Get Your Read On...

Are you gearing up for "Read Across America"? I love this day because I love books so much. It is the perfect excuse to spend the entire day in jammies and carve out time to just celebrate reading to your class. I love to invite district "big shots" to my classroom. My principal comes in (silk PJ's) and parents. We usually serve oatmeal with toppings to the kids and they are on board for this special day.  In case you are not aware of this, Kohl's is offering a fantastic deal on everything Seuss and you can purchase a variety of books or matching stuffed animals for just $5.00 What a deal and all the money is donated to helping kids with cancer. I am sure many of you already support this but check it out if you have never heard of this fantastic deal. I needed a new cat since mine has been loved to death! What are you reading during this celebration?

Build Foundational Skills Or It All Falls Down

In kindergarten an important aspect of Common Core is Foundational Skills. As we move away from scripted reading programs teachers are going to need materials that reflect the CCSS but provide our children with systematic learning. I have created a huge cvc packet but have only used twenty five blends. All the activities use the same words so that students can build capacity and understand the crucial concept of blending. In our district if they can't blend this becomes a deal breaker when moving to first grade. I am always looking for ways to enhance their learning, make it interactive, yet keep it systematic. Here is the packet I have created and many of these activities have been huge favorites in my room and with other kinder teachers. I am printing off and laminating the activities now to take into my kindergarten teachers as a surprise! I even created cvc headbands for students as they complete each set of vowels which they can wear home proudly. I will try to grab some pictures and tell you about my differentiation sticks later...

This packet is full of differentiated activities to allow the teacher the flexibility to meet the needs of students with a wide range of skills. It has lots of cut and paste work which our kids must do to build up those fine motor skills! Some children still need practice with beginning sounds, others ending, and some are ready for blending. How many of you have children who still don't hear the difference between sounds and still cannot identify them. Yup! Transitional Kindergarten students and primary special needs kids should profit from a simple packet of this type too.This will not conflict with any reading program. So grab the tools you need to give our kids a strong foundation for learning... Click here to go to my TpT store if this is what you need. What do you like to use for cvc word activities?

Have a happy day of teaching today.