Teaching sight words can feel like a never-ending struggle. You introduce a list on Monday, practice all week, and by Friday many students still can’t remember them.

Here’s the truth: it’s not your students—it’s the way we’ve been teaching sight words.

For too long, schools have leaned on flashcards and random weekly lists, but research shows those methods don’t help kids lock words into long-term memory. Instead, there’s a science-backed way to teach sight words that stick—and it starts with avoiding two common mistakes.

Mistake #1: Teaching Random Sight Word Lists

Many sight word programs hand teachers a list and say, “Teach these words this week.” That’s how kids end up with the, and, for, all assigned together.

The problem? Each of those words follows a very different phonics rule.

• The → digraph (TH) and schwa E
• For → r-controlled vowel
• All → double consonant pattern
• And → short vowel A

That means students are juggling five rules at once—far too much for developing readers to manage. No wonder so many kids forget sight words week after week.

The Science-Backed Fix

Group sight words by phonics or spelling rule.

When students practice words that share a pattern, they spot connections and build real fluency. For example, teach these sight words together:

• Short A words: am, and, can
• TH words: this, that, them
• R-controlled vowels: for, her, car

This approach reduces overwhelm and helps students learn smarter, not harder.

Mistake #2: Relying on Flashcards

Flashcards have been the go-to for decades, but here’s the problem: kids don’t learn sight words by simply seeing them 5,000 times.

The science of reading shows that children don’t memorize words through visual memory alone. Instead, they master words through a process called orthographic mapping—linking the sounds they hear to the letters that spell them.

The Science-Backed Fix

Have students connect sounds to letters.

Instead of flashing cards, teach students to:

1. Break a word into sounds. (can → /k/ /a/ /n/)
2. Map each sound to its letter. (C-A-N)

That’s how words move into long-term memory—and why flashcards alone don’t work.

The Science-Backed Way to Teach Sight Words

When you stop throwing random words at students and instead:

• Group sight words by phonics rule
• Teach students to map sounds to letters

…you’ll see faster progress, stronger retention, and fewer Friday spelling test frustrations.

This isn’t just easier for students—it’s easier for you, too.When you use science-backed strategies your students will finally start remembering the words you’ve worked so hard to teach.

And with the pre-sorted sight word list, you’ll have a simple, ready-to-use tool to make sight word instruction faster, more effective, and way less overwhelming.

Because when kids stop memorizing and start connecting, they don’t just learn sight words… they become confident readers.

Free Pre-Sorted Sight Word List

I know your planning time is already stretched thin. That’s why I created a free pre-sorted sight word list organized by phonics and spelling rules.

With this list, you’ll know exactly which sight words to teach together—no more guessing or wasting time re-sorting lists yourself.

Click the big blue “Download Here” button to grab your copy!

The post The Science-Backed Way to Teach Sight Words That Stick appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

This magnetic letter word work activity is a total game changer for teaching phonics in a way that’s hands-on, brain-friendly, and just plain fun.

And the best part? You can grab the Cookie Sheet Word Builder for free at the bottom of this post.

Why Magnetic Letter Word Work Works

Let’s be honest—magnetic letters have a reputation. They’re colorful, engaging… and they somehow end up scattered across every surface of your classroom.

That’s why we created the Cookie Sheet Word Builder.

It keeps everything in one tidy, organized space so kids can focus on the most important part: building words, practicing phonics, and connecting sounds to print.

Here’s how it works:

1. Print the Word Builder mat (below) on sticker paper
2. Stick it to a cookie sheet (you can grab class sets at the dollar store!)
3. Place alphabet magnets in their matching spots so they’re always easy to find
4. Have students say a word, tap out the sounds, and slide the correct magnets into each box to build the word

It’s the kind of hands-on phonics center that feels like play—but is packed with powerful learning.

Build Phonemic Awareness with Every Word

This activity isn’t just fun—it’s research-backed and aligned with the science of reading.

• First, kids say the word aloud and tap each sound
• Then they map the sounds to letters using alphabet magnets
• Finally, they read the whole word they built

This is called orthographic mapping—the process our brains use to turn sounds into words we can recognize automatically. In order to orthographically map a word, we need to connect its spelling, pronunciation and meaning.

Want to level it up? Try word chaining!

Start with one word, then swap just one sound at a time:

FUN → SUN → RUN → RAN → TAN → TAP → TIP → TOP → HOP → HOT

This strengthens phonemic awareness and keeps students totally engaged.

What Makes This Phonics Word Building Activity a Teacher Favorite?

Teachers love this freebie because it’s:

• Low prep (just print, stick, and go!)
• Perfect for literacy centers, small groups, and summer tutoring
• Organized (no more missing magnets!)
• Adaptable to any CVC or CVCe word list
• Engaging for students and easy to differentiate

It’s one of those resources that makes your school day smoother and helps your kids grow as readers.

Grab Your Free Cookie Sheet Word Builder

Ready to try magnetic letter word work that actually works? Click below to download your free Cookie Sheet Word Builder and get started today:

Want More Science of Reading-Aligned Activities Like This One?

This freebie is just the beginning. Inside The Science of Reading Formula, you’ll find:

• A full phonics-aligned curriculum
• Print-and-go centers like this one for every skill
• Bite-sized trainings that make research easy to apply
• A supportive teacher community to help you every step of the way

Click here to become a member!

The post Magnetic Letter Word Work Made Easy – Free Cookie Sheet Word Builder appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Teaching phonics shouldn’t feel like a scavenger hunt. But for so many teachers, that’s exactly what it turns into—searching for the right resources, making do with what’s available, and hoping it all comes together in a way that works for your students.

That’s why I created the Free Phonics Starter Kit—a ready-to-use resource that gives you step-by-step phonics lesson plans, print-and-play literacy centers, sound maps, and decodable reading passages so you can teach with confidence, knowing you have everything you need.

Why Having the Right Teaching Tools Matters

Imagine you’re a doctor. You’ve spent years in medical school, studying anatomy, learning about diseases, and training to diagnose and treat patients.

Then, on your first day in the hospital, you’re told, “Good luck!”—but you’re given no stethoscope, no thermometer, no X-ray machine. You’re supposed to figure it out on your own.

Would you be able to do your job? Sure, you’d have the knowledge—but without the right tools, diagnosing and treating patients would be almost impossible.

That’s exactly what happens to teachers.

You’re trained in how kids learn to read. You know phonics is important. But when it comes time to actually teach phonics, you’re often left scrambling for the tools you need—the lesson plans, the student materials, the structured support that turns research into action.

But here’s the thing: teaching reading doesn’t have to be this hard. When you have the right tools at your fingertips, everything changes.

That’s exactly why I put together the Free Phonics Starter Kit—so you can stop spending hours searching for resources and start spending more time doing what actually matters: teaching your students.

What’s Inside the Free Phonics Starter Kit?

Inside this print-and-go bundle, you’ll find everything you need to teach phonics step by step, whether you’re introducing beginning letter sounds or working on advanced diphthongs.

Here’s what’s included:

5 Step-by-Step Phonics Lesson Plans

No more wondering what to teach or when to teach it! These detailed lesson plans guide you through key phonics skills—giving you a clear roadmap for helping your students move from simple to more advanced reading skills.

From beginning sounds to diphthongs, these lessons help you deliver structured, explicit instruction that follows the Science of Reading.

22 Print-and-Play Literacy Centers

Engagement is key when it comes to phonics instruction, and these literacy centers make hands-on learning easy and effective.

Each center reinforces a specific phonics skill so students can practice independently while you work with small groups—saving you time and helping kids master reading skills in a fun, interactive way.

Sound Maps for Phonemic Awareness & Spelling

Sound mapping is one of the most effective ways to help students connect sounds to letters and build strong decoding skills.

These ready-to-use sound maps guide students through the process of segmenting and blending words—giving them the practice they need to become confident, independent readers.

4 Decodable Reading Passages

Once students have learned a phonics skill, they need real reading practice to apply what they’ve learned.

These decodable reading passages are designed to match the phonics patterns you’re teaching, so students can read with success—building fluency, comprehension, and confidence along the way.

How This Free Phonics Kit Saves You Time

If you’ve ever found yourself…

• Spending hours searching for phonics lesson plans and printables
• Piecing together materials from multiple places, hoping they align
• Wishing you had a simple, structured way to teach phonics

…then this free kit is exactly what you need.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, you’ll have everything in one place—so you can spend less time planning and prepping and more time helping your students learn to read.

How to Get Your Free Phonics Starter Kit

Ready to stop searching for resources and start teaching with confidence?

Just click the button below, enter your email, and I’ll send the Free Phonics Starter Kit straight to your inbox!

Whether you’re a brand-new teacher or a seasoned educator looking for structured, easy-to-use phonics resources, this kit will help you teach reading with confidence—without spending hours hunting for materials.

Download your free kit today and make phonics instruction easier, more effective, and more engaging than ever!

Want the full set of step-by-step phonics lesson plans and centers?

You can grab the complete Phonics Toolkit (a $252 value!) on Teachers Pay Teachers right here:
Click to purchase on TPT

OR…

You can get it for FREE when you become a member of The Science of Reading Formula!

It’s waiting for you inside the Mega-Vault—along with $6,500+ worth of time-saving, research-backed teaching tools to simplify your instruction and boost student success.

Click here to join the Formula and unlock the Mega-Vault

Teaching phonics shouldn’t feel like trying to practice medicine without a stethoscope. When you have the right tools, teaching is easier, students learn faster, and you get to spend more time doing what you love—helping kids become confident readers.

The post Step-by-Step Phonics Lesson Plans with Printable Centers (Free Download!) appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Teaching phonics effectively is one of the most critical components of early literacy. If students don’t develop strong decoding skills in kindergarten and first grade, they may struggle with reading for years to come. That’s why choosing the best phonics curriculum for kindergarten and first grade is essential for setting students up for success.

What to Look for in a Phonics Curriculum

A high-quality phonics program should be:

• Systematic and Sequential – Concepts should build on one another in a structured way.
• Explicit – Direct instruction in letter-sound relationships is key.
• Engaging – Activities should be interactive and developmentally appropriate.
• Aligned with the Science of Reading – Research-backed strategies should drive instruction.

The Reading Roadmap: A Top Choice for Phonics Instruction

The Reading Roadmap Curriculum is a comprehensive, research-based program designed to help kindergarten and first-grade teachers implement effective phonics instruction. It includes:

• Step-by-step lessons that follow a structured literacy approach.
• Hands-on activities and decodable texts to reinforce learning.
• Built-in assessments to track student progress and adjust instruction as needed.
• Differentiation strategies to support all learners, including struggling readers.

How to Use a Phonics Curriculum Effectively

Implementing a phonics curriculum doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here’s how to make it work in your classroom:

1. Follow a Structured Scope and Sequence

Ensure that phonics instruction follows a logical progression, moving from simple to more complex letter-sound relationships.

2. Incorporate Multisensory Learning

Use hands-on activities like tapping out sounds, writing in sand, and using letter tiles to help students solidify their understanding.

3. Provide Ample Practice with Decodable Texts

Students need repeated opportunities to read texts that align with their phonics skills. The Reading Roadmap includes engaging, decodable books for early readers.

4. Monitor Progress and Adjust Instruction

Use assessments to track student growth and provide targeted interventions for those who need additional support.

Get The Reading Roadmap Curriculum Today!

If you’re looking for the best phonics curriculum for kindergarten and first grade, The Reading Roadmap is your solution! You can purchase it on Teachers Pay Teachers or—better yet—join The Science of Reading Formula and gain access to it as part of your membership.

Want More Support?

Join The Science of Reading Formula and get expert guidance, structured lesson plans, and a supportive community of educators. Click here to enroll!

The post The Best Phonics Curriculum for Kindergarten and First Grade appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Word families are key to students being able to unlock hundreds of words. So, it’s important to give students lots of opportunities for practice.

Our Popsicle Hide and Seek word family activity allows students to practice this important skill in a fun and engaging way. The best part? It’s fully editable so you can practice any word under the sun! 

Ready to give it a try? Grab your set below, and don’t forget to join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, for even more time-saving tools and strategies.

What Are Word Families?

Word families are like little teams of words that share the same “last name”—the ending sound and spelling. Think of cat, hat, and bat in the -at family. When students learn to recognize word families, reading suddenly feels a lot less like work and more like cracking a fun puzzle.

Why? Because once students spot one word family pattern, they can apply it over and over again. That means one small skill unlocks dozens (or even hundreds!) of new words. Cue those confident, lightning-fast decoding skills!

Why Are Word Families Important?

Word families are an essential skill in early literacy. They help students see predictable patterns in language, making reading and spelling just a tad bit easier. Once students are able to recognize that words like “dog”, “log”, and “jog” share similar endings, they’re able to decode words faster and with more confidence. The ability to recognize these patterns helps to build a strong phonics foundation, allowing students to  read new words by applying familiar sounds. You could even say that they’re a magic skill that helps to convert non-readers into actual readers in the blink of an eye.

Popsicle Hide and Seek Word Family Activity Prep

Word family practice can feel a bit boring sometimes, but not with this activity! This simple, (and did I mention editable?!) word family game is simple to prep and far from blah. 

Begin by prepping the popsicles and carts. Since this activity is fully customizable, type the words your students are practicing on each popsicle. 

Print and laminate both the popsicles and carts for extra durability so you can use the pieces over and over again (I just have a feeling your students are going to love these!). 

One final step- print the record sheets. That’s it! You’re ready to play. 

Popsicle Hide and Seek

This game is perfect for literacy centers or small group work. Not only does it allow students to practice reading and writing word families, but it also helps to promote teamwork and cooperation as students work together to find all 12 hidden popsicles. They’ll read the words on each cart out loud, then check behind it to see if a popsicle is hiding there. If they find one, they’ll record the word in the “Hiding a Popsicle” column on their sheet. If not, they’ll add it to the “Not Hiding a Popsicle” column. The goal is to uncover all the hidden popsicles—and then mix them up to play again!

Download Your Popsicle Hide and Seek Activity

Click the blue “download now” button below to grab your Popsicle Hide and Seek activity. Then, don’t forget to request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, to get access to even more brain-friendly teaching tools.

P.S. Ready to simplify teaching even more?Don’t forget to join the waitlist for my VIP list for The Science of Reading Formula and unlock thousands of brain-friendly, print-and-go tools for teaching literacy. Enrollment opens to the public twice a year!

The post Make Word Family Practice Sweet and Simple With This Fun Activity appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Ready to give it a try? Grab your set below, and don’t forget to join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, for even more time-saving tools and strategies.

What Are Digraphs?

Digraphs are the ultimate teamwork in the world of phonics! These letter pairs—like sh in ship or ch in chop—combine to make a unique sound that’s entirely different from their individual letters. But here’s the tricky part: students first just master individual letter sounds, and now they’re faced with a whole new skill to learn.

Once they crack the code on digraphs though, a world of words opens up to them. This foundational skill strengthens their ability to decode more complex words, expands their vocabulary, and builds confidence in reading fluency. That’s why digraph practice isn’t just important—it’s essential.

Decodable Digraph Silly Sentences Prep

This digraph activity could not be any simpler to prep. Print off the silly sentences page for each student. There are eight lined spaces for students, but you do not need to use each one. Each student (or pair of students) will need a die to roll and create their silly sentences. 

That’s it! You’re ready to play.

Decodable Digraph Silly Sentences Activity

Working in partners or small groups (hello playful literacy centers!), students will roll the dice four times to create a sentence. On the first roll, have students write the word or phrase of the number they roll on the lines provided. Play will continue until they have rolled four times and have written a complete sentence. Once they’ve built their sentence, they will read it aloud, putting those digraph sounds to work and practicing fluency all at once. 

Each and every word on this activity is decodable, so students will be able to put their phonics skills to the test. The best part? Every roll brings a new sentence, so they can repeat again and again without repeating the same phrases!

Download Your Decodable Digraph Activity

Click the blue “download now” button below to grab your Decodable Digraph Silly Sentences activity. Then, don’t forget to request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, to get access to even more brain-friendly teaching tools.

The post Phonics Made Fun: Decodable Digraph Silly Sentences appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

But let’s be real: teaching phonics can feel like a marathon, especially when you’re trying to engage every learner at their own level. You know what you want your students to achieve, but getting there requires patience, creativity, and a clear strategy.

What if I told you that one simple, engaging phonics activity could boost both your students’ reading confidence and their phonics skills at the same time? That’s right—teaching CVC words doesn’t have to be a challenge! In fact, it can be a lot of fun!

When we mix learning with play, students become excited, engaged, and ready to tackle new words with enthusiasm. This “Match and Cover” CVC phonics game does just that, transforming phonics instruction from “meh” to “magical.”

Ready to give it a try? Grab your set below, and don’t forget to join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, for even more time-saving tools and strategies.

Why CVC Words Matter in Phonics Instruction

CVC words are like the foundation of a house—everything else builds on them. These three-letter words, like “cat,” “dog,” and “sit,” are some of the first words young readers can decode because they follow predictable letter-sound patterns.

Why are CVC Words So Important? Learning CVC words helps students develop phonemic awareness—the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words. Once students understand the relationship between letters and sounds, they can easily decode new words they encounter. CVC words also introduce students to short vowel sounds, an essential part of the phonics puzzle.

The great thing about CVC words is that they offer the perfect entry point into word families. Once students learn a word like “cat,” they can quickly learn other words in the same family by changing the first consonant (like “bat,” “rat,” or “hat”). It’s like unlocking a whole new world of words with just a little bit of effort!

The Ultimate CVC Phonics Activity: Match and Cover

Here’s the best part—this “Match and Cover” phonics game is the perfect way to reinforce CVC word patterns while making learning feel like a fun game. It’s great for small groups, literacy centers, or partner work, and it’s super easy to set up.

Activity Prep Made Easy: We know teachers are pressed for time, so this CVC phonics activity is as simple as it gets. All you need to do is print the cover-up sheets and either slide them into sheet protectors or laminate them for repeated use. Then, grab a basket of unifix cubes, and you’re ready to go!

How to Play:

• Students focus on one box at a time, reading the CVC word aloud (like “cat”).
• They then cover up the box with a colored unifix cube that matches the word’s rhyming pattern. For example, if “cat” is the word, and the rhyming word “bat” matches the color red, students will place a red cube on the “cat” box.
• Students take turns reading the words and covering each box with the correct color-coded cube until all boxes are covered.

This game offers tons of opportunities for engagement while reinforcing CVC patterns in a playful way!

Bonus Teaching Tip: Differentiation Made Simple

Have students at different reading levels? No problem! This activity is perfect for differentiation. For your beginner readers, use CVC word mats with short vowels to help them focus on basic word patterns. For more advanced readers, use longer vowel sounds or introduce more complex CVC words to keep them challenged.

One activity, many levels—now that’s a win!

Ready to Try This Ultimate CVC Phonics Activity?

Click the blue “download now” button below to grab your set of “Match and Cover” CVC phonics mats. Then, don’t forget to request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, to get access to even more brain-friendly teaching tools.

Let’s make phonics fun and effective with the ultimate CVC phonics activity!

The post The Ultimate CVC Phonics Activity for Differentiated Instruction appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

The Science of Reading is sweeping through the country like wildfire and for good reason – 70 years of research has shown us how brains best learn to read. Gone are the days when we try new curriculum after new curriculum hoping that it’s the secret key to turn our students into fluent readers. What’s the actual secret to busting our current reading reality? Using a brain-friendly approach that’s been proven to actually work! These ten actionable science of reading strategies give you the best bang for your teaching buck. 

1. Practice phonological awareness every single day

One thing we’ve learned through 70 years of research is that new readers need to practice phonological awareness every single day. Even though we know this is best practice, it can feel daunting and overwhelming to add yet another thing to your already full plate. 

