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

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

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