The Relatives Came Read Aloud and Lesson Plans in Kindergarten. The Relatives Came Read Aloud The Relatives Came is such a great book to read either before Thanksgiving or after. I love the illustrations in this book! With our Engaging Readers, we work on reading comprehension skills and responding to literature. While I was working with a school in Georgia, I snapped a few pictures. The students in Mrs. Morris's ...
Classroom
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 16 In November
In November Read Aloud Lesson Ideas in Kindergarten. This blog post will give you classroom activities that you can use for reading and writing. Anchor charts, reading comprehension and responding to literature are included. In November Read Aloud: Reading Comprehension If you know me, you know I am a super huge fan of Cynthia Rylant. Her book, In November, is also one of my all-time favorites. The ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 15: Wemberly Worried
Wemberly Worried Read Aloud Lesson Ideas! These activities for Wemberly Worried will be a big hit in your kindergarten or first-grade classroom. Reading comprehension questions and response activities. Even a could of fun Wemberly Worried crafts! Check it out! NOTE: This blog post contains affiliate links, but the ideas are my own. Wemberly Worried Read Aloud Lesson Ideas Wemberly Worried is my spirit animal. I ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 14 Pumpkin Jack
Pumpkin Jack Lesson Plans Lesson Plans for kindergarten and first-grade. Here are lesson plans and anchor charts for Pumpkin Jack A cute pumpkin art project and other classroom activities too! Pumpkin Jack Lesson Plans We love the book Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell. I remember growing up and being a bit sad when our jack-o-lanterns melted into decomposition. But this book is fantastic for looking at the life ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 13 Leonardo the Terrible Monster
Leonardo the Terrible Monster Lesson Plans for kindergarten and first-grade! NOTE: This blog post contains affiliate links, but the ideas are my own. Reading Lesson Ideas for Leonardo the Terrible Monster Leonardo the Terrible Monster by Mo Willems is such a fun book! We knew we had to include it in our Engaging Readers lesson plans! The pictures are perfect! Not only could you use this book for reading ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 12 Bat Loves the Night
Bat Loves the Night lesson plans and ideas for reading, writing, math, craft and center activities too. Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 12 Bat Loves the Night are here! NOTE: This blog post includes affiliate links, but my opinions are my own. Bat Loves the Night Read Aloud Lesson Ideas Nicola Davies is one of my favorite authors. I love how she couples informational text with a narrative text. Not only is ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 11 A Creepy Pair of Underwear (Free Math Files Too)
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 11 featuring the book, A Creepy Pair of Underwear. NOTE: This blog post contains affiliate links but the ideas are my own. Lesson Plans: Read Aloud We loved the book Creepy Carrots so much we knew we had to have Aaron Reynold's book, A Creepy Pair of Underwear! Jasper desperately wants a pair of Creepy Underwear. His mom is doubtful. I love the mom's ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 10 Spiders
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 10 featuring ideas learning about spiders. Each fall, we try to take a moment to learn more about arachnids! Spider Read Aloud We love National Geographic Kids books and Spiders by Laura Marsh is another outstanding resource. The pictures are vibrant and detailed and this book offers a chance to explore text features of informational books. We created a Spider Life Cycle chart. Then ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 9 Martha Speaks
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 9 featuring ideas for Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh! NOTE: This blog post contains affiliate links, but my opinions are my own. Martha Speaks Reading Lessons Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh is such a fun book, we knew we had to include it in our Engaging Readers Units. The story follows Martha who one day eats alphabet soup, which gives her the ability to talk. AND she talks, talks, ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 8 How Do Apples Grow? (FREE file)
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 8 featuring ideas for How Do Apples Grow! How Does an Apple Grow Reading Lessons I love this book because it has a lot of information about apples and the illustrations are beautiful! However, a word to the wise. There are discussions in this book about male parts and female parts. 😳 So you may want to skim and scan over these sections...or you may want to brace yourself for a whole ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 7 The Art Lesson (FREE file)
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 7 featuring ideas for The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola. The Art Lesson Close-Read I've always had a soft spot for Tomie dePaola books and The Art Lesson is a great little autobiography to share with your class. Here are the retelling cards we use. We have found that students can start practicing retelling with text details very early in the year. This takes the act of listening ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 6 The Recess Queen (FREE file)
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 6 featuring ideas for The Recess Queen! If you look at this book, you can tell it is a little frayed around the edges... Yes! I love it that much! The Recess Queen Read-Aloud Lessons The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill is a great back to school book, but it can honestly be used at any point during the year. We included this book selection in our reading units. You can find the ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 5 Chrysanthemum (FREE file)
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 5 featuring ideas for Chrysanthemum! Let's do this! (NOTE: This blog post contains affiliate links, but the ideas are my own.) Week 5 Lesson Plans for Reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes is a class favorite. You can also find the video on Amazon Prime! SWEET! You can click: Chrysanthemum Video to view ...
