Dolch Sight Word Cards

Available HERE. Includes:

All 220 Dolch sightword cards

Levels are color coded for ease of level identification when using differentiated instruction. I used ROYGBIV for the basis,

·         Red- Pre-k/Pre-primer

·         Orange – Kindergarten/Primer

·         Green – 1^st

·         Blue – 2^nd

·         Violet – 3^rd

These cards can be used as flash cards, word walls, for fly swatter “Word Swat,” hunt and find, alphabetization, sentence creation, etc.

The sightword cards in pre-writing print

Cut out, laminate to be come dry-erasable, hole punch, place onto a carbineer clip, and children can practice by level or a specific group of words the teacher determines.

BINGO cards

6 BINGO cards for each sightword level are included, covering all words, for small group instruction.

Two sets can also be printed out, one set made into individual cards, and used as a matching center activity, Go Fish game, I Have Who Has, etc.

Word List
Color-coded and black/white.

Tags: Dolch, flashcards, pre-writing, cards, pre-primer, preprimer, primer, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, complete, list, emergent, reading, lanugage, literacy, early, read, vocabulary, spelling, center, sentence, word, words, sentences, building, language, 

Transportation Collage w/Template

Little Stars Learning

This is an art/craft collage that I created for my preschoolers to do along with their TRANSPORTATION theme/unit. We do a 4-week unit covering air, water, land and rails. Each week the children created one section to go along with that week's focus. 

It is sized to fit on 18 inch by 12 inch sketch pad paper I got at WalMart in the school supply section. It's also available at the craft stores. It is at Amazon for $11.60 with free Prime shipping. The lowest price I found on-line is at Discount Office Supply for $5.78 + tax + shipping.

I  printed out the template pieces onto cardstock and cut them out:

I provided a choice of colored construction paper for the children to choose from, asking them to pick a new color for each item. They got to choose how many portholes on the ship, 2 or 3 little wheels on the train, front and/or back headlights on the car. They traced them and cut them out with teacher-assist scissors with me. then I helped them position the main components before they glued them down.

FYI - the completed car on the picture above is missing the square window on the door, template piece in the upper right corner.

SKILLS:
Fine Motor tracing, cut, paste/glue, placement
Math shapes including trapezoid/half-circle/dome, comparison of small/medium/large in shapes
Art  color choice and composition
Science  discussing elements in relation to their actual function in life

Tags: transportation, theme, unit, boat, ship, plane, airplane, train, ship, boat, sailboat, template, collage, color, shapes, math, art, craft, cut, paste, glue, tracing, kids, kid, child, child's, daycare, childcare, care, preschool, kindergarten, first, grade, second

3D Handprint Spiders and Webs

It seems as if we just can't do anything simple around here anymore! So in our fine new tradition, we created these AMAZING spider webs and handprint spiders.

First, we took the paper plates I had recently bought for another craft, and cut in around the edge. The paper plate had neatly spaced fold lines that we used as a guide and cut in the depth of the first lip of the plate.

The children then chose the yarn they wished to use. I tied a knot into one end and placed it under a cut. The children were instructed to pick a slot on the opposite side of the plate, anywhere on the other half.

I helped them string it across into the slot they picked [2 1/2-3 year-olds], pulled it taught, and asked them which slot, to the left or right of the one the string was currently through, they wished to come back up through.

We brought it up and again they picked a slot on the other side, with encouragement to pick an open one.

We made tried to hit every slot at least once, but the randomness is what gives it it's great texture and movement.

We then traced their handprints with a white pencil, a white crayon would also work, overlapping the palms of both hands to form the body.

These we cut out, added google eyes, and I folded the fingers down from the body and up about a 1/2 inch from the bottom to make the spiders stand up on the web.

The children chose how to face their webs, marking the TOP of it. Then they chose where to place their spider on their webs and which direction they would face.

Where the feet met yarn, we added a good dollop of glue and placed that foot on top. If it wouldn't stick and I needed it to for stability, I added a clothespin while it dried.

I added string, and we hung them in the play area. The children LOVE them and are very proud of these.

A very fun, tactile, and multi-skill craft.

SKILLS:

Fine Motor tracing, cutting, gluing, lacing, sorting and placing google eyes

Sensory yarn, cut edges of plate, smoothness of plate

Math directional placement, lines, diagonal, intersection, perpendicular, 2/4/8, same, different, symmetry, opposite, half, logic/reasoning 

Art creative expression, lines, symmetry, tracing, cutting, lacing, gluing, placement

Tags: theme, unit, fall, autumn, Halloween, spider, craft, art, preschool, daycare, child, care, childcare, yarn, paper, plate, cut, paste, glue, scissors, handprint, hand, print, lacing, fine motor, 3D

Halloween Freebie

For my followers, here's a little Halloween freebie...