That’s why we created the ultimate print-and-go solution to take the “omg another thing to do!” stress off your plate. Our phonological awareness daily warmups include 40 weeks of ready to use warm ups that your students will actually love. Simply print these warm ups and store them away in a binder. You’ll be all set for the entire year. It doesn’t get any simpler than that!

2. Pinpoint students’ specific phonological awareness needs

What’s the fastest way to provide targeted, student-specific instruction? Knowing students’ exact phonological awareness strengths and weaknesses. Our phonological awareness assessment makes it simple for you to assess twelve different phonological awareness skills. This ready-to-use assessment is designed to be administered three times a year so that you can differentiate instruction to meet the unique needs of each student. Get ready to see your students soar!

3. Teach phonics skills in the correct order 

When phonics skills aren’t taught in the correct order, students are left confused, frustrated, and lacking important skills they need to become fluent readers. Much like building a house or baking a cake, there really is a best order to teach phonics that will transform your students from non-readers to actual readers right before your eyes. 

Our phonics scope and sequence reveals the exact step-by step order that we use to teach each and every phonics skill inside the Science of Reading Formula. Simply print this scope and sequence to unlock the most effective order to teach phonics!

4. Ask these five questions each time you teach a new letter 

Humans are wired to understand spoken language from an early age- that’s no surprise since we learn to speak before we learn to read! When we’re intentional with focusing on the sound letters make, it allows students to tap into their innate understanding of speech. Create an anchor chart with these five questions to ask each and every time you introduce a new letter: 1. What are your lips doing? 2. What are your teeth doing? 3. What is your tongue doing? 4. What is your voice box doing? 5. How is your air flowing?  Try these questions with each and every letter and what the learning wheels turn. 

5. Use a multi-sensory approach when teaching letter sounds

Written letters have absolutely no meaning to students who are learning how to read. Zero. Zilch. The squiggly letters are essentially like us trying to read hieroglyphics. It’s nearly impossible! 

But our alphabet chant takes a multi-sensory approach to learning so students are able to connect a letter shape to the sound it makes. Once students pair different letters and sounds together, they are able to read words. And because this multi-sensory chant fires multiple parts of the brain at once by having readers see an alphabet card, say the chant, and do the action, they’ll learn faster and easier than ever before.. It’s pure teaching magic! 

6. Swap your word wall for a sound wall

By now you know that having students focus on the look and sound of letters and spelling patterns makes a big difference in their learning. So if you have an old school word wall hanging up somewhere in your classroom, change it out for a sound wall like this one.  Seeing the specific ways sounds look and feel written next to their different spelling patterns helps new readers connect all of the letter-sound dots more quickly.

7. Create small groups by phonics skill

Assessments might get a bad rap, but they are POWERFUL. Once you’ve assessed your students using our phonics assessment, you’ll have all the data you need to create strategic small groups. Instead of grouping students by reading level, try forming small groups based on their phonics needs. You’ll be able to provide targeted, specific instruction for each of your students’ unique needs. That will mean less prep for you and more growth for your students. Now that’s a win-win! 

8. Teach sight words by phonics skill

Old school sight word lists are taught by how frequently they appear in text. The higher the frequency the word appears, the sooner it’s taught. Sounds great, right? But there’s one huge problem with this – we’re teaching words that follow completely different phonics rules. Students are trying to learn and apply several different phonics skills at once. Can you say, “confusing”?! 

Luckily, there’s a simple fix. Instead of teaching sight words by frequency, teach them by phonics skill. Students will learn one phonics skill at a time before moving on to the next one. These print-and-go sight word lists are pre-organized by phonics skill making it super easy for you to maximize reading growth for your students. 

9. Say “goodbye” to sight word flash cards

If you’re ready to become science of reading aligned, ditch old school flash cards and say “hello” to your new best friend, sound maps! Instead of relying on rote memorization, sound maps allow students to focus on the specific, individual sounds in each sight word. Our sound map pack keeps students engaged all year long with 27 different sound maps. The best part? Each sound map comes with three different versions so students can practice three, four, and FIVE phoneme words!

10. Join the Science of Reading Formula

Switching to the science of reading can feel like a lot but you don’t have to do this alone! Join the Science of Reading Formula and gain access to THOUSANDS of science of reading aligned tools and activities. Teaching reading the brain-friendly way will instantly get a whooooole lot easier. 

There are so many science of reading strategies that are game changers for students. This is just the tip of the iceberg! When you’re ready to dive in, request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can see the difference that teaching reading the easier, brain-friendly way has on your life too!

The post 10 Strategies for a Science of Reading Ready Classroom appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

They really ARE goosebump worthy and I want you to feel some of that excitement too!

That’s why I can’t wait for you to get your hands on these print-and-go short vowel posters.

I am ALL IN on helping you save time and get bigger teaching results…

And when you can quickly print multiple versions of teaching tools that stretch concepts for kids who are ready for more challenge AND break things down for students who need extra support –

Well, it makes targeted instruction feel like a breeze.

Our Science of Reading Formula members have 24/7 access to our vault packed with thousands of teaching tools just like this one and I want you to get a sneak peek at what a difference that makes…

The best part is that there are so many different ways to use them:

Have students read through a list to warm up before they read…

Project a page with your document camera and have the whole class read it out loud together…

Hang up the entire set as anchor charts…

There are TONS of different options with this one.

Just print and go!

Grab the Short Vowel Posters

Click the big blue “download here” button below to grab your copy of the posters and then hop over and check out the THOUSANDS of other print-and-go teaching tools you and your students will love over in The Science of Reading Formula.

The post 15 Short Vowel Posters appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your copy below and then hop over to join our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, to unlock THOUSANDS of other brain-friendly, print-and-go teaching tools you and your students will love.

What Are Syllables?

Before teaching syllables to students, it’s important to first understand what they actually are. A syllable is a word chunk that includes at least one vowel sound. In the word elephant, for instance, there are three syllables: EL-E-PHANT. And in the word helicopter, there are four: HEL-I-COP-TER.

Learning to break words into syllables helps children build their phonological awareness – a critical step toward reading readiness. By learning to HEAR sounds in words, children’s brains prepare to READ those sounds in words later.

Teach Syllables with Body Tapping

The most effective way I’ve found to help students break words into syllables is to have them tap out the word chunks on their body like this:

1. Students say the first syllable and tap the top of their hand.
2. Students say the second syllable and tap their elbow.
3. Students say the third syllable and tap their shoulder.
4. Students say the fourth syllable and tap on top of their head.

For instance, tapping out the word helicopter would look and sound like this:

1. Say “hel” and tap the top of the hand.
2. Say “the second syllable”i” and tap the elbow.
3. Say “cop” and tap the shoulder.
4. Say “ter” and tap on top of the head.

Having students use cross-body, multi-sensory actions helps you teach syllables much easier and faster than just sounding them out.

BONUS TIP: If you ever second guess where syllable breaks are in words, use this free tool called “How Many Syllables”.

Spot the Syllables Center

When learning feels more like play than work, it’s always a win for students, so we designed this print-and-go syllable game with fun in mind. After teaching syllables with body tapping (above), it’s a great time to pass out these Spot the Syllable sheets.

To play, have children say each picture word out loud, count its syllables, and color the picture if it has the matching syllable count.

For instance, if they were working on the two-syllable sheet and came to the word monster, students would say, “Monster. Mon-ster.” Since it has two syllables, they would color the picture.

Kids will love that the activity is playful and active…

And YOU will love that it requires zero prep!

Just hit “print” and slide it into your literacy centers, morning work, or small groups. There are so many options with this one!

Grab the Freebie

When you’re ready to teach syllables, click the big blue “download here” button below to snag your center below and then hop over to join our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, to unlock THOUSANDS of other brain-friendly, print-and-go teaching tools.

The post Teaching Syllables the Fun Way appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Thankfully, there is a quick and simple trick that makes it a whole lot easier to learn!

Teach students the mnemonic device “Oh U Lucky Duck!”

Once they have the phrase down, their brain will more easily remember that they need to add the letters OULD to the end of the words to spell them correctly.

I love easy teaching hacks, don’t you?!

Free Could, Would, and Should Poster

Spelling posters are a great visual tool for reinforcing new skills so I was excited to create a poster for this trick too.

Click the big blue “download here” button below to grab your copy of the lucky duck poster and then hop over and check out 17 more spelling posters you and your students will love over on TPT right here.

The post Teaching Students to Spell Could, Would, and Should appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Snag your set below and then hop over to grab our curriculum checklist so you can quickly check whether your program is science of reading aligned!

When you’re making the switch to the science of reading, it can be hard to know how to explain it to families. It seems impossible to boil DECADES of research down into one bite-sized letter…

How can you explain the change without confusing parents with fancy teaching vocabulary like “phonological awareness” and “orthographic mapping”?

And how can you clarify why their child’s reading instruction will look VERY different than the way they learned to read?

Well, I have exciting news! You can stop battling writers’ block and just hit “print” because we whipped up a batch of science of reading family handouts that do all the heavy lifting for you.

The set includes an easy-to-understand letter that provides just enough highlights to get families excited without bogging them down with confusing terminology.

And it includes some simple activities and strategies they can use at home to support their child’s reading growth too.

You’ll turn families into raving science of reading fans in no time!

Grab Your Science of Reading Family Handouts

Click the big blue “download here” button to snag your set of science of reading family handouts and then jump over and grab our curriculum checklist to pinpoint tweaks you can make to become even more brain-friendly!

The post Science of Reading Family Handouts appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Snag your copy of the book over on Amazon and then print your study guide below.

You are welcome to use “The Science of Reading in Action” book study guide with your grade level team or your entire school building!

Our goal is to empower as many teachers as possible with the brain-friendly strategies and tools shared inside these pages so we are excited to give you this workbook to help support your group’s professional development.

Print Your Study Guide

Order your copy of “The Science of Reading in Action” and then click the big blue “download” here button below to grab your copy of the study guide.

The post Science of Reading in Action Book Study Guide appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

However, not all curricula align with this evidence-based approach. In fact, most do not. Here are some of the most common signs that your current curriculum may not be Science of Reading aligned:

1. Lack of Phonemic Awareness Instruction

Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words. A Science of Reading aligned curriculum places a strong emphasis on teaching phonemic awareness starting in the earliest stages of reading instruction. It’s so important that literacy experts including David Kilpatrick recommend practicing it every single day. If your curriculum is skipping or minimizing phonemic awareness exercises, it may not be following this crucial aspect of the Science of Reading.

2. Limited Phonics Instruction

Phonics is the understanding that letters represent sounds. Research has proven that successful reading instruction prioritizes teaching phonics systematically and explicitly. Just like you wouldn’t want to fly a plane on your first day of flight school, most students’ brains aren’t able to start reading without learning all of the phonics skills in order from very basic to most complex. If your curriculum does not have a structured and clear approach to teaching phonics, or if it fails to teach the relationships between letters and sounds, it likely does not align with the Science of Reading.

3. Inadequate Vocabulary Building

A strong vocabulary is essential for reading comprehension. Science of Reading aligned curricula incorporate strategies to build vocabulary through explicit instruction and exposure to a wide range of words. Read alouds are fantastic for this! If your curriculum lacks focused vocabulary-building activities and strategies, it may not be following the Science of Reading principles.

4. Overemphasis on Whole Language or Sight Words

While whole language and sight words have their place in reading instruction, a Science of Reading aligned curriculum emphasizes the importance of phonics alongside whole language instruction. If your curriculum leans heavily towards sight word memorization without providing ample phonics instruction or sound mapping, it may not align with the Science of Reading.

5. Ignoring the Science of Reading Research

A clear sign that your curriculum may not be Science of Reading aligned is if it doesn’t reference or integrate the wealth of research supporting this approach. This body of research has been collected by experts in dozens of fields for more than 70+ years. Just imagine how much warehouse space it would take to stack every brain scan, research experiment, case study, and journal article that has ever focused on reading and you’ll start to picture how much information is available to us.

But unfortunately, most of that research was not readily available to the people who need it most (YOU!) until very recently. It’s time to change all of that. A Science of Reading aligned curriculum must draw on a strong evidence base and use research findings to inform its teaching methods.

6. Lack of Structured and Systematic Instruction

Science of Reading emphasizes a structured and systematic approach to reading instruction, gradually building on foundational skills. If your curriculum lacks a clear progression of skills and jumps haphazardly from one topic to another, it might not align with the Science of Reading.

Recognizing the signs of a curriculum that may not be Science of Reading aligned is essential for ensuring effective reading instruction. If you’ve identified any of these signs in your current curriculum, it might be worth exploring alternative options that adhere to the Science of Reading principles, ultimately giving your child or students a strong foundation in reading that will benefit them throughout their lives.

Grab Our Free Curriculum Checklist

Eager to see how well your curriculum aligns with the Science of Reading? We pulled together a list of the most common red flags for you!

It includes 27 warning signs including students spending most of their literacy block reading independently and follow up practice that is disconnected from phonics and word reading lessons.

Just click the big blue “download here” button below to snag your copy and see how many red flags need tweaking.

The post Is Your Curriculum Science of Reading Aligned? Watch Out for These Signs! appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Teaching phonics skills is a lot like baking a cake. Skipping ahead or missing a step, almost always makes your lessons flop. Students are either too confused, or too overwhelmed, or too bored… And you’re unsure what to try next. But when you know the best order to teach phonics, it’s like getting your hands on an easy-to-follow recipe. In an instant, it’s a million times easier (and a million times faster!) than just guessing or using trial and error. You just need to follow it one step at a time!

Grab your scope and sequence below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

So, what’s the recommended sequence for checking everything off the list? Here are the first 10 phonics skills I always teach new readers…

1. Letter sounds
2. CVC short vowel word families
3. Digraphs
4. Magic E
5. Blends
6. Vowel teams
7. Diphthongs
8. R-influenced vowels
9. Suffixes
10. Trigraphs and Triple Blends
11. Prefixes

Grab Our Free Phonics Scope and Sequence

We wanted to make it *really* easy for you to teach all of these skills to your students so we came up with a solution that will knock your teaching socks off: for the first time ever, we’re passing along the exact step-by-step scope and sequence we use to teach EVERY phonics skill on that list inside the Science of Reading Formula.

And did I mention that the scope and sequence is free?!

Just print it off and slide it into your reading binder so you can quickly track your progress as you move students from one phonics skill to the next.

The best part is that once you teach the first eight letters on the list (m, s, f, a, p, t, c, i), students will actually be able to start reading and writing WORDS because those eight letters can be rearranged in dozens of different ways to make SIT, MAT, PIT, TAP, SIP, and soooo many other combinations.

And THAT means your students will transition from being non-readers to actual readers in the blink of an eye.

Print the Best Order to Teach Phonics

Click the big blue “Download Here” button below to snag the exact, step-by-step scope and sequence we use to teach EVERY phonics skill on that list inside The Science of Reading Formula. Then request an invite so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

The post What’s the Best Order to Teach Phonics? appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

The 2025 Editable Teacher Planner Is Here!

There’s something about a fresh planner that feels like a brand-new start.

A chance to breathe, to organize all the pieces floating around in your head, and to finally feel on top of everything again.

That’s why we’re so excited to share this year’s Editable Teacher Planner—your go-to tool for staying organized, focused, and energized all year long.

And the best part? It’s totally customizable to fit your unique teaching style.

Whether you like to plan by the week, by the day, or just need a place to track alllll the things, this planner has you covered.

What’s Inside the Free Version

When you download the free planner, you’ll get a thoughtfully designed set of tools to simplify your teacher life from day one:

Editable Lesson Planning Templates – Plan your week or month with ease.
Customizable Covers – Choose from 6 playful, professional designs.
Student Checklists – Track assignments, behavior, or progress.
Monthly Calendars – Keep important dates and deadlines in one place.
To-Do Lists and Notes Pages – Because you’ve got a lot going on.

Print it out or keep it digital—either way, it’s designed to help you stay focused and in control.

Want Even More Customization?

Our members-only version kicks it up a notch with 34 additional cover options (yep—40 total!). From bold and bright to calm and classic, there’s a style for everyone.

We created the expanded pack for teachers who love having everything just right. The fonts, the colors, the vibe—it’s all in the details.

And because it’s part of your Science of Reading Formula membership, you’ll also get:

Access to thousands of ready-to-use teaching tools
New resources added every single week
Easy-to-search library for planning fast
Time-saving strategies to make teaching more fun and less stressful

Grab Your Planner

Ready to download your planner and start mapping out the year? Click the big blue “DOWNLOAD HERE” button below to snag your brand new planner.

And if you’re a member, don’t forget to log in and download the exclusive full pack with all the extra covers and goodies waiting for you!

Not a member yet but want the full planner (and so much more)? Join right here!

Let’s make this your most organized, stress-free year yet. You’ve got this!

The post Free Teacher Planner appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

When students are first learning to read, written letters look like meaningless shapes on a piece of paper. They might as well be squiggles or scribbles – letters don’t have any rhyme or reason. But this fun little letter sound activity changes all of that because it helps students connect each funky shape we call a letter to its most important job: making a specific sound.

Snag your copy of the alphabet chant below and then join the waitlist for the Science of Reading Formula membership so you can unlock THOUSANDS of brain-friendly teaching tools that will help you teach reading the smarter (not harder!) way.

Although we don’t often think about it as fluent readers, letters are actually codes for sounds. Just like detectives use clues to solve mysteries, once students learn the sound each letter makes, they can string those sounds together to read words.

And this alphabet chant is the best tool I have found for introducing kids to those very important relationships because it connects each letter to its sound, a word it starts with, and a corresponding action like this…

“A is for apple. /a/ /a/ /a/.” (Hold your hand to your mouth as if you are biting into an apple.)

“B is for baby. /b/ /b/ /b/.” (Pretend to rub your eyes with your fists as if you are crying.)

“C is for cat. /c/ /c/ /c/.” (Draw imaginary whiskers on your face.)

The key to this letter sound activity is its multi-sensory approach. Kids see an alphabet flashcard, say the chant, and do the action so they are using multiple areas of the brain at the same time. Not only are students building neural pathways based on visual inputs, but they are simultaneously developing fibers based on auditory (sound), and kinesthetic (movement) inputs. It is a supercharging trifecta of brain growth!

Because the goal with this initial introduction is simple awareness of the letter-sound connections rather than actual memorization, you can teach the chant quickly.

In my kindergarten class, I added five new letters each day so that we could practice the entire chant from A to Z in a little over a week. Although most of my kindergartners did not learn all of the letters and sounds in that short time, they began understanding that those once random shapes they saw in books, on walls, and on billboards were not as arbitrary as they once seemed.

Grab Your Copy

Ready to see the magic of this alphabet chant for yourself? Click the big blue “download here” button below to snag your set and then join the waitlist for the Science of Reading Formula membership so you can unlock THOUSANDS of brain-friendly teaching tools that will help you teach reading the smarter (not harder!) way.

The post Build Students’ Rock Solid Reading Foundation With a Fun and Engaging Letter Sound Activity appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Get ready to fall in love! Word ladders are an easy but powerful way to build important literacy skills including phonemic awareness, decoding, encoding, AND blending at the exact same time. Because you swap just one sound each time you move to a new box in the sequence, children are able to make connections between letter sounds and spelling patterns in a playful, motivating way.

Grab your word ladders below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

What Are Word Ladders?

If you are looking for a quick and simple way to practice a variety of phonemic awareness and phonics skills, you’re in the right spot.

Word Ladders are a string of words that are connected through shared sounds or letter patterns so they build TONS of important literacy skills simultaneously.

And since students are essentially just making a list of words, they require zero teacher prep. Children can write their word chains on a whiteboard, a plain piece of paper, or (when you grab the download below) a fun printable.

Each time you say a new word, students will simply write it down. It doesn’t get much simpler than that!

Four Types of Ladders

Depending on students’ reading ability, the activity can be tweaked to practice beginning, middle, or ending sounds.

