Thanksgiving Themed Centers

So learning how to put things in alphabetical order is such an important and yet boring skill.  So to help my students practice abc order and fluency in a fun way I created this product that is the perfect center for the upcoming Thanksgiving season.

Missing Letter Center

This fun activity allows students to fill in the missing alphabet letter with an expo marker and comes in an upper case and lower case set.

Literacy Centers from the Dollar Store

I'm all about saving money and time, so it should be no surprise that the dollar spot at Target and the Dollar Store are my favorite places to look for things for my store.  One of my popular reading centers in the beginning of the year is a matching ABC center.  I bought these cut outs at the Dollar Tree, wrote a capital letter on one set, and a lower case letter on the other set and easy peasy, you've created a fun center that only cost you a $1 and 5 minutes of time.

Letter Sort

When learning the alphabet, different fonts can be so confusing to little ones, especially when it comes to the letter a and g.  So I created a sort for my kindergartners to help them practice sorting uppercase letters from lowercase letters and to visually see the different ways you can write them.  Plus it's an easy way for me to show them book g because no matter how many times I try to write it the fancy way, as I call it in my classroom, I just can't.  So check out this free product in my TPT store here.  This cut and paste letter sort contains the letters:

a
b
d
f
g
i
j
q
t
y

Letter Sort

What's the missing letter center

So learning how to put things in alphabetical order is such an important and yet boring skill.  So to help my students practice abc order and fluency in a fun way I created this product.

Missing Letter Center

This fun activity allows students to fill in the missing alphabet letter with an expo marker and comes in an upper case and lower case set.

This product can be found here at my TPT store.

An old familiar website becomes a new favorite

Back when I started teaching 12 years ago I found out about this website Starfall.   If you haven't discovered this website yet you need to head there now.  There are so many great treasures on it.  A decade ago I used it as a computer center.  They have activities for the alphabet, for beginning readers, for word families and so much more.  Seriously it's great.

But I have rediscovered a second great aspect of Starfall.  There is a teacher side with pre made and customizable worksheets that even align with Common Core.  At the very top of the page there is a Starfall Teacher-Parent Center button.  Click on it and you'll have to answer a math question to get to the teacher section of the site.  (It's an easy math question.)  Then scroll down to you see the Supplemental Resource section.

 Once there you will find worksheets you can create for ELA, math, ABC review and some that are pre-made and ready for download.

For ELA they have editable alphabet, blending and high frequency worksheets.

For math they have Counting, Measuring, and addition and subtraction worksheets

They also have picture cards.

So seriously go check it out.  I love it!

The alphabet

It's been a whirlwind being in Kindergarten.  I'm finding the fact I've been with older kids for so long that I have such high expectations for my kids.  I thought they would know the majority of the alphabet but that is just not true.  So we have been doing a lot of alphabet review.

We have been doing a letter each day.  We practice writing the capital and lowercase letter.  We learn the sound with the jolly phonics motion and we come up with a list of words for each letter and then I draw a picture.  (Some letters are easier than others, my kangaroo for K was a more of a sad squirrel.)

 We also have done some creative art work to go with some of the letters.

I've also been creating ABC centers.  There is tons of free stuff out there.   Search pinterest and TPT to find lots of great resources.

I also just added a new item to my Teachers Pay Teachers site.  It's a find the missing letter activity.  I plan to use it once my kids get a little bit better at the alphabet.

Find the Missing Letter