A teacher needs tools and resources to be effective. Here are my favorite digital and printed paper tools to organize, think and teach your best in kindergarten.
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Give your kindergartners the opportunity to keep their handwriting skills sharp with these quick, printable lowercase letter strips. I’m all about working smart in the classroom. It’s the reason why I decided to teach handwriting based on letter formation using similar strokes as opposed to any other way. These little letter strips are designed to…
This year I wanted to ask other teachers to find out “What does a teacher really want for teacher appreciation week?” and I did. Over 70 teachers responded and there are three running themes in their responses. So, if you want to know what to get teachers for teacher appreciation week to show you share…
When it comes to preparing online lesson plans for virtual teaching, distance teaching or eLearning – you guys really have become the experts. Here is a set of digital lesson plan templates to help you organize your lessons for kindergarten. Let me share with you how they work, what the layout differences look like (so…
In kindergarten, we read books aloud every day. It’s one way we grow readers and teach a love for learning. Here are top books kindergarten teachers say their class begs for them to read almost every day. These read-aloud books are all recommended by real kindergarten teachers! You know it strikes a chord with five…
Work on addition skills with a free set of rainbow-themed bump-style gameboards. Teach your students to play bump once and use it all year for varying levels of difficulty. In kindergarten, students should have strong counting skills and be working to develop a strong understanding of addition. I find that using games during our guided…
Work on addition skills with a free set of bump-style winter-themed gameboards. Teach your students to play bump once and use it all year for varying levels of difficulty. In kindergarten, students should have strong counting skills and be working to develop a strong understanding of addition. I find that using games during our guided…
Work on subtracting within five with a free printable game. Grab this free subtraction bump game to build your students’ subtraction fluency skills. In kindergarten, students should be able to add and subtract fluently within five. This easy-to-play game focuses on that skill and makes it fun. This Grinchy subtraction game is perfect to use…
Work on subtracting within five with a free printable game. Grab this free subtraction bump game to build your students’ subtraction fluency skills. In kindergarten, students should be able to add and subtract fluently within five. This easy-to-play game focuses on that skill and makes it fun. This dinnertime subtraction game was inspired by Mrs….
Work on subtracting within five with a free printable game. Grab this free subtraction bump game to build your students’ subtraction fluency skills. In kindergarten, students should be able to add and subtract fluently within five. This easy-to-play game focuses on that skill and makes it fun. This off-road subtraction game was inspired by Mrs….
Practice describing 3D shapes with this fun hide-n-seek game for kindergarten. Students will describe a shape using vocabulary to look for hidden pirate treasure. This free hide-n-seek game is designed to play whole group or small group in kindergarten. Let me show you how to play and give you the free download so you can…
Work on students learning to write their names with a free name writing practice sheet. This worksheet is editable so that you can type in your students’ names. It’s my hope these free sheets can help you quickly produce individual worksheets for your students to use. Let’s look at why name practice is important, some…
Teach how to form letters in kindergarten with scaffolded handwriting worksheets. Here are free worksheets to teach how to write lowercase letters from a to z. There is an age-appropriate approach to teaching handwriting in kindergarten. It maybe a little different than you have learned. It’s all about teaching how to form the letters –…
Make a class book of student names inspired by Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Here is a free printable book cover and book template to make a class book in kindergarten. Use this class book at the beginning of kindergarten to help your students learn each other’s names and connect to literacy. Let me share why…
It can be hard to say goodbye to a class of students at the end of the year. It can be even harder when the year has been full of ups and downs, challenges and overcomings, good moments, and rough ones. Here is a free goodbye letter to give to your students this is editable….
Are you looking for an easy solution to take virtual attendance for distance learning? This simple attendance solution is free and easy to use – even in kindergarten. You can take attendance using a Google form. It is completely free and it’s pretty straight forward for students – even kinders. Let me show you how…
Create your own distance learning lesson plans with this free template. Make navigation easy and simple for your kindergarten students and their parents. This free eLearning template is designed for kindergarten (though it could also work for other grades) and uses Google Slides. Let me show you how it works, how to use it, and…
Let’s skip the search and go straight for the most helpful free online games for kindergarten. If you’re in the midst of planning for distance learning or staring down a possible future of eLearning lesson plans, then use these free games and activities online to help you keep your lesson plans engaging for students. Let’s…
Let’s talk about when you should teach each of the math standards in kindergarten. Your curriculum guide may have it all laid out for you, but if it doesn’t or if you teach using a guided math format you may need to decide this for yourself. To help make this easier – let’s first cover which standards…
Let’s look at favorite kindergarten teacher books for the month of January. Here is a list of January books for kindergarten that teachers love to read aloud to their classes. When it comes to planning January read alouds, many teachers choose books with snow, winter, hibernation and winter animals types of themes. So you’ll see…
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…
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…
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…