For instance, if you started a word chain with HAT, you might have new readers focus on beginning sounds by writing: hat – rat – mat – sat…

Or if you were working with more advanced readers, you could hone in on ending sounds instead: hat – ham – had – has…

With practice, students would eventually be able to work on middle vowel sounds: hat – hit – hot – hut…

And finally, with even more advanced readers, you could practice all three skills at once: hat – ham – him – dim.

As you can see, word chains can be quickly tweaked to meet students’ unique needs which makes them perfect for a huge range of readers.

Snag Your Set of Word Ladders

I know it can be tough to think of word lists, so we pulled together a batch of print-and-teach short vowel ladders for you. Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

The post Build Super-Star Literacy Skills With Word Ladders appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Research has shown us that there is a simple order that makes it possible for kids to start reading actual words a whole lot faster…

Teaching just eight letters makes it possible to read HUNDREDS of words. It’s crazy, but true.

That’s why I affectionately call this first batch of letters the “Big Eight”. They are:

M, F, S, A, P, T, C, and I

What makes these eight letters the perfect starting point?

Because we can combine them to make a long list of two, three, and four letter CVC and CVCC words that your students can start reading right away.

Two letter words like:

if   as   is   am   it

Three letter words like:

mat   sip   fit   tap   sat  

cat   cap   fat   tip   map

And four letter words like:

past   fast   taps   fact   acts

cast   camp   fist   mist   pact

The list goes on and on!

And the great news is that when students are empowered to start reading words on their own, they see themselves as readers, and their motivation to actually practice their new reading skills skyrockets.

Want Help Teaching These Letters?

Snag our Phonics Toolkit so you get everything you need in one simple download: daily phonics lesson plans, follow up practice text, student activities… It’s truly a one stop phonics shop!

Grab your mega pack on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Are you tired of using outdated resources that just don’t cut it? I’ve been there too, and it’s why I created The Science of Reading Formula. With up-to-date, research-backed tools and strategies, you can say goodbye to frustration and hello to results. Let’s teach reading the way it was meant to be taught—effectively and with joy!

The post What letters should I teach first? appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

The letter G, for instance, can say /g/ as in EGG, /j/ like in GYM, /zh/ as in CHALLENGE, or it can fall silent like at the start of GNOME. It’s no wonder brand new readers often find it confusing to keep letters and sounds straight!

To help you tackle all 42 phonemes in English so you can confidently connect those sounds to their spellings for students, we pulled together a batch of handy charts you can print out and slide into your teaching binder for easy reference. Snag your set below and dive feet first into some of the most common letter-sound combinations while you’re at it.

The 42 Phonemes in English

Every word is made up of individual sounds called phonemes. For example, the word CAT has three phonemes: /c/ /a/ /t/ and the word TROLL has four: /t/ /r/ /o/ /l/.

Notice that the word TROLL has five letters but just four phonemes. There are many letter combinations like that double L that make just one sound including TH, SH, AY, and QU to name just a few.

Research has shown over and over again that students’ phonemic awareness skills are critical to their future reading success because they need to be able to correctly match the sounds they hear in words to the letters that are used to spell them. That’s why it is so important that we know about ALL of the letter-sound combinations so we can confidently help kids learn them too.

For instance, did you know that the letter Y can make FOUR different sounds:

• Y says the long I sound in words like WHY, SKY, and MY
• In other words, it says long E as in BABY, CANDY, and BODY
• Y says /y/ at the start of words including YES, YELLOW, and YOU
• And every so often, Y makes the short I sound like in SYSTEM, MYTH, and BICYCLE

Did you know that the single letter S only says /s/ 40% of the time and it says /z/ the rest?

And the letter P usually says /P/ but when it’s written next to an H, the sound changes to /F/…

It’s enough to make our fluent reader brains spin so imagine how our brand new readers must feel!

Grab Your Phonogram Charts

To help you keep everything straight so you can make it easier for students to connect all of the letter-sound dots, we pulled together a batch of sanity saving phonogram charts that break it all down for you in one go-to spot. PHON means “sound” in Greek and GRAM means “letter” so these charts connect the sounds to the letters we use to spell them.

Click the big blue “download here” button below to print your copy of the phonogram charts and then slide them into your reading binder so you can pull them out whenever you need to see the different ways to spell each sound.

And if you’d like help teaching all of these phonogram pairs, hop over and grab all of our phonics tools in our membership vault or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

The post 42 Phonemes (and why they matter) appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

But here’s a handy way to start making things finally click for kids…

Teach students that the silent E is a sidekick. Just like any great superhero, some vowels work with a partner to make them stronger.

(In teacher lingo, we call this relationship a split digraph.)

Instead of the vowel saying its short sound, the silent E sidekick gives it enough strength to powerfully say its NAME.

CAP becomes CAPE, KIT turns into KITE, PET is PETE…

Pretty exciting, huh?

After they have plenty of practice reading long vowel CVCe words like the ones above, you can show students how much more powerful silent E can be by explaining all 7 of its jobs:

1. Just like we talked about a moment ago, the silent E makes the vowel before it say its name. (cane & kite)
2. The E also makes C say its soft sound /s/ and G say its soft sound /j/. (fence & age)
3. The E prevents a word from ending with V which is a big English language no-no. (give & have)
4. The E is often added to prevent a word from ending with S. (house & moose) 
5. Since every syllable in English MUST have a vowel, E is added when a syllable has just an L. (turtle & puddle)
6. An E is added to TH to make it a voiced sound. (bathe & clothe)
7. And an E can also be used to help distinguish between similar words (bye vs. by)

Once students know these rules, it becomes *so much* easier for them to read and spell because they finally understand how all of the letters are working together.

And THAT means they can finally focus on the fun stuff: falling in love with reading!

Grab The Science of Reading in Action Book

This is just the tip of the iceberg to helping students learn to read. Get all of my favorite brain-friendly strategies and teaching tricks inside my book, The Science of Reading in Action, right here.

The post The 7 Jobs of Silent E appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

But the great news is that when you teach those same five vowels in a slightly different way, they’ll stick for kids faster and easier than ever before.

So, what’s the BEST order to teach vowels? Here’s the scoop…

You know how we help students memorize the vowel letters with the simple rhyme “A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y”?

And then there’s the catchy song:

(Sung to the BINGO tune.)

There are some special letters and vowels are their name-o:

A, E, I, O, U

A, E, I, O, U

A, E, I, O, U

And sometimes Y.

While memorizing the list of vowels in that order is fine, actually teaching vowels in that order can be overwhelming for new readers because these vowel pairs sound and feel very similar:

• Short A and E 
• Short I and E 
• Short O and U

You can actually see the similarities for yourself when you say each pair of vowel sounds in the mirror!

But with just a simple little reshuffling, we can take away much of the confusion for students by separating similar sounding vowels so their brains can focus in on the differences that make each vowel sound unique.

The best order I’ve found for teaching vowel sounds is:

1. Short A
2. Short O
3. Short E
4. Short U
5. Short I

And since research has shown us that learning to read is a largely auditory skill, it’s important for students to be able to hear the differences between letter sounds.

Doing that can be as simple as giving students a handheld mirror, picking a vowel sound to focus on, and asking five specific questions about it:

• What are your lips doing?
• What are your teeth doing?
• What is your tongue doing?
• What is your voicebox doing?
• How is your air flowing?

As you talk through the answers to each question together, you’ll be helping students lay down the brain pathways they need to correctly identify the vowel sounds when they read and spell later.

Slowing down to study each sound will actually help you speed up students’ learning!

But wait! What about when Y is a vowel?

We can’t forget Y. 

There are three special rules we can teach students to help them know when Y is considered a vowel:

1. It’s the only vowel in the word. (sky, cry, my)
2. It’s at the end of a syllable. (cy-cle)
3. It’s in the middle of a syllable. (gym)

Teaching students predictable spelling rules like these ones help them connect the dots they need to become successful readers more quickly.

Grab The Science of Reading in Action Book

This is just the tip of the iceberg to helping students learn to read. Get all of my favorite brain-friendly strategies and teaching tricks inside my book, The Science of Reading in Action, right here.

The post What’s the BEST Order to Teach Vowels? appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Making the science of reading easy to understand AND easy to implement is my “thing”, so I’m excited for you to get your hands on a little gift I made for you. It’s truly game changing!

Research has shown that phonological awareness is a critical key to unlocking students’ reading growth because students learn to hear the parts of words so they can read them later.

I know that the thought of adding even one more thing to your lesson plans can feel daunting – new lessons usually mean MORE prep and planning. But not this time! These phonological awareness daily warm ups make it so easy to build students’ foundation. Just click “print”!

Each day, you’ll simply read through the prompts and have kids complete each activity. There’s word counting, syllable segmenting, rhyming…

And the best part is that you don’t have to brainstorm practice words on the fly because they’ve already been written out for you!

Grab Your Gift

Click the big blue download button below to grab your set and then hop over to follow me on Instagram for more science of reading inspiration!

Get Everything You Need for an Entire Year

I know you and your students are going to LOVE these warm ups! When you’re ready, grab the entire set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Inside you’ll find 40 weeks worth of warm ups…

(That’s enough to use all year long!)

Plus four binder covers you can pick from to keep the set together.

Just print the sheets and spiral bind them or slide them into a 3-ring binder to keep them all together. That’s all the prep required for the entire school year!

The post Podcast Gift appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

But if you follow me on Instagram, you already know that’s simply not true!

For decades, research has shown that the vast majority of students need help connecting the dots so they can learn the skills and build the neural pathways to read.

And that’s where this science of reading guide comes in!

Rather than trying to piece together all of the brain-friendly, research-backed teaching tools and strategies you need on your own, I created this go-to guide so you can find everything in one spot.

You’ll see that the resources are divided into four categories of skills students need to develop in order to become fluent readers:

All four of these skills must be developed in order for students to become fluent readers but these resources make it easy. Just click on the resource you need and add it to your teaching toolbox.

You’ve got this!

Grab the Ultimate Science of Reading Guide

Click the “download here” button below to snag your copy.

The post The Ultimate Science of Reading Guide appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Find all the answers below and then hop over to grab a year’s worth of no prep 5-minute warm ups that make it easy to practice phonological awareness every day of the week.

The first time I heard about phonological awareness, my hands started sweating. I didn’t know what it actually meant yet, but something deep down in my gut told me that those two little words were about to turn my world upside down. Boy, was that an understatement! 

Research has pinpointed phonological awareness as a pivotal key to unlocking students’ reading growth. In fact, it is such a critical piece of the puzzle that many literacy experts including David Kilpatrick recommend practicing it in every classroom through fifth grade because it helps students’ brains build the neural pathways they need to be able to hear and manipulate sounds when they are reading.

Just like a house cannot be steady and strong if the foundation has cracks, readers are likely to struggle if they have gaps in their phonological awareness skills…

Clearly, phonological awareness is not just for kindergarteners anymore.

What Does Phonological Awareness Mean?

To understand phonological awareness, it helps to focus on the very first syllable: PHON. It means “sound” in Greek and just like you hear your friend’s voice and interpret her words on a phone, phonological awareness means hearing the individual sounds in spoken language and then moving and manipulating them. Because this skill is completely focused on sound, you can actually do it with your eyes closed.

If you heard someone describe phonological awareness before, they likely called it an “umbrella term” because it includes five different skills:

–> Sentence segmenting: Breaking sentences into words.
–> Syllable segmenting: Breaking words into syllables.
–> Rhyming: Pairing words that end with the same sound.
–> Alliteration: Naming two or more words that start with the same sound.
–> Plus phonemic awareness: Hearing and manipulating the individual sounds in words.

And phonemic awareness (that last one on the list!) actually covers SIX skills all on its own:

–> Phoneme isolation: Identifying a specific sound in a word.
–> Phoneme blending: Stringing together individual sounds to make a word.
–> Phoneme segmentation: Breaking apart the individual sounds in words.
–> Phoneme addition: Adding another sound to words.
–> Phoneme deletion: Taking away sounds from words.
–> And phoneme substitution: Swapping out one sound in a word for another.

Whew! That’s A LOT of vocabulary.

How Do You Practice Phonological Awareness?

Since we know that literacy experts like David Kilpatrick recommend having students practice phonological awareness every day through fifth grade, the natural next question is how can you do that?

And the exciting news is that, since it’s all about hearing and can be practiced with closed eyes, there are no fancy tools required. You don’t need to stay up late cutting out complicated centers or spend hours laminating card stock…

In fact, prepping an entire YEAR’s worth of 5-minute mini lessons can be as simple as hitting print when you grab these done-for-you warm ups in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Just hit print and read the prompts. That’s all it takes! Building students’ rock solid phonological awareness has never been easier.

Here’s What Teachers Are Saying…

I don’t just want you to take my word for it about what a game changer these phonological awareness warm ups are, I really want you to hear from other teachers who have used it in their classrooms.

Snag your set of these print-and-go phonological awareness warm ups in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!

The post What is Phonological Awareness? appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Over 70 years of research has taught us how brains best learn to read and, now that the information is becoming more accessible to teachers, it has led to some significant shifts in reading instruction! For instance, the science of reading has proven that students need to be able to hear the individual sounds in words. Those sounds, called phonemes, are a foundational building block to developing fluent readers. Focusing on beginning sounds is the best place to start because it’s the first phoneme that students’ brains are able to identify. These 100 beginning sound task cards make it fun and easy to reinforce letter sound-connections and, at the same time, build students’ phonemic awareness.

Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

Thank You!

Gifts are our love language but this mega bundle of beginning sound task cards is an extra special bonus – it’s my way of saying “thank you” for helping our Instagram community grow 100,000 strong.

Every like, share, and tag has made this milestone possible and I’m forever grateful that you continue to spread the word about the science of reading so we can help EVERY child get bigger reading growth. You are helping create a more successful future for all!

Using the Beginning Sound Task Cards

In honor of our 100,000 Instagram followers, we pulled together a mega set of 100 beginning sound task cards just for you. 

Print the cards on card stock and laminate to give them extra durability. Then cut apart the cards and place them in a photo box for easy storage.

Grab a basket of letters (alphabet magnets, Scrabble tiles, and letter unifix cubes work well) and invite your students to play!

Students grab a card, say the word, and then add the missing letter. For example:

“Zap. Z-ap. That starts with the sound / z /. It is spelled with Z.” The student then places a Z on the empty line and pulls out the next card in the stack.

Any letters will work for this activity, but three of our favorites are alphabet magnets, Scrabble tiles, and letter Unifix cubes. They are all hands-on, tactile ways for students to practice their beginning sounds!

Grab Your Task Cards

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock all of the print-and-go teaching tools you need to teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

The post 100 Beginning Sound Task Cards to Build Phonemic Awareness appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Snag your set of Roll and Snip Short Vowel Centers below and then hop over to check out our 4-week course called The Reading Roadmap so you can get your hands on hundreds of done-for-you, science of reading aligned centers and lesson plans your students will love.

These Short Vowel Centers Are Zero Prep!

Pulling together your literacy centers doesn’t get much simpler than this…

Just pick one of the sheets you would like to use with your students and print enough copies for each student to have one.

Make sure everyone has a pair of scissors and a playing die and you are ready to go!

How to Play the Short Vowel Centers

To play, students will cut along the dashed lines of their sheet to create cutting strips. (Each side of the die will have its own strip of words – the column for number one will be a strip, the number two column will be a strip, etc.)

Then kids will roll their playing die, read the matching word, and cut off that bottom slice.

For instance, if students rolled a one, they would look at their one strip and find the word at the bottom of the column: jam.

They would read that word out loud and then snip it off before rolling again.

Play continues until one of the columns is snipped right up to the top!

Grab Your Short Vowel Literacy Centers

This activity is so much fun that your kids will beg to repeat it! Click the big blue “Download Here” button below to snag your pack of roll and snip sheets and then check out our 4-week course called The Reading Roadmap to get your hands on hundreds of more playful, science of reading aligned centers and lesson plans.

The post Roll and Snip Short Vowel Centers appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Phonological awareness is the foundation of learning to read. It’s that magical skill that helps kids hear, identify, and work with the sounds in spoken words—things like rhymes, syllables, and individual phonemes. But let’s face it: fitting consistent phonological awareness activities into a jam-packed teaching day can feel impossible.

The good news? With a little structure (and some ready-to-use tools), it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. In fact, with the right activities, you can boost your students’ reading skills in just a few minutes a day—and make it fun for everyone!

What Is Phonological Awareness?

Before we dive into activities, let’s start with the basics. Phonological awareness is an umbrella term for a wide range of skills related to sounds in spoken language. These skills are critical for helping kids decode words, spell accurately, and become fluent readers.

Some examples of phonological awareness skills include:

• Rhyming: Recognizing and generating words that sound alike.
• Syllable Counting: Breaking words into their syllabic parts.
• Onset-Rime: Splitting the first sound (onset) from the rest of the syllable (rime).
• Phoneme Manipulation: Hearing and changing individual sounds within words.

Phonological awareness happens entirely in the auditory system—no letters required. That’s why it’s a cornerstone of early literacy and a must-have skill before kids start decoding words.

Easy-to-Use Phonological Awareness Activities

To make implementing phonological awareness activities simple and stress-free, I created the Phonological Awareness Activity Pack. This no-prep resource is packed with 40 weeks of structured, engaging activities that cover all the essential skills your students need.

Here’s a closer look at what’s included, with specific examples you can use:

1. Sentence Segmenting

Kids practice breaking sentences into individual words—a critical early skill. For example, in the sentence “I love ice cream,” they’ll tap or clap out the three separate words.

2. Syllable Counting

Students learn to hear and count the syllables in a word. You might say a word like “banana” and have students clap for each syllable: ba-na-na (3 claps). Or, they can use their fingers to count as they say the word aloud.

3. Rhyming Games

Kids practice recognizing and generating rhyming words. For example, say, “I’m thinking of a word that rhymes with ‘cat.’ What could it be?” Students might respond with “hat,” “mat,” or “bat.” You can also present a picture of a cat and ask, “Can you think of words that rhyme with this picture?”

4. Phoneme Blending and Segmenting

Students practice blending sounds together to form words and breaking words into individual sounds. For blending, you might say, “Let’s blend these sounds together: /s/ /u/ /n/,” and students respond, “sun.” For segmenting, say the word “dog” and have them break it apart: /d/ /o/ /g/.

5. Onset-Rime Practice

Students split words into their onset (the initial sound) and rime (the rest of the word). For example, say the word “sit.” Students identify the onset as /s/ and the rime as “-it.” Then, they can practice creating new words by swapping out the onset: “fit,” “kit,” “bit.”

Why Daily Practice Matters

Daily phonological awareness activities aren’t just important—they’re essential. They give kids repeated exposure to critical skills, which leads to stronger reading foundations.

Think of it like building a house: without a solid foundation, everything else crumbles. Phonological awareness is that foundation for literacy. When kids master these skills, they’re ready to tackle phonics, decoding, and more advanced reading tasks with confidence.

But here’s the thing: as a teacher, finding the time to plan and implement these activities every day can feel impossible. That’s why this pack is such a game-changer. It gives you everything you need—no planning required.

Try It for Yourself!

Ready to make phonological awareness practice a breeze? Start by trying our 2 free weeks of warm-ups—designed to be simple, effective, and fun for your students.

When you’re ready for more, you have two options:

1. Grab all 40 weeks in our TPT store for an easy-to-use solution, or better yet! …
2. Join The Science of Reading Formula to access all 40 weeks plus a full library of research-backed teaching resources, expert training, and a supportive community of educators.

With The Science of Reading Formula, you’ll save time, feel confident in your teaching, and help your students thrive in reading.

Ready to Help Struggling Readers Thrive?

