Animal Color Word Match

With a 3 1/2 year old and an 18 month old, I am always trying to combine learning activities that meet both of their needs.  This animal color word match printable does just that!  Audrey gets to color the animals and the color words.  Sophia gets to identify and group the colors and animals together after we laminate and attach magnets.  And they both get to have fun playing with the magnets:)

This simple activity helps children with:
*sorting-by color or by animal
*grouping things that are alike
*coloring and color identification
*identifying sight words-many of the word colors are pre-primer sight words
*making patterns

Audrey colored the pictures and the color words...

Sophia insisted on having her own sheet to color.  She is a little obsessed with meow meows (cats).

 We laminated them, cut them out and put magnets on them.  Of course you don't have to attach the magnets.  

 We made patterns...

 We called out a color and Sophia pointed it out...

We had so much FUN playing with these printables and I saved loads of ink since Audrey colored them.

Printable Minibooks (-at family)

I am in the process of creating a bunch of printable word family minibooks for Audrey.  She is learning to read and I love being able to make her something that helps with the journey.  The first in the set of printables it the -at family mini book.  There are two pages for this printable.

                          The sight words needed to read the book include: I, see, the, yellow, blue, a.

           First we color or review any sight words we needed.

Next, we print and cut out the minibook.

Then we staple it together and read!

Base Ten Blocks 1-20

I made these base ten block printables for Audrey so she could work with math manipulatives and claim ownership to her work.  They proved to be both FUN and beneficial.  She really enjoyed working with these on the whiteboard.

As a teacher, I really like these printables because they are engaging and can be used in variety of ways, unlike simple worksheets.

Click {HERE} to get your copy.

*If you like our freebies, we would be so grateful if you added our shop as one of your  FAVORITES on Teachers Notebook:)  Thanks so much!

 Some benefits include:

-number ordering

-sight word recognition

-visually understanding #1-20 

-introduction to addition/subtraction

-greater than/less than values

 First, print and color the base ten printables.

Print, laminate, cut out and add magnets.

 Ways to use them:

-Put them in number order, 1-10 on the top, 11-20 underneath.  The colors correspond!

-Play my pile, your pile.  I called out a number, if she recognized it she kept it, if not, I kept it!  FUN!

-Compare two numbers, greater than/less than.  This is great because they can SEE which number is greater.

Craft Stick Puzzles

I have seen these craft stick puzzles on the internet and have been wanting to make a few for Audrey.  I am so glad that I did!! They are super simple and inexpensive to make.  They are a great tool to help reinforce number order.  I decided to make the numbers start with 30 since Audrey had some trouble recognizing these numbers.  You can find the directions here.

I actually just made a copy of a picture from one of our books at home and cut it to fit the craft sticks.  Next, line up the craft sticks and paint mod podge over them.  You could put tape on the back so they won't move around.  Put your picture down and then paint mod podge over the picture.  After it dries, about an hour, put the numbers on the sicks and cut with an exacto knife or any other tool.

Is Your Child Ready to Read?

As an elementary school teacher, I saw many children struggle to read.  It was painful to watch them as they attempted to read aloud with utter embarrassment and a mindset of failure.  There are too many reasons to list as to why kids struggle to read.

Needless to say, I want Audrey and Sophia to have a literacy rich environment and access to a bounty of books.  I want them to be phonemically aware and have a strong grasp of the alphabet principles.  I believe that this positive mindset and environment helps to foster a love for reading.  Audrey is 3 1/2 and loves to read books.  Sometimes I read to her, but more often she has wanted to read books to me.  I love it and she loves it:) It is FUN for both of us.

Some people think I must push her to read, but that is far from the truth!!  At her age, when it is no longer enjoyable for her we STOP!  I don't want to hinder her love for reading, I want to help.  That being said, I look for reading readiness skills and I am quick to meet her needs and desires.

