My grandkids love Stomp Rockets! They are great for teaching STEM skills, such as cause and effect and trial and error, and very fun! In order to launch the rocket, kids jump on the plastic box, forcing air through the blue tube, and launching the rocket into the sky. There is a stand that comes with the rocket, but it's not very sturdy. Fortunately, the kids enjoy holding the rocket while they launch it (unfortunately, that makes it easier to point the rockets at each other).
Read MoreI love the simple Halloween songs of my childhood! I have continually shared these songs with my kindergartners year after year; always with the same reactions -- Kids love them. Following are the jpgs that you need to print as posters, and the mp3 you will need to sing the tunes with your classroom. These songs and more are part of our Halloween Thematic Unit. This unit also includes the piano scores.
Read MoreHere's a fun activity for you, via my grandkids. Grab a large cardboard box and have your kids or students decorate the outside of it with pictures of spiders. Then glue or tape to the inside roof of the tunnel as many black threads as you have patience for. In a darkened room, the black threads will be difficult to see, and it will feel like crawling through a spiderweb infested tunnel to the little ones that dare to crawl inside!
Read MoreOctober is Fire Prevention Month! Whether you visit a fire station, have firemen come to your school, or show a video about fire safety, make sure you address these simple points with your students:
Read MoreTrying to figure out how to dress for your school's Halloween or fall celebration? How about one of these storybook themed costumes? They're sure to be a hit with your students!
Read MoreAre you getting ready for your FALL Parent Teacher Conferences in Kindergarten? You will love this easy form that will make reporting to parents practical, authentic and a breeze! You will be organized and ready to discuss student progress with all of the data right at your fingertips!
Bonus! This packet includes our Fall Homework Intervention Packets in both English and Spanish. Send these packets home with parents to offer additional support for their child's academic learning.
Read MoreAre you looking for a time saving report card option?
Are you looking for a Common Core based report card?
Are you looking for a wide variety of already made, time-tested assessments?
Are you looking for a report card that reports EXACTLY what you want to report?
Then look no further! Sign up for your free trial of ESGI today! Use code B7227 to save $40.00.
Read MoreElection season is here, and this one in particular will be getting a lot of attention in the media. Help your young learners understand the process by using great literature selections to help as you plan a thematic election unit.
To get you in the mood for thematic planning, check out our podcast interview with Mary Parry, author of Sadie McGrady, episode #24.
Read MoreYoung children can write and this writing should occur daily in the early childhood classroom. In fact, most students will write before they read! “Over the school year, students’ writing develops…with increasing levels of sophistication of vocabulary, syntax, and stylistic features” (Bailey & Heritage, 2008, p. 159).
Read MoreThe sensory table in my classroom is always a favorite of my students and a great companion to math, science, and literacy development as well! As children are able to experiement, discover, solve, estimate, explore and more, understanding of mathematical and science concepts are developed. When academic tasks are combined are placed in the sensory mix, students can expand even there literacy development.
Read MoreThese documents serve as organizational tools for gathering information about language arts and math strengths and weaknesses of kindergarten students. Using these assessment, you will learn more about your students and will more easily determine the focus of your instruction.
Read MoreEveryone knows that ESGI is a great assessment tool, but it also has a class management tool, that is a great time saver as well. Read more here about how to use ESGI for Assessments.
Simply click on the class management tool located at the far right on the top menu bar.
Read MoreWe all have had those active classrooms with “behavioral challenges.” In fact, the trend is that instead of one “hard” student in the school (as it was early on in my career), it is expected that most classrooms will have several behavioral challenges that change the tone of the room.
Read MoreMake the most of your student's sight word practice by providing them a great multi-task work page. Students are asked to color the word, trace the word, write the word, find the word, and then create the word as a puzzle. My students LOVE to do these pages. I have made them workbook style and used as single worksheet pages, they have loved them both the same. It is especially effective when I put the Heidi Songs Sight Word song on loop. By the end of the activity the majority of the students can spell and identify the sight word of the week.
Read MoreThe children of middle and higher income parents are busy shuffling their children from activity to activity. They are chauffeuring their children to art classes, music classes, cooking classes, STEM classes, gardening classes, drama classes, T-Ball, soccer, tennis, swimming and more. On top of that their families participate in family vacations, trips to museums, libraries, and zoos. These trips will reinforce, expand, and enrich the learning of these lucky kids.
Read MoreI ran across this quote on Facebook from a special mom and I asked her if I could share it. Even when children have attended preschool, kindergarten is still the pivotal year of change. It is difficult for all adults involved. Taking your child to kindergarten, taking your child to college, two very difficult steps in a parents life. Don't worry mom. I will take good care of him!
Read MoreIf you know Kathleen Law, our contributor from Idaho, you know that she has always had tremendous success teaching her students the alphabet quickly.
Read MoreDeveloped fine motor skills are not only essential to complete everyday tasks such as eating, zipping, buttoning, and tying shoes, they are also necessary for the academic life of a early learner. Strong fine-motor skills are necessary for writing and cutting, and it is the job of educators to develop these skills.
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