early literacy
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Introducing CVC Words in Preschool – Resources
There are SO MANY different activities that you can do with CVC words – just do a quick Pinterest search, it’s a little overwhelming! After trying a ton of these in the classroom, I realized that I really needed some activities that could be used any time of year, and that were easy to store. Here are the resources I’ve created and use regularly for practicing CVC words: CVC Ring Books – These are the best because the pieces are all self-contained, and they’re really easy for children to use independently. The large colored strip has the word family ending, and the smaller white boxes have a variety of letters…
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Teaching CVC Words in Preschool
Earlier this week I shared my thoughts on reading instruction and it’s place in the preschool classroom. One of the strategies that I’m a huge fan of is introducing CVC words. So let’s go back to basics for a minute and explore what CVC words actually are. These are words that follow a consonant-vowel-consonant pattern (hence the CVC abbreviation). These words fall into “word families” with words in the same family ending with the same vowel and consonant. For example, the -at family includes the words bat, cat, hat, and rat. CVC word families are generally introduced by consonant sound, with short a words first. Before children are ready for…
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Should Learning to Read Happen in Preschool?
Most early childhood educators would agree that learning about language is a lifelong process – we begin hearing and decoding words at birth, and continuous growth happens from that moment! But when you specifically ask if preschoolers should be taught to read, you’ll get a wide variety of different answers. The truth is that preschoolers are already learning to read – whether we intentionally introduce activities that support this or not – they notice letters, the ways that these are oriented on the page, how combining them creates words, and that letters can be strung together and used to share information. These are foundational pieces for sure! My answer to…
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Books for Thanksgiving
I am one of those people who refuses to put up Christmas decorations or listen to Christmas music until Thanksgiving is over, so this week I want to share some last minute Thanksgiving ideas – Starting next we’ll dive into the winter holidays, I promise! Here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving books – all links are affiliates – happy reading! Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks Turkey Trouble Thankful Thanksgiving Rules The Thankful Book I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie
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Books about monsters
Monsters are an interesting subject to explore with preschoolers because the children are fascinated by them, and they have so many different thoughts and opinions about the subject. They may be aware that monsters are not real, yet they are still terrified of them. Some children may enjoy being scared, while others would rather not even think about it. Monsters belong to the realm of make believe that preschoolers are still attempting to understand. Here are some of my favorite monster books for the classroom – these can be fun for the Halloween season as an alternative to ghosts and vampires. All links are affiliates. Go Away, Big Green Monster!…
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Books about the Beach
I feel like summer themed books don’t always get the attention that they deserve because there are so many things to do in the summer besides read. There are a ton of beach books that will add new elements to your discussions about the beach. Here are a few of my favorites (all links are Amazon affiliates): At the Beach Good Night Beach Beach House A Day at the Beach Check these out and be sure to take some time examining the pictures, which might help you add to your list of dramatic play props to add to your own beach play!
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Children’s Books for the 4th of July
I think that 4th of July books often get overlooked because it isn’t a holiday that takes place during the traditional school year. This is unfortunate because there are some real gems out there. When it comes to celebrating Independence Day, here are my favorite books to share with young children (all links are affiliates): The Night Before the Fourth of July The Story of America’s Birthday F is for Flag Independence Day Do you have any favorite patriotic books? Feel free to share them in the comments!
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Children’s Books for Memorial Day
Memorial Day is one of those holidays that can be really difficult to explain to young children. We all look forward to the unofficial start of summer, but we also want to recognize the true intent of the day, which is to honor our servicemen and women who have made sacrifices for our freedom. Books are my favorite way to introduce this particular day, here are a few that I have used: (all links are affiliates) Memorial Day (Let’s Celebrate) by Clara Cella Memorial Day Surprise by Theresa Martin Golding F is for Flag by Wendy Cheyette Lewison and Barbara Duke Rolling Thunder by Kate Messner Do you have a…
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My Favorite Easter Books
It’s been a while since I’ve done a book round up, so I wanted to share some of my favorites for Easter. The best thing about these books is that they make great classroom read-alouds and they’re perfect for adding to Easter baskets. All links are affiliates. There’s no shortage of Easter books out there, but I tend to lean towards the classics, such as: The Easter Egg by Jan Brett Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown by Charles Schulz Max’s Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells Easter by Gail Gibbons The Complete Adventures of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter There Was an Old Lady Who…
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Books About Valentine’s Day
It’s been a couple of weeks since I shared some of my favorite books, and Valentine’s day seemed liek the perfect opportunity. There are so many Valentine’s Day books out there, it can be overwhelming to find the real gems (and trust me, there are plenty that are not gems). Here are some of my favorites (these are all Amazon affiliates, so you still have time to order them before the big day! You can’t go wrong with Little Critter! – Happy Valentine’s Day Little Critter by Mercer Mayer This was always my students’ most requested! – Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane De Groat If you…
