My toddler and preschooler love listening to these little letter books - each has six rhymes and/or songs for a particular letter of the alphabet. In fact, my Three can recite most of the books himself. Why my free letter books are a great tool for your little one: They're just the right size for little hands - and if they get ripped or drawn on, you can just print another! Rhymes are an important pre-reading skill ... Read More
Matching game: Counting groups of 10
My Three loves to play the transportation memory game I made. So I decided to build on that and throw some counting into our next memory game. Today I'm sharing a free printable memory game which will help your child learn to count groups of 1-10. We're doing the letter M - so I made Monster Memory! Learn to count with this monster matching game! My Three likes to count, but it's not something he does often. ... Read More
Missing addend monster flip cards
We're learning about the letter M around here -- and even though my Five has known his letters for quite some time, I took the opportunity to create some letter-M math: Monster Missing Addends! These would also work great as a classroom learning center in October. What are missing addends? 4+ __ = 10. The missing addend is 6. When are children ready to find missing addends? Finding missing addends is a skill ... Read More
How to teach journal writing in preschool
(Disclosure: I received a free copy of Ready for Kindergarten! by Deborah Stewart for reviewing purposes. All opinions are mine! This post also contains affiliate links.) I have four children of my own. Two of them, my Three and my Five, are preschool boys who love to write! No, they're not writing stories, poems, or reports. What they're doing is communicating on paper - each at his own developmental level. ... Read More
Monster Dice Match
Looking for something fun to use in October? Or maybe you're like me and just love cute monster clip art. :) Either way, I hope you can use this free preschool math game with your 3,4, or 5 year old. This game will help your preschooler with the following skills: number recognition 1-6 counting objects up to 6 subitizing (looking at a group of objects -- in this case, dots on a die -- and knowing how many there ... Read More
Use invented spelling: A simple writing strategy for kids
Welcome back to the collaborative Simple Writing Series, a weekly feature hosted by This Reading Mama and The Measured Mom! Have you missed any lessons? Click here to see my introductory post and links to our first five lessons. Invented spelling. Have you heard of it? If you're in education, you're certainly familiar with the term and perhaps with the controversy surrounding it. Invented spelling is ... Read More
Short i word family mats
Here are the short i word family words you'll find in these printables: ill: hill, drill, grill, bill, ill, mill, pill, fillid: lid, mid, slid, hid, kid, bid, squid, gridick: stick, pick, sick, kick, trick, chick, lick, brickit: knit, sit, kit, hit, lit, pit, bit, fitin: pin, win, grin, fin, bin, spin, twin, chinig: dig, pig, wig, twig, jig, rig, big, sprigip: chip, flip, ship, trip, chip, drip, rip, tip How do you ... Read More
Learning about Magnets – for preschoolers (sensory fun for the letter M)
We've got a growing collection of sensory play ideas as we work our way through the alphabet. This week we had some fun with the letter M. We combined sensory play, literacy, and science into one fun activity! Learning about magnets with preschoolers We used the above printable from Sparkle Box. Unfortunately, their site is now so filled with ads you can't find the right place to download it ... Read More
Grab the reader with an interesting beginning! (a simple writing lesson)
Here is the fourth in a 12-part collaborative series by This Reading Mama and The Measured Mom (me!). Each Wednesday you'll find a new writing lesson that you can use with your first or second grader and/or easily adapt for older kids. This week's lesson is about how to write an interesting beginning. Becky does a great job of modeling how to do this. She also shares an excellent printable which your little ... Read More
“If You…” history series
When it comes to teaching kids about our country's history - we might not know when to start. Sure, they get a smattering of U.S. history in preschool, kindergarten, and the primary grades. But in my experience, I didn't get my first big dose of American history until fifth grade. Let's change that! Today I'm going to share how to teach kids about history -- using one simple word. READ. Too simple, ... Read More