Water Cycle, Rain Cycle Science Experiments and Craftivity

Let’s Learn About the Water Cycle! 3 Simple Water Cycle Experiments & a Craftivity

Here are 3 of my favorite water cycle experiments and craftivity.  These science experiments are simple to set up and use common household items. The water cycle wheel craftivity gives students a visual representation of the stages of the water cycle and how they repeat over and over again. […]  

Differentiated Alphabet & Handwriting Practice for Kindergarten & Pre-K

Preschool and kindergarten students enter school at various ability levels.  Some enter school already knowing how to write their names while others have not yet mastered holding a pencil correctly. The goal is to provide a positive initial handwriting experience for all students as they learn […] 

Student Birthday Gift Ideas & Tags, Certificates, & Brag Tags

I feel that it is important to do something at school for students’ birthdays. It is the one day out of the year that is THEIR DAY so I feel that it should be acknowledged with something special. Over the years I have tried different options for celebrating student birthdays. I’ve included my favorites in this […]  

Dog Days of Summer Display & Free Printable Patterns

The Dog Days of Summer Classroom Display & Patterns  – This “paws”-itively adorable display is great for the end of the school year, summer school, summer camp, or the beginning of a new school year. I am a dog LOVER (I have 2 adorable beagles) and this display is one of my personal favorites!  There are several […]

Setting Up Your Early Childhood Classroom for Success

Your classroom environment influences your students’ learning, mood, and behavior so it is very important that you think about how and what it is communicating to young children when setting it up for those all important first days of school.  The first few weeks of school set the tone for the entire year so you want the classroom to be a positive environment where students feel comfortable and welcome from the very first day. […]

Kindergarten Books / Read Alouds for the Beginning of the School Year

One of my favorite parts of the school day is reading aloud to my students.  It allows me to share my LOVE of reading and instill a love of books in my students.  It is a time where we can connect, share experiences, and build a classroom community.  I pause often throughout the reading to ask […]

How I Motivated Students to Learn Their Alphabet Letters

Let’s face it, learning 26 letters and their sounds can be a daunting task for young children.  Even though at 4-6 years old they are in the middle of a language explosion and their minds are like sponges, it is still a lot to learn and process.  This is why I love to reward and […]  

Brag Tags that Motivate Students to Learn Numbers, Shapes, & Colors

After seeing the success I had with brag tags for alphabet letters (you can read more about that here) and how motivated and excited students were about learning the letters and receiving a tag for each one, I decided to create some for numbers, colors, and shapes too. With the ever increasing demands on young […]  

Motivational & Fun Addition & Subtraction Practice

After working on addition and subtraction with manipulatives, math talks & stories, I needed to find a fun way for students to practice fluency to meet the core standards.  As we all know, for them to become fluent means practice, practice, and more practice! So I didn’t want to just have one or two ways […] 

How to Differentiate Alphabet Old Maid and Concentration Card Games

I am always on the look out for fun ways of practicing letter recognition and beginning sounds with my students, especially since they are now expected to learn all 26 letters (well 52 letters actually with uppercase and lowercase) in a much shorter time period than previous years. Much to my delight, I have […]