If you’ve ever felt like you’re spinning your wheels trying to help struggling readers catch up, only to wonder if you’re even making progress, you’re not alone. It’s a frustration so many of us know too well.

That’s exactly why I created The Science of Reading Formula. It’s your step-by-step guide to teaching reading with confidence, using tools and strategies that actually work (and save you time!). No more guessing or feeling stuck—you’ll have everything you need to support every learner in your classroom.

And here’s the best part: when you join, you’ll gain access to the entire Phonological Awareness Activity Pack—40 weeks of quick, ready-to-use warm-ups designed to build critical foundational skills for your students. No prep, no stress—just impactful activities that fit seamlessly into your day.

Click here to join The Science of Reading Formula today!

The post No Prep Phonological Awareness Activities Your Students Will Love appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Add in a fun gumball theme and some squishy playdough balls and it’s a literacy match made in heaven. Snag your free download below and then hop over and snag 26 more sound mapping sets on Teachers Pay Teachers or in our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula.

What Is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is one of those pre-reading skills we used to think wasn’t all that important for new readers but now, thanks to the science of reading, we know it’s absolutely critical.

It means HEARING the sounds in words. For instance, the word dog has three sounds: /d/ /o/ /g/ 

And so does the word rain: /r/ /ai/ /n/.

Notice that the word rain has THREE sounds but FOUR letters. When you’re practicing phonemic awareness, you’re only focusing on the sounds in words – NOT the spelling.

Helping students HEAR the sounds now will make it possible for them to SPELL the sounds later.

And That Leads Us to Sound Mapping…

This print-and-play activity gives kids practice lazering in on those individual sounds in words.

To play, they’ll grab a card, say the word, and then:

1. TAP the sounds.
2. SQUISH the sounds with playdough balls.
3. GRAPH (write) the sounds.
4. WRITE the sounds.
5. READ the word.

Stretching apart the sounds before adding in spelling sets students up for major success.

Here’s the activity in action:

Sound mapping is a game changer!

Grab Your Set

Click the blue download button below to grab your free sample and then hop over and snag 26 more sets your students love on Teachers Pay Teachers or in our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula.

The post Bubble Gum Sound Mapping appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Snag your set below and then hop over to check out our 4-week course called The Reading Roadmap so you can get your hands on hundreds of done-for-you, science of reading aligned centers and lesson plans your students will love.

The Floss Rule

Why do some words have a double consonant at the end like smell, while other words like cat do not?

The answer is the floss rule! It’s a simple spelling rule that helps kids remember when to use a double consonant at the end of a one-syllable word.

When the sounds /f/ /s/ /l/ or /z/ come at the end of a one-syllable word, they’re written with a double consonant.

For instance:

mes –> meSS

dol–> doLL

buz–> buZZ

snif–> sniFF

NOTE: There are a couple of exceptions to this rule like the word PAL and IF.

And since the rule’s affectionately named after one of the words that benefits from it, it seemed fitting to continue the fun and help the rule REALLY stick by making a playful literacy center with a FLOSS theme.

Floss Puzzles

Prepping the puzzles is quick and easy!

Just print them on cardstock and laminate for added durability.

Cut apart the cards and print one record sheet for each child.

When you’re ready, have students pick up one word at a time, read the word out loud, and look for the matching floss box showing its picture.

For example, if a child picks up the word TOSS, she’d say, “toss” and then lay the word next to the tossing picture.

Play continues until students have solved all of the puzzles in the stack. Then they’ll write the words on their record sheet!

Grab Your Floss Rule Puzzles

Click the big blue download here button below to snag your set and then hop over to check out our 4-week course called The Reading Roadmap so you can get your hands on hundreds of done-for-you, science of reading aligned centers and lesson plans your students will love.

The post Floss Rule Puzzles appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

This makes it easy for you to pull together sub plans that’ll last you for DAYS.

And when you spend 15 minutes setting everything up NOW, it’ll be ready to go *whenever* you need it. No more last-minute scrambling!

Snag your sub plans on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Personalized Sub Plans in Just 7 Steps

Having to pull yourself out of bed to stumble through sub planning can feel like torture so let’s spend 15 minutes setting up your emergency sub folder NOW so it’s ready when you need it.

Here’s what you’ll do…

STEP ONE:

Choose to between making DAILY folders or ACTIVITY folders.

There are two ways to set up your sub plans…

Either make one folder for each day of the week so that you have a Monday folder, Tuesday folder, Wednesday folder, etc.

OR make two activity folders – one that has your literacy activities and one that holds you math activities.

Both options can work well, you just need to decide whether you think your sub needs more of the step-by-step that the daily folders would provide or if they will be able to pull from the activity folders during literacy and math time.

STEP TWO:

Print your pocket folder covers and attach each one to the front of a pocket folder.

STEP THREE:

Type in and then print your daily class schedule so that your sub can easily follow along with your normal routine.

Be sure to add in any transition activities you like to use like “read a book” or “start packing up to go home”.

STEP FOUR:

Print a class set of your favorite literacy and math activities.

Paperclip each set so you can keep them separated and slide them into the folders.

NOTE #1:   Each activity comes in a variety of different levels so that you can easily find an option that’s a good fit for your classroom. When you’re looking at the phonics clip cards, for instance, you can choose to practice beginning sounds or CVC words or even four-letter magic E words.

NOTE #2:  Several of the literacy centers are editable so you can quickly create an activity that will practice YOUR specific sight word list or phonics skills. Just type in the grey boxes to add your words.

STEP FIVE:

Type and print your class list into the sub feedback form.

STEP SIX:

Personalize the sub welcome letter, print it, and sign your name at the bottom.

STEP SEVEN:

Place the pocket folder, welcome letter, class list and daily schedules in a magazine box to keep everything together in one spot. You can even add the “Sub Box” or ”Emergency Sub Plans” label to the front and tuck in a couple of snacks to REALLY help your sub feel welcome.

That’s it! You’re done. And now you can rest easy knowing that your class will continue learning and growing even if you’re not able to teach them yourself.

Snag Your Sub Plans

Be prepared for ANYTHING that comes your way this school year! Hop over and grab your sub plans on Teachers Pay Teachers!

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

The post Sub Plans appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Are you teaching sight words by how frequently they appear in text and not seeing big results with your students? If you’re ready for a better way to teach sight words, these pre-sorted lists are for you. 

You can grab your set in our TPT store, OR—better yet—join The Science of Reading Formula and unlock instant access to all the teaching tools you need to make those sight words finally stick. As a member, you’ll get done-for-you resources, expert guidance, and a supportive community—all designed to help you teach reading with confidence! Become a member right here.

It’s true! When you take your sight word list and organize it by phonics skill, students learn the words faster…

You see, old school lists like Dolch and Fry were sorted by the frequency words appear in text. For instance, THE is written most often so it’s the first word students practice.

The philosophy isn’t terrible – if a child is going to read THE more than any other word, it makes sense that learning it first would come in handy.

The problem is that when we teach sight words, THE is often taught right alongside other words that follow completely different phonics rules: OF, AND, A…

And that means kids have to wrap their brains around:

– the short A sound in AND,
– the long A sound in A,
– the F that makes a V sound in OF,
– and (as if that wasn’t enough!) the two letters T & H that make just one sound in THE.

It’s no wonder that so many students struggle with sight word lists!

But there is a *much* easier way! Instead of teaching sight words by frequency, we can sort them by phonics skill. Then students can master just ONE spelling rule at a time!

These print-and-go sheets make it *so easy* for you to do just that. They’re sorted by letter sounds so you can teach one phonics skill at a time.

Grab Your Set

Want to make teaching sight words easier? You have two options:

1. Grab the sight word lists in our TPT store for a quick, ready-to-use solution.
2. Join The Science of Reading Formula to get instant access to these lists plus a full library of research-backed resources, expert guidance, and a community of educators who are here to support you.

Why join? With The Science of Reading Formula, you’ll save time, feel confident in your teaching, and see your students thrive.

[Join Now and Get Instant Access!]

The post Sight Word List Sorted by Phonics Skill appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your playful set below and then hop over to grab our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prepare this fun alphabet match, I printed out the pieces in the download (below) and laminated them before cutting them out.

You can choose to cut the apples and baskets out completely, or you can take a bit faster approach and cut on the solid lines to make square pieces. Either option gives you a motivating ABC game to play with your kids!

After I cut out all the pieces, I stored them in a zip-top bag (a basket would work well too) to have on hand for our literacy centers.

Apple Alphabet Match

I first played this game with a small group of students, as I often do when introducing activities before adding them to our independent choices.

We organized the baskets in alphabetical order on the table from A to Z so that we could practice naming uppercase letters and working on the order of the alphabet. Then, we piled the apples in the middle of the group and got ready to go “apple picking!”

To play, we took turns picking up an apple and saying the name of the letter and then hunting for its uppercase match. (I differentiated for kids who were ready for extra challenge by having them say the letter sound too for beginning sound practice.)

Once we found the match, we placed the apple “in” the basket!

We kept picking and matching until there were no pieces left.  This alphabet match was a great way to practice letter recognition!

Grab Your Download

Click the blue “download” below and then hop over to grab our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack!

The post Apple Alphabet Match appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

And speaking of writers’ block, say goodbye to it with our Writing Center Starter Kit!

Getting Ready

There is almost no prep required for this writing activity. All you need to do is have one single die on hand for kids to roll. Then, simply print the Roll a Silly Story card along with the creative writing papers.

For teachers, print multiple copies of the card to speed up the story selection process.

Silly Spooky Stories

I warned the kids that they were about to have some seriously spooky fun with this Halloween writing activity. With this roll-a-story format, the elements of the story were selected for them, making some very silly character, setting and conflict combinations. There are 216 different stories that can be rolled!

Each child rolled a die three separate times. The first roll selected the main character for their story. If they rolled a one, then they would be writing about the character listed after the one, and so on – all the way down to six.

Their second roll selected their setting. I reminded the kids that the setting of a story includes both the time and place where the story takes place.

Their third roll selected the conflict, or problem, faced by the main character.

I gave them each a blank piece of paper. They wrote down the results of the three rolls on their paper. Then, they used the rest of the space on the paper for planning so they could write down some ideas they had for their story.

Once they had their silly story starter combinations, the kiddos had a blast with their writing. They could tell this was an activity where they could really let their imaginations run wild. Their writings were very creative and this Halloween writing activity was a huge hit!

Grab Your Copy

Are you ready to print this free creative writing activity? Click the blue button below!

Let’s be real—there are never enough hours in the day, right? Between lesson plans, meetings, and everything else, finding time to create reading resources feels impossible. That’s why I designed The Science of Reading Formula. It’s packed with ready-to-use tools that take the guesswork out of planning, so you can focus on teaching and reclaiming your evenings. Let’s make reading instruction simple, effective, and stress-free.

The post Roll a Silly, Spooky Story appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

See the seven different silent E rules below and then snag a copy of a playful magic E pop it center your students will beg to repeat.

Confession: When I first started teaching, I talked A LOT about rule breaker words. I’d say things like:

“Today’s sight word is have. That’s a rule breaker!”

And “Oh, that’s exciting! You found another rule breaker: give.”

It’s no wonder that it was so hard for many of my students to learn how to read – I gave them a growing pile of “rule breaker words” and encouraged them to just memorize the list. That would have been tough for anyone!

But here’s the thing…

I was wrong.

96% of English words actually DO follow the rules – including the words have and give!

And once I learned those rules, I was able to teach them to my students.

And THAT meant they could start reading and spelling 96% of English words too.

Talk about game changing!

Magic E’s 7 Different Jobs

When a silent E is added to the end of a word, it is doing one of SEVEN different jobs:

1. The E makes the vowel before it say its name. Ex. cane and bake
2. E makes C say /s/ and G say /j/. Ex. fence and age
3. An E prevents a word from ending with V. Ex. give and have
4. The E is often added to prevent a word from ending with S. Ex. house and moose
5. Since every syllable in English MUST have a vowel, E is added when a syllable has just an L. Ex. turtle and puddle
6. An E is added to TH to make it a voiced sound. Ex. bathe and clothe (versus bath and cloth)
7. E can also be used to help distinguish between similar words. Ex. bye versus by

Magic E Pop Its

Learning phonics rules like these ones make it SO MUCH easier to help students learn to read because you can finally explain the rules behind spelling patterns.

And since I love empowering you to teach your students helpful phonics rules, I pulled together this playful Magic E Pop It center!

To play, your students will sound out each magic E word and then add the silent E in the last box to make the middle vowel say its name like this:

Grab Your Set

Are you excited to give these magic E pop its a try with your students too?? Snag your set below and then request your invite to The Reading Roadmap so you can get the easy-to-use system for reaching EVERY reader in class.

The post Magic E Pop It Center appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Snag your set below and then request your invite to The Reading Roadmap so you can get my easy-to-use system for reaching EVERY reader in class.

Teaching Letter Sounds

Sometimes the simplest little tweaks make the biggest impact and that’s certainly true here. Instead of calling letters by their names, research has shown that you can help students by referring to their sounds every chance you get.

For instance, when a child is trying to spell the word CAN, you might ask, “What sounds do you need?” instead of asking what letters they need.

Or when you’re playing with alphabet magnets, you could ask the child to show you the /b/ (sound) instead of B (letter).

It’s a simple little tweak in focus – you’re just referring to the sounds instead of names – but it will help students memorize those sounds a lot more quickly…

And THAT means they’ll learn to read FASTER!

Beginning Sound Cards

These beginning sound cards use the same logic! They force students to really hone in on those sounds letters make and they introduce words that start with those sounds.

To play, place the cards in a stack next to your basket of alphabet magnets.

Each child will grab a card, say the word shown, and then find the beginning sound they hear.

For example, if a student grabbed CAKE, she might say:

“CAKE. Cccccc-ake. That starts with /c/.”

Then she’d grab the C magnet and place it in the empty box.

Students will continue picking, reading and matching until they’ve worked their way through every card in the stack.

How to Differentiate

These beginning sound cards are really easy to differentiate!

For new readers, give them 5 or 6 cards to focus on at a time. When they’re finished, challenge them to brainstorm other words that start with the same beginning sound. For instance, for the letter C, they might suggest cat, cup, candy and corn.

For kids who are ready to be stretched, give them all of the cards at once. Then challenge them to use the cards to sound out words. For example, they might use the beginning sound cards to spell CAN or TEN.

Snag Your Set

Click the big blue download button below to snag your set and then join The Reading Roadmap waitlist so you can get my easy-to-use system for reaching EVERY reader in class.

SPOILER ALERT: You’ll get a surprise just for joining!

The post Beginning Sounds Center appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

The Reading Wars

Before we dive into the science of reading, it’s important that we have a quick chat about the reading wars – a long standing debate about the best way to teach reading.

You can imagine a line with whole language on one side and phonics on the other…

Whole language fans believe that children will naturally learn how to read just like they learn to speak. They encourage reading good books so students fall in love with literature and teaching new readers to sound out unknown words with cues like the context of other words around it.

True whole language fans only teach phonics when it is relevant to a specific word they’re focusing on so, for instance, a whole language teacher might talk about the SH digraph if students were reading the word ship but the digraph lesson would not stretch far beyond that single word.

Phonics fans, on the other hand, believe that children learn to read best when they are taught how to sound out specific letter combinations and blend them together to make words.

In the example above, a phonics-based teacher would purposefully lead a lesson on the SH digraph. She might teach students a helpful SH poem and then have them read a variety of SH words like ship, shut, shin, she, etc. The focus would be on the letter sounds, not the words.

If you or someone you know has been teaching for a while, you’ve seen the reading wars in action. A lot of teachers refer to it as a pendulum that’s swung back and forth from one end of the spectrum to the other.

And that brings us to modern day…

What is the Science of Reading?

Scientists have been studying how students learn to read for more than five decades and the findings of their research is called “the science of reading”. Based on those findings, back in 2018, a journalist named Emily Hanford argued that reading was being taught the wrong way – teachers were using curriculum that didn’t take into account how brains work. Instead, they should be relying on proven, research-based strategies.

And the reading wars were ignited again!

The science of reading is not a curriculum or a book or a specific teaching strategy…

It’s a very WIDE body of knowledge that covers everything from how students first learn to sound out words to how they become fluent readers, understand what they are reading, make connections to their own life…. the list is long.

Imagine if ALL of the science journal articles and case studies that have been published on reading over the last 50 years were stacked in piles and you’ll start to wrap your brain around just how broad the science of reading really is.

And that brings me to an important point…

If you watch TikTok videos or Instagram reels, you’ve probably seen a lot of science of reading fans focusing on phonics and phonological awareness. While they are definitely two critical pieces of the puzzle, it’s important to note that there are also other parts too.

For instance, without teaching students what words mean, they’ll never be able to understand and analyze the stories they sound out.

And if students learn the sounds letters make but don’t also have the working memory they need to keep those sounds in their head long enough to be able to blend them together and read the word, they’ll always struggle with fluency.

So, Where Do We Go from Here?

First, don’t panic! If you are worried that you’re not incorporating research-based strategies into your lesson plans yet, don’t worry – following along with me is a great place to start.

It’s likely that you are doing many science-backed things already and now you can make tweaks and updates as needed. I’ll continue sharing tons of helpful tips and strategies right here on the blog and over on Instagram and Facebook.

And if you want a research-based, easy-to-follow system for helping EVERY reader get bigger results, join my 5-day SoR challenge called The Science of Reading in Action. It’s where I go all in and give you the proven tools and strategies that are helping thousands of students learn to read. You’ll get everything you need in one go-to spot.

The Science of Reading in Action

The thing that sets this training apart is the word ACTION. There’s nothing worse than taking a training, getting inspired, and then realizing that you have no idea how to actually implement everything you learned.

That’s why this 5-day challenge pairs the SoR knowledge with the tools and strategies you need to put it into action.

But I never want you to just take my word for it – I really want you to see the impact for yourself. Here are just a few of the successes our alums shared during the training:

I want YOUR success stories to be next! Hop over and snag your spot inside the 5-day science of reading challenge.

The post What is the Science of Reading? appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

A lot of times readers just need to practice something called phonemic awareness. Luckily, this playful pop it center is a super fun way to practice it!

Snag your set below and then join the waitlist for my 4-week teacher training called The Reading Roadmap so you can get my easy-to-use system for reaching EVERY reader in class.

What is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is just a fancy way of saying “HEARING the sounds in words”. For instance, the word dog has three sounds: /d/ /o/ /g/ 

And so does the word rain: /r/ /ai/ /n/.

Notice that the word rain has THREE sounds but FOUR letters. When you’re practicing phonemic awareness, you’re only focusing on the sounds in words – NOT the spelling.

Let’s try a couple just for fun! How many sounds are in the word pie?

ANSWER: Two! Even though we know that pie has three letters when we spell it, the word only has two sounds: /p/ /ie/

Let’s do one more!

How many sounds are in the word robot?

ANSWER: Five! In this case, the number of sounds matches the number of letters: /r/ /o/ /b/ /o/ /t/

Phonemic Awareness Pop Its

If students are struggling to take the individual letter sounds they read and blend them together to make words, it’s likely that their phonemic awareness is weak.

And you know the best way to strengthen a skill is to practice it so I pulled together a batch of these motivating phonemic awareness pop its for you!

Just print the cards, slide them through the laminator for extra durability, and cut along the lines to separate the pieces.

Then grab your stash of pop its. (Some Dollar Stores even have enough to make a class set!)

Students will grab one card at a time, say the word out loud, and then pop each sound they hear.

Remember, they are listening for the sounds, not focusing on the spelling quite yet. Being able to hear SOUNDS now will help them read and spell WORDS later.

Snag Your Set

Click the blue download button below and then hop over and request an invite to my 4 week course, The Reading Roadmap, so you can get everything you need to reach ALL of the readers in your class.

