, how sweet!

Next, students plan somewhere they would like to visit. For this one, I suggest encouraging them to think of somewhere reasonable. This is a good opportunity to talk about making goals that are reachable! The zoo is a great goal for a place to visit this summer. The moon? Maybe not so much!

Then they will have a chance to write out five goals. They can be the same five goals they already created but now all in one easy-to-see place, or they could even be five additional goals. My daughter did a mix of both:

Time to cut it all out! Simple cutting and easy assembly allows for all students to happily succeed.
Throw some math in there, and have your students practice measuring by laying out the tabs from shortest to tallest!

Then glue the tabs together to make a flip book!

Now your students can take turns reading their flip books to their peers before taking hanging them up in the hallway!

You can get this activity here: All About Me Back to School Flip Book

Before I give you a few FREE DOWNLOADS, let me show you some other end of the year ideas I found on Pinterest that I can't wait to try this year:

I know the kids are going to go crazy over this popping balloons idea!

Check how how sweet this 'waving goodbye' idea is!

I am a huge watermelon fan and there are so many cute ideas in this theme:

With the new school year quickly approaching, I know that many teachers are already starting to get things organized and ready for this Back to School this fall. I've shared this download before, so some of you may have already grabbed it!  But these Student Information Sheets are a great way for you to print out NOW and tuck in your Back to School file folder for when it's time to think about the new year:

FREE STUDENT INFORMATION SHEETS DOWNLOAD

Another FREE DOWNLOAD I'd like to share is especially for YOU this summer!


SUMMER FAMILY-FRIENDLY DRINK & TREAT RECIPES

Ok, one more! Summer is the time to think about camping. Here are some FREE Camping themed sticker incentive charts that come in both full and less ink options. Enjoy!

GONE CAMPING STICKER INCENTIVE CHARTS

-Til next time

     

Read more »

Bek

Favorite Fall Books

I'm joining up with Kinderfriends to share with you some of my favorite Fall books! 

Our unit on bats in October is one of my favorite units to teacher, so I'm going to share some bat books that are a must have for your classroom library, or carpet time reading. I'll provide an affiliate link for each book I recommend so that you can purchase them for your own classroom!

-Stellaluna

-Bats in the Band

-There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat

-It's Raining Bats and Frogs

-Ms. Bitsy Bat's Kindergarten

-Bats in the Library

-Hello Bumblebee Bat

-Bats Around the Clock

-Little Bat (Puppet Book)

There are some great resources that go with the Swallowing Bat Lady story. I posted about them a few Halloweens ago. You can read about it here. There are some additional bat crafts, snacks, and activities on that post as well!

Now you can hop on over to

Paula's Preschool and Kindergarten blog to find out what her favorite fall books are to share!

-Til next time

Read more »

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,

        

Read more »

Bek