Easily add learning fun to your day with these creative brain breaks for kids. You'll find a variety of ways to give your kids a boost.
Homeschooling a child with autism is challenging, but this mom of a severely autistic child encourages you to give ita try, even if for just a year. It may be the best decision you ever made.
5 Minute Science Experiments for Kids on Frugal Coupon Living. Geometric Bubbles, Glow in the Dark Volcanoes, Replicate Ocean Currents and more!
Homeschooling your autistic child? These 10 tips will help you create a plan and teach effectively, stay sane and even have fun!
Fall is one of my favorite seasons! I love the pretty fall leaves and the cooler “jeans & jacket” weather. Nature also gives us lots of great sensory experiences during the fall. One of my favorite themes during the fall season is apples, not only because they are my favorite fruit (honeycrisp are just so […]
My two daughters LOVE to read. However, they currently have a hard time remembering which books they have read, and what exactly happened in the books because they read through them so fast. We che…
Teaching parents how to Homeschool high school
Syllable division breaks words down into smaller units and helps students understand how words are constructed to aid in reading and writing.
What’s the best way to teach children to read? According to the National Reading Panel, “teaching children to manipulate phonemes in words was highly effective under a variety of teaching conditions…
Resources for the house unit at TPT -Link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/House-Worksheets-and-more-for-the-Preschool-ELL-2827042 The House activities resource for kindergarten is also available here: https://www.bilingualmarketplace.com/products/house-unit-worksheets-and-more-for-the-preschool-esl?variant=14608354279473 Draw a big house shape. Use the template as a reference. I always enlarge it at the copier. Teacher: Look ! This is a house. (Trace the house shape with your finger) Students: This is a house. ( Students trace the house shape with their finger) Teacher: This is my house. What color is it ? Students: It´s blue. Give each child a house picture and have them color the house in two different colors. When finished, they come to the front and tell the class about their house. Students: This is my house. It is green and yellow. Place each house on the board or wall and count with the children how many houses are there. Give each child a colored house. Teacher: Whose house is this ? Student: Peter´s. Teacher: What color is Peter´s house ? Student: It´s green. Teacher: Show me the window. Show me the door. What number is Peter´s house ? Student: three. Take a look on how to use the house template. 1 Make a house on the board with the shapes. There´s a teacher´s version slightly bigger templates. Teacher: The roof is a triangle. The house is a rectangle. The door is rectangle. The windows are circles. Invite the children to make their own house with the shapes and present it to their table group. And now, have the students name the rooms in the house. Use the flashcard worksheet. Have the children color each room in one color. Name the rooms of the house in random order and the children point to each one as they hear the word. Teacher: bathroom, livingroom, bedroom, kitchen. Have your own set ready and use it as flashcards on the board. Teacher: The living room is orange. The kitchen is yellow. The bedroom is green. The bathroom is blue. Kindergarten Children can recognize the rooms of the house. Teacher: Show me the bedroom. Name a room. Students say the color. Teacher: Green ! Students: living room ! Do the opposite. Teacher: Kitchen ! Students: orange. Students cut the words and play matching the word to the picture. Place the rooms of the house flashcards around the class. Name a student and have him/her walk to the part of the house of his/her preference. Teacher: Molly, Walk to a room of the house. Continue with 3 more students. There can´t be more than one student in each place. Teacher: Molly, Where are you ? Molly: I am in the kitchen. Let´s invite the family members to the home theme. Place the family members on the board. Ask who they are. Teacher: Who´s this ? Students: It´s Brother. Teacher: Brother is in the kitchen. Students place the family member in the corresponding part of the house. It can be turned into a Family Poster. House worksheets for preschoolers.Hold a family cutout on one hand and a house part on the other. Say a sentence. Teacher: Mommy is in the bedroom. Hold another family puppet on one hand and a house part on the other. Have the students come up with a sentence. Students: Daddy is in the bathroom. There´s a set of family cutouts for the Teacher. Furniture worksheets for kindergarten. Place all the rooms of the house worksheets, previously cut on the board and review each one. Place all the furniture on the opposite side of the board and present the new words. Grab a chalk or marker and match all the furniture to each room with the children. Have the children name the furniture in the room. Teacher: What´s in the bedroom ? Students: Bed, closet. Have them name all the items they can remember. Teacher: Where is the bed ? Students: The bed is in the bedroom. House cocktail. Have the children grab only one flashcard. At your signal they stand up and walk around finding a room or furniture partners. They must stand together holding their cards. Teacher: Bedroom ! Students : Here ! Teacher: Name the furniture in your room. Students: Bed, closet. (Shows the cards). Furniture mix match. Place the furniture in parts of the house that doesn´t belong. Teacher: The bed is in the bathroom. Students: NO ! Show the no thumb. Point to each flashcard and ask questions: Teacher: Is it a toilet ? Students: yes, it is. ( Have the students use their YES puppets) Teacher: Is it a closet? Students: No, it isn´t. ( Have the students use their NO puppets) Student flashcards Pattern. Call out two students with a stove and two with a closet. Have them come to the front to make a pattern. Teacher: Carlos, come with the sofa. Stand here. Teacher: Ana, come with the sofa. Stand here. Teacher: Rose, come with the bed. Stand here. Teacher: Lily, come with the bed. Stand here. Class: Sofa,sofa,bed,bed. Make as many patterns as you wish. It can be an: ABB pattern, ABC pattern,ABCB pattern. House bingo. Have the students complete the Bingo grid with 4 flashcards that his/her choice. Prepare a set for yourself to call out Bingo. Place them in a bag / an envelope or make the tags and place them in a book ring. I printed each set onto colored construction paper. Pull out a flashcard and call its name. Teacher: red toilet! Have the student place a bean on it. The first student to place the 4 beans is the winner and calls out BINGO ! Take a look at the video: Sort the furniture by room. Where is the family and pets ? Teacher: The dog is on the bed. ( Place the dog cutout on the bed) Keep on saying sentences and placing the animals on the furniture or around the house rooms. Take a look (VIDEO): Give instructions to a designated student for putting a piece of furniture or pet in a room. Teacher: Yuri, put the cat on the sink. Continue giving similar instructions to other students. Then, ask questions. Teacher: Where is the bird ? Students : It´s on the toilet. Give some incorrect sentences and see if the students notice. Teacher: The bird on the bed. Students : NO!!! Have them show their NO puppet. It is on the sofa. Have students repeat and do the same on their worksheets. The House unit Worksheets VIDEO: Students can draw a toy or a pet on any piece of furniture. They can come up to the front to describe their drawing. Graph the drawings. Teacher: The bird is on the sofa. The students who have done that hold up their drawing. Make a graph on the board. Teacher: One, two, three students! Here´s another way to use the worksheets. These are three of them. The rooms fit in the house. Students can glue them. Then assign an animal for each room. I glued my house to the back of a box so it could stand. And the toys can be around the house. And the flashcards can´t be missed. Letter arts and crafts for the House Theme available at this LINK: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Letter-arts-and-crafts-collection-3378536 This resource is part of the HOUSE Unit Bundle. Check it here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/House-Unit-BUNDLE-for-Kindergarten-and-Elementary-ELL-6438009
10 story starters with a Minecraft theme...
Here is a super simple fine motor cardboard tube challenge for kids! They simply need to remove the bands from the cardboard tube with their fingers. Can they get them on again? As a busy mum with two girls, I like when things can be simple. I don’t like to over complicate things. This is […]
This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for details. We’re excited to get back into our homeschool schedule. This year I’ve set up an easy rhythm that allows me to take time with both of my children individually and gives us time to learn together. Welcome to our homeschool. This year we…
While there are quite a few resources for worksheets on the web it is hard to find interesting and fun worksheets that
Simple worksheets where pupils roll two dice, multiply the numbers together and write the number sentence.
We have begun our unit on living systems in science (thank GOSH because Earth and Physical science have quite literally killed me this year...seriously, I feel like the most incompetent teacher when I teach science...but I digress...). Our main focus for the past week before Spring Break was the circulatory and respiratory systems. I thought I would share some of the things we have been doing, in case some of you are in the same unit yourselves. To get us started, we watched a few BrainPOP videos about circulation and blood. I found these in the HEALTH section, not the science section. The kids were very enthralled with these videos (they ALWAYS are really) There was quite a lot of information in them, which got us started on the right foot. The videos mentioned how the circulatory system was the delivery system of the body and that all systems were connected to this one. After some discussion, the students created this Circulation Data Disk from the Easy Make & Learn Projects: Human Body (Grades 2-4) (affiliate link) book. The idea of this circular disk was to show how all of the organs in the body played a very special part in relation to the circulatory system. I purposefully whited out the info on the disk so that the kids could do the research themselves. Using our health and science books, the students discovered the role of each organ in circulatory system. We then used the Easy Make & Learn Projects: Human Body (Grades 2-4) (affiliate link) book and created a model of the heart. The kids diagrammed the model to up the rigor a bit. They then placed these in their science journals. Another great find (that the kids had a blast playing) was the Circulation Game from Ellen McHenry's homeschooling website. This is a free download and I am so glad I found it! It took a while to set up and explain, but once they were going, the kids really were into the game. They learned quite a bit about how blood travels through the body and how it disposes of waste. (just a little note, I printed out 5 of these and had each table play. That way, there weren't as many people playing on one game board) Finally, the kids watched the School House Rock video, "Do the Circulation". (I have the actual DVD Schoolhouse Rock! (Special 30th Anniversary Edition), (affiliate link) but you can get it on YouTube if the school doesn't block it....like mine does) I gave them the words and, combining language arts with science, we looked for all of the facts and opinions (as well as figurative language) in the song. We discussed why the writers would put opinions and figurative language in a song intended to teach us about the Circulatory system. The students decided that it was because without the opinions and figurative language, the song would be B.O.R.I.N.G! We also began working on our Body Systems project on Google Drive. I made a template for each body system and the kids all began filling in the information about the circulatory system. This worked out perfect here because the kids had so much background knowledge at this point. They didn't really need to do as much research since we were learning so much as it was! (click here to get the project for your own class!) This is a screenshot of the slide before the kids actually did any work. I forgot to take pictures of them working! To explore the respiratory system (a bit further, as we really were talking about it all along with the circulatory system), we first diagrammed the organs involved. Then, the students did a little experiment to measure their vital lung capacity (how much air can be forcibly taken in and blown out) and the tidal lung capacity (how much is taken in and out during normal breathing). The kids has SO much fun with this one! They really were surprised at how much air they *couldn't* blow. I think they all thought they would pop the balloons in one breath when, in actuality, they hardly inflated them at all! You can find the exact experiment and printables here. So there you have it. Our basic introduction to the systems of the human body. Up next is the digestive system. Wish me luck ;) What experiments have you conducted in your class to teach your students about the circulatory and respiratory systems? Follow me on Snapchat for even more teaching ideas!