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Grab your free copy below and, if you need an editable version you can tweak to practice your own word list, hop over and snag all of our Editable Sight Words Games all in one spot!

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the targets (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability. I cut along the grey lines to separate the squares and then taped them up on the wall.

(Note: If you’ll be using the game in a classroom, you may want to laminate the cards for reuse.)

I grabbed my boys’ plastic bow and arrow and a couple of pencils they could use to write their words on the record sheet. We were all set for this super fun sight word game!

Sight Word Targets

The boys couldn’t wait to play the sight word game.  Big Brother (age 6) went first. He picked a target, read the word out loud and then launched his arrow to try and shoot it.

“This,” Big Brother read. He pulled back his bowstring and shot the arrow straight ahead. Direct hit!

He grabbed his pencil and spelled “this” next to number one on his record sheet.

Then, it was Middle Brother’s turn to read, launch and record.

The boys loved the challenge of trying to shoot the targets and I loved that they were having fun reading and writing sight words. The set included the following 18 words:

are, can, the, this, and, how, to, you, like, be, see, me, my, our, no, yes, for, from

Grab Your Copy

Ready to play?! Click the blue button below to grab your free Sight Word Targets. (You can pick up an editable version of the game in our mega pack of EDITABLE Sight Word Games!)

Ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels trying to help struggling readers catch up, only to wonder if you’re even making progress? You’re not alone—it’s a frustration so many of us know too well. That’s exactly why I created The Science of Reading Formula. It’s your step-by-step guide to teaching reading with confidence, using tools and strategies that actually work (and save you time!). You don’t have to guess anymore—we’ve got you covered. Come join the community of educators who are making reading instruction easier, more effective, and a whole lot less stressful

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For more little reader books, try our Emergent Readers Bundle in our shop!

Getting Ready

We downloaded the hard and soft G printable (below). Then, we printed off the color rhyme page, laminated it and attached it to the front door of a cupboard where it could be clearly seen.

The children wanted to color their own books so we printed off black and white versions and the children folded them carefully into books. They just needed a little help to cut one slit in the middle of the paper. (The instructions included in the download show you the step-by-step of assembly.)

Learning the Hard and Soft G

To start off, we read a children’s book together that contained soft and hard G’s and discussed the two sounds. Then, we learned the rhyme and looked through some favorite books together to see if the rhyme was true and how often it was not.

In front of y or i or e, g is soft like energy.*

In front of a or u or o (or other letters, so you know), G is hard like grin and go.

*There are exceptions to the soft rule, for example: gecko, gift, girl, give, gnome, tiger …

After finding the word “girl” a few times, the children realized that the rhyme was more like a general guide rather than a hard and fast rule. So when they found a G followed by Y, I or E, they’d sound the word out both ways to decide which one sounded correct as a double check!

Reading the Hard and Soft G

Each child then colored either the soft G or hard G little book and read through it to check the words. They used different colored pencils to circle the letter following each G and referred back to the poster to double check whether it fit into the rules of the rhyme correctly. They then swapped books so they’d read through both.

The following day they colored the third little book containing hard and soft G sentences and used highlighters to mark the letter after each G before they read through the book. It was a great way to help children become aware of how letters work together to influence sounds.

After reading through the book they went through it again underlining all the words with hard G’s and circling all the words with soft G’s. They also paired up and read through all the books again with their reading partner.

Grab Your Download

Ready to practice hard and soft G too?! Click the blue download button below to grab your little reader books and poster and then hope over to our shop and check out our Emergent Readers Bundle!

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Snag your free game below and then hop over and grab our best selling 32 EDITABLE Sight Word Games for even *more* fun!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed each of the four game boards and the cookie sight words on cardstock paper to give them extra strength.

Then, I cut out each cookie sight word and laminated the set so it would hold up to plenty of play.

A little bit of prep work was worth it to have a game that could be played over and over again as we practiced learning these important words.

I placed a game board in front of each chair where the players would be sitting and placed a cup in the middle to hold the individual cookie cards the kids would be drawing from.

I made sure to select a cup that wasn’t clear so that players could not see through it.

I mixed up the cookie cards and placed them upside down in the cup so that players were drawing cards from the pile randomly.

Cookie Sight Word Game

To play this sight word game, the players took turns drawing one cookie sight word card, reading the word aloud and looking for a match on their baking sheet game board.

If they had a match, they got to keep the cookie and the game went on to the next player’s turn.

If they didn’t have a match, they returned the cookie to the center cup and it became the next player’s turn.

The game continued until one player had filled their entire cookie baking sheet with matching words.

Additional Tips

There are four separate baking sheet game boards each with 12 unique sight words. Between all four boards, there are a total of 48 cookie cards.

I would suggest removing cookie cards from the cup that match unused baking sheet game boards if you are playing with fewer than four players.

Additionally, if you want to speed up game play, you can allow the players to draw three cookie cards during their turn, instead of one.

Oh, and eating real baked cookies for dessert after game play are optional but highly recommended.

Grab Your Copy

Ready to play?!  Click the big blue “download here” button to snag your free game below and then hop over and grab our best selling 32 EDITABLE Sight Word Games for even *more* fun!

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If you’re looking for more ideas to add to your math station, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prepare this math game, I first printed the game board (found at the end of this post) on cardstock. I chose to laminate the game board for durability and easy reuse, however I could have also put the game board in a plastic page protector.

Then, I grabbed a pencil and paper clip to use for our apple spinner and red, green and yellow pom poms to use as manipulatives.  A dry erase marker, dry erase crayon or other math manipulative are a great alternative.

Apple Race Math Game

To play Apple Race, kids placed a paper clip on the inside of the apple spinner and put the point of their pencil on the center of the spinner. They flicked the clip with their fingers to make it spin and marked the corresponding apple color on their graph.

Kids continued spinning until one color reached the top of their graph first.

I just loved that there were so many opportunities for kids to talk about math while playing this game.  Some of the ways students discussed math while playing Apple Race included:

• Counting the number of each color apple marked on the graph.
• Comparing apple colors by telling which color was greater than, less than or equal.
• Counting and telling how many were needed to reach the top.

Cleaning up this game was super easy because we just cleared the pom poms off the game board and played again!

Grab Your Download

Ready to have some Apple Race Math Game fun?! 

Teaching can feel lonely sometimes, especially when you’re trying to figure out what actually works in your classroom. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula isn’t just about resources—it’s about community. When you join, you’ll be surrounded by like-minded educators who truly get it and are ready to cheer you on. You don’t have to do this alone.

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The stories are brilliant for kindergarteners with a little support, and first graders who will be able to read much of the text independently.

For more math practice, check out our Place Value Cover Up activity in our shop!

Why Word Problems?

Solving word problems is BIG at school. Teachers want to know that children not only understand the basic mechanics of math, but that they know how to apply it in a variety of situations.

That’s why it’s fantastic when we chat to kids about numbers or counting while we’re in the car looking out the window, or at the shopping center or while we’re preparing dinner.

The more familiar our kids are with numbers and their value in real life, rather than as a rote exercise, the better.

NOTE: We talk more about the importance of word problems in this Addition Word Problems to 20 post.

Getting Ready

To prep this activity, I printed off the black and white version onto colored paper to make it nice and bright, and printed the colored version onto plain cardstock.

Before laminating and cutting apart the cards, I wrote the answer on the back of each problem to make it easy for the kids to self-check. I just made sure the answer wouldn’t show through!

Then, I punched holes in the top left-hand corner and added a ring to keep them all together.

Subtraction Word Problems

Since we had previously worked with the Addition Word Problems to 20 cards, the children were familiar with the format, which gave them greater confidence. The fact that it was subtraction just meant that we needed to chat about how to use the ten frames effectively.

Instead of filling in the squares to each part of the question until we got the answer, we had to start with the largest number from the problem.

We did a few together as a group first, reading a problem through from beginning to end, then re-reading it slowly to make sure we understood it.

The children determined the biggest number at the start of the problem and used dry erase markers to put a dot or small circle in the same number of squares.

Then, they continued to the next part of the question and “deleted” the dots either by drawing a cross on top or rubbing it out with a tissue.

I had them go back to the question and make sure they had completed the whole problem before turning the card over to check their answer. Some problems had only two steps, while others had three or four, so double and triple- checking the problem was important.

We found that having to give this attention to detail was rewarding; the more complicated the problem, the prouder the children felt when they were able to complete them.

Of course, some needed additional assistance, particularly if they lacked confidence in math or when the text was a little beyond their current reading level.

After completing a problem, they flipped it over to self-check the answer. If their answer wasn’t the same, they went back to the question to try and discover what step they’d missed or asked a friend to go through the steps with them. This was also a great way to emphasize the importance of taking the time to read the problem over rather than rushing through the process after a quick look!

Of course, they had to erase their answer by rubbing all their markings out before they tried another question.

Grab Your Set

Click the blue button below to download your subtraction word problems and then hop over and grab our Place Value Cover Up in our shop!

The post Subtraction Word Problems to 20 appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

They’re the perfect addition to our Editable Word Work Board Games!

Getting Ready

This activity was super quick and easy to prep!

I just printed the five pages on cardstock and cut along the black lines.

I used a paper cutter to cut them out super quickly and, to make the cards more durable, I laminated them, too.

Surfing for Sight Words

To start the sight words activity, we spread the cards out on a table, separating the surfer guy cards from the surfboard cards.

I gave Middle Sister (preschool) a stack of three surfers to start.

She is just beginning to memorize the words, so we focused on just a few so it wouldn’t be overwhelming.

For Big Sister (first grade), on the other hand, I gave her a bigger pile with all ten words since she has most of them down already.

Each girl chose one of her surfer cards and put it on the left-hand side of her work space.

Then, she went through the surf board cards and read each one out loud.

Each time she came across a surfboard that matched the surfer, she moved it next to him.

The girls read their way through the surfboard cards until they’d found all three boards and completed their set.

Then, they grabbed the next surfer in their stack and started again!

The simple sight word activity was such a fun way to practice reading sight words.

Grab Your Set

Want to add the match up to your word work center or sight word game stash?! Click the blue download button to grab your free set and then hop over and snag our best-selling Editable Board Games too!

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Once your students have mastered CVC words, it’s time to introduce yet another phonics rule: Magic E. When the Magic E is added to the end of a CVC word, it changes the sound that the vowel makes- just like magic! There are so many fun ways to teach the CVCe rule.

If your kids are learning about the Magic E,  you’ll love this game and bonus worksheet! As kids race to find their magic treasure, they practice reading ordinary CVC words plus their magical pairs – words that have a silent e at the end that makes the vowel say its name.  These activities are sure to be a hit!

Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Teaching the Magic E

Introducing the Magic E phonics rule? You can make it fun and engaging with a couple of songs that help students understand the concept.  “The Magic E Song” is useful for teaching kids how the e makes the short sounds long. The “Silent e Song”  provides a great visual of how magic E works, too.

After that, it’s time for the magic e activities! Use a magic E wand to change words like “can” into “cane” and play rounds of bingo to practice reading them.

Magic E Treasure Hunt

To prep our game, print the gameboard on cardstock. Make it extra durable by laminating it to use year after year! 

It’s a two player game, so all the kids need is a game board, counters (dried beans or coins work well) and a die.

The Magic E game contains CVC words that change into new words when the E is added.

Students can play this game two different ways. To play the first way, students roll the die, move their counter, and use a game record sheet to write the words they land on.

To play the second way, students say the word they land on and state if it has a short or long vowel sound. For instance, when one student lands on the word “rat”, she reads the word and then might say, “That has a short vowel sound because it doesn’t say its name.”.

Magic E Worksheets

After the class plays the game, students have a go at writing the Magic E words using a batch of student-friendly worksheets. They apply the silent E rule by looking at the picture and writing the missing long vowel sound a-e, i-e, o-e or u-e.

It’s no prep reinforcement with just a click of your “print” button!

Grab Your Copy

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

The post Fun and Engaging Magic E Activities for Students appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Getting Ready

To prep this fun addition and subtraction game, I printed the LEGO game boards on cardstock to give them extra durability. Then, I grabbed a die and our stash of LEGO bricks. (Each child needed at least 30 LEGO bricks and a LEGO person to use as her playing piece.)

Three Versions

There are three versions of the game to make it easy for kids to practice a variety of skills: addition to five, subtraction within five and both.

Addition to Five Game

To practice addition to five, each player starts with zero bricks. He rolls the die and moves his game piece that many spaces on his board.

Then, he reads the addition problem he lands on and adds that many bricks to his tower.

The player with the most bricks in her stack at the end is the winner!

Subtraction within Five Game

If you’re in more of a take away kind of mood, kids can work on subtraction within five instead.

To play, each player starts with a tower of 25 bricks. The first player rolls the die, moves his game piece that many spaces and takes off the number of bricks written on the space.

The player with the fewest bricks when all players have reached the end wins.

Addition and Subtraction Game

And finally, to work on both operations at once, players start with a tower of 10 bricks. Player One rolls the die, moves her game piece and either adds or subtracts the number of LEGOs written on the space from her stack.

The player with the most bricks when all players have reached the end wins the game.

Grab Your Download

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

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These hard and soft C little books help readers think about the two sounds. And the rhyme helps kids to make some sense of the differences!  And speaking of little readers, hop over to check out our amazing Emergent Readers Bundle in our shop!

Getting Ready

We had already worked through hard and soft G little readers, so the kids were keen to keep going with these new books. We downloaded them (below), printed them off and posted the rhyme on our cupboard right next to the soft and hard G poster.

We assembled the books using the instructions in the printable, printing the two word books in color and the hard and soft C phrase book in black and white so we could color it.

Learning the Hard and Soft C

We wanted to go hunting for the letter C, so we cut Post-It notes into thin strips so we could leave one on the page wherever we saw a C.

We read through Cinderella together and took our time to scan the pages as we read. Then, we picked some C words at random to decide whether they were hard or soft.

We took a look at the poster, reading through the rhyme together and looking back at the words we’d highlighted from Cinderella to see if they were true. We also realized that the “rules” in the rhyme were nearly the same for C as they were for G (except that CH makes its own sound).

This is how the rhyme goes:

In front of i or y or e, C is soft like celery*.

In front of a or u or o (or other letters, so you know), C is hard like cows or crows (unless it’s H like chews or chose).

 * There are exceptions to the soft rule, for example: Mc and Mac are always hard even if followed by e or i.

The children all chose to look for a word with a different following letter and wrote one each on the whiteboard so we could look at them more closely. This was an effective way to double check the rhyme and make sure we understood it properly.

Reading the Hard and Soft C

The children read through both word books, underlying the sound after each C with a pencil before saying the word to check how it sounded. Then, they used thin markers to trace over the words. Some children traced every word, more struggling writers did just a few words.

Next, we read through the mixed reader together before they colored their own book.

After a break, the children paired off and read the Hard and Soft Sounds Book together. By this time they had a fairly good grasp of the concept of hard and soft sounds and used it to help sound out some of the trickier words they were less familiar with.

Grab Your Download

Ready to practice hard and soft C too?! Click the blue download button below to grab your little reader books and then hop over and pick up our Emergent Readers Bundle, too!

The post Hard and Soft C Little Reader Books appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

And, our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack is a must-have if you’re looking for similar activities!

Getting Ready

Before beginning these rhyming games, some teaching prep work is involved.  Teaching rhyming can be tricky. I was happy when I learned there is a rhyming teaching sequence. So you don’t have to worry about trying to teach rhyme identification and rhyme generation simultaneously.

The first step is for kids to learn how to identify words that rhyme. I find pictures sorts with three options work best at this level. An example of an activity is to lay out three pictures with two that rhyme and one that doesn’t. Then, ask a question such as, “which one rhymes with cake… dog or rake?” (The activities below focus on developing this skill.)

The next step is for kids to learn how to generate rhyming words on their own. So at this level, the kids can be challenged with prompts such as “think of a word that rhymes with key and bee…. tree, knee, see, me, we, etc.”

I’ve been advised before that even making up nonsense words is okay, as long as they rhyme. Kids certainly seem to love it when they can make up a word to rhyme with their own name.

Once kids get the hang of rhyming they will hopefully appreciate that “rhyme” and “slime” rhyme. I was stoked when I thought of that combo, so I hope your students enjoy the following activities!

Rhyming Games

The first game you can play is Rhyme Slime, which is a bit like a game of snap but with a twist.

Each player is given a set of rhyming cards and they take turns putting a card face up on the rhyme slime mat. They need to say the picture out loud e.g. “tree.” If there are two cards face up that rhyme, such as “tree” and “bee”,  the players needs to say “rhyme slime” and high five each other with the motion of slimy, slithery fingers!

The next rhyming game is a picture sort that includes the rhyme endings of -AT, -AN, – AKE, -EE. I usually work with two sets to begin with such as -AT and -EE. I begin by laying out the headings and saying the sounds.

I get the kids to take turns choosing a card and saying the name of the picture out loud. Then, they have to place it below the mat that rhymes.

The activity could be tweaked for kids who are ready to generate rhymes. You can use the headings as prompts to see how many rhyming words they can come up with.

The last activity is memory, also known as concentration. To play, kids randomly choose a few rhyming cards from the pile. For beginners, I’d stick to just two word families such as -AT and -EE.

Then, lay the cards face down in rows. Each player turns over two cards at a time. If they rhyme, they get to keep the pair and have another turn.

If they don’t rhyme, they need to turn the card back over and remember where it is. Then, the next player has a turn. The player with the most pairs wins.

Tip: Printing the cards on cardstock keeps players from seeing through to the other side.

Grab Your Set

Ready to play Rhyme Slime?! Click the download button below to grab your set and then grab our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

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If you’re looking for more math practice, check out our Place Value Cover Up activity!

Getting Ready

To prepare for this activity, I downloaded the free multiplication cards (below) and printed them.

(The color version was printed onto white cardstock and the black and white version onto colored copy paper for brightness.)

I laminated the pages, cut them apart and then wrote the answer on the back of each card with a permanent Sharpie. This made them self-checking.

Then, I asked the kids to punch holes in the top left corner of the cards so we could attach them to a ring.

Solving Multiplication Word Problems

The most difficult part for children working on multiplication is to make sure they understand the question and what it’s asking of them. So we began this activity as a group and talked through some of the problems together.

Students knew that multiplication was the same as adding groups of numbers together. For instance, 3 x 5 means 3 sets of 5.

With the question pictured above, we had to decide whether we would cross off 5 squares twice, or two squares five times. Children were excited to discover that either way, we arrived at the same answer.

We used dry erase markers and dry erase crayons to mark the squares on the ten frames for each problem and then erased them afterwards.

Some of the children chose to draw little objects in the squares rather than just checking them off. For example, drawing little triangles when working on the pizza problem or simple chairs for one of the traveling questions. One child grabbed some recycled paper and drew larger pictures to represent the problems because it helped him understand more clearly. He then glued that page into his math notebook to keep a record of his efforts.

One aspect about these multiplication word problems that made the kids more comfortable with these cards was that they had already completed the Addition Word Problems to 20 cards as well as the Subtraction Word Problems to 20 cards.

Since the format was familiar, and the children had completed those tasks successfully, they did not seem too concerned about the questions because they knew if they re-read them or chatted with their friends, they’d be able to work them out.

Grab Your Set

Let’s start multiplying! Click the blue button below to download your free story problems and then hop over and snag our Place Value Cover Up Activity in our shop!

The post Multiplication Word Problems to 20 appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

These task cards stay focused within 20 – numbers that are comfortable for children in first and second grade. They’re great to use as a math center or division activity!

For more math fun, check out our Place Value Cover Up activity in our shop!

Getting Ready

It took very little effort to get ready for this activity. I downloaded the printable (below), wrote the answers on the back of each problem and then laminated and cut the pages into cards.

There are both color and black and white versions, but I printed the color versions since they’re going to be reused over and over again.