Number and Phonics Cards

I have my students use green clothes pins for the beginning sound, red for the ending sound, and blue for the number. They can be made self-correcting by adding the appropriate color dots onto the back side. Any other type of counter/marker, even dry erase markers if laminated, can be used. 

Be sure to go over the words with them first. For instance, I used SKULL rather than skeleton, since it was just the head.

The graphics go along with my new Halloween Haunt Count counting file folder game where the children put the appropriate skull number or number word onto the window. It is packaged with a jack-o-lantern face matching game with 32 face cards and game board. The cards can also be used for games of Concentration or Go Fish, working shape recognition and vocabulary. There is also a spider color/counting mini-book. Notice that the webs all match the number as well with that many sides. All for $1.00 on TPT.

$1.00

I also just put up a cute Batty Numbers file folder game where the children will put the number and number word wings on the goofy little bat with same number of dots on his belly. I purposefully put the first page 0-6 so that younger children could work the lower numbers separate from the higher numbers. Even younger preschoolers can accomplish this with a word wall to reference for the number words.

I also included a pre-writing Bb bat worksheet and an upper and lowercase alphabet worksheet. All for $1.00 on TPT.

$1.00
Graphics custom created and under full copyright. Customization available.
Spanish versions available upon request.

Tags: printable, card, Halloween, bat, haunted, house, vampire, ghost, werewolf,  letters, alphabet, writing, worksheet, reading, phonics, counting, number, numbers, word, words, center, theme, unit, math, language, arts, file, folder, game, file folder game, matching, concentration, go fish, pumpkin, witch, bat, mummy, pre-writing, digraphs, letter, sound, frankenstein, skull, skeleton, free, preschool, daycare, child, care, kid, kids, children

Portrait Color & Write

I made up these coloring and writing pages to begin their reading and writing experience. Everything is more meaningful if it is personal. They LOVED them! They colored one today to take home and another is laminated to be used here as a self-selected activity with dry erase markers.

Name blocked on purpose.

To make, I simply used my picture editing software to increase the brightness and contrast until I got an outline image. I saved it as a JPEG, added it to my word processing program, and added the lines and text. A light gray font color could be used instead of the dotted.

Original Image

Even though their cognitive abilities may be advanced and capable of beginning to read, their fine motor ability is more developmentally in line with their age. I have no expectation of them being able to write legible script anytime soon. I am not a fan at all of "worksheets," but this is intended to be a meaningful COLORING SHEET for self-selected practice that they can CHOOSE to work:

• Tracing
• Staying on a line
• Letter formation
• Left-right convention
• Beginning sight words
• Fine motor muscle development
• Tripod grasp

Tags: preschool, pre-k, homeschool, homeschooling, writing, fine motor, tripod grasp, sight words, worksheet

Little Old Lady Flannel Board

One of our favorite books of all time for Halloween, a very fun interactive story. The children love doing all the movements.

Here's the FREE flannel board set we use along with the book, and as a self-selected activity for story sequencing with our ordinal count number cards. 

Tags: Halloween, fall, autumn, unit, theme, holiday, printable, kids, kid, children's, book, little old lady who was not afraid of anything, little, old, lady, afraid, anything, flannel, board, sequencing, story, daycare, childcare, care, preschool, free, scarecrow, pumpkin, jack-o-lantern, felt, theme, unit

Columbus Day Handprint Ships

Yeah, I know, everyone is doing them. But I still had to post, because look at the AMAZING scissor control on this 2 1/2 year old!! She cut all of her own sails, then insisted on cutting some more.

So here is our version...
In the morning,

• We started by painting the top 1/3 of our paper with a good dollop of white paint. 
• Then the dark blue was added to the bottom and the children were instructed to begin painting from the bottom up and to cover all the white space.

We discussed light, dark, shades and mixing.

Yep, that's mine, and yep, I blobbed my brown and heard about it!

We let that dry and in the afternoon, 

• The children chose which hand(s) to paint brown and stamp and did so

We let those dry over night and the next day they,

• Cut sails out of white paper and glued those onto their masts
• Pulled apart and glued on cotton balls for clouds

This one got tired of cutting, so tore the paper instead. Still fine motor!

I think they did great for 2 1/2-3!!

Since they are early preschoolers, and I wanted this to be more of a process rather than product piece, we didn't do fancy anything with names, labels, crosses on the sails, etc. If they were older and more adept at cutting, I may have had them cut red strips to add as crosses, and if writing, I would have had them choose which ship(s) they had on there and write the name on the side of the ship(s) and possibly added a Columbus Day label. Maybe in a couple of years.

Here are two more sneak peeks at our new art studio, in addition to the first pic above. Post to come once all the finishing touches are completed. It's so bright and sunny and wonderful to have all our supplies readily at hand at all times.

Follow Connie -'s board Columbus Day Theme on Pinterest.

Tags: hand, print, handprint, columbus, day, columbus day, art, craft, history, paint, painting, cut, paste, fine motor, studio, space, room, theme unit, preschool, daycare, care, child, childcare, child care