Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! (and a freebie)

This week in class our little learners will be introduced to their last letter of the alphabet.  To celebrate we will use the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as part of our activities.  You can read my newsletter to get an idea of what we will be doing. Be sure to check back this week to see the sweeties in action.
Enjoy this color words emergent reader freebie as a thank you for following my blog!

Click here to download!

A Bunny Blog Hop

A Tisket, A Tasket, Freebies for your Basket!

Several phenomenal teachers and bloggers are joining forces for an amazing bunny blog hop!  As you follow us along the bunny trail, you will visit some of your favorite blogs and discover a few new blogs too!  Each with a fabulous freebie just for you!

Thank you for hopping on over to my blog! 

This is my first blog hop and I am so excited to be a participant!  To celebrate, I  am giving away an "I have-Who has" alphabet game.  I have included instructions on how to make this work with different age groups and how to differentiate for varied levels of learning.  I hope you enjoy this activity!

 Click HERE to download.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!  If you are new to my blog and liked what you see, don't forget to follow me.  A Tisket, A Tasket, next up with a Freebie for your Basket is Kimberli from Mixing the Next Batch.  Hop on over!

Just in case you didn't join us from the beginning, here is an ordered list of all the participating blogs.

Stephany from Primary Possibilities
Sally from Elementary Matters
Lory from Fun for First
Linda from Primary Inspiration
Nicole from Mrs. Rios Teaches Second Grade
Brian from Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings
Liz from The Happy Teacher
Jennie from JD's Rockin' Readers
Sarah from Learning is for Superstars
Teresa from Fun in K/1
Nikki from Teaching in Progress
Faith from Kindergarten Faith
Renee from Fantastic First Grade Froggies
Amy from Happy Teacher Heaven
Leah from Learn with Leah
Nicole from Teaching's a Hoot
Kristy from The Phonic's Phenomenon
Rich from Mr. Giso's Room to Read
Susanna from Whimsy Workshop
Amy from Motivate to Learn
Lola from Preschool Wonders
Kimberli from Mixing the Next Batch

My First Blog Hop!

I am so excited to be participating in my very first blog hop.  Be sure to check back later this week so you can grab some fabulous freebies! Teresa from Fun in K/1 has been kind enough to organize "A Bunny Blog Hop".  Thank you Teresa for putting this together.  :)

Dynamite Dinosaur Activities!

Here are a few activities we worked on last week.  During circle time, we matched colors and shapes with a dinosaur theme.  We even worked on beginning sounds of words by sorting objects by sounds.                        

These objects are from Lakeshore Learning.  The little ones love them.  :)  We started off with the last two sounds we have learned.  Our school uses Handwriting Without Tears to teach handwriting.  That is also the order of letter sounds I introduce.                  During learning time, we worked on measuring with Unifix cubes, as well as rhyming activities.  When I first introduce rhyming, I use actual objects.  I feel like it holds their attention better.  I just gathered objects from around my house and the classroom.  The little learners placed the matching object on the volcano from a choice of two.  By only giving them two choices in the beginning, it helps ensure success.

 Here are some of my sweeties working hard at rhyming.  These little ones are only 3!  I love that the others watching seemed to be engaged, as well.  :)

Here are a few more photos of measuring our dinosaurs.  They are really getting the hang of it!

Fellow teachers, how do you work on rhyming?  I know it is developmental, but it seems like there is so much pressure to introduce this skill so the little ones are ready for kindergarten.  I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.

Spring Break and more Dinosaur Fun!

 Yay!  It's spring break.  I love, love, love my job, but it wears me out.  I need this time to relax, recoup, and reenergize.  I am embarrassed to say I slept from 9:00 Friday night until 11:00 Saturday morning. Wow, I cannot remember the last time I slept that long, but boy did it feel good.  :)  I am going to try to show a few dinosaur activities we did last week over the break.

These two sweet little ones are working on matching the shape on the dinosaur to the corresponding shape on the volcano.  They have to turn over the dino card, find the matching volcano, say what shape it is in a full sentence, and then ask a friend (using their name) if they would like a turn.  We worked on the basic shapes: circle, square, triangle, oval, rectangle, and rhombus.  To add more of a challenge for some I also included hexagon and trapezoid, since these are shapes they will need to know for kindergarten.  Fellow Pre-K/K teachers what shapes do you teach your little ones?

