Teaching preschool students how to classify and sort builds strong reasoning skills. Unit 3 introduces classifying and sorting by categories such as
This template can be used to show how a child benefits from playing with blocks. Blocks are open-ended play materials; there is no right or wrong way...
Should you let your child play? This infographic shows the benefits of letting your kids play in their learning.
FREE printable Symmetry drawing activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. A fun art and math activity in one! Kids will complete the symmetrical pictures by drawing the other half.
These fun reading games are quick to make - and so effective for learners in kindergarten and first grade! Such a great addition to your language arts instruction. #teachingreading #kindergarten #firstgrade
The 12 Types of Play Infographic depicts how play evolves as children grow, how social development is linked with play, and the important role parents have in supporting children’s learning through play.
Students work in pairs and role play the given situations. This activity will help your students develop and improve their speaking skills in an interesting way! Enjoy! - ESL worksheets
Students work in pairs and role play the given situations. This activity will help your students develop and improve their speaking skills in an interesting way! - ESL worksheets
How to bring STEM to your English Lesson in the Early Years - introduce coding in kindergarten during play. FREE printable coding cards to download | you clever monkey
Take a peek inside our super-relaxed kindergarten homeschool curriculum. We'll spend the year focusing on play, speech therapy and hands-on learning!
Students work in pairs and role play the given situations. This activity will help your students develop and improve their speaking skills in an interesting way! - ESL worksheets
Learning through play is not an added bonus, it is the most important type of learning for young children.
What is Inquiry Based Leaning in Kindergarten? In simple form, inquiry-based learning is more of a student-directed way of learning rather than teacher-directed. In some cases, the teaching team may set the general framework for learning, but for the most part, the learning is based on the students questions, ideas and passions. This is similar to the emergent curriculum if that is a term you are more familiar with. Rather than working off set lesson plans that are theme-based and not necessarily developmentally appropriate for all children, your teaching is guided by the students interests thus making the learning more meaningful to them. We know from research that children achieve optimal learning when they are given plenty of opportunities to become fully engaged in their play. Most often while children are engaged, their natural curiosity of the world around them comes forth. They take notice of everything and have a beautiful sense of wonder about people, places, objects, and nature. Through noticing and wondering, the children come up with questions and observations about their thinking. It is important that children are given the opportunity to investigate their inquiry, gather information, make observations and share their findings with others. It is the role of the teaching team in kindergarten to act as facilitators. We use these opportunities of inquiry to help guide the children with more open-ended questions allowing them to extend and clarify their thinking and make connections, while modeling the inquiry process. We provide the children with the tools, materials and resources they need to investigate these inquiries. What is the Inquiry Process? The Full Day Early Learning Kindergarten Program clearly defines the inquiry process in the curriculum document and I have included the table for you below: There is also an article I enjoyed named "The Plan: Building on Children's Interests" by Hilary Jo Seitz through NAEYC, that you can read here, that offers a very interesting perspective on the inquiry process. It has many similarities to the one in the Full Day Kindergarten document, but I enjoyed the way Hilary explained her four step process. I also now love the term SPARKS which refers to anything that promotes deeper thinking. Open-Ended Questions to Promote Inquiry The key to open-ended questions is that they promote further thinking and explanation. Questions that begin with "what, why, how, if etc." are usually open-ended questions. Anything that can be answered with yes or no are typically closed-ended questions and a lot of the time may begin with "can, do etc." I created the sheet above to carry with me on my clipboard when I am doing observations during the day as a reminder or suggestion. Very quickly these just became natural for me and it is just part of my normal conversations throughout the day with the children. This certainly won't be my last post on inquiry, but I hope this answers some questions for those who were wondering just what inquiry-based learning is.
Looking for an easy and fun teaching idea for your students to practice their vocabulary words? My students loved it and never realized they were learning! This strategy can work for any grade, from kindergarten to high school!
Learn Animal Classifications for Kids with 10 FREE printable Cootie Catchers! Fun animals for kids activity for all ages!
Students work in pairs and role play the given situations. This activity will help your students develop and improve their speaking skills in an interesting way! - ESL worksheets
Explore different materials and their properties with this engaging unit. Activities and printables for the Foundation and Prep Year chemistry strand.
The Preschool and Kindergarten Geology Worksheet Pack is available for FREE on the blog! Includes tracing, more/less math, and cutting/pasting!
Grab these FREE fluency passages for your kindergarten and first grade students. They are printable and low-prep! Students will love practicing decoding, comprehension, and fluency skills with these fun and engaging passages. Get 10 activities in this free download! Grab them now
Practice makes future perfect!
Here is a really fun alphabet movement activity called Simon Says that helps kids pay attention, learn letter recognition and have fun!
These handy FREE Music Note Flashcards are a great way to help kids of all ages practice identifying music notes. Perfect for music education or piano.
Determine the Left and Right directional position in this printable worksheet.
As many of you know, the afternoons in my kindergarten classroom are a very special time for us. During what we call “Exploratory Centers” my students get the opportunity to play, explore, build, crea
Make learning about Ancient Egypt FUN with these free printable Hieroglyphic Worksheets for kids including hieroglphics alphabet printables.
Each December, we teach about Wants and Needs Activities for Kindergarten. Since little learners love to discuss things they WANT to get from Santa, it is
Kodaly teachers all know the importance of the Kodaly method for helping children to learn how to sing and get the full experience of music education. It’s an amazing philosophy that embraces the whole child. I’m inspired by Zoltan Kodály and his revolution in the teaching of music that began in Hungary. Some of the key […]
This science center display helps children explore sound with common objects. I collected "found" items to display on the tray with a sign, "What
Interactive books for preschoolers are a great way to get them involved in a book in meaningful ways. Since social emotional learning in preschool is key, I created this wonderful "I Can" interactive book. Preschool children will learn important concepts about what it means to be responsible. This colorful interactive book for kids gets them
Kinesthetic Learning Ideas - over 20 ideas!
Kindergarten iPad Apps that will keep students engaged and learning. Reinforce various skills with these fun apps that will make your teaching life easier.
Plenty of stick book activities and ideas can be found in this post, based on 'Not A Stick’ by Antoinette Portis, which is a definite must-read for kids!
K5 Learning describes the different prepositions.
When you enter into the world of Early Childhood Education it’s no doubt just about play and teaching! Educator’s alike would agree that observing and documenting children’s learn…
Have you ever given thought to how your children can learn and play with language? Perhaps you want to add a bit of fun to your language arts curriculum. Try playing games! Language Arts with Games This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement for more information. Sometimes playing with language can mean incorporating chalk markers on […]
If you have learners who struggle to isolate beginning sounds, these free phonemic awareness games are the perfect fit! Use them in preschool or kindergarten. Use them in literacy centers or small groups. #phonemicawareness #preschool #kindergarten
Spread the loveWe may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. It’s almost time for Kindergarten! I can’t wait to continue our preschool days of playing dress-up, sculpting masterpieces with play-dough, and traveling to the land of make-believe. Letter of the Week Curriculum First, if your child still needs work […]
Looking for a fun way to teach 2D shapes? This marshmallow geometry activity will do the trick - and fill your tummy!
