We're working our way through the alphabet, and my kids love to add some sensory play to their learning. This time I waited until my Six was home from first grade, because I knew she'd want to join her little brothers in this activity: N is for Noodles! Have you seen all the hundreds of ideas for messy play floating around Pinterest? If you're like me, you may have thought, "Those moms are crazy. Don't they have ... Read More
FREE Beginning Sounds Activity for Preschool & Kindergarten!
Have you seen my Read 'n Stick mats yet? They've been a great tool for helping my older preschooler learn to sound out words in word families. His younger brother wants very much to do those himself. In fact he'll take the cards off the mat and ask me to help him put them in the right places- even though he doesn't sound out words yet or understand much of the vocabulary. My Three isn't ready to learn to sound ... Read More
Word family mats for short o
Have you seen my growing collection of hands-on printables to help your beginning reader master the short vowel word families? Today I'm sharing my next set of Read 'n Stick mats -- 6 free short o activities. (This post contains affiliate links.) I've created these learning mats to help my preschooler learn to sound out simple words. He loves our collection and is always ready to read a few! How to assemble ... Read More
World Geography for Kids – with the Traveling Trio
Even though my major in college was elementary education, my concentrate was social studies. Despite one history symposium during which aged historians read their looong papers for hours on end -- and the only entertainment was a mouse running across our feet in the auditorium - I loved it. But I haven't always felt that way. Social studies was a giant puzzle to me until eighth grade, when I finally figured ... Read More
Word family houses for short o words
My original plan had been to complete each set of free word family printables before moving on to the next vowel. But many of you have been asking for more word family houses -- and I know that beginning readers can't wait! I'm also pleased that blending sounds has become more automatic for my Five - and he's ready to add more short vowels as well. So to go with my short a and short i word family houses -- I bring ... Read More
Fall Math Activities (for preschool & kindergarten)
We're working our way through the alphabet, and I like to share a set of math connections for each letter. Since it's November, we did six Fall math activities using nuts. (So far we have blessed to have no food allergies in our house - obviously if you have allergies in your home or classroom you will want to find a substitute manipulative.) Fall Math Activities 1 - Number Recognition, Subitizing, Addition ... Read More
Fall counting mats
My Three is still working at counting 1-10. While he can do the rote counting without any trouble, he struggles to count groups of objects past 5. And he still confuses the 6 and the 9. So since we're studying the letter N, and because it's Fall, it felt like the right time to create some counting mats which he could use with nuts. Printable Mats for Counting 1-10 I used my Fall clip art from goodnessandfun to ... Read More
Free Fall Math Game for Preschool & Kindergarten: Nuts about Math!
We're learning about the letter N, so I thought it would be fun to create a game that would allow us to do some squirrel-themed math using some of the mixed nuts we bought from the bulk bin at the grocery store. We call this fall math game for preschool and kindergarten Nuts about Math! First I created a set of 30 problem cards. Ten are level 1, ten are level 2, and ten are level 3. For level 1, ... Read More
Simple Writing Lesson #12 – Share your writing!
It's hard to believe that This Reading Mama and I have come to the end of our Simple Writing Lessons for the Primary Grades series. We hope you've found some strategies that help your young writers! Today's final lesson is a simple publishing strategy from This Reading Mama. When you're teaching your child at home, it's a bit more challenging to find an audience than it would be in a classroom setting. Visit This ... Read More
Books about friendship
Friendship is a common theme in children's literature, and reading books about friendship is a great way to teach kids about how to make friends and what it means to be one. Books about friendship ... Read More