Writing Folder Organization FREE file!
I am often asked how I organize my student writing folders. Then the other day I was cleaning out a "special drawer" that I had (AKA: junk drawer, catch-all, blackhole) when I found an old writing folder I used with my 2nd-grade students. I'd forgotten all about them. So I decided to whip up a cleaned-up version and offer them to you all! Here are your Writing Folder Organization FREE labels for your early ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 4 Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse (FREE file)
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 4 featuring ideas for Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse! Woo HOO! Week 4 Lesson Plans for Reading We love Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes! It is a MUST read every year with our Engaging Readers units. The retell cards really provide a structure for students to practice noticing the text key ideas. They also help build students' oral language as they practice retelling the ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 3 Clark the Shark
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 3 featuring ideas for Clark the Shark Reading, writing, math, and center activities too. Clark the Shark Close Read Clark the Shark is a great book to introduce to your students early in the year. Clark is big and rough and he has a hard time with his friends. Can you think of a really enthusiastic student who might benefit from this gentle reminders? In the end, Clark learns ...
Free Journal and Notebook Labels for Kindergarten
Free Journal and Notebook Labels for Kindergarten. This blog post contains free labels for your math journals, poetry notebook, and your students' thinking journals. Perfect for interactive notebooks! Preparing your notebooks So I was always the crazy lady, sitting on the floor at Walmart trying to get all of my composition books to match. Then when all of my notebooks were matchy-matchy, I would start the year off. This helped my ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 2 Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 2 featuring ideas for Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. This is a great back to school book, but it can be used at any time of the year. Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon Close Reading With our Engaging Reading Curriculum, we revisit the same book over a 5 day period. Each day, we dig a little deeper into the text. So it is important we select a book that engages students. LOOK at this ...
Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Week 1 (free file) Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Kindergarten Lesson Plans Week 1 is HERE! I've been there! I know what it is like. You worked so HARD to get your classroom ready and now you are about to meet your new friends that will be with you all year. So how do you get started? For years, I have posted my Peek at my Week lesson plans and shared them with you all. This last year, I took the year off and I received so many ...
First few days of school
The first few days of school can make even a seasoned kindergarten teacher nervous. Let me show you how our week looks. We had our first day of kindergarten on Wednesday and it was such great fun! Let me show you want the first few days entailed. If you want to see my lesson plans for the first week of school, click {here}. The Overhead Station It always cracks me up how the overhead station is always the coolest one! ...
Introducing the Alphabet (Free File too!)
As we are introducing the alphabet, we help kindergarten students learn to identify the letters of the alphabet at first by looking at the path of motion. When we designed our Engaging Readers units, (where you can find the alphabet cards) we not only planned amazing reading comprehension activities, but we also planned our word study as well. We are often asked about how we introduce the alphabet to our kindergartners at the beginning ...
Tips for organizing your read aloud materials now!
I'm often asked for read aloud organization tips! Here are a few ideas for your classroom! Organizing Your Read Aloud Books I have to be honest, I used to keep most of my read aloud books on a shelf in alphabetic order. This seemed to make sense... until I took them off the shelf and vowed to return them, but I never did. So then I would end the year with my book version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa! I was always hunting ...
Classroom Resources for May… Are your lessons ready?
Kindergarten Curriculum Guide for May. Are you ready? Here are some classroom activities, read aloud books, lesson ideas, and resources for you to use with you students. Read Aloud Books for May We sure love studying the ocean in May. The book, Hello Ocean by Pam Munoz Ryan i(affiliate link) is a great book to weave into your studies. The language is rich and perfect for talking about figurative language and using our five ...
Shark Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade
Shark Activities for Kindergarten and First Grade. Check out the book ideas for reader's workshop and writers workshop. You can find a free file towards the end of this blog post too! Shark Activities Mentor Texts Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies Surprising Sharks by Nicola Davies is such a great book! This book contains a ton information about sharks! I love the illustrations and so will your class! We ...