Search results matching tags 'literacy' and 'homeschool'

Get Caught Reading Contest

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:00:30 GMT

I hope you will be joining us for the Literacy Beginnings book study blog party. Our party will kick-off here at Pre-K Pages on Monday, July 27th, there’s still time to get the book if you’re interested. So, you’re probably wondering why I’m talking about the party again if it hasn’t even started yet, right? Well hold on to your hats because I’ve added a little something to kick it up a notch!

I was thinking about lugging my book all over the US during the next four weeks (top secret locations- shhhh!) and I was reminded of the famous Flat Stanley project that we all know and love. Then it hit me, wouldn’t it be fun if I took pictures of myself with my book in interesting places too? That sounded a little too one-sided for me so I’m inviting you all to do the same thing! Can I get a little “Oprah’s Favorite Things” action here? That’s more like it!

Here’s how you can enter the Get Caught Reading Contest:

Take a picture of yourself reading your Literacy Beginnings book in an interesting or unusual location
Publish your picture in your book study blog party post
Link up via the link below
Vote for your favorite pictures

One winner will be announced on Monday, August 15. The winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card. The contest should begin today (crossing my fingers- this is my first attempt at hosting a voting contest with InLinkz!) so start your cameras!

'); //-->

Join the Literacy Beginnings Party

Anonymous — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:00:29 GMT

I’m so excited about the Literacy Beginnings book study blog party! We will kick off the party on Monday, June 27 with each chapter hosted by a different blogger. There’s still time to get the book if you want to join in the fun. I’m also planning for a fun contest to go along with the book study, stay tuned for more details!

Here is a list of the awesome blogs that will be hosting the chapter discussions:

Here’s how you can participate in the book study blog party:

Follow each of the blogs listed above.
Post your own chapter reflections on your blog, grab a linky party button (coming soon!), and link up your post to the linky party.
Don’t have a blog? No problem! You can join in by commenting on the blog posts.
Going on vacation? No worries! If you subscribe to the blogs above you can catch up on all the great discussions when you return.

Here’s a line-up of the topics and hosts:
Section One: Living and Learning week of June 27th
Pre-K Pages
Teach Preschool
Brick by Brick
Prekinders

Section Two: Foundation of Learning week of July 5th (no posts on July 4th)
Brick by Brick
No More Worksheets
Pre-K Pages

Section Three: Supporting Emergent Readers week of July 11-15
Look at My Happy Rainbow
Growing in Pre-K
Pre-K Pages

Section Four: Supporting Emergent Writers week of July 18-21
No More Worksheets
Prekinders
Growing in Pre-K

Section Five: Letters, Sounds, and Words week of July 25
Pre-K Pages
Teach Preschool
Prekinders

Section Six: Assessment of Literacy week of July 25 or August 1
The Seeds Network

I can’t wait to read all of your fantastic posts and comments! Happy Reading!

Want to let your friends know about the book study blog party? Click “Like” at the top of this page or choose from other social media options below.

'); //-->

Literacy Beginnings Book Study Blog Party

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:00:19 GMT

There are some people who think teachers have three months off and it’s all one big party; but teachers know the reality is much different. Being a lifelong learner is an important part of being a teacher. If you’re anything like me you have a big stack of professional development books sitting on your nightstand just itching to be read. It’s also just as important to take some time for yourself each summer to recharge your batteries for the next school year, it’s all about balance.

I can’t find the time to read professional development books during the school year so I usually select a few to read each summer. Of course, reading said books while laying in the sun and sipping a cold beverage is the best of both worlds. This summer I decided to read the following professional development books:

Math Work Stations by Debbie Diller
In Pictures and In Words by Katie Wood Ray
Literacy Beginnings by Fountas and Pinnell

(Don’t you just love my quilt in the background?)

One thing I always felt was lacking from my summer professional reading was interaction with my peers. Wouldn’t it be great to discuss the book with other teachers? After reading about the book study blog party Mrs. Wills is hosting for Math Work Stations the solution was clear; I am officially announcing a book study blog party for Literacy Beginnings! {Hugs to Mrs. Wills for inspiring this awesome idea!}

My goals for creating the Literacy Beginnings book study are:

To promote one of my passions as an early childhood educator; best practices in early literacy instruction.
To encourage professional dialogue and collegiality between early childhood teachers.

