Christmas Tree Grid Game

Little present ornaments make fun counters for our Christmas Tree Grid Game.

To play this game the child rolls a die and sets out the correct number of presents on the Christmas trees. Play continues until the grid is full.


Grid games are great for developing left to right movement, one to one correspondence, counting sets of objects, and creating equivalent sets of objects. Download this grid game here.

Halloween Writing Center

We have some fun new Halloween themed additions to our writing center.

The girls and I had fun making these glittery cards. We glued some white paper inside each card for the girls to write on.

I used Microsoft clip art to make these. The girls can use them to make cards for their friends or they can write a short story inside. Download the cards here.

We have several sheets of Halloween words bound together in sheet protectors.

Here is a sample of what is inside our Halloween words book. I purchased these words from kinderreaders.com.

The writing station also has our usual materials: journals, blank books, story paper, pads of paper, and various writing and drawing tools. The addition of a few new, interesting materials always renews the girls interest in using the writing station.

Halloween Pumpkins Poem Chart

The newest addition to our poem chart collection features simple text with strong picture/text match. The text is easy for my three year old to follow as she practices following text from left to right and top to bottom. This poem can also be used to emphasize descriptive words and opposites.

Download a copy of this poem here.

Poem Charts

We have fun reading our poem charts together. The poems on the charts are easy to memorize so the girls can successfully read along with me and even little Lauren feels perfectly confident that she can read them on her own. We read the same charts multiple times over the course of a few weeks and sometimes revisit old charts. As we read the charts, I am able to address different learning goals for each of my girls.



I use the poems to help two year old Lauren:

1) develop a love of language and reading

2) understand that print carries meaning

3) understand that we read the print from left to right and top to bottom

4) recognize known letters when embedded in print

5) begin to recognize rhyming words



I use the poems to help five year old Julia:

1) continue to develop a love of language and reading

2) recognize high frequency words

3) practice phonics skills within the context of meaningful text

4) practice reading fluently


How many other activities can you do with children of such diverse needs and be sure that you are meeting each of their needs? I feel so strongly about the power of reading poem charts with children that I am excited to share them with other parents and teachers. I would also love to see any poem charts that you have made!

Here are two charts that I have not published on this blog before:

Sheep poem
Horse Poem

To see previously published poems click here.

I bought my chart stand from Lakeshore but you can use the poems without a chart stand. They can be clipped to an art easel, attached to a wall with sticky tack, or attached to a refrigerator with a magnet.

Five Little Pigs

Materials:

• Five Little Pigs poem. Print the second page (the numbers) on card stock.


• Pigs printed on card stock


• 12x18 green construction paper


• 9x12 brown construction paper


• lamination film (if you do not laminate, then place a piece of clear packing tape under the velcro)


• Velcro

To make the chart:

• Glue the poem to the top of the 12x18 green construction paper. Cut the brown paper into the shape of a mud puddle and glue to the bottom of the green construction paper.


• Laminate the poem, number cards, and pig pictures. Cut the pieces apart.


• Attach a small strip of velcro above the word 'five' on the poem and to the back of the number cards. Attach five pieces of velcro to the mud puddle and to the back of the pigs.

To use the chart:

• Place the pigs on the puddle.


• Read the poem with your child using your finger or a pointer to track the print.


• After you read "The farmer took one piggy out." your child removes a pig.


• Count the number of pigs left in the puddle. Cover the word 'five' with the word 'four' and read the poem again. Continue until all the pigs are removed.

Sticker Addition

Julia used farm stickers to practice addition. First she cut apart the equation and answer cards. Then she placed the correct number of stickers on each equation card and found the correct answer. Download the addition page here.

Who Was In the Barn

Children practice animal names and sounds with this easy to memorize poem. The changeable pictures and word pieces add extra appeal.





Materials:

• Who Was in the Barn printed on printer paper

• Word cards and animal pictures printed on card stock. The animal pictures are from prekinders.com.

• one piece of 12x18 construction paper

• a small piece of yellow construction paper

• lamination film (if you do not laminate, then place a piece of clear packing tape under the velcro)
• velcro

To make the cart:

• Glue the poem to the top of a 12x18 piece of construction paper. Glue a yellow construction paper haystack to the bottom of the paper.


• Laminate the poem, word cards, and animal pictures. Cut the pieces apart.


• Attach velcro to the end of the last two lines of the poem, on top of the haystack, and to the back of the word cards and animal pictures.

To use the chart:

• Lay out the animal pictures, name cards, and sound cards as shown in the picture above.

• Place an animal on top of the haystack. Attach the animal name and sound cards to the poem.

• Read the poem with your child. Track the print with your finger or a pointer as you read.

• Change the pieces and read the poem again. Continue as long as your child is interested.

I Went Swimming Chart

The girls and I enjoy reading our song and poem charts together so I created a new ocean themed poem. I cut this poem into strips and placed them in a mini pocket chart. The ocean animal word cards are also cut apart. We read the poem several times, changing the animal word card each time.

I Went Swimming Chart
Ocean animal word cards

After reading the poem several times, Julia reconstructed cut up sentences.

I gave Lauren a magnetic letter s. She traced it with her finger while saying "s". Then she searched for the letter s in the poem.

Lauren also used a card with a cut out window to frame the letter s.

We're Counting the Days

At our house we have two exciting events in April: Easter and Julia's birthday! Of course Julia wants to know how many more days until each of these events so we created an egg hunt countdown and a birthday countdown.

The egg hunt countdown is a large construction paper egg labeled with black dots. Each day the girls place a sticky dot on one of the black dots and then count the remaining days until the egg hunt. We have a pencil with a rabbit eraser and a pencil with an egg eraser to use as pointers when they count. After they determine how many days remain, Julia writes the number on a sticky note and places it on the record sheet.

I created Julia's birthday countdown in Power Point using clip art. Each day she colors a cake, counts the remaining cakes, and posts the number on the record sheet.

Rabbit Counting Grid Game

I learned about grid games in the book More Than Counting by Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus. The authors write that grid games are an important part of preschool and kindergarten math because they "provide opportunities for children to create mathematical relationships by using interesting manipulative counters to create, compare, and quantify sets."

Children are highly motivated to play grid games with fun counters. As soon as four year old Julia saw this rabbit grid game she was excited to feed the rabbits!

To make this game I used:

• two grids of 15 rabbits (created with clip art and printed on card stock)
• 30 carrot erasers
• die
  

Each player rolls the die and places the corresponding number of carrots on the rabbits. Play continues until a player covers all her rabbits. Julia had lots of practice counting and comparing as she decided "How many more carrots do I need to cover each rabbit? Who has more- mommy or I?"

Can you guess who won?

I created an easier grid game to play with my two year old. In this game we use a grid of 10 heads of lettuce, a die with 1-3 dots on each side, and rabbit erasers.

These games are great to play after reading Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit or Muncha, Muncha, Muncha by Candace Flemming.