Welcome to the Literacy Beginnings book study blog party! Today I am covering the introduction “Living and Learning in the Pre-Kindergarten Classroom” as well as the first chapter, “Growing Up Literate: PreKindergarten for the Future Generation“. I hope you will join in the conversation by leaving a comment below or posting reflections on ...

This June, you can join Kabongo in a month long celebration of Father’s Day. To make this celebration extra special, Kabongo is giving away a Flip Video camera worth over $100 in their Kabongo Loves Dads Sweepstakes! To enter, go to Kabongo’s Facebook page and click on the Sweepstakes button. Fill in your name and address, and you’re done – ...

If the way to a man’s heart is really through his stomach then this Father’s Day gift idea featuring homemade cookies is sure to be a big hit! Since not every child has a father in his or her life this gift is appropriate for any male role model. You will need the following materials: Empty Pringles can (tall or short depending on how ...

Many teachers face a dilemma when it comes to Father’s Day. The reason for the dilemma is twofold, first, many schools are already on summer vacation by the time Father’s Day arrives and second, some children don’t have fathers in their lives. While I can’t control when school gets out, I can provide ideas for Father’s Day that are ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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! '); //-->

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 ...