Pick up your own copy @ my TPT store here. Dinosaur Measuring and Shapes

Yo Veo Dinosaurios! Spanish Freebie

A few of my students are English Language Learners (ELL).  I am very, very lucky that the wonderful paraprofessional I work with is bi-lingual.  If a little one just is not understanding something in English she will translate in Spanish to see if it helps.  She was kind enough to translate the following "I See Dinosaurs" emergent reader.  Do you have ELL students?  If so, what strategies do you use?

I See Dinosaurs2Span-1

Dinosaur Lovers at Work!

       I See Dinosaurs!

For my afternoon class of sweet little ones who will be going to kindergarten in the fall, I try to give them more challenging work to help prepare them for the rigors of Common Core.  This emergent reader (the freebie in my last post) required them to count, record the number, and read the color word.  I gave them a "cheat sheet" to help them match color words and help with the formation of numbers.  Some could do the activity independently.  For the others who needed more help, I either underlined the color word with the corresponding color marker and/or wrote the number in yellow so they could trace it.  They feel like such big kids who are ready for kindergarten!  What kind of strategies do you use to help with recognizing color words and/or number formation?

Another Dinosaur Freebie!

This emergent reader is a little more advanced than the first one posted. Little ones will have to count the number of dinosaurs and write the number PLUS read the color word! For my students not quite ready to do both, I will underline the color word with the correct color marker and/or write in the number with a yellow marker for them to trace. This allows me to use the same booklet with all my wonders by differentiating according to skill level. :)

I See Dinosaurs Edited

Dinosaur, Raaaaar!

We are beginning our dinosaur unit this week and I am super excited!  Our little ones love dinosaurs.  What a great way to motivate them and keep their interest.  I plan on taking pictures to capture the fun.  Be sure to check back.  In the meantime, enjoy this freebie!

What Color Dinosaur Do You See by

Some Fun With the Cat that Rhymes!

I just wanted to share a few photos of yesterday's activities. Our sweet ones loved eating green eggs and ham and playing with oobleck. We were so proud of how everyone tried the funny looking green eggs and played with our cornstarch and water mixture. It's not always easy being brave enough to experience new things, especially when you are only 3 or 4!

Another St. Patrick's Day Freebie!

This is an "I have/Who has" alphabet game. It features capital letters of the alphabet that are introduced in the order of Handwriting Without Tears curriculum. We play this game during circle time. It is a nice way to check which students have mastered letter recognition and which students are still struggling.
Enjoy!

St Pattys Day I Have ABC by

First Official Post! Colorful Eggs Freebie

After trying to figure out blog designs, I finally gave up and made the decision to have Dreamlike Magic Designs help me out.  (And, boy howdy, am I ever glad I did!)  It was worth every penny.  I am very new to blogging and quite inexperienced with technology. I am trying to figure everything out as I go along, so I ask for patience.  :)

This week, in class, we will be celebrating Read Across America with some Dr. Seuss fun.  My class consists of morning students (3 and young 4 year olds) and afternoon students (older 4 and 5 year olds).  Our students are bussed in from the entire district.  They do not all arrive at exactly the same time, so we begin our day with table time activities.  These are usually fine motor in nature and usually something that can be done fairly independently.  To account for the different stages of development of my students, I try to differentiate the activity to meet each student's needs.  In the morning (with the exception of one or two students) we are working on coloring with a tri-pod grasp, matching colors, and coloring the picture (as much as possible :) ).  In the afternoon we work on recognizing color words, as well as coloring with the correct grasp, and filling in the space of the picture.  I have included a freebie that consists of two different levels.  One is completely black and white so students can try to read the color words independently.  I will often write the words in different colors on a whiteboard so they can compare.  The other one has the color words highlighted so the student only has to match the color with the correct crayon.
I hope you enjoy!

Lola :)

Colorful Eggs by

Colorful Eggs 2 by