Make learning the cool thing to do in your classroom with fun, age-appropriate lessons and activities for kindergarten.
Find activities for holidays, favorite kindergarten Youtube videos, literacy centers and ideas to make learning come alive.
Don’t just teach with worksheets – bring the hands-on, engaging, and play-like fun into your classroom!
Get your students exploring non-fiction books in a literacy center. Here is an alphabet-themed literacy center activity set so you can try out the non-fiction center in your classroom. This alphabet non-fiction set of activities is just one of the topics I made available to my students at my non-fiction literacy center. Let’s look at what the…
Whether you’re ready or not it’s time for teachers to think about back to school. Here are my top 10 things that kindergarten teachers should know to mentally prepare for back to school, be prepared for teaching the first 20 days of kindergarten and for making the beginning of kindergarten successful. If you want the details from…
A 3D zoo animals writing project for kindergarten. Break out the paint, scissors and pencils for this fun “wild about” zoo animals writing piece and craft. It was tradition that we ended the school year with a field trip to our local zoo. Here is an animal writing project we’d do that incorporates a craft…
Teach kindergartners how to sound out words without the teacher. This can be tricky! Here are my top two tips on empowering your students to sound out words on their own. This topic came from a reader: Any tips on how to encourage my kinders to independently write on their own? During our writing time they…
Does your class love classic books as much as mine? What is it about kindergarten that they just fall in love with The Pigeon books, No, David! and Pete the Cat? Here is a “Don’t Let the Pigeon” writing activity you can do with your kindergarten class. Let me share my favorite Pigeon books to…
Teach how to rhyme in kindergarten with simple hand motions. Here is one way to make rhyming orally easier to teach in kindergarten. I found myself asking, “How do I teach kindergartners how to rhyme?” And not just how to identify two words that rhyme, but to make their own rhyming words. If you asked me this question…
No David by David Shannon is a classic book to read in kindergarten (and first grade honestly). Here are free No David activities, videos and book ideas listed all in one place so you don’t have to go digging to look for them. I’ll include more ideas for other No David books too. Be sure…
Are you on the hunt for a good January read aloud or set of sub plans? Here are resources to teach Sneezy the Snowman in kindergarten. You could plug and play these into your winter theme lesson plans or they can stand alone as a set of plans for a substitute teacher. Sneezy the snowman…
Christmas is here! Let’s celebrate by making keepsake kindergarten ornaments that your students’ parents will hang on their tree year after year. I’ve got a classic kindergarten hand print ornament that has simple steps and turns out precious. Plus, I’ll share three more ornament ideas for kindergarten with you in case you’re looking for something…
When it comes to setting up your classroom, I don’t think you should have to define how big your library area is by the number of books you have. Let me share why and how you can easily change out the library center books you have on display! Why you shouldn’t put all of your…
The beginning of kindergarten is so busy! We pack in so much in 15-minute increments that I know it can be hard to make lesson planning easy. Here is my cheat sheet of 5 activities I’d totally make sure get into my first week of kindergarten lesson plans. Now, please don’t mistake this for the…
The Kissing Hand is a classic book for many kindergarten and elementary classrooms on the first day of school. Here are Kissing Hand freebies, activities, videos, and books listed all in one place so you won’t have to go digging to look for them. Be sure to click on the name of each Kissing Hand freebie to see where it came…
Here is a measurement activity for kindergarten. This free measuring activity uses a printable and some linking cubes – which I’m sure you probably already have on hand in your classroom. During the first week or two of school, I’d read the book (affiliate) Titch by Pat Hutchins. It’s a simple read aloud and I like to…
This is my letter to you, dear first-year kindergarten teacher. Let me start by saying that even though you may be nervous as all get out – if you have excitement for being in kindergarten – then you’ve got this! Of course, there will be challenges, but that is something everyone has to overcome – so…
Literacy centers can be a blessing or a pain. I think it all hinges on the design, organization and effectiveness behind them that makes a difference. This is my philosophy on how to create literacy centers that are smart for me, the teacher, and effective for my kindergarten students. I think that literacy centers for…
My literacy centers are a core part of our kindergarten schedule. They are active literacy centers that keep us on our toes and working so that I can work with small groups. Today, let me share my kindergarten retell literacy center directions, expectations and a list of the 20 stories that make up this year-long center in our…
Literacy centers can greatly improve reading skills for kindergartners. This is how I organize, offer choice and set up a big book literacy center in my kindergarten classroom. Part of my teaching philosophy {yeah, remember that boring class in college?} is working smart. Why didn’t they cover that in school? I believe that you can…
When it comes to winding down the school year, there are lots of fun ways to celebrate a year of learning together. Here are my favorite end of the year celebrations for kindergarten and kindergarten graduation alternatives. You can make any of these ideas as simple as you want or you can go all out…
Doing an ABC countdown is a fun and simple way to wind up your school year together. Want to create your own alphabet countdown? I’ve got your back! Here are some sample alphabet countdown calendars and resources to make your own for your classroom. Some end of the year countdowns are printable and ready to…
How is it that some calendar dates can totally just creep up on you – leaving you feeling a little unprepared?! Earth Day always felt like one of those dates… and Groundhog Day for that matter too. So, here is a go-to list of kindergarten Earth Day resources and activities that require little to no prep…
Mother’s Day crafts for kindergarten can be tricky to finagle in the classroom. Time is precious and yet creating a special mother’s day gift does top out the list every year of must-dos. Here are some creative and sweet kindergarten crafts for Mother’s Day. The range of projects in this list ranges from projects that you can…
Studying butterflies for kids is one of the highlights in my school year. Some years we get really in depth and others, we take a more relaxed approach. No matter how we hit it, it is always a worthwhile set of lesson plans that captivates, motivates and inspires awe. Here are my tips on ordering…
Teach kindergarten writers how to write books by reading aloud and dissecting stories. When teaching reading – one of my favorite things was to connect it to writing. I wanted my kindergarten writers to view books created by published authors not as these mystical things that are put together somehow, in some format that makes it…
You can create literacy centers that last all year long. This is how I set up, organized and displayed the work created by my students from our pokey pinning literacy center. The pokey pinning center focuses on using fine motor skills to poke out simple sight word based sentences. I’ll also mention how it lasts…