Every spring I get really excited about birds. I never realize how many birds have migrated and left us until they start to come back. Hearing and seeing
You can now change the flower color at home and at any time during the year. Let us understand the science behind this experiment. How do flowers change color in food colors? Wondering how? Let’s try this natural science experiment with white roses. I tried this with my elder and younger daughter Pritika and Tisha […]
The kitchen is one of the best places to learn. This post has loads of fun Kitchen Science Experiments for kids to learn and explore!
subtitled: Giant Post on Teaching My Child with Down Syndrome How to Read Many people have asked about my teaching...
Make your days more predictable with this printable visual homeschool schedule download. Use the cards to help you organize your days.
We have had great success using this phonics program! Want to know how we use Abeka phonics in our homeschool? Check it out!
Before purchasing the ABeka Phonics program, find out what homeschool curriculum items are needed and what are a waste of time and money.
The abolitionist movement was the effort to end slavery, led by famous abolitionists like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and John Brown.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement for more information. Our first grade year is upon us and I couldn't be more excited about the curriculum and resources we will be using this year! A quick heads up: it may seem like a lot going on here, but we actually have a very relaxed approach to homeschooling. We like to use multiple resources, but we plan for flexibility and make plenty of room for inspiration. We also homeschool year-round and like to take our time going through things that catch our interest. (You can read more about my approach to planning by checking out our planning series here.) Without further ado, here are our curriculum choices for our secular, nature-based, Charlotte Mason and Waldorf inspired first grade year: Language Arts: Core Curriculum The main resource we will use for language arts and reading is Blossom and Root First Grade: The Stories We Tell. Based on nature stories, classic fairy tales, and world folktales, this curriculum incorporates lots of hands-on, creative narration activities (e.g. puppet shows and peg doll dramatic play); mini deep-dives (e.g. exploring the differences between spiders and harvestmen while reading stories from Among the Meadow
Measure & Sort- 3 pieces of paper at different lengths, measure random scraps of ribbon, string, etc and group by length Magnet Pictures Color Popsicles Make a Shape- for beginners… trace…
My kids are in love with Minecraft and that put me on a path to find as many Minecraft printables and Minecraft worksheets as possible.
DIY Oobleck. With only 2 ingredients needed you can make Oobleck at home! This fun hands on science is one that the kids will love and it is perfect for playing and teaching kids about non-Newtonian fluids.
Frog and Toad science fun including some info, a worksheet, a great iPad app, and my favorite Arnold Lobel series Frog and Toad.
Teach kids about plants and how they thrive with this super fun science experiment !
Check out our collection of printable fourth grade math worksheets help to develop the math concepts. These math worksheets are designed to help your kids improve math. These free and printable 4th grade worksheets include multiplication, division, fractions, subtraction, and addition.
Pinay Homeschooler is a blog that shares homeschool and afterschool activity of kids from babies to elementary level.
Learn what plants breathe through with this easy leaf & tree science experiment as kids get hands-on with the process of photosynthesis!
Science experiments with pine cones for kids, weather forecast, plant life cycle, structure, including activities for preschool to high school kids.
Learn what is unschooling and how we use this method to raise smart, educated children who know how to think for themselves.
Homeschooling your autistic child? These 10 tips will help you create a plan and teach effectively, stay sane and even have fun!
My kids love to travel. They are great in the car but they constantly tell me that their favorite part of going on a roadtrip is seeing what I've found to keep them busy. First some tips for a road trip no matter what age:
Top Ten Kindergarten YouTube Channels. Teaching with Music and Movement Is How the Brain Learns Best!
Helping your kids learn to read isn't difficult, expensive or scary. Read on to find out how i've taught my five kids to read. Includes resource links!