Here’s how the book study blog party for Literacy Beginnings will work:

Starting June 27, 2011 (this will allow everybody who wants to participate to get a copy of the book) there will be a series of linky parties hosted by different bloggers.
Each week a different section of the book will be discussed on participating blogs.
The blogger that is hosting will provide their thoughts on the chapter and readers can leave comments with their thoughts and ideas as well as link up their posts relating to the topic using the linky.

Here’s how you can participate:

Make sure you have the book Literacy Beginnings by Fountas and Pinnell
If you are a blogger and would like to host a chapter of the Literacy Beginnings book study blog party please contact me using the contact tab above.
Stay tuned to the Pre-K Pages blog and I will announce the bloggers who will be hosting each chapter and the dates they will be hosting.
Leave a comment below if you are interested in discussing the book with others and what you would like to learn.

I look forward to reading and learning with you! You can read samples from Literacy Beginnings here.

All of the authors mentioned in this post have other titles that I also highly recommend. The Literacy Beginnings book study blog party is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed in any way by Fountas and Pinnell or Heinemann. I have not been paid to promote this book or the publisher.

If you enjoy visiting Pre-K Pages please click the “Like” button at the top of any page or share it via other social media outlets using the links below.

'); //-->

Kabongo Reading Games Review

Anonymous — Wed, 18 May 2011 11:00:24 GMT

Spring fever is in full-swing and both teachers and students alike are looking forward to summer vacation. Its times like these that call for a little something new to shake things up and keep everybody going for another month (or two). A few weeks ago I stumbled across a site called Kabongo that will help put an end to spring fever in your early childhood classroom. Kabongo isn’t just another online learning game site; it’s THE hot new online learning game site. What makes Kabongo stand out from the crowd? Well, since you asked:

Critical Thinking Skills: Unlike many online games that focus on very basic skills and right or wrong answers the games at Kabongo target the critical thinking skills and problem-solving strategies that are essential for future reading success.
Research Based: Games are designed by cognitive psychologists and learning experts
High Quality: The animation in these games is fantastic- move over PBS and Disney!
Interactive: There is no “osmosis” learning going on here, everything is highly engaging and fun.
Learning Skills Chart: Kabongo provides a Learning Skills Chart that lists the skills covered in each game which is very helpful for teachers and parents.

Kabongo features three different learning habitats; each habitat is broken up into three games that target different skills. Each habitat is offered for a one time flat fee of only $4.95, however you can use the coupon code shown above (LEARN) for free access to everything for a limited time! That’s nine games absolutely free. The habitats are:

Galaxy Gardens
Laughter Lake
Twister Top

How does it work?

Go to Kabongo and click on “play free” at the top of the page.
Next, sign-up to create your free account.
Once you confirm your subscription, log-in and select your habitat to start playing.

Aside from classroom use, Kabongo is also a great resource for parents. Kabongo has many parent friendly features such as a parent dashboard and progress reports delivered directly to your inbox.

Since summer vacation is right around the corner and many parents are looking for rainy day suggestions consider sending out a link to your parents letting them know about Kabongo. Kabongo’s target ages are 4-7 so you can suggest that siblings have a turn too.

'); //-->

Pizza Box Flannel Board

Anonymous — Sun, 08 May 2011 21:38:23 GMT

A flannel or felt board is an important part of any early childhood classroom. One of the biggest benefits of having and using a flannel board is the opportunities it creates for oral language development. At the flannel board students can re-tell nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and other popular stories. Flannel boards come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

I was very fortunate to have a beautiful, free standing easel with flannel on one side and a magnetic dry erase board on the other. While being very pretty and expensive the large easel does have its drawbacks. The flannel board easel is very tall which obstructs your view when you are trying to monitor all the students in the classroom. It is also very narrow making it difficult for two students to stand side-by-side and play. I prefer that my students use the flannel board in pairs because of the social interaction and oral language opportunities it offers. Another problem I encountered with the flannel board easel was that it was difficult to offer the students a variety of different flannel stories to choose from. When I tried to hang Ziploc bags from the side of the easel the story pieces were quickly mixed-up and became a huge mess.