Then, I punched holes in the top corner of each card to attach them to a ring for safe-keeping.

Revisiting Multiplication

In order to understand division, we went back to our Multiplication Word Problem Cards for a quick review.

We re-did some of the questions and then talked about how we could turn the questions around, making the largest number (the answer) part of the question.

For example, if we already know that Diego played 12 games overall we might ask:

If Diego played 4 games every hour and he played 12 games in total, how many hours was Diego on the plane?

The children could see that there were 12 total marks in the ten frames, but there were also 3 groups of 4, which means he played for 3 hours.

Another Example

If Thomas has 18 stamps altogether and divides them equally between 6 pages, how many stamps did he put on each page?

On the ten frame, the kids saw that in the original multiplication question the answer was found by adding 3 groups of 6. Now, they have been given the numbers 18 and 6, therefore the answer must be 3.

Division Word Problems

When we wrapped up our quick review of multiplication, we jumped in and started tackling the division problems.

I gave the kids a number of different colored dry erase markers to use in case color coding each set proved to be a helpful visual strategy for them.

1. They used one color to draw a dot in each square to show the biggest number in the question.
2. If they needed to split that number into 4 equal groups, they grabbed 4 different colored markers.
3. Then they drew a circle around each dot alternating between each of the four colors. For example, yellow, blue, red, green, yellow, blue, red, green. They kept circling the dots until all had been assigned a color.
4. Finally, they went back and counted how many yellow circles (for example) they had altogether. That number was their answer!

Grab Your Set

Let’s start dividing! Click the blue button below to download your free story problems and then hop over and snag our Place Value Cover Up in our shop, too!

The post Division Word Problems within 20 appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

The post includes Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

I wanted to give the brag tags a vibrant pop of color and really make them stand out so I printed them on several different Astrobrights® Papers: Planetary Purple, Celestial Blue®, Solar Yellow, Cosmic Orange, Vulcan Green and Pulsar Pink (Amazon affiliate links).

Using Astrobrights is my secret sauce of saving MAJOR printer ink on this project (and so many others!) because the blackline brag tags already have that wow factor kids love.

Plus, rainbow colors always make the classroom a happier place!

You can find the colors individually or you can purchase assortment packs – the sky’s the limit with inspiring color combinations!

Note: If you’ll be using the tags in a classroom, you may want to laminate them for durability.

Once the brag tags were printed, I used my paper cutter to slice along the grey lines and separate them into individual pieces.

Then, I picked up small stacks at a time and punched a hole in the upper left corner so that the tags would be easy for students to hang later.

I grabbed my stash of book rings and we were ready to go!

Using the Brag Tags

I helped my daughter clip a book ring to the outside of her backpack so that she had a simple system for storing the brag tags as she accumulated them.

(In a classroom, clipping the tags to backpacks would help families stay connected to their children’s positive choices, too. A major plus!)

As I caught my daughter making good decisions throughout the day, I happily handed her a brag tag and invited her to add it to the ring.

She was so excited to be recognized as a rockstar reader, critical thinker, hard worker, team player and awesome author.

It took a little practice for her hands to get used to opening and closing the book ring but, after collecting just a couple of brag tags, she was a pro.

The friendly tags were such a fun way to encourage her positive behavior!

Grab Your Set

Ready to add some spirited brag tags to your classroom?! Click the blue download button below and then hop over and grab your favorite Astrobrights to give them an inspiring pop of color!

Do you ever feel like you’re speaking a different language when trying to explain your approach to parents? You’re not alone. The Science of Reading Formula not only gives you strategies for your classroom but also equips you with the words and tools to get parents on board. When everyone’s rowing in the same direction, the results are incredible—and you don’t have to do it alone!

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She even hand painted them! #MadeWithSoMuchLove

Classroom Posters

When you get your hands on the classroom posters, you’ll be able to choose from six inspiring quotes:

• “The influence of a good teacher can never be erased.” – Unknown
• “A great teacher takes a hand, opens a mind and touches a heart.” – Unknown
• “To teach is to touch a life forever.” – Unknown
• “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” – Albert Einstein
• “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace.” -Confucious
• “I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” – Robert Frost

You can print your favorite or print them all!

Get Even More!

Do you ever feel like you’re speaking a different language when trying to explain your approach to parents? You’re not alone. The Science of Reading Formula not only gives you strategies for your classroom but also equips you with the words and tools to get parents on board. When everyone’s rowing in the same direction, the results are incredible—and you don’t have to do it alone!

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Ready to turn your students into authors!? Snag our Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop!

Getting Started

To prep this writing activity, I printed off a writing page for each of my first grade students and grabbed some milk and mint Oreos at the store. That’s it! Quick and easy.

How to Eat an Oreo Writing Activity

I gathered my first graders on our classroom carpet.  I could tell that they were super excited to get started… and eat the Oreos!

Since we had written other “how to” pieces before, I had a student quickly review the idea that each step should be simple and easy for our readers to follow.

Then, we talked about the different ways people like to eat their Oreos – cream filling first, cookies first, dunked in milk, dry… the list went on and on.

Next, I asked my students to watch how I eat an Oreo.

I slowly took the top off, licked the filling until it was gone, and dunked the remaining cookies into my milk.  I asked my students what I did first, next, then and finally.

Impressively, they were easily able to tell me the exact steps I took.  I wrote each step down with their help, drew a few quick pictures and then tucked my copy away so that my students wouldn’t just copy it.

I passed out milk and one Oreo to each student so they could walk through the steps of their Oreo eating, too. After spreading out in the room, they began munching and writing.

My students carefully ate their Oreos and wrote until everyone had finished.

Because they did such a great job writing, I gave all of them another cookie and let them walk around to read their classmates’ work. It was the perfect way to end our tasty “how to” writing activity!

Grab Your Copy

Ready to download your copy and get started?  Click the blue button below and then hop over and snag our Writing Center Starter Kit for more writing practice!

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And for even more numbers practice, grab the Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prepare this QR code activity, I printed the QR code cards and double ten frame mat (below) on white cardstock.

(Both color and black and white copies are included in the download.  The black and white copy would look great on orange cardstock for fall!)

I slid the cards and mat through the laminator to give it extra durability.

Then, I made our Pumpkin Pie Playdough Recipe to use as pumpkins for counting on the ten frame mat.  You could also use candy pumpkins as counting manipulatives.

I made sure that I had a QR code reader app on my iPad to scan the QR codes on the cards.  (If you don’t have one already, just search for “free QR code reader” in your favorite app store.)

Pumpkin QR Code Cards Activity

To play, my students chose a QR code card from the pile and scanned it with the reader app on their device. A number popped up on the screen and they read it out loud.

Then, they counted out the same number of playdough pumpkins on their ten frame board, being careful to fill in the top row of squares before continuing to the row below.

Students loved scanning, reading and counting all twenty numbers!

Although my class completed the activity independently, you could easily have children work in pairs. Each set of partners could get a ten frame mat and take turns picking a QR code card and counting out a matching number of pumpkins.

After the second partner builds her number, students could compare who has more pumpkins and who has less on her ten frame.

Grab Your QR Cards

Ready for some fun Pumpkin QR Code Card counting?!  Click the button below to grab your free copy and then hop over and grab our Number Formation Pack in the shop!

Teaching is tough, and some days it feels like there’s just too much on your plate. I’ve been there, and it’s exhausting. The Science of Reading Formula was made for teachers like you—ones who want to simplify reading instruction without sacrificing results. With easy-to-implement tools and a supportive community, you’ll feel re-energized and ready to take on the day. Let’s make this easier, together.

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Grab your set of free CVC games below and then practice any words under the sun with our Editable Word Work Games!

CVC Games: What’s Inside?

The free CVC games include:

CVC Board Games

Each player has to roll the dice and sound out the individual sounds of the CVC word they land on. They then identify the vowel sound and write the word on the game recording sheet below the corresponding heading. For example, if a player lands on “cab” they need to say “cab, /c/ /a/ /b/, cab has an “a” sound.” Then, they’ll write “cab” below the short a heading.

The activity helps new readers practice the skill of oral segmenting which involves breaking a word down into phonemes (individual sounds). For example, “cat” is broken down into the phonemes /c/ /a/ /t/ and “dog” has the phonemes /d/ /o/ /g/.

Oral segmenting is important for helping kids spell, rhyme and notice patterns in words.  And these CVC games make it fun!

Short Vowel Worksheets

The first two worksheets require children to look at the picture and write the missing vowel. The third worksheet is a fun word search where children can use a different color to represent each vowel sound.

Once again, this set of activities gives kids practice identifying vowel sounds and breaking words into individual phonemes.

Ready to Play?

Click the blue button below to download your free CVC games and then continue the fun learning with our popular Word Work Games where you can practice any words you’d like!

With so many diverse needs in one classroom, it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula is here to help. We’ve got a treasure trove of resources designed to help you meet every student where they are—whether they’re just learning letter sounds or tackling more advanced skills. Differentiation doesn’t have to feel overwhelming anymore!

The post Free CVC Games appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Snag your free game below and then hop over and grab our best selling 32 EDITABLE Sight Word Games for even *more* fun!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep this activity, I copied one Dot an Apple record sheet (below) for each student.

Then, I printed the apple cards on card stock to give them extra durability and laminated them before cutting along the black lines to separate the pieces.

I grabbed our batch of dot markers and we were ready to play!

Dot an Apple Sight Word Game

To play, we placed the apple cards face down in a pile in the center of the table.

Each student grabbed a record sheet and a dot marker. They drew the top card from the pile and read the word on the apple card out loud. Then, they found the apple with the same word on their sheets.

The students used a dot marker to dab the apple with the same word.

You can either give students a specific color or let them choose several. My kiddos love making their papers look like rainbows, so they used all of the colors.

The kids continued to play until they read and marked every sight word.

The game is a great activity to play individually or in groups.

If your students play together, players will take turns drawing a card. Everyone in the group will read the card together and then dot the matching apple.  It’s the perfect sight word game for fall!

Grab Your Set

Ready for some fun sight word practice?! Click the blue download button below to grab your free set and then hop over and grab our best selling 32 EDITABLE Sight Word Games for even *more* fun!

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After you’re done with this fun activity, check out our Writing Center Starter Kit!

Getting Ready

Prep for these Halloween writing prompts was super easy – my favorite!

I printed off the writing prompts on some colorful paper.

Then, I made copies of the writing checklist and cut them out using my paper cutter.

Viola! All done.

5 Halloween Writing Prompts

Since there were five different prompts, I let the kids choose which one they would like to complete first:

• When I got home from school yesterday there was a magical cat sitting on my bed…
• How to Make a Magic Brew
• My favorite kind of candy is…
• Halloween Acrostic Poem
• And a picture story prompt

Then, it was time to engage their imagination and creativity.

Grab Your Download

Ready to get writing?

Scroll below and click the blue download button to grab your writing freebies and then spice up your writing center with our Writing Center Starter Kit!

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Try the sample below and the grab the complete pack in our shop! 

What Is Number Decomposition?

Number decomposition is just a fancy way of saying “understanding different combinations that make the same number.”

The number three, for example, has four different ways it can be made:

3 + 0, 2 + 1, 1 + 2 and 0 + 3

Knowing Where to Start

Before jumping into the activities, I gave Middle Brother (age 5) a quick assessment. I filled a cup with 10 counting beans and then dumped three of the beans into my hand.

I showed them to my son and asked him to quickly tell me how many beans I was holding.

“Three!” he called out immediately.

I placed the beans back in the cup and dumped five beans into my hand.

This time, when I showed him the set, he took a long pause and began counting the beans one by one.

Since I wanted to know the smallest number he could not instantly recognize, I knew I needed to do a little more testing. Three was too easy and five was too hard, so I pulled out four beans from the cup and showed them to him to see how he responded.

“That’s easy – four!” he said.

That was just the information I needed. He had three and four down but needed to start working on five.

I quickly printed the number five sheets and invited him over to join me again.

Number Decomposition

Middle Brother started with the unifix cube sheets first.

He built a stack of red unifix cubes, colored the picture to match and wrote the corresponding number sentence.

Then, he removed one of the red cubes and replaced it with a blue…

Middle Brother continued replacing just one brick at a time, coloring his picture and writing the matching number sentence.

Then, we swapped out the cubes for counting beans!

He shook his cup and dumped the five beans on the table.

Counting the number of reds and whites, he colored his picture and wrote the number sentence.

Then, we grabbed the two-colored counters and repeated the same steps again.

Once he had five down, we switched to number six!

The activity pack made it so easy to differentiate for his specific needs.

Grab Your Sample

Ready to start building number decomposition with your kids too?

Click the blue download button below to snag your sample!

Teaching can feel lonely sometimes, especially when you’re trying to figure out what actually works in your classroom. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula isn’t just about resources—it’s about community. When you join, you’ll be surrounded by like-minded educators who truly get it and are ready to cheer you on. You don’t have to do this alone!

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Snag your copy below and then grab our best selling Number Formation Pack!

Getting Ready

These pumpkin counting mats are super easy to prepare!

I chose to print the download (found below) on orange cardstock and ran the mat through my laminator.

(There is also a color version that could be printed on white cardstock.)

I grabbed some of my pumpkin mini erasers, a dry erase marker and eraser, and a pencil and paper clip for spinning the spinner.

If you don’t have the pumpkin erasers from Target, you could use a different manipulative of choice or use the pumpkin printable cards included in the free download.

We were ready for some pumpkin counting!

Pumpkin Counting Mat

For this activity, my students first spun the 1-20 spinner. The first number was 11.

We counted out eleven pumpkins on the ten frames, making sure to start in the upper left-hand corner of the top box and move to the right, just like we read a book.

The activity lends itself nicely to some great one-to-one correspondence practice.

The last thing my students did was write the number to match their set of pumpkins.  Since there were 11 pumpkins counted on the ten frames, the children wrote the number 11 on the line with a dry erase marker.

Students repeated the process of spinning, counting and writing until their time was finished.

This festive counting mat activity was prefect to use as small math group work, independent practice or as a partner activity.

Grab Your Download

Ready for some pumpkin counting fun?!  Just click the button below to grab your free download!

With so many diverse needs in one classroom, it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula is here to help. We’ve got a treasure trove of resources designed to help you meet every student where they are—whether they’re just learning letter sounds or tackling more advanced skills. Differentiation doesn’t have to feel overwhelming anymore!

The post Pumpkin Counting Mat appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

For more alphabet fun, grab the Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

Making my boys’ ABC art books was quick and easy. I printed the pages on white paper and headed to the UPS Store down the road to bind them. Five minutes and $3.80 later, I walked out with a nicely bound book.

(Sliding the pages into a 3 ring binder would work well too.)

ABC Art Book

My boys LOVE art projects so they were THRILLED when I told them they’d each make their own book filled with 26 different activities – one for each letter of the alphabet. Starting at the beginning of the book, we completed three or four pages each day. When there was a messy paint project in our lineup, we worked on it last so that we could leave the page open and let it dry.

We did blue block stamping. (I slid a sheet of wax paper underneath the Bb sheet to keep the paint from soaking through to the Cc page.)

We made dot art…

tried some jewel gluing… (I found our package of jewels at the dollar store.)

key rubbing and so much more…

A Couple Notes

• On the Ll is for lace collaging page, we cut up paper doilies I found at the dollar store and glued them to the page to make pictures. My oldest turned his pieces into a snowman and my 3 year-old made his a dog.

• For the Oo is for orange O page, we stamped empty toilet paper rolls to make Os.

• I cut out a pile of red rectangles and had the boys glue them on the Rr is for red rectangle collaging page.

• The boys stamped an X stamp on the Xx is for x stamping sheet.

Grab Your Free ABC Art Book

Ready to start playing? Click the blue button below to download your free ABC art book and then grab our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels trying to help struggling readers catch up, only to wonder if you’re even making progress? You’re not alone—it’s a frustration so many of us know too well. That’s exactly why I created The Science of Reading Formula. It’s your step-by-step guide to teaching reading with confidence, using tools and strategies that actually work (and save you time!). You don’t have to guess anymore—we’ve got you covered. Come join the community of educators who are making reading instruction easier, more effective, and a whole lot less stressful!

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And if you’re into learning sight words, grab our awesome Word Work Games in our shop!  They’re EDITABLE!

Getting Ready

Prepping the sight word activity was super quick!

I just printed a sheet for each student and then grabbed some crayons. (Colored pencils or markers would work well too.)

Gingerbread Color by Sight Word

For this sight word activity, the first thing we did was look at the key at the top of the page.

Students read each word and then colored the box to match the key: “made” was red, “these” was brown, etc.

It was finally time to color!

The students chose which section they wanted to color first.

They read the word, looked at the key to figure out what color the section should be and then used their coloring utensil to color the section.

Some of my kids like to find all of the words for a certain color and make a little mark in the space first. It was a great technique for children who like to plan ahead.

Students continued choosing sections, reading the words and coloring the sections until the whole thing was colored.  It was a great sight word activity and best of all – didn’t use flash cards!

Grab Your Set

Ready for some fun sight word practice?

With so many diverse needs in one classroom, it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula is here to help. We’ve got a treasure trove of resources designed to help you meet every student where they are—whether they’re just learning letter sounds or tackling more advanced skills. Differentiation doesn’t have to feel overwhelming anymore!

The post Gingerbread Color by Sight Word appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Scroll below for your free download and then make sure to hope and snag our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack for more alphabet fun!

Getting Ready

Prep for this adorable alphabet game was easy peasy.

I printed off the houses and mouse and quickly cut them out.

Then, I ran everything through my laminator for extra durability.

We were all set!

Little Mouse, Little Mouse Alphabet Game

Since I was using this game to review, I laid all the alphabet houses on the table and hid the mouse behind one.

My 3.5 year-old came running over the moment the words “Little Mouse” came out of my mouth.

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said this alphabet game is a favorite!

When the mouse was safely hidden, I asked my son what house he’d like to look under first. “T!” he shouted.

Together we chanted, “Little Mouse, Little Mouse, are you in the T house?” and then he eagerly lifted up the house marked with the Tt.

The mouse wasn’t there, so he tried again.

My son continued saying the rhyme, naming his letters and lifting the houses until he found the hidden mouse under the Qq house.

The moment he succeeded, he begged to start playing again!

Grab Your Download

Scroll below and click the blue button to snag your free game!

With so many diverse needs in one classroom, it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula is here to help. We’ve got a treasure trove of resources designed to help you meet every student where they are—whether they’re just learning letter sounds or tackling more advanced skills. Differentiation doesn’t have to feel overwhelming anymore!

The post Little Mouse, Little Mouse Alphabet Game appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your copy below and then hop over and snag our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop for more alphabet fun!

Getting Ready

I printed my cards on cardstock and then laminated them for extra durability.

Then I sliced along the grey lines to separate the sheets into cards.

That’s it! The prep was a cinch!

Alphabet Match 

First, I laid all the cards out face up on the table.

Students took turns searching for for matches and placing them in pairs.

Memory

After the kids had matched all the pairs a few times, I moved the cards to a literacy center for a new alphabet game: Memory!

In our small group, we laid out all the cards upside down in neat rows.

Starting with a volunteer, students took turns flipping over two cards at a time.

If they were a match, the player added them to his pile and had another turn.

If they were not a match, the player turned the cards back over and it was the next student’s turn.

The player with the most matches at the end of the game was the winner!

Go Fish 

Another variation to this alphabet game my students enjoyed playing was the classic game of “Go Fish!”

To play, I mixed the cards up and passed four cards out to each player.

I placed the remaining cards in a stack in the center of the table to make a “Go Fish” pile.

Then, players took turns asking another student for a card as they tried to make matches.

If the child had the card a player asked for, she had to hand it over.

Each time a student made a pair, she earned another turn.

The child with the most matches was the winner!

These were all amazing alphabet games for practice – all wrapped up in one!

