Get working on sight words with this free Christmas pokey pinning activity for kindergarten. You’ll love how easy it is to work on fine motor skills at the same time as sight words for your kindergarten class. We can get so busy during the Holiday season in a kindergarten classroom. There’s so much we’d like…
Whenever we create gifts for parents for holidays like Christmas, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day we like to wrap our presents. This year we are wrapping our holiday calendars them using this cute reindeer brown paper bag design. This is a cute picture tutorial from an idea that I got online. Students to use lunch sized brown…
Finishing off my own Christmas shopping had me thinking about the perfect gift for a kindergarten teacher. Here is a fun list of teacher gifts from my own personal list, facebook teacher peeps and even my past colleagues. While you may want to share this on your own facebook page in hopes that your friends and…
Let’s work the famous blue cat into this year’s Thanksgiving activities for kindergarten! In kindergarten, we love Pete the Cat! Here is a free Pete the Cat Thanksgiving activity – a cut and paste craft with a writing component – that is just right for kindergarten. This activity is based off (affiliate) Pete the Cat: The…
How can a teacher create student work spaces without using name tags? Here is how I make mobile work spaces for students and introduce the variety of work spaces in our kindergarten classroom. When I wanted an alternative seating solution I needed a way to teach my new students how to choose their own work…
Get ready for the first day of school with a free first day of school printable. Here are four free first day of school printables to choose from for elementary teachers. We can all relate to the craziness that is known as the beginning of the year. Especially in kindergarten. Am I right? Well, the…
Planning is a necessity of being a teacher. Here are some of my teacher organization ideas on how I try to make planning simplified and I share my lesson plan organization systems. You can jump right to seeing how I organize my lesson planning below but if you aren’t feeling that teacher planning is actually…
How to start kindergarten on the right foot with 12 tips to start a successful kindergarten year. These tips to start kindergarten successfully will cover setting procedures, using the alphabet and names in addition to connecting with parents. Starting kindergarten successfully is a planned event and these 12 tips can be applied whether you are a new teacher…
At the beginning of the kindergarten year, it’s important to work on names. Here is a good fine-motor skills activity that offers creative name practice. This is a free pokey pin activity that is editable. That means you’ll be able to put in the names of your students and you’re ready to print. Since we…
Are you gearing up for the end of the school year? No matter if you feel like you are gearing up, winding down or simply dragging yourself in with coffee cup in tow – here are some easy and fun ways to get a clever end of the year photo with your class. Capture those last…
Squeezing the life out of every bit of technology that I have in my classroom seems to be my goal over the past few years. Here’s how I organized my whole group teaching space when we finally got a document camera and projector. I’ll show you some photos of how I keep what’s most needed…
There’s so much to be said for offering choice in the classroom. Here is an additional way to offer choice to students using alternative seating in kindergarten. Yes, you can totally do this in kindergarten and it doesn’t matter when you start. I’ve started it on day one and also after the year was already…
Here is an example of a guided math lesson that works on composing and decomposing numbers 11-19. I’m also going to lay out the flow of what the entire lesson looks like when I am meeting with my kinders in “the teacher zone”… which is what I call where I meet with students as a center…
When it comes to teaching sight words there a lot of different approaches. Here’s how I like to teach a sight word in 5 minutes for 5 days to kindergarten. Teach sight words interactively with these five easy mini-lessons. Let me share why, how and what sight words we focused on – that way you…
Today was the day. Our last day of school! I am excited to have time to share ideas with you this summer from this past year and ideas for next year. One of our end of year duties that we pull together is what we fondly call a “kid sort.” What’s a kid sort, you…
Looking through favorite games I’ve used in my guided reading groups, I found this free race car reading activity. I should totally add it to this list of games you can play in the classroom using race cars! Normally I would use this nonsense words activity with my groups once they were able to blend cvc…
How to figure out kindergarten classroom management comes easier to some than others. But even if it feels tricky at first, it doesn’t mean you are bad at classroom management, have to give up on kindergarten or feel like a flop. Let me share a little analogy of how important classroom management is in kindergarten,…
When it comes to celebrating Valentine’s Day in the classroom – I like to play it easy. That’s because I like to keep it simple and work smart. Here’s what I like to give my students for Valentine’s Day gifts in kindergarten. If you like it, you can download the toppers and use them too….
How to teach math in small groups looks different for each teacher due to personality, teaching style, grade level and a group of kiddos. Here is how I create a guided math binder to help me stay on top of lesson planning for my four kindergarten math groups. For some, teaching guided math in kindergarten seems…
“That’s not the way our teacher does it…” I can’t even imagine the number of times a substitute teacher will hear that phrase upon entering my classroom in my stead. I give them props! I try to be super detailed for my subs, and have worked on how I put my materials together for them…
This kindergarten teaching unit makes learning FUN for both boys and girls during the month of February. You’ll love having one easy place to start from to teach all of the skills you are currently working on! Familiarize yourself with the games and activities included and you’ll have a great set of lesson plans to cover…
I shared earlier this year on facebook how I’ve gone digital with all of my files. It’s been a game changer! Here’s the low down on how I did it and what I use my filing cabinets for now. If you like feeling organized, you’ll never want to look back. It’s a bit like going minimalist and…
Printable reindeer antlers that turn any kid into an adorable reindeer. These printable reindeer antler headbands are the perfect Christmas craft for a special Christmas program or party. Our school does a sing-around-the-tree on the last day of school before our winter break. It’s pretty neat and I like that it’s “old school.” My kinders…
Bring the Christmas fun into your read aloud times with these favorite Christmas books for kindergarten. These books for Christmas are the perfect fit for both fun and teaching standards-based content. Let’s dig into the best Christmas books for kindergarten. Affiliate links are included in this post. Christmas Books for Kindergarten If you read the Bear books…