There have been a few tools that we have enjoyed and used to promote reading readiness and early reading skills:

1) Leapfrog Letter Factory  followed by Talking Words. These DVDs are GREAT!!  It helps to teach letter sounds and simple CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words.  Sophia (17 months) knows all of her sounds too!  She squeals with delight and starts waving her hands when I turn it on!  I don't like to let the girls watch too much television, but this is VERY educational, especially when you need to take a shower:)                            

  

 2) www.starfall.com  - This is a big hit with the girls!  Audrey is in charge of the computer and Sophia gets to pick a letter.  This makes Audrey feel like a helpful big sister and I get to get dinner on the table:)

3) I am in the process of making word family minibooks printables for early readers.  

4) I have also made some sight word printable, which have been helpful it building confidence for Audrey.  We love to make sentences out of these too.

5) Bob Books- These books have been a tremendous resource to successful early reading.  We LOVE these!

5) We use the preschool printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler and Homeschool Creations.

We are enjoying our journey and having loads of fun along the way.  Audrey is so pleased with herself and constantly announces, "I did it!!  I read that book!  I am learning how to read, Mommy!"  I feel so blessed to be her teacher, but mostly I am blessed to be her Mommy:)  

  

Preschool Time Telling Printable

Audrey has become very interested in our clock and attempts to tell the time.  I created some printables that you can turn into magnets!  This worksheet focuses on matching digital to analogue.
Click {HERE} to download!

*If you like our FREE printables, please add us as your favorite shop on Teachers Notebook:)  Thanks!

I had Audrey identify the hour hand with a blue crayon before I laminated them.  This is a great way for kids to create ownership of their learning.  

 We attached magnets so we could work with them on the whiteboard and on the go in the car with a cookie sheet.  This was such a FUN way to learn time:) 

Peek-A-Boo Puzzle

Sophia really enjoys looking at animals and making animal sounds.  This peek-a-boo puzzle was a hit with Audrey and now Sophia just LOVES it!  She squeals with delight when she pulls the tab and discovers a favorite animal.

Early Reading Word Slides

I was extremely excited to find these word slides.  These are proving to be a wonderful addition to our early reading journeys.  They have already helped correct some mistakes with short and long vowel sounds.

One recommendation that I have is to somehow identify the matching slide and word slip.  I used different colored stars for this purpose.  That way, it was easy for Audrey to find the slide that matched the word slip.

It is such a joy to watch her learn to read!  It has to be one of the best things about early childhood!!  Although Audrey is not even four, I certainly don't push her to read.  However, since she has shown a lot of interest and tries to read on her own, I want to help foster her love for reading.

Toiletpaper Roll Bird Feeders

I remember being in Brownies and making these peanut butter bird feeders.  I knew that I wanted the girls to have the same sweet experience, so I figured I would wait for the Spring to make these homemade bird feeders.  What??  What until Spring?  It dawned on me that it is bird feeding month and these poor creatures could use some food NOW!!  So here is Audrey's birdfeeder.

Spread on your peanut butter.  I used organic, no sugar peanut butter.

 Roll it in birdseed

 Just for fun, pat it on:)

 Hang it on a tree branch.   The other option is to put a string through the hole and hang it on the branch.

Take out your binoculars and watch those hungry birds fill their bellies during these winter months!

If you look really close, you can see our first customer!!

Basic Shapes Refrigerator Magnets

I wanted to introduce Sophia to some basic shapes and reinforce preschool skills for Audrey, especially since she still confuses the triangle and square.  As a elementary school teacher, I remember students being much more engaged in a lesson when they could claim some sort of ownership to a project.  In this case, I made the shapes without color and allowed Audrey to color them herself.  Plus, it saved me a lot of money on expensive color ink:)  Another plus is that both my 3 year old and 17 month old can benefit and learn from one set of printables!

Directions:
*print the shapes
*color
*laminate, cut out and attach magnets
The best price for laminating pouches I found was on amazon.

Total price: about $0.75  can't beat that!

Lessons learned:
*shapes
*colors
*initial sounds
*matching words to pictures

 Just a note:  my 3 year old will only wear underwear, a princess outfit or a ballerina outfit.  This happens to be her latest Valentine gift from Daddy: a Cinderella Wedding Dress:)

 Here we worked on initial consonant sounds and also learned that the c can make an /s/ sound as in circle.

