I love having my children’s books down at a level where they can be enjoyed by all!  I got so tired of reorganizing the books each and every time we read them and quickly put them away.  Since so many of them were the same type of book (Arthur, Franklin, Clifford, ABC, Theme, etc) I wanted some way to show my students where the books belong.  I made these labels for my bins (plastic shoe boxes) and attached them with velcro, so I could change them out when needed.

bookbucketpicts

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Capital and Lowercase Recognition Games

I use these mats as part of a Literacy Center early on in the year.  I print out letter cards or give the kids magnets and have them sort by capital/lowercase.  I ask in these two different ways to assess a true understanding of skill mastery.

capandlower

capnotcap

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This is a sheet I made a few years ago after attending an Indiana State Kindergarten Teachers Conference.  I print it out and laminate it and the kids use it with a magnifying glass.  They read the words outloud.  This year I will have them use it in conjunction with a letter discovery bottle.  They will need to look at the word, and then roll the discovery bottle around to find the letters inside that spell it and cross it off the sheet with a dry erase marker.  We called our sight words “Frog Words” because they “hop” out at us in books and in our world.

magnifying-glass-frogs1

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A few more things I’ve collected…

Some ideas for Literacy Centers…

literacycenterideas

Labels I use for my kids Writer’s Workshop folders.  I use the Lucy Caulkins Writer’s Workshop program in my Kindergarten classroom with great success and the kids love it too!

wwlabels

I also love my Building Blocks!!  My favorite book is the Shared Reading with Big Books book.  I carry it with me where ever I go!  I’ve been using it for about 6 years now and I have developed lessons beyond those listed in the book, so I will post them as I use them in my classroom this coming school year. This is a listing of the Predictable Charts that I could use with my themes.

predictable chart tie ins

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Another Innovation Book…

This one is for our theme of “Friends”

one-little

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I see a…

This is a book I created to help my students with the words “see” and “a”.

i-see-a

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Ice Cream Writing

This is a writing sheet I created for my Kinder kids to use to record their favorite ice cream flavor after we have our “Ice Cream Election” (thanks Karen Berman!!) in November.

icecreamwriting

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Assorted Journals…

I simply cannot so a math or science activity without having my students write about it (when I say write–it means to the best of their abilities (drawing is acceptable too!)).

my-bean-journal

my-radish-journal

octjournalcover

readtheroomform

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Baggie Book Letter

This is the letter I send home each time with my student’s baggie books (essentially a Wright Group little book in a ziploc baggie).  It has follow-up directions for each family, what to do with the book each evening and what to do if it is misplaced.

baggiebookletter

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Book Report

As it often happens when parents work hard with their children, some of them come to Kindergarten already reading at various levels.  I designed this simple book report form for my students who are reading short Level 1 and above chapter books.  I wanted them to get something out of their reading and also check their comprehension levels.  This form helps me to do that.

bookreport

fictionbookreport

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Brown Bear, Brown Bear Innovation Books

Because Kindergarten students adore Eric Carle’s Brown Bear, Brown Bear books, I made these two innovation stories to continue using the pattern of the story, and integrated into other themes, Fall and Farm.

brown-owl

farminnovation

leafinnovation *~*~ New!*~*~

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The Grouchy Ladybug

Another Eric Carle favorite, I use this book to introduce the concept of telling time to my students.  I print out all the pictures of the animals/insects in the book and use them with sentence strips.  I label the strips with the times written out in words and then use hand clocks in a pocket chart to show the differences in times.  I got a class set + of analog clocks at my local Dollar Tree (4 to a package) and I use those to show the children the time on a clock.

grouchyladybugpicts

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Homework Packet

This is a copy of my Homework Packet cover page.  I send homework on a weekly basis (when I taught 1/2 day Kindergarten it was vital).  I use pages from The Education Centers’ “Teachers Helper” Magazine and change the pages out yearly.  I also differentiate my homework packets.  I have 3 different levels of homework packets, Easy, Meduim and Hard.  The children are placed into fluid groups and can move from one level to the next at any time.  Each day includes time spent reading their baggie book, reinforcing skills from school (calendar concepts), and then practicing a new skill.

homeworkpacket

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Kindergarten Sight Word List

We adopted the Scott Foresman reading series this year and use it as a resource in our classroom.  I also purchased a sight words kit from www.rainbowwords.com. This list is a compilation of words our first grade teachers expect the children to know entering 1st grade, the reading series, and how they will be introduced on the Rainbow Words rainbow.

kindergarten-sight-word-list-3_081

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The Jacket I Wear in the Snow

This story is a favorite when we return to school from our holiday break. Included in this download/file are the pictures to help your students sequence this story.  Don’t forget to check out the other books by this author as well: The Dress I Wear to the Party (a favorite of the girls!) and more here: www.amazon.com

thejacketiwearinthesnow

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“-at” Family Game

Here is a game I made for my students to practice the “-at” word family. We play this game on Dr. Seuss’s birthday, in honor of The Cat in the Hat. The children each need a copy of the “-at” family dice toss board and an “-at” family die (made from 1×1 lumber cut into cubes and labeled with a Sharpie pen).