I am a huge lover of books in the classroom. I am always searching for new books to add to my kindergarten classroom library that provides my students with windows and mirrors. They can also introduce math or literacy concepts, provoke inquiries or work on oral language skills. Books can be the gateway to so …
A solid understanding of short and long vowel sounds is important in building students’ reading and writing skills. Teaching Phonics Skills Kindergarten students need explicit and systematic instruction in phonics skills. It is one of the fundamental skills students need to be successful readers and writers. As I continue to teach my students letter sounds, …
My students love doing directed drawings every year. They are basically step-by-step directions that students follow to make a picture. I like doing them as whole group kindergarten art activities that students do with me. I do each step of the drawing on our projector, and my students follow along. We do one about every …
I have come up with quick and easy kindergarten literacy activities that use simple letter cards to practise various skills with my students. These cost nothing to make – I just cut up pieces of paper and wrote on them with a Sharpie! I started off with just blank squares of paper. Then, I put …
There are a few kindergarten questions that I get asked a lot. These mostly come through Instagram DMs or emails. I know that kindergarten can seem overwhelming, and there is so much to learn! I thought it would be easiest to put all the answers to my most frequently asked questions in one place. This …
Students can create their own no-prep sight word books to reinforce reading and writing the words they are learning. Teaching Sight Words This past year, I learned about the Heart Word method for teaching sight words. For students to automatically start reading them, I explicitly teach my students how to read them. This way, they …
Try these fun games and activities for kindergarten phonics practice and reinforce letter-sound knowledge. Importance of Phonics Learning to connect the written symbol (the letter) to its sound is one of the foundational skills that students need to become readers and writers. Phonics needs to be explicitly taught and practiced with students. I use a …
I Spy a Sound are fun and engaging phonics activities that you can use to work on letter sounds with your kindergarten students. This post contains affiliate links. I love finding new ways to engage students when they are learning a new skill! Phonics can become repetitive, so I was excited to play this I …
Have a look at my classroom’s dramatic play center and get ideas on how you can incorporate dramatic play into your day. This post contains affiliate links. Dramatic Play in Kindergarten Providing students with the opportunity to engage in dramatic play is essential for their social-emotional development. In addition, they build their language, social and …
Planning a water inquiry for kindergarten students is some of the most fun I have had. My students had so much fun engaging in hands-on learning through provocations and activities. This post contains affiliate links. Water Inquiry For Kindergarten Teaching about the water cycle in kindergarten can be a big topic to undertake. We began …
