Good morning. I wanted to invite you into a day in the life of… me, a kindergarten teacher… in my classroom. This is also the skeleton of our daily routine and schedule since many of you have asked for it. Please note that our schedule changes every year and I’m not afraid to even change…
Celebrate the 100th day of school with a cute, free 100th day of school photo. Use this free photo overlay to make pictures of your students extra special on the 100th day of kindergarten. While I like to plan a not-so-crazy 100th day of school (or really how I plan any non-major holiday), it can…
Give your students lots of opportunities to explore place value concepts like composing and decomposing numbers 11-19 in kindergarten. When you give them hands-on practice over and over they form solid foundations about numbers that lead to incredible results. It truly is amazing what they can do in kindergarten and how they can work through…
Fill your lesson plans in December with fun, standards-based learning opportunities. Here is a free download to practice composing teen numbers (11-19) using groups of tens and ones. It’s my hope that you can integrate this free printable Christmas I Have, Who Has card game into your small group teaching in December. Teaching students to compose…
Let’s get into the Christmas spirit with a free printable sight word battleship game for kindergarten. This Christmas sight word battleship game is easy to use with beginning readers. It’s time to keep the focus on learning but sprinkling in the Christmas fun! If you know me, I like to work smart. That means we…
Keep your phonics time fresh by building in a phonics video every now and then. Here are 16 phonics videos that are designed for kindergarten-aged students who are learning their letter sounds, learning to read and working on building letter-sound fluency. Most of these videos cover the entire alphabet in one 2-3 minute video but…
Bring Thanksgiving to life with kindergarten Thanksgiving videos. Here is a collection of favorite Thanksgiving videos for kindergarten. Whatever you need – here are Thanksgiving-themed books read aloud, brain break videos, and some learning videos that can help you teach. Thanksgiving-themed stories These stories are good read-alouds for Thanksgiving. They are fun and keep the…
Conferences, Halloween and then we run straight into Thanksgiving. Before we know it Christmas will be here! Make going from holiday to Holiday easier with these fun Thanksgiving activities for kindergarten. You’ll love that they are easy to pull together. These are all free kindergarten Thanksgiving activities, printables, worksheets or online read-alouds I have found…
Make an emergent reader using handprints and fingerprints to recreate the life cycle of a pumpkin. Here is a free mini-book to print and use in kindergarten. There is so much to cover when fall hits in the classroom. It’s a perfect time to cover favorite science topics like apples and pumpkins because, for many…
Let’s find fun ideas from kindergarten teachers to use in the kindergarten classroom for Halloween. Here are some awesome Halloween activities, ideas and read-aloud books for kindergarten. Whether you’re planning a Halloween classroom party or just want to know what other teachers do to celebrate Halloween in kindergarten, then this list can help. Let’s start with easy…
Fun and simple ideas for classroom management are often found from the best resource available to teachers: other teachers! I’ve asked my Facebook readers to share their hallway transitions to help make your classroom management even easier. Here are their top hallway transition procedures and classroom management ideas. You’re gonna love these ideas. I’m sure…
A teacher planning binder is the ultimate way to customize lesson planning to your needs and keep everything at your fingertips. Every teacher planning binder deserves a cute cover. Here are four, free printable binder covers. You’ll simply need to print your favorite and slip the cover into your lesson planning binder. While what I…
Learn to identify 2D shapes in kindergarten with this free roll-a-shape activity. Kindergarten students need to get familiar with basic 2D shapes like the rectangle, square, triangle, hexagon, circle and triangle right away. Here is a free beginning-of-the-year activity kinders can use to practice recognizing shapes. Let’s go over what teaching 2D shapes looks like…
Introduce how to describe 2D shapes by simply using dots and lines. Here is a free printable booklet to describe the attributes of 2D shapes for kindergarten. Let me share why it works, how I used it and how to make it for your classroom. Why it works This little mini-book could be called a…
In kindergarten, students are expected to describe shapes like a circle, square, hexagon and triangle with the number of sides and vertices. What’s a fun, smart way to get them practicing this skill? A game. Here is a free 2D shapes game where students feel and describe shapes with a partner. Let me share how…
While I think using a classic game like bingo isn’t always the most effective way to teach a classroom skill – I do think you can give it a twist and make it worthy of small group time. Here is a free describing 2D shapes bingo game I created that is worthy of such instructional…
Classroom procedures play a huge role in a kindergarten teacher‘s day. Wouldn’t you agree? Here is one of my top tips on how to teach kindergarten classroom procedures for using the bathroom in our classroom. My solution to teach how to properly use the restroom in our classroom on the first day of school (and…
Here is a project that I saw pinned and brought to life using duct tape. I call it our “everything board” and it’s essentially our check-in and out system. We use it to take attendance, lunch count and I use it to keep track of students leaving the room. Here’s how to make one and…
Want to get cute photos of your class throughout the year that is quick but turn out cute and cohesive? It’s easy! Let me show you how using an overlay makes it simple and how you can make a whole class set in just minutes. Candid classroom shots are awesome. I loved taking photos on…
The world of teaching kindergarten is such a unique place. My favorite principal would say that kindergarten is an island of its own – and I agree. The stuff we get to teach for the first time, the cats we have to herd at the beginning of each year and the growth we get to…
Make cute end of the year photos for your kindergarten students. Here’s how to photograph, make and print personalized photos for each of the kiddos in your class. It’s fun to do a special thing or two to celebrate the end of the school year. I think this “My Kindergarten Favorites” overlay is a fun…
Let’s countdown to the last day of school! Use this free, editable ABC countdown calendar to plan fun events and inform parents of what you’ve planned for the last 26 days of the school year. The amount of craziness and sheer busyness that accompanies that last few weeks of school is comparable to getting ready…
I’m so pumped to announce that the printable calendar for the 2024-2025 school year is available. This calendar template is my most popular teacher tool – it’s the best! And since it’s a two-page spread calendar, it’s ideal for putting it into your teacher planning binder. Here is the debut of the new 2024-2025 printable…
It’s the end of the school year and it’s time to celebrate the end of kindergarten. Here are free kindergarten diplomas and kindergarten completion certificates that you can download instantly and print. My kindergarten students never actually had a graduation ceremony (with all of the fanfare you might be planning for your own celebration) –…