Autumn Activities

Fall is such a fun time of year, especially with our little learners. I took longer than I wanted putting this activity pack together because I kept adding new ideas. I finally had to tell myself to simply stop. Plus I didn't want to put out the English version without the Spanish one, which of course takes me longer. I had lots of help from my kindergarten teacher, both in ideas of what she'd like in activities and help with proper Spanish translation. She is fueling the fire....

Here are a few of the samples. The activities are the same in both packs, except there is a bonus page in the Spanish version that Mrs. Wildenhain really wanted, and I wasn't about to say no. LOL

Both packets are available for purchase from my TPT Store. I hope you find them as useful as my teachers have been. 

Library Shelf Dividers

This was actually the project that originally had me thinking about starting a TPT store, but I never took the time. Well, I guess a year has changed that. I took the time today to update the clipart, add a few more dividers for some of my popular non-fiction sections (something I've been wanting to do for a bit now), and then put them up as an item for sale.

This is what they look like on my shelf.

Here is a pic of several together.

They print two to a page, simple laminate, cut and tape to a cardboard magazine holder.

I've used these dividers in many different lessons, both for library skills and for literacy/phonics. They are available for purchase from my TPT Store. I hope you enjoy them too. 

A teacher's request

Apparently "Y" is more important in the Spanish alphabet than I thought it was. Which just demonstrates that all those classes I took.....I'm not even going to finish the sentence. LOL

Therefore, I updated the Spanish Alphabet Coloring Pages to include yo-yo. If you already downloaded the original set, please re-download the updated version. Or, if you'd like, send me an email and I can send you a pdf of only the "Y".

se habla español

Well not really. I've have plenty of Spanish classes in college, but I am simply not comfortable speaking it. My students love it when I try, but I think its because they get to giggle at my efforts. What learning another has taught me is empathy for those trying to learn English. Most of my students are second language learners so I do my best to scaffold my lesson with lots of pictures, graphic organizers, sentence frames, etc. I also work with my bilingual teachers to provide the support they need to help my youngest students in their native language. We are currently working on our letter recognition in my phonics class, so after I developed the alphabet coloring pages, I thought I should do the same for my bilingual classes. If hope you have a use for them, or if not, pass them along to a colleague who does.

This will be a FREE download through the end of the year. Grab it from my TPT store while you can.

Alphabet Coloring pages

My kindergarten literacy class will be working on their alphabet in the next couple of days. I have several different activities planned; a matching game, a scavenger hunt, a what's missing activity, and developing their fine motor skills with some simple coloring pages. Unfortunately, I didn't have any I really liked, so of course I cam home and made a set this evening. Isn't that what everyone does? I decided to make this another FREE download, through the end of the year. Enjoy.

 

By the way, my Big Fat Hen lesson has been a big success. The students have really enjoyed the stories, re-reading the rhyme, and getting up and moving with the partner matching activity. I'd love to hear how the activity went in your classroom or library.

Big Fat Hen

Guess what I'm reading to Kindergarten tomorrow? Yes, the title of this blog post gave it away. Actually I'm reading two books, Hungry Hen by Richard Waring and The Big Fat Hen by Keith Baker. There yearly favorites. The unexpected ended of the first and all those chickens in the second! However, I really wanted an extension that was more substantial than a coloring page. Thus I came home and whipped up a sequencing activity, along with some rhyming and matching cards. I tossed in a worksheet, just in case there's a need. But otherwise, I wanted these to be as paperless as possible. Here's a sample of what the individual sequence cards look like. The pocket chart cards are just larger versions.

 

This is another FREE download, so if you teach the little ones, pop over and snap it up. As always, if you do download, please leave me feedback. Enjoy!