The pizza box flannel board has solved all of my problems -except how to get rid of the giant flannel board. Now students can select a box and sit down on the carpet to re-tell their favorite stories. The re-telling center is much more popular now than ever before because I can offer more choices to the students. Creating your own individual pizza box flannel boards is super simple! I have included the materials you will need below.

Flannel/felt from craft store
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors
Pizza Boxes- ask your local pizza parlor for unused boxes, most are happy to donate
Optional: Computer labels

Next, cut your felt to fit the front of the pizza box and use the glue gun to adhere the flannel to the front of the box. Flannel stories can be stored inside the box. The name of each story can be typed on a computer label and attached to the side of the boxes. Store several boxes on a shelf and allow students to choose their favorites.

If you enjoy visiting Pre-K Pages please click the “Like” button at the top of any page or share it via other social media outlets using the links below.

Don’t forget to sign-up for the Pre-K Pages newsletter. Subscribers receive early childhood teaching tips in their inbox each week.

'); //-->

Stepping Stones Together Review

Anonymous — Mon, 02 May 2011 22:00:17 GMT

As a classroom teacher I feel just as much responsibility for my students learning during the summer months as I do during the school year. I want them to have a balanced summer filled with fun and learning support at home so they can begin the next school year right where they left off in my classroom. Unfortunately, research shows that children can experience significant learning loss during the summer months. Imagine if an athlete stopped training, he or she would see a significant decline in performance. The human brain is no different; it needs daily exercise to maintain learning.

In an attempt to prevent learning loss during the summer I provide parents with a calendar listing free or low-cost local activities such as library story times, public pool information, and discount days at the zoo or aquarium. I also send home a folder filled with educational activities for parents to do with their children. However, one skill that I am not able to fully support during the summer is reading. Many parents read to their children but when it comes to helping their children learn how to read parents want to help but often don’t know how.

I was recently introduced to Stepping Stones Together; an online program for parents who want to support their child’s reading abilities at home. I am not a fan of any pre-packaged curricula or “teach your baby to read” programs so you can be assured that Stepping Stones Together does not fall into either of these categories.

The philosophy of the Stepping Stones Together program is research based and focuses on fostering a love of reading in young children ages 3-7 while providing a positive bonding experience between parent and child. The program takes only 15-20 minutes per day so there is still pelnty of time for summer fun. This is not a program where the child sits in front of the computer while mom makes dinner; this is a fully interactive program that provides busy parents with the tools they need to take an active role in their child’s beginning reading skills.

Developed by Dr. Erika Burton, the Stepping Stones Together program provides simple, step-by-step directions that parents can easily follow. The program consists of the following components:

90 High-interest printable books on popular topics such as superheroes, princesses, sports, fairies and more
Printable incentive chart
Daily writing practice
Printable instructions explaining how to introduce the books
High-frequency word games
Printable certificates of completion for each level completed
Printable flash cards to introduce and review high frequency words in each book

While the program is designed with parents in mind, after careful review I believe it can be easily used by classroom teachers. Many teachers are required to teach their students to read but are not provided with all of the tools necessary to do so. Stepping Stones Together offers everything, including the books for a very affordable price. Classroom teachers can also send home the Stepping Stones URL in their summer educational packets for parents who are interested.

Here’s the good news, Stepping Stones Together is offering readers of Pre-K Pages a special one day only discount. This discount allows you to access to the complete program for one year for only $19.99, use discount the code Pre-K Pages If you missed the first day special you can still receive a 5% discount on the program using the same code.

'); //-->

Student Picture Games

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:00:41 GMT

If you are looking for an activity that will engage your students and keep them on task then look no further. The secret is to use pictures of the students; they love to look at pictures of themselves and their friends. This activity can be done several different ways to allow for differentiation.

In the picture above you can see the sight word version of this activity. To prepare the activity take pictures of your students holding letters to spell sight words. Print the pictures on cardstock, laminate, cut, and then place on binder rings. I use the Rainbow Words program; this particular activity focused on the six words we were learning at the time. The students turn the cards and spell the words on their cookie trays using magnetic letters. I added a thematic picture to the cookie tray to make it fit with our theme. This activity is one of the all-time favorites in my classroom!

