Highlights Hidden Pictures

My boys love the Highlights Hidden pictures as much as I did when I was a kid.  Did you know you could print them out for free on-line?  Simply click on this link here.

Grinch Math Game

I have absolutely fallen in love with this Grinch Math Game from Finally in First!  As is, this set is perfect for Luke who is working on his addition facts, but my brain is spinning with ideas for adapting the game with multiplication facts and positive and negative integers for my older boys.  Can't wait to get started!  And.... I love her idea for making the case with a recycled soup container (you could also use a Pringles can, yougurt container, sour cream container, etc.) - or just use one of those cheap dollar store plastic containers.

My Book About Winter Holidays

Scholastic is offering a great holiday freebie for your older kiddos (third -fifth grade)!  You can print out this Winter Holiday Booklet for your child to read and complete as they learn about the various winter holidays.  Great for both reading and social studies!

I Can See Christmas Emergent Reader

If your little ones are practicing their reading skills (particularly with sight words such as: see, I, can, and the) you (and they) will love this adorable Christmas themed emergent reader!

I Can See Christmas Emergent Reader

Snowman Math Game

Making Learning Fun  has this adorable Printable Snowman Game that you can print out for several fun math activities with your kiddos.  Just grab a few cottonballs and a die and get ready to play!  You can play using the directions provided, or try one of these variations:

 1. Write the numbers from 1 to 10 and have your child cover that number when they roll that number.

2. Have your child cover one circle for each odd number rolled, and two circles for each even number rolled.

3. Have your child roll the die, cover that many circles, then tell you how many they would need to roll to cover the remaining circles.

Yards, Feet, and Inches Worksheet

If your kiddos are working on measurement, you may want to print out this worksheet for them to practice making conversions from inches to feet to yards.

Paper Plates Make Great Venn Diagrams!

If your child is working on comparing and contrasting two of anything (books, math concepts, habitats, etc.) you may want to try using two paper plates for a fun way to present a venn diagram.

CVC Words Board Game

Luke is practicing his sight words right now, so I was excited to find this CVC (Consonant, vowel, consonant) board game from Teach With Me.  He is not quite at this level yet, but I will be saving it for the future.  However, it gave me a great idea to use with the blank game board template I had previously posted.  I am going to program the template with the sight words he is practicing, and play the same way as this game is played.  He rolls the dice and has to read the word he rolls or move back that many spaces.  Fun!

Print and Use Gameboard Pattern

Games are always a fun way to review concepts previously learned, and the kiddos don't even realize they are learning!  Print the gameboard pattern.  You can add a clever titel or decorate it to make it more interesting.  Program the spaces with vocabulary words, sight words, math facts, or other curriculum focused questions.  Then laminate the board and provide your child with the board, a die and a few markers and let the games begin! 

Free Math Worksheets For Your Kindergartener, First Grader, or Second Grader

If you are looking for some extra math practice for your kindergartener, you will want to download this set of blackline masters.  Includes over 82 pages of math practice. Here is an example of one of the worksheets included:

For your First Grader

For your Second Grader

Road Trip Learning

Many people will be embarking on road trips this Thanksgiving holiday to visit family and friends.  You can use your road trip to add to your child's learning!

Add up the signs

You can use the distances on signs to practice key operational skills such as adding and subtracting.  Have them add up the distances such as in the sign above - they could add 46 + 107.  Or they could subtract as well.

Find a Word
Use a word from a road sign - such as Sacramento - how many words can they find? 
Sacramento (rent, ram, meant, to, etc.)

Take a tally
Have your child practice tallying up the things they see.  They could tally the # of trucks, stop signs, etc.  Make it an extra challenge for your older kiddos by asking them additional questions - What percentage of those trucks were Fed Ex trucks?

ABC Find it
Have your child look for all of the letters in the alphabet on road signs or license plates.

What other ideas can you think of?

Learn How To Say Thank You In 45 Different Langauges

While not every country celebrates Thanksgiving, there is a way to say "Thank You" in every language.  Here are just a few:

What's The Scoop Graphic Organizer

I love this What's The Scoop? Graphic Organizer from Laura Candler!  You can have your child use it as they read a newspaper or magazine article, when they find an article on the web, or while reading a book.

When You Meet A Turkey Reader

I love this little When You Meet a Turkey Reader!  Print out the pages, then print out seven turkeys here for your child to color and paste into the book.  The last page is here.

The Little Red Hen

November is a great time to study the story of the Little Red Hen who couldn't find anybody to help her bake the bread, but plenty of animals who would help her eat it!  Here are some activities to go along with the story:

Reading

Have your child read this fun Rebus Version of the Little Red Hen.

After reading ths story ask your child the following questions:

1. How would you describe the hen?
2. How would you describe the other characters?
3. In what ways are they alike? In what ways are they different?
4. How do you think the Little Red Hen felt doing all of the work by herself.

Your kiddos will love retelling the story with this activity.

Here is a Little Red Hen activity packet.

Little Red Hen Letter Matching Cards

Letter Matching Spelling Cards

Practice reading color words with this emergent reader.

Math

Little Red Hen Counting Cards

Printable Alphabet Coloring Pages

Here is a great set of alphabet coloring pages.  You can print them out individually if you do a letter of the day or week, or you can print them out and place them in sheet protectors and a binder for your child to practice each day.  I place a sticker on all of the letters that Luke can name.

I See You Cat - Fun Writing Prompt

I am a big fan of using photos or pictures as writing prompts - you never can tell where your child's imagination can lead them!  Have your child write a story about this adorable cat - he almost looks like a super hero with a mask on!