Grab Your Download

Click the blue “download” below and then don’t forget to grab our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels trying to help struggling readers catch up, only to wonder if you’re even making progress? You’re not alone—it’s a frustration so many of us know too well. That’s exactly why I created The Science of Reading Formula. It’s your step-by-step guide to teaching reading with confidence, using tools and strategies that actually work (and save you time!). You don’t have to guess anymore—we’ve got you covered. Come join the community of educators who are making reading instruction easier, more effective, and a whole lot less stressful!

The post Purr-fect Pairs Alphabet Games appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

When you’re done spying, check out our Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop that will help turn your students into little authors!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I printed out a book cover for each of my students on neon Astrobrights paper to add a motivating pop of color.

Then, I printed out the I Spy pages front to back, folded the pages in half, and made a big stack of them on my writing table.

I Spy Book

I started out this lesson by pulling out an actual I Spy book so that we could play a quick round of I Spy.

Focusing on a blue marble that was shown on one of the pages, I gave kids clues about the object I was thinking of:

“I spy with my little eye something blue.”

“I spy with my little eye something that rolls.”

Students’ hands shot into the air. They were eager to call out their answer.

I waited a few more seconds for other children in class to spot the marble and then invited the kids to whisper their guesses to their neighbor.

Next, I explained that we were going to take the same idea and each make our own I Spy book.  They were excited to say the least!

I showed them my sample book and had them guess the things around the classroom that I had picked!

I said, “I spy with my little eye something that is shiny and makes noise”.  A few students shared their guesses and then one of my kids picked the right object: the teacher bell that I ring when we transition to new activities.

I explained how the pages would be inserted into the books so that our readers would have to flip the page to discover the answer.  

I showed them how to fold the pages in half and then put them into the cover page with the folds facing out. Then, I stapled along the cover’s edge.  I told my kiddos that I would be more than happy to help anyone staple their books together when they were ready.

Finally, I sent them off to create their books!  I loved seeing their creativity flourish and I was impressed with many of the adjectives they used.  It’s amazing what something new and exciting can do for a student’s writing!

Grab Your Copy

Ready to download this activity and start playing I Spy too?! Click the blue download button below and then hop over and snag our awesome Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop!

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Looking for more writing inspiration?  Grab our Writing Center Starter Kit!

Getting Ready

To prep, I simply printed out all five prompts – making 10 of each for my class of 17. (I knew that not every kid would choose to write one of every page. I splurged a little and printed them in color since the clipart is just SO cute!

The printable pack includes blank versions with no lines and options with lines but no prompt at the top.  I didn’t print those just yet, but we may use them for another activity.

Fall Writing Pages

Like always, I made sure to show off these pages to my kiddos and model great writing before putting them out for use.

To start, I gathered my students on the carpet and showed off the fun and colorful writing pages.  I explained that they could choose which paper (or papers) they wanted to work on throughout the week during their independent “work on writing” time.

I had my students raise their hands to vote for which prompt they wanted me to respond to and they unanimously picked, “What would your dream tree house look like?”

I modeled how to brainstorm before writing, how to start with a capital, use finger spaces and end my sentences with punctuation.

After setting out the fall writing pages, I let my students start our literacy workshop rotations. The pages were such a motivating addition to our centers.

Grab Your Copy

Ready to download?!  Just click the blue download button below and then hop over and grab our amazing Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop!

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

The post Fall Writing Pages appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I used the directions written on each page of the craftivity (below) to print the sheets on different colors.

The “Me” circle was purple, the “street” was blue…

Then, I grabbed scissors, a hole punch, brad and crayons we would need to complete the project.

Me on the Map

I introduced the activity by reading the book Me on the Map (found on Amazon HERE). Then, I explained that we were going to find out where WE were on the map!

Big Brother (age 7) began coloring one of the boy pictures to match himself.

Then, he carefully cut around the outside edge of the picture and placed it off to the side.

After cutting out each circle, we worked together to label the parts. “My country” was the USA, “my state” was Washington…

We stacked the circles on top of each other and aligned them at the top so that we could easily punch a hole through all eight parts at the same time.

Then, we bound them together with a simple brad and viola! Big Brother could easily see HIS place on the map!

Grab Your Copy

Ready to make your own Me on the Map craftivity?! Click the blue button below to snag your instant download. 

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

The post Me on the Map Craft appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Snag your free game below and then hop over and grab our best selling 32 EDITABLE Sight Word Games for even *more* fun!

Getting Ready

This sight word game was super quick and easy to prep! Just print the game board and either laminate it or put it in a plastic sleeve to make it more durable. Print a recording sheet for each student.  Grab a die, some space markers, and a pencil for each kiddo, and you’re set!

Mermaid Sight Word Game

My kids love mermaids, so they were super excited to play this new game! Little Sister (preschool) rolled first. She got a 3! She moved her space marker 3 and landed on “what.”

She read the word and then wrote it on her recording sheet.

The kids took turns rolling, reading and writing the sight words. We kept playing until everyone reached the treasure chest. If the kids don’t fill their recording sheet, they can start over and play the sight word game again.

It was a great activity that not only worked on sight words, but handwriting, too!

Grab Your Copy

Ready for some fun sight word practice? Click the blue download button then hop over and grab our best selling 32 EDITABLE Sight Word Games for even *more* fun!

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Ready for more math fun!? Check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

One of the great things about clip cards is that they are small but mighty – they don’t take up much space or ink, yet the learning they provide can be great.

These cards print 6 to a page, and since the set is for counting apples 1-12, you only need to print and laminate 2 sheets of paper.

After I had the cards laminated, I cut them apart on the solid black lines and grabbed some clothespins.

To store them, I put them in a Ziploc. That way I could easily pull them out for math centers or small group work later and place in a small basket for the kids.

Apple Ten Frame Clip Cards

With an activity of this size, I typically play with a student individually or in a group of two if they need assistance.

We used regular-sized clothespins this time, but smaller clothespins would work as well.

You could even have kids place counting bears or erasers over the answer if their fingers are still building up the strength for squeezing clothespins, or if you don’t have any on hand.

We took the cards out of the basket and placed them face down in a pile. We then took turns pulling a card and turning it over to count how many apples were in each ten frame.

Some students were quickly subitizing (recognizing how many in the ten frame instantly without having to count) while others needed to count the apples one at a time, and that’s ok!

Once we got to the total, we looked for the numeral together and squeezed that clothespin hard with our hands to clip the answer tight!

We kept pulling cards, counting apples and clipping numbers until all of the apples had been counted.

Grab Your Download

Ready to count some apples? Grab your copy of the apple ten frame clip cards by clicking the download button below and then hop over to snag our awesome Number Formation Pack!

Teaching can feel lonely sometimes, especially when you’re trying to figure out what actually works in your classroom. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula isn’t just about resources—it’s about community. When you join, you’ll be surrounded by like-minded educators who truly get it and are ready to cheer you on. You don’t have to do this alone!

The post Apple Ten Frame Clip Cards appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

We all know the importance of sight word practice. The more sight words students are able to recognize, the more fluent readers they are because they don’t have to sound out the words one letter at a time. But, let’s face it- sight word practice can be a bit… well… boring. But this brain-friendly sight word game changes all that! Students will love playing and you’ll love the easy prep. It is perfect to add to your sight word practice library.

Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

Sight Word Practice Prep

This game requires next to no prep. Simply print one game sheet for each student and write the sight words you want them to practice on separate slips of paper. Fold each paper up tightly and place them in a bowl so students can choose their sight word randomly when it’s time to play.

Don’t forget to sort your sight words by phonics skill first so students are focusing on just one spelling rule at a time! You can download our sight words list right here or grab it inside the Science of Reading Formula along with thousands of other time-saving teaching tools when you become a member.

Sight Word Squares

Students will play the game in pairs.  To start, have each player grab a different colored marker and pick a sight word from the bowl to practice during the game.

Just like the traditional Magic Square games, children will take turns connecting two dots with a line. After a few rounds, a player will form a square. To claim it, they will write their sight word in the middle.

Students will continue playing until all squares have been claimed. Whoever has the most squares at the end of the game wins!

Children love this game because it’s equal parts strategy mixed with playful sight word practice. It’s so simple and engaging! 

For more word work fun, snag 26 more word work centers kids will beg to repeat on TPT or inside the Science of Reading Formula where you’ll have access to THOUSANDS of brain-friendly activities just like this one!

Grab Your Set

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

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For more alphabet fun, check out our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

This ABC game is super easy to prepare!

I just printed the game boards for my students on white card stock to make them sturdy.

Although I didn’t do it, the boards can be laminated or placed in a plastic sleeve for extra durability.

I grabbed a die and red and yellow counters to use as playing pieces. (Cubes, gems or any other manipulative would work as well.)

There’s a recording page included in the download (below) that you can use with students who are ready to practice writing letters as they play the game. It’s a great challenge for those kids who can use it!

Race to School ABC Game

I like to introduce games to my students by playing teacher vs. the class on our document camera.

A volunteer and I placed our playing pieces right before the letter “A” at the bottom of the board.

Then, we each took turns rolling the die and moving that many spaces on the game board.  (I love when math and reading collide in one game!)

Each time we landed on a letter space, we said the name of the letter out loud.

We continued taking turns rolling the die and saying the letter name until one of use reached the school.  The ABC game was fun for all!

This game is great to use with small reading groups, as partner work or at a literacy center too. It could also be printed and sent home for students to play at home with their families. There are so many possibilities!

ABC Game Differentiating

Depending on the needs of the students in your classroom, this game can be easily differentiated for your students.

Instead of having students say the letter name, have students say the sound that the letter makes.

If students are able to recognize the letter and the letter sound, have children think of a word that begins with that letter.  For example, if students land on W, they would say the name of the letter, the sound for W, and then they could say “wagon” as a word that begins with W.

And for students who are ready, they could practice writing the letters that they land on using the lined paper.

Grab Your Download

Ready for some Race to School alphabet game fun?!  Click the button below to grab your free download and then hop over and snag our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack, too!

Let’s be real—there are never enough hours in the day, right? Between lesson plans, meetings, and everything else, finding time to create reading resources feels impossible. That’s why I designed The Science of Reading Formula. It’s packed with ready-to-use tools that take the guesswork out of planning, so you can focus on teaching and reclaiming your evenings. Let’s make reading instruction simple, effective, and stress-free!

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For more science fun, check out our 30 Science Experiments (complete with a no prep journal to record results!) in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I simply printed and cut apart the cards. You can also laminate for extra durability.

I purposefully made the cards four to a page so they would be big enough for little hands to hold.

Once I printed the sorting mats, we were ready to play!

5 Senses Sort

To start, we did a quick review of the body part we use to learn about each sense. We talked about how we use our mouth to taste, our ears to hear, our nose to smell, etc.

Then, we shuffled the deck of body parts and grabbed the card on top: eye.

A volunteer confidently placed the eye on the “see” mat and then grabbed the next body part in the pile.

The activity prompted lots of discussion about why we use that body part for that sense.

After sorting the body parts came the real fun!

Students selected an object card and explained why they use a certain sense to learn about it. We had great discussions about what was the best fit.

When a volunteer grabbed the rainbow, for instance, he pointed out that he can’t touch, smell, taste, or hear a rainbow, but he can SEE one which is why “see” was the correct answer.

Students continued sorting the picture cards into the correct mats until everything was in the right spot.  The 5 senses sort was complete!

5 Senses Extension Ideas

I included blank cards so you can have students add their own pictures and sort them!

And, as a fun follow up, you could have students play a quick round of memory. Just line the cards up in two rows and have students select a picture from each row until they find a match!

Easy peasy review!

Grab Your Set

Click the blue download button below to snag your free 5 senses sort!  Then, want more science fun!? Check out our 30 Science Experiments that kids will love in our shop!

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

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Scroll below to snag your freebie and then hop over and grab our Vowel Team Centers as well!

Getting Ready

The prep for this vowel sort activity was super simple.

I printed the pages on cardstock for durability and laminated it to prolong the use.

Then, I cut apart the apple cards.

There were a total of 20 cards – four for each vowel.

Johnny Appleseed Vowel Sort

To begin the activity, we first reviewed the vowels: A, E, I, O and U.

I pulled out a short vowel tree and a long vowel tree and reminded them that when the vowels say their name, it is the long vowel sound.

Their other sound (like /a/ as in “apple”) is the short vowel sound.

I pointed out that one tree was labeled “Short Vowels” and the other tree was labeled “Long Vowels.”

So, what goes on an apple tree? Apples, of course!

I explained that we were going to read the words on our apple cards to determine where they belonged.

I had the first student draw an apple card.

She drew the word “hike.”

After she read the word out loud, we worked together to segment the word into its three sounds, paying close attention to the vowel sound in the middle.

Since the I said its name, she correctly decided that it was a long vowel sound and placed it on the long vowel tree.

The children continued to take turns pulling cards, reading the words and sorting the apples based on the vowel sound until all of the cards were on their correct tree.

Grab Your Free Download

Ready to go apple picking?

Scroll below to grab your free apple vowel sort and then hop over and pickup our Vowel Team Centers in our shop!

Ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels trying to help struggling readers catch up, only to wonder if you’re even making progress? You’re not alone—it’s a frustration so many of us know too well. That’s exactly why I created The Science of Reading Formula. It’s your step-by-step guide to teaching reading with confidence, using tools and strategies that actually work (and save you time!). You don’t have to guess anymore—we’ve got you covered. Come join the community of educators who are making reading instruction easier, more effective, and a whole lot less stressful!

The post Apple Vowel Sort appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your copy below and then hop over and snag our mega pack of print-and-play word work activities in our shop!

Getting Ready

The prep for this word center was simple!

I printed the activity on cardstock, laminate the sheets for extra durability and then cut out the popcorn buckets and popcorn.

Finally, I decided to print the record sheets on bright paper for a fun extra pop of color.

CVC Word Families

Since this was our first time sorting word families, I decided to start with only one vowel: A.

I placed the popcorn buckets at the top of the table and sorted the words into -AT and -AN families.

Then, the first student drew the word “cat” and held it up for the group to see.

The children read “cat” out loud together.

I asked them which family they thought the word belonged in.

They determined that it would fit best in the -AT family and placed it on the -AT popcorn bucket.

As we worked our way around the circle placing the words in their proper families, I had the children fill out a record sheet.

It was a great way to check comprehension and practice a little spelling.

Word Families Small Group Centers

Once each small group had gone through the activity and understood how it worked, I moved the activity to a literacy center so they could complete it more independently.

I walked around the room as they worked and had each group read me their words and explain why they chose to sort them into that word family.

I also quickly peeked at their record sheets to check for understanding.

Grab Your Download

Ready to get poppin’ on this motivating sort?!

Click the blue “download” below to grab the freebie and then hop over to snag more word work activities kids will beg to repeat in our shop!

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Snag your activity and then hop over and grab our bundle of best selling Pre-K centers in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I printed the sheets (below) on card stock to give them extra durability.

Then, I cut along the lines to separate the cards and grabbed our stash of clothespins and counting bears to round off our supplies.

I wanted to make the cards self-checkable, so I clipped the correct answers and flipped them face down on the table.

I marked each clipping spot with a small dot so students could easily check their answers later.

Counting Bear Clip Cards

Then, it was time for the fun to begin!

Little Sister (age 3) happily grabbed the top card in the pile and counted the number of bears: 1, 2, 3.

Then, she counted out a matching pile of three real counting bears and clipped the 3 on her card.

The multiple steps reinforced her one-to-one correspondence and number recognition.

Little Sister placed the card to the side and grabbed the next one: a 5!

One card after the next, she happily counted her bears and clipped the matching number.

Grab Your Set

Ready to play?! Click the blue download button below for your free batch of clip cards and then hop over and grab our bundle of best-selling Pre-K centers in our shop!

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Snag your 10 free STEM challenges below and then hop over to grab our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

Getting Ready

Prepping the activity was quick and easy!

I printed the pages on cardstock to give them added durability and cut along the grey lines to separate the pieces.

Then, I grabbed our geoboards and a handful of rubber bands.

We were ready to play learn!

STEM Geoboard Challenges

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but my stash of geoboards sat on the shelves for YEARS collecting dust. ?

I didn’t really know how I could make them engaging for kids and I was too busy trying to keep up on my to do list to dive in and figure it out.

I soooo wish I had these challenge cards back then!⁣

To play, kids grabbed one card at a time and recreated it on their geoboard with rubber bands.

They had to count pegs, think about angles… they worked on so many geometry skills at once!

Geoboard Challenge Extension Activity

Stretch students who are ready for a challenge by having them draw mini models of their creations on the record sheet to practice scaling!

You can even have them create their own design in the box in the bottom right corner!

It’s such an easy way to differentiate for kids who can take it further.

Snag Your Set

Click the blue download button below to grab your 10 free geoboard cards.

More STEM Projects

Make measurement and weight concepts exciting with these STEM Challenge Cards! They’re an easy, interactive way to get students thinking critically about balance, mass, and estimation.

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Editable sight word games are my jam because they make it *so* easy to differentiate. I can print one version of a game for my struggling readers and a completely different version of the same exact game for my highest readers. 

From far away, they might look identical, but up close they’re actually practicing entirely different words!

There are just two words to describe it: game changing. 

Snag this playful sight word game below, and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our print-and-go teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

Sight Word Game Prep

To prep this sight word game, type in words  that align with whichever phonics skill your students are learning. For instance, if you are teaching the CH digraph in your phonics lessons, have students play the game with words like CHIP, CHAT, and CHUM. Or if you are working on the blend TR, play with words like TREE and TROT.

Hot tip: Are you making multiple versions of the game for differentiated practice? Print each version on different color paper or use a marker to draw a different colored star in the corner of each set. Color coding makes it so simple to figure out who the words belong to! 

Print off a copy of the record sheet for every student and then have them crumple up each of the sight words to make individual pieces of “trash”. To step up the silly excitement even more, throw the crumpled papers into a plastic bin so it really feels like they are picking through garbage. (Cue the giggles!)

Sight Word Trash Game

This sight word game is extremely simple! 

Students grab one piece of trash at a time, un-crumple it, and read the word out loud.

Then, they write the word on their record sheet and grab the next one in their pile.

Your students will have *so* much fun working their way through their trash bin!

(It’s not every day that you get to dig in garbage, right?!) The sight word game will be a huge hit!

Grab Your Download

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

The post Turn Learning Into Playtime with This Fun Sight Word Game appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Scroll below to grab your freebie! Then, for more vowel work, check out our Vowel Team Centers in our shop, too!

Getting Ready

My prep for this CVCe word work center was super quick!

I printed the activity on white cardstock and laminated it for durability.

Then, I cut apart all the cards.

Finally, I grabbed three bags and placed all the Es in one of them, the picture cards in another, and the word cards in the last bag.

CVCe Word Work Center

I wanted to review the silent E with my small group before diving in so I selected just one vowel to work on first: A.

I picked up the A vowel word cards, the A vowel pictures and a few blue E cards.

Then, I quickly reviewed the rules for the silent E: when an E is placed at the end of a word, it makes the first vowel say its name.

I laid all the long vowel word cards and picture cards face up on the table. Then, I put the blue E letters in a pile off to the side.

It was time for some CVCe word work! The first child chose a word card that said, “can.”

She read the word on the card out loud and then placed a blue E in the box next to the word. Then, she read the new word to the group: “cane!”

She found the colorful picture of the cane and placed it in the box next to the new CVCe word.

The next child repeated the same steps with a new card: cap.

He made sure to say both the old word and new word out loud before finding the picture that matched.

Once we had worked through all of the A cards, I pulled out the O batch and the turns started again.

We continued this process until all the word cards were complete.

This was such an easy and fun way for kids to practice their CVCe words! I love how interactive the activity was and how easy it was to differentiate.