 Sophia mostly liked taking them on and off.  She did like naming/pointing to the colors.  We would say, "Sophia, where is the RED rectangle?"

We also made a set of farm animals and fruit printables here.

Alphabet Puzzle

I love puzzles and tools that reinforce phonics.  Although Audrey is solid in her letter identification, we love to take out our puzzles and practice.  With this puzzle, she hopped on the letters as she said the sounds and she read the puzzle pieces since they included some sight words (is, for).

I Love You turkey dogs

A fun little way to put some love into the Valentine week!  And a little sight word practice:)

A Preschool Math Game

I wanted to work on greater than and less than numbers with Audrey so I decided to play the classic game of war.  I took out the face cards and we played with numbers 2-10 and she had a blast!   She wanted to play again and again.  It was such a simple game but really reinforced number values.

Level 1 Reading

 I recently bought some Dick and Jane books, level 1, for Audrey to read.  Since she knows several sight words and has a good understanding of her letter sounds, she proved to be very successful.

Each book is broken down into chapters and has about 32 pages.  However, in some cases you only need to know a couple of sight words.
If your child is ready:
1. Print the pre-primer sight words here.
2. Practice the sight words needed from each book with your child.
3. Listen to them read!! Let them track their progress on the checklist.

Dick and Jane, We Play

Sight words needed: play, see, funny, can, look, and, help, come, go, jump, said, you, I, the, red, run, it, up, not, where, is, my, find

Dick and Jane, Something Funny

Sight Words needed: look, see, little, funny, help, come, and, I, little, can, make, yellow, red, blue, my, up, go, down

Dick and Jane, Go Away Spot

Sight words needed:I, see, look, and, here, come, jump, little, help, go, play, down, go, I, can, said, play, away, we, you, not, find

Dick and Jane, We Look

Sight words needed: look, see, funny, come, is, big, little, come, down, my, jump, run, blue, can, make, yellow

Dick and Jane, Who Can Help?

Sight words needed: I, said, you, see, find, not, can, help, me, and, look, we, funny, I, come, who, go, away, my, run, in, what, big, is, little, get, it, for, come, make, yellow, blue, red, is, pretty

Dick and Jane, Fun with Dick and Jane

Sight words needed:  said, look, up, run, see, funny, and, is, for, it, you, not, little, big, yes, can, fun, pretty, you, me, red, blue, yellow, we, help, in, the, find, my, one, two, three, up, he, come, down, go, away

Color Mixing

You just need:

A shallow bowl of milk

food coloring

sicks dipped in dish soap 

Color By Number Sight Word Printables! (Pre-Primer)

HERE THEY ARE!!  I am VERY excited about these pre-primer color by number sight word printables since they provide a new way to introduce and teach sight words.

 You may also be interested in our Ready2Read program that combines both phonics AND sight words!  As an educator, I understand that children need both components to successfully learn how to read.

What is a sight word?  Sight words and High Frequency words are essentially the same.  They are words that kids should memorize and account for a large percentage of text that is read.  Here are some statistics:

• 12 Sight Words make up 25% of those we read and write.

• 100 Sight Words make up 50% of those we read and write

• About 300 Sight Words account for 75% of those we read and write

Although many sight words are phonetically decodable, it helps to memorize these words so that the sense of what they are reading is not lost.  Therefore, it makes it much easier to focus on decoding less frequent words in a text.

The pre-primer (Dolch List) printables include: a, and, away, big, blue, can, came, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you.


 Since we have been using the Bob Book series, her confidence has grown tremendously!!  I plan to make the next set of sight words available soon!  I hope they help your little one to enjoy learning and reading:-)

We are putting them into clear plastic sleeves and then into a binder so that we can take them out to make sentences.  The book also stacks nicely on your shelf:)

*NOTE:  since many color words are also sight words, I did not color code them so students have more practice with each sight word.  However, you could color code them yourself if you like:)

I have also made a primer set for the next level!

                         

I see a big ball.

READING!!  A fun way to learn sight words.  

Great for kinesthetic learning (learns by doing).

I will be working on creating a Primer set of printables soon!

Also check out the the Level 1 Reading posts for more printables.