Kids in the Kitchen Videos

My boys absolutely love helping out in the kitchen and making yummy things. Cooking is a great way to make learning hands on and fun - adding and multiplying fractions, measurement skills, following directions and more! I was super excited to find these fun Kids in the Kitchen videos for them to watch.  The episodes feature yummy and healthy recipes for kids 6th grade and up to make on their own.  Younger kiddos can help parents to make the recipes.

Here are a few of our own cooking posts:

Chocolate Chip Cake 
S'Mores Pudding
S'Mores Brownies
Homemade Microwave Popcorn
Popcorn Cupcakes
Handprint Turkey Cookies

Alphabet Phonogram Cards

If you have a beginning reader, you may want to print out these alphabet phonograms cards from A to Z teacher stuff.  Simply print the cards on card stock, (laminate for extra durability - optional) cut them out, and you are ready to use. 

•Hold up each card and ask your child: What sound does the letter a say? (substitute each letter as you say them)  your child should be able to say the correct sounds that each letter says.  This can be a great 5 minute warm-up activity before reading lessons.  You could also randomly try them throughout the day.

I always give Luke a sticker each time he practices, which he loves!

Thanksgiving Lift The Flap Easy Reader

I love finding little printable books that I can make for Luke to keep in his own personal "book bag" (we use a pencil pouch) that he can practice reading on his own.  This little reader from Teaching Heart is perfect for Thanksgiving!

You can print it out here.

Tally Up the House!

If your kiddos are learning how to count and tally - you will love this tally up the house activity.  Simply print out this page, give your kid a clipboard and have them practice counting and tallying around your house.

Count, Write, and Tally

Color Words Practice

Luke is working on learning his color words while reading some of our favorite books like Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do you See?  I also am going to have him work on this color words activity above.  You can print it out here, then have your child cut and glue the color word, write the color word, and color in the box to match.

Bing Images for Writing Prompts

A few months ago I noticed some amazing pictures from Bing every time I logged onto my internet.  As I became more and more fascinated by them I came to the realization that they would make awesome writing prompts for my kiddos.  Above are just a few of our favorites so far, but you can find a collection of them here in the Bing Image Archive for your kiddos to use as writing prompts.  Happy writing!

Making Words File Folder

I can't wait to make this making words file folder that I found over at Teacher Bits and Bobs for Tyler, Cody, and Luke to practice their spelling.  Simply print out the forms here, and glue to a file folder.  The moveable letters are made using those super small post-its.  My boys will love the hands on aspect!

Make Your Own Math Flash Cards

Computational fluency is extremely important for learning later math concepts.  Here is a quick and easy way to make your own flash cards.  Print the labels on adhesive labels (Avery 5160) and stick on blank index cards. Each card should have a problem on the front and the problem with the answer on the back.

Addition Labels


Plus One Facts

Facts of 5

Doubles to 9+9

Facts of 10

Near Doubles

2 Digit Doubles

Plus 10 Set 1

Plus 10 Set 2

Plus 9 Set 1

Plus 9 Set 2


Multiplication Labels

x2 Facts

x5 Facts

x2 and x5 Facts (mixed)

x10 Facts

x3 Facts

x4 Facts

x6 Facts

x7 Facts

x8 Facts

x9 Facts

Mini- Water Cycle

I love this idea for a Mini-Water Cycle from Laura Candler.  I am going to try it with the boys the next time we have Rotisserie Chicken from the grocery store (meal plan idea!).  All that you need to do is fill an empty and cleaned container with  a rock to represent a mountain, grass for the vegetation, and a small pond made from aluminum foil and filled with water. To power up the water cycle,  you close the container and put it in the sun. If you have bad weather or just want to keep it an indoor project you can use a lamp as well.

To learn more about the water cycle, try these worksheets:

Water Cycle Worksheet

Water Cycle Comic Strip

Lots of resources for learning about fractions!

If you are working on teaching your child about fractions, here are several great resources:

Fraction Circles

Equal Parts Fraction Worksheet

Cookie Recipe Math

Fraction Word Problems

Fruit Loop Fractions Activity

Pizza Fractions Math Journal

Comparing Fractions Quiz

The Turkey and The Pumpkin Reading Comprehension

If you are looking for a little extra reading for the fall holidays for your kiddos, you may want to have them read (or read to them) The Turkey and the Pumpkin which you can find here. The short story is about a turkey who runs away because he doesn't want to be carved for Thanksgiving dinner only to meet a little pumpkin who really wants to be carved for Halloween. 

The Turkey and the Pumpkin.pdf

Here are a few comprehension questions to ask your child after reading:

1. Why do you think Oscar wanted to go to the petting zoo?

2. Why was the little pumpkin originally happy to see Oscar?

3. How did the zoo keeper change in the story?

Practice Writing Sight Words

Luke is working on learning how to read and write a few sight words including the word "the".  I absolutely love this idea which has the child trace the letters of the word, then color in the letters of the word, and finally cut and glue the letters and place them in the correct order.  This sample only has the word the, but you could easily make your own in a similar way.

Leggo Math

What kid doesn't love leggos?  Make learning math a little more fun with leggos by having them add up the value of the dots on each leggo.  The activity will help your kiddos visualize the numbers they are adding and count on as they are learning to add.

Scary Story Map

If your kiddos are fans of scary stories like Goosebumps like my boys are, you may want to try giving them this Scary Story Map to help them write their own scary story.  The graphic organizer is a great way to get them brainstorming their way to a fun and spooky story!