Grab Your Download

Scroll below and click on the blue button to download your freebie. And don’t’ forget to check out our awesome Vowel Team Centers!

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Teaching sight words can often feel like a repetitive chore that doesn’t spark joy in your classroom. But, there is a simple solution! Sight word games make learning fun and engaging. Help students memorize sight words by playing a twist on an old classic: Tic-Tac-Toe. This sight word game is great to use as a literacy center or word work station. The best part? You can use it to help students recognize alphabet letters and sounds too! 

Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

The Set Up

The rules of this version of Tic-Tac-Toe are the same as the original.  Students take turns saving a square by writing in it.  The first student with three squares in a line (either across, down or diagonal) is the winner.

Print and cut apart the sight words that students are currently learning. This sight word list is organized by phonics skill to give you the biggest bang for your teaching buck!

After the words are printed and cut, you can choose to laminate them for extra durability (and to have them prepped and ready to use year after year!). Place the cut up words in a cup or bin. 

The Game

Once you have the words cut up, you’re ready to play the sight word game! Divide students into pairs. The first student shakes the cup to mix up the words and then reaches inside to pick a card. The student reads the card aloud and writes the word in a space on the Tic-Tac-Toe board. The second student then takes their turn. 

Students repeat this process until one student has three in a row of the same word on the game board. 

Bonus Tip

Are your students working on alphabet recognition or letter sounds instead of sight words?

You can play this Tic-Tac-Toe game with those skills as well!  

Grab Your Sight Word Game

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

The post Learning Made Fun With This Engaging Sight Word Game appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Scroll below to grab your freebie and then jump over and grab our Vowel Team Centers for more fun!

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the CVC word cards and apple vowels out on cardstock and laminated them for durability.

I cut out the word cards using a paper cutter and the apples using scissors.

Then, I used a hot glue gun to attach each of the apples to a clothespin.

I printed one record sheet on plain white copy paper for each student and we were ready to play!

Apple Vowel Clip Cards

To play, I started by passing out the set of apple vowel clothespins to each of the students in my group. We worked together to review the names of the letters on each apple.

Then I reminded them that the letters were vowels so they make different sounds. Sometimes they say their name (that’s when we call them “long vowels”) but today we were going to focus on their other sound (called “short vowels”).

We said the short vowel sound for each of the letters out loud together.

Next, I pulled a word card from the deck and asked the students to name the picture: map.

I asked the kids what vowel made the /a/ sound.

They guessed a, so we clipped the letter apple in place and read the completed word together: map. It worked!

Then the children pulled out their worksheet, found the picture of the map and carefully spelled the word below the picture.

Next, I spread all the cards out on the table.

Moving in a circle, the students took turns selecting a card and clipping the middle vowel apple in place before writing the word on their record sheet.

We continued clipping and writing until all of the word cards had been completed.

Grab Your Download

Ready to jump into back to school season with these fun vowel clip cards?

Grab your copy of the apple vowel clip cards by clicking the download button below and then hop over to snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

The post Apple Vowel Clip Cards appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Then, for more fun vowel work, check out or Vowel Team Centers in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the vowel sort, first decide how you want to display the activity. Will you glue the crayon boxes to a poster board? Will you store them in a manila envelope to be spread out on a table?

I decided to display my sort on a poster board because it allows the crayon box to act as an envelope for the crayons to be placed in. That seems to be more fun for the kids than just placing them on top of a flat picture on a table.

If you also want to display your sort on a poster board, be careful not to cut off the dotted lined tabs. If you are going to store them in an envelope, cut off the tabs.

I cut out all the crayons and crayon boxes. I folded the gray dotted lined tabs under each crayon box and dabbed a few dots of glue on each before adhering it to the board.

To stay organized, I also glued a manila envelope to the back of the poster board where I securely stored all the crayons while not in use.

Vowel Sort

To complete the vowel sound sort, kids picked up one crayon at a time and read it out loud. If the vowel said its name, then kids knew it was long and placed it in the long vowel box. If the vowel did not say its name, kids placed it in the short vowel box.

To differentiate, I gave new readers just one long-short vowel to work on at a time. For more advanced readers, I had them sort all of the crayons at the same time.

As any teacher or parent can tell you, there is no one size fits all when it comes to how kids learn. So, I made sure I included blank crayons so that you can customize the word lists if that is what works best for you. For example, you might want to use the blank crayons to add more difficult words into the sort so that it can continue to grow with your child’s or students’ vocabularies.

I focused on beginning of the word vowel sounds. You could go further and add in words with vowel sounds that appear later in the word.

Grab Your Copy

Are you ready to print this free vowel sort activity? Download your copy below  and then hop over and grab our Vowel Team Centers, too!

The post Free Vowel Sound Sort appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

I know it can be really tempting to focus 100% on building students’ word reading skills like phonics and phonemic awareness, but research shows it’s also extremely important to develop students’ language comprehension so they can actually understand what they’re reading. And the great news is that building students’ skills can be as simple as asking some of these 20 fun reading comprehension questions each time you read a story aloud to your class!

Snag your free reading comprehension questions below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot. 

Fun Reading Comprehension Questions

There are few things better than settling in with your students to read a good book.  The miraculous way it calms kids down after recess…Their smiles and laughter…The “one more, pleeeeease.”  It’s pure magic.

And while kids are locked into a good story, it’s a great opportunity to build their language comprehension so they learn to think deeply about what’s actually happening.

You can even print the sheets on colored paper to add a fun pop and make it easy to find!

They work with almost any book under the sun. 

The post 20 Reading Comprehension Questions That Encourage Critical Thinking appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

If you’ve ever heard the dreaded “Are we there yet?” more times than you can count, you’re not alone. Long car rides can be tough for little ones (and their parents). That’s why I created the Free Road Trip Activity Pack—a collection of fun, educational games to help your kids stay happily occupied while you enjoy a smoother, screen-free journey.

Why Choose Screen-Free Road Trip Activities?

Screens can be a tempting go-to for long car rides, but there’s something special about engaging kids in activities that spark their imagination and curiosity. Screen-free play doesn’t just pass the time; it also:

• Promotes Creativity: Activities like story starters and scavenger hunts encourage kids to use their imagination and think outside the box.
• Builds Observation Skills: Games like Road Trip Bingo and “I Spy” teach kids to notice the world around them—a skill that benefits them long after the trip ends.
• Encourages Family Bonding: Working together on challenges or sharing creative stories fosters meaningful connections.

Plus, these activities are simple, mess-free, and portable—perfect for keeping your car organized and your kids entertained.

What’s Inside the Free Road Trip Activity Pack?

The Free Road Trip Activity Pack is filled with a variety of engaging, educational games designed to keep boredom at bay. Here’s what you’ll find:

1. Road Trip Bingo

Turn your drive into an adventure by spotting common road trip sights like gas stations, bridges, or even cows grazing in a field. Kids can cross off squares on their bingo cards as they go, racing to complete a row or the entire card.

Why it works: This game promotes observation skills and adds an element of excitement to the journey.

2. I Spy Games

Encourage your kids to keep their eyes peeled with themed “I Spy” challenges. They can look for specific colors, shapes, or objects outside the window or inside the car.

Why it works: “I Spy” builds focus and helps kids stay engaged with their surroundings.

3. Story Starters

Fuel your kids’ creativity with fun prompts like, “If I could visit anywhere in the world, I would go to…” or “One day, I woke up and discovered I could talk to animals!” These story starters are perfect for sparking imaginative conversations or inspiring your kids to write mini tales.

Why it works: Storytelling enhances language skills, boosts creativity, and keeps kids happily distracted.

4. Scavenger Hunt

Turn your road trip into a real-life treasure hunt! The scavenger hunt includes a list of items to find during the drive, from construction cones to billboards. Kids can check off each item as they spot it.

Why it works: Scavenger hunts combine problem-solving, teamwork, and a sense of accomplishment—plus, they make the drive fly by!

How to Use the Road Trip Activity Pack

Getting started is easy!

1. Download the Pack Below: Click the big blue “download here” button at the bottom of this post.
2. Print and Prep: Print the activities and pack them in a folder or clipboard for easy use. You can even laminate some of the sheets to make them reusable with dry-erase markers.
3. Bring Supplies: Don’t forget pencils, markers, and a hard surface for writing.
4. Set the Rules: Before hitting the road, explain how each activity works and let your kids pick what they’d like to do first.

Pro tip: Mix and match activities throughout the trip to keep things fresh and fun.

Benefits of Road Trip Activities

These activities aren’t just entertaining—they’re also a great way to sneak in learning on the go! Your kids will practice skills like:

• Critical Thinking: Deciding what to look for in “I Spy” or solving the scavenger hunt.
• Language Development: Building vocabulary through storytelling and observational games.
• Fine Motor Skills: Writing, drawing, and marking off bingo cards.

And best of all? They’ll be so busy having fun that you might just get to enjoy some peaceful moments during the drive.

Ready to Make Your Road Trip a Breeze?

You don’t have to spend hours planning activities to keep your kids entertained—this free pack has you covered! Download the Free Road Trip Activity Pack now and enjoy a smoother, more fun-filled journey.

Struggling to Keep Your Classroom Engaged?

If you’ve ever felt like you’re spinning your wheels trying to help struggling readers catch up, only to wonder if you’re even making progress, you’re not alone. It’s a frustration so many of us know too well.

That’s exactly why I created The Science of Reading Formula. It’s your step-by-step guide to teaching reading with confidence, using tools and strategies that actually work (and save you time!). No more guessing or feeling stuck—you’ll have everything you need to support every learner in your classroom.

And here’s the best part: you’ll join a community of educators who just get it. Together, we’re making reading instruction easier, more effective, and a whole lot less stressful.

Click here to join The Science of Reading Formula today!

The post Road Trip Fun: A Free Activity Pack to Keep Kids EntertainedFree Road Trip Activity Pack appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Print Your Toy Labels

To make your own set of toy labels, just print the freebie on card stock. Cut out the circles with a 2 inch punch and laminate them. Easy peasy.

Teaching can feel lonely sometimes, especially when you’re trying to figure out what actually works in your classroom. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula isn’t just about resources—it’s about community. When you join, you’ll be surrounded by like-minded educators who truly get it and are ready to cheer you on. You don’t have to do this alone!

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For more number fun, check out our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

I’m absolutely in love with the fall season. It really is my favorite time of year. I love all of the colors, and every year we make a trip to an apple orchard to pick apples. It’s my favorite field trip, so I like to incorporate apples into a lot of our learning activities.

My 4-year-old is starting to show signs of wanting to count. She doesn’t understand what it is, but at least she is finally wanting to say the words. These apple tree counting mats were a great way to help her start matching the words that she hears with objects she can touch.

Getting Ready

To prep the activity, I printed the apple tree counting mats, laminated and cut them out. Then, I gathered up some red pom poms to use as apples and was ready to go!

When children are first starting to learn numbers, they do not understand the significance of a written numeral or really even the word. Giving them something to touch and compare really helps to solidify their understanding of numbers.

Apple Tree Counting Mats

With my daughter, I said the number that was shown on the mat and then counted with/for her to reach that number as she placed each pom pom on the counting mat.

I finished each mat by saying, “This is three apples” or “There are 4 apples on the tree.” We repeated it over and over again.

I really enjoyed doing this with her because she has recently learned the word “apple” and it’s very exciting to listen to her ‘”talking'” after waiting for so long.

When you’re using the mats with your own kids, you can point to the numeral as you talk to show them that it is the symbol for the word you are saying.

We also used the mats to build language skills. I told her, “The tree is green” or “The basket is under the tree” or “The apples are on the tree.” It was a great way to work on multiple skills at once.

Grab Your Mats

Download your free apple tree counting mats by clicking the blue button below and then hop over and grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

The post Apple Tree Counting Mats appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

I am proud to be a Scotch® Brand compensated blogger. Opinions are my own and additional products used in this project were selected by me. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Started

To prep, I grabbed a few supplies:

• Printable bag tags (HERE)
• Scotch Self-Seal Bag Tags – There are 5 pouches in a pack.
• Scissors
• Cardstock – 1 sheet for each tag
• 

To customize, I opened up the free printable PDF (HERE) and had my boys pick a favorite. Big Brother (age 5.5) wanted the rocket and Middle Brother (age 4}) picked the football.

I typed their name in the grey box of the bag tag and it automatically loaded onto all 16 tags. Then, I printed the bag tags with their favorite designs on cardstock to give them extra durability.

I used scissors to cut the bag tags apart and chose a front and back. The two sides could either be the same color or mixed and matched to your liking. (If you’d like to write in your home address or phone number on the back half, go ahead and add it now.)

I placed the Scotch Self-Seal Bag Tag on a flat surface with the clear side down and open. I set the front of the printable tag face down on the clear surface and centered it evenly.

I laid the back face-up on top, making sure the edges lined up with the front card.

Then, I bent the top sheet back slightly to separate the backing. I rolled evenly across the back of the tag while applying slight downward pressure to remove the backing before smoothing and sealing the edges.

I attached the plastic loop to the hole at the top of the bag tag…

And then hung the new bag tag on my son’s backpack. He was THRILLED!

Grab Your Bag Tags

Ready to make some #MakeAmazing bag tags for your kids too?! Join in the excitement and grab your free printables HERE.

Teachers:

Do you ever feel like you’re speaking a different language when trying to explain your approach to parents? You’re not alone. The Science of Reading Formula not only gives you strategies for your classroom but also equips you with the words and tools to get parents on board. When everyone’s rowing in the same direction, the results are incredible—and you don’t have to do it alone!

Disclosure: I am proud to be a Scotch® Brand  compensated blogger. Opinions are my own and additional products used in this project were selected by me.

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This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Getting Ready

To prep, I first gathered together my supplies:

• Printable Activity Pack (below)
• Scotch PRO Thermal Laminator TL-906
• Scotch Thermal Laminating Pouches – This project used 7
• 7 sheets of cardstock
• Scissors
• 16 clothespins
• 12 tokens {coins, glass gems, etc.} for each child

After printing the activity pack (below) on cardstock to give it extra durability, I cut apart the counting cards.

Then, I counted the objects on each card and clipped the matching number with a clothespin. I flipped over the cards and marked the clipped answer with a crayon so my kids could easily self-check their answers later.

Next, I placed my Scotch® Brand laminator on a flat, stable surface. I opened the input tray and fully extended it until the tray clicked. I plugged in the cord and pressed the power button.

Since I printed the activity pack on cardstock, I pressed the 5 mil heat setting. When the green ready light turned on about one minute later, I knew the laminator was warm enough to use.

Then, I placed the counting cards and Bingo game boards in Scotch® Brand laminating pouches, ensuring that there was at least .13 inch of space surrounding each piece.

I closed the pouch and carefully inserted the sealed end directly into the laminator inlet, gently guiding the pouch until the machine pulled it forward.

The laminated cards automatically exited the outlet of the laminator. (Note: Do not pull the pouch through the laminator!) I removed the pouch and set it aside on a flat surface to cool.

When all of the pouches had passed through the laminator, I pressed the power button to turn the laminator off and allow it to cool a few minutes before putting it away.

4th of July Activities

Then, I cut apart my now cool playing pieces and invited my kids to count and clip the number cards…

And enjoy a fun round of July 4^th Bingo!

Grab Your Freebies

Ready to make this an amazing 4th of July for your kids too?! Join in the excitement and click the blue button below to grab your free printables!

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

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And for more reading fun, check out our effective Reading Comprehension Activities in our shop!

Why Do We Use Close Reading?

When children are learning to read they often get into the habit of just decoding and reading the words on the paper. While this is natural, it’s very common for children to get to the end of a passage and not be able to say what they just read about because their focus was on pronunciation rather than meaning.

When children know they will need to answer questions about the text, they tend to read more slowly and really think about the meaning of the sentences they’re reading. They may want to go back and read it again to catch what they missed. The more they practice this skill, the more meaningful their reading becomes.

It also helps kids discover the joys and adventures found in reading, to encourage them to read purely for the pleasure to be gained in curling up with a book!

With longer passages this can be tiring, so these activity cards include just one small paragraph so there’s not too much information to remember.

Getting Ready

Close reading cards

After downloading the cards (below), I printed the color version cards onto cardstock, then cut and laminated them so they could be reused with dry erase markers.

I printed the black and white version cards onto colored paper so they could be glued into the children’s writing books.

Dice

I printed off one of the die onto cardstock. I’ve previously used paper for this but they don’t last long!

Then, I cut around the edges, folded on all the dotted lines and glued the die into a cube.

Recording Sheet

Finally, I printed off the sheets I needed for each child – although I’ll make it into a more permanent center later and laminate the sheets to make them reusable, too.

Close Reading Activity

Children read through a card and then thought about the prompt questions. What was happening in the “story,” who were the characters, when and where was it happening and so on.

There were six prompt questions: where, why, how, who, when and what.

While the children found they could answer some of the questions, they couldn’t answer all of them. Sometimes they had to use story clues to make a guess. For example, in the story where Rosie was angry, no time was given. But because she wants to go outside to play, we can assume it must have been daytime (not nighttime).

Some children thought it might be in the morning because Rosie must need to tidy her room each day before she plays. Other children thought it might be after lunch because she wasn’t allowed out because she STILL hadn’t tidied her room.

It was a great exercise for encouraging children to think about what they REALLY know from the text and what they’re ASSUMING from the text.

Options for Use

When we first started, the children paired up to work on one card together. They read it through then rolled the die for each question prompt. They answered the questions verbally and when the information wasn’t clear, they debated all of the alternative answers they could think of to decide which was more likely.

They marked the cards to show whether they could answer the question or not, or whether they had to take a guess.

The following day, we added the recording sheets to include writing and extend the activity. Instead of using a die, they used the questions from the sheet, checking the ‘guess’ box if they couldn’t be completely sure.

As a check, the children showed each other their recording sheets and compared their answers. It was really positive to be able to show that even though some answers were different for the “guessing” components, it didn’t mean that they were wrong. Sometimes, we just can’t know for sure!

Grab your set

Click the blue button below to grab your free close reading passages and then hop over and snag our Reading Comprehension Activities, too!

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For more fun, check out our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

This back to school memory match is simple to prepare. Simply download the file, print, glue on to construction paper (I did this so that the kids couldn’t see through the paper, but you could also print on cardstock), laminate for durability if you choose, and cut!

There are 18 cards total with 9 different pairs of back to school items. Each card contains a picture and word.

Playing Memory Match

You can choose to play this game with as many or as few matches as you like. You could start with just a few, and then add more to make it more challenging! We decided to start off with 12 cards (6 matches) and then work up from there.

We played in pairs, taking turns flipping over two cards at a time. If they matched, that person kept the cards and took another turn.

If the cards didn’t match, they turned them back over and then it was the other person’s turn. 

We kept going until all the cards had been matched. The person with the most matches was the winner.

One of the best things about this game is that kids usually want to play it more than once. This gives them even more practice in strengthening their concentration and memory. It can also be a great game for kids to play together as an icebreaker or a get to know you activity.

Grab Your Back to School Memory Match

Download your copy of the free back to school memory match below and then hop over and check out our super popular Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack!

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Ready for more math practice?  Try our Place Value Cover Up activity in our shop!

Why Word Problems?

The most common reason for doing word problems is to solve common, everyday occurrences such as “How much money do I need this week if I have to buy a bus ticket each day?'”

But the next reason is to encourage children to think logically and to use abstract thinking.

The process of reading the question, trying to understand it, re-clarifying and finally calculating an answer requires children to stop and think more carefully about the problem they are solving. It has the added benefit of giving children more practice in reading and comprehension.

This, of course, can be problematic for speakers of other languages, and we need to be sensitive to how hard these children have to work just to understand the question, let alone solve it.

One aspect to consider when using word problems is to have a little variety in how the questions need to be solved. If all the questions are solved the same way, for example, just by adding the two