Using student pictures you can create activities to meet your students’ needs all year long:

Student Names: Take pictures of the students spelling their names. Students can then make their names and their friend’s names on cookie sheets using magnetic letters.
Upper to Lowercase Match: Take pictures of the students holding upper and lowercase letters and turn the pictures into cards. Have students match the upper to lowercase letters.
Alphabet in Order: Take a picture of each student holding one letter. If you have fewer than 26 students (and I hope you do!) then give some students an extra turn. Turn each letter into a card and have students practice putting the cards in order from A-Z. You can do this for both upper and lowercase letters. You can also use an alphabet strip and have students match the pictures to the strip.
Numbers in Order: Same idea as above only take pictures of the students holding numbers. Place Velcro on the back of each number card, laminate sentence strips, place Velcro on the strips and have students attach the numbers to the strip in order.
Power Points: You can use any of the ideas above and create Power Point presentations to show your students- fun!

Don’t forget to sign-up for the Pre-K Pages newsletter. Subscribers receive early childhood teaching tips in their inbox each week.

If you enjoyed this post from Pre-K Pages please forward a link to your friends or use the buttons below to share the link on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.

'); //-->

Spring Race to the Top Game

Anonymous — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 19:59:41 GMT

Race to the Top is a fun game that can be adapted for many different skills and levels. You can use these types of games to practice letter recognition, sight words, or even numbers. In the picture above you can see the Spring Alphabet Race to the Top game, in the picture below you can see the sight word version of the game.

To prepare this game use a pocket die as shown in the picture, or you can create your own for free using a small box. Select which letters, words, or numbers you want to use on your die and then write your selections on the flowers before you make copies. To record their answers students can use Do-A-Dot markers or crayons.

Race to the Top can be played in a small group or by an individual child. To play the game the students take turns rolling the die and recording their rolls on their sheet by placing a dot in the square or coloring it in with crayons. When a particular word, letter, or number has been rolled five times it reaches the top first and is declared the “winner”. I like this game because the students don’t compete against each other, the skills do. When a word wins I encourage the children to keep playing to see which one comes in second place, third place and so on.

Don’t forget to sign-up for the Pre-K Pages newsletter. Subscribers receive early childhood teaching tips in their inbox each week.

If you enjoyed this post from Pre-K Pages please forward a link to your friends or use the buttons below to share the link on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.

'); //-->

Spring Break Giveaway Winner

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:11:25 GMT

The winner of Karen’s Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus packet is Karen B! The winner was selected using an on-line random number generator. Thank you to everybody who entered, we had 228 entries. Stay tuned for another contest that is going to knock your socks off!

'); //-->

Magnetic Valentine Sight Words

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:00:31 GMT

This Valentine themed activity for practicing sight words is super simple yet still tons of fun for little ones. You will need one magnetic cookie tray or other magnetic surface per child, paper Valentine hearts, tape, sight word cards, and magnetic letters. You could also have the students match upper to lowercase letters on the trays. The cookie trays in the picture above are from the Dollar Tree and the hearts are pages from a notepad. First, tape the hearts to the cookie trays, I laminated mine first for durability. Next, make one individual sight word ring per child with the words they are learning, details can be found on the sight word page. Finally, place the letters that correspond to the words in a small Ziploc bag, one bag per child. Each child at the table gets one magnetic cookie tray, a ring of sight words, and a bag of magnetic letters. Students will spell the sight words from the rings on their cookie tray.

In case you are wondering how I can find so many magnetic letters without going crazy I’ve included a picture of my magnetic letter storage container for you above; it’s a nuts and bolts container from Wal-Mart. Each drawer is assigned a different letter; using this storage container I can find the letters I need quickly.

Don’t forget to sign-up for the Pre-K Pages newsletter. Subscribers receive early childhood teaching tips in their inbox each week.

If you enjoyed this post from Pre-K Pages please forward a link to your friends or use the buttons below to share the link on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.

'); //-->