Education resources for parents and teachers
How do you feel about teaching your preschooler to write his letters? For some, that sounds about as fun as a twelve-hour car ride. With the preschooler. But guess what? Teaching kids to write the alphabet can be fun! Really fun. Today I had a bunch of ideas in mind to teach my Four to write the letter K. But I have this habit of getting things together and then misplacing them. It's kind of like when I was teaching ... Read More
It's time for week two of Simple Writing Lessons for the Primary Grades! Last week I shared how to help kids prepare a list of writing topics for writing about themselves. This week we're moving into story writing. It can be hard to help kids write their first stories. In my experience, they either don't know where to begin - or they write for pages with enthusiasm, and it doesn't make sense! This mini-lesson ... Read More
We love collecting math ideas for each letter of the alphabet. Check out our hands on math for preschoolers for the letter K! 1 - Colors, Matching - Kite File Folder Game Here's a great activity for your young preschooler - match the kites with this colorful file folder game. My Three enjoyed this simple activity -- and I think it's something a two-year-old would like too. We laminated the pieces and attached ... Read More
Are you a homeschooling parent teaching your child to write? Maybe you're a classroom teacher launching a writing workshop. Or maybe, like me, you want to supplement your child's school education. No matter who you are, this lesson is for you -- I'm sharing a prewriting strategy for kids: make an expert list! Teaching writing can be daunting, can't it? The idea of handing our kids a blank ... Read More
Since my Four is just starting to get a handle on simple addition, I put stickers over the dots on two dice. Then I labeled them with 0,1,1,2,2 and 3. (What I really need is something like this blank die. Then I can program it however I want. That's on my shopping list!) I printed and laminated the game board (using this awesome home laminator --love it!). Then I placed it on a baking sheet, and we each chose ... Read More
Crafts for Letter K Koala Puppet I just love this adorable koala puppet! I bought 12 x 12 inch gray scrapbooking paper, which we folded in half and trimmed. The kids had fun gluing on all the pieces and decorating with a Sharpie (something they are not usually permitted to do :)). In this picture, my Six is modeling her puppet. You can get a step-by-step tutorial for this craft at Cindy DeRosier: My Creative ... Read More
Are you teaching phonics to kids? This milk cap letter activity is a great word building exercise! Last week I shared a tutorial for how to make your own milk or bottle cap letters. Today I'll show you how to use my printables for some hands-on phonics and spelling practice with the short a word families. My kids attend our church's parochial school, but I don't think their teachers should get to have all the ... Read More
I'm so excited to launch something that's been in the works for several months! Each Wednesday, you can look forward to a simple writing lesson for primary grades -- it's a collaboration between This Reading Mama and The Measured Mom. Simple writing lessons. What comes to mind when you hear those words? Maybe it’s a collection of writing prompts that students respond to in their daily journals. Perhaps ... Read More
We're learning about the Letter K, and today I'm sharing a free file folder game for preschoolers that gives your little one a chance to practice color matching and ordering by size. Here's what you'll find in the download: You can print these two pages and attach them to the inside of a file folder. I laminated mine first, using this awesome (and affordable!) home laminator: On the next page you'll find this ... Read More
I am no longer sharing the printable letters in this post, but you can get printable milk cap letters with each of the short vowel spelling mats on the site. Gather your materials. You'll need: letters printed onto card stock (I am no longer sharing bottle cap letters, but you can get the patterns for the milk cap letters with the printables linked at the end of this post) Mod Podge scissors ... Read More
