language arts
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Preschool St. Patrick’s Day Centers
St. Patrick’s Day is such a fun holiday for little ones because it’s all about magic and mischief. This is the perfect day to get right into the fun with the children! Let’s take a look at some of the materials that I use for our St. Patrick’s day centers. Shamrock Observations – This set is designed to help children focus on small details, which is perfect when it comes to shamrocks and finding that elusive 4-leaf clover. There are images of a variety of different shamrocks, and then zoomed in images of the same shamrocks so that children can see if they can match these. There are also two paint-chip…
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Valentine’s Day Language Activities
Valentine’s Day has a special place in my heart (see what I did there). January can be a long, dreary month and having something fun to look forward to can really change the mood. If you’re like me – looking forward to a holiday that’s all about warmth and love – and you’re planning what this will look like in your classroom, then I have some materials that might be just what you need! Here’s my Valentine writing center: I want children to get excited about using these materials, and I do that by making them inviting – adding decorations, related textiles, and touches that create a homey and comforting…
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Using Martin Luther King Junior’s Words in the Classroom
The “I Have a Dream” speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is iconic, and with great reason – but I can bet that many of us haven’t actually read or listened to the entire speech. There are of course the stand-out quotes, but to be able to hear the passion and heart behind the words adds humanism and connection that can’t be paralleled. The “I Have a Dream” book is a wonderful way to incorporate this speech into the classroom, and to help children identify with the power of the spoken word. I’m linking it here (and this link is an affiliate) because this particular copy actually comes…
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Activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
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What I’m Loving at the Scholastic Book Fair
I spent yesterday morning helping with the Scholastic Book Fair at my daughter’s school. I don’t know what it is about a book fair, but Scholastic has really cornered the market on getting kids excited about buying books. I have fond memories of LOVING the book fair as a kid, and the students that I helped this week had that same enthusiasm. If I’m being honest, I was still a little giddy about getting my hands on some new books. I found some amazing new offerings that would be wonderful additions to any classroom library. I’m linking my favorites below – and I’m not being compensated in any way for…
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Easy Alphabet Match Activity
I posted September’s Month of Preschool pack last week and wanted to share a sample activity with you! This has been one of my favorite easy activities for years because it is so low prep and can be used so many different ways. Print and laminate these and offer a variety of different letter manipulatives that children can match (alphabet pasta, cereal, pretzels, small letter magnets, erasers, or paper cut-outs). Laminated mats can also be written on with dry erase marker, or you can print one for each child that they can write on in pencil or marker. Go download your copy here, and make sure to check out the…
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Goodbye Summer!
I’m definitely looking forward to the structure of the school year (and I might be ready for pumpkin spice season…), but it’s always hard to say goodbye to summer! I put together a really easy craftivity that you can use in the classroom to help children focus on the very best parts of their summer as you all move into fall together. It would be the perfect activity for a last day of summer party, just like the one I shared on Wednesday. Click HERE to download the Goodbye Summer Sunshine Freebie!
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A freebie for you!
I’ve added a new freebie for you! This backpack name activity is from the Month of Preschool set for August. It’s such a cute, easy way to celebrate being back in the classroom, while also practicing an essential preschool skill – name recognition and writing. Doing this project can also be an excellent opportunity for assessment. You’ll get to observe how children hold crayons or markers, their writing skills, what letters they recognize, how well they already know their name, and if they can use scissors. It might take some time and patience, especially if you’re working with a group that is brand new to preschool. The information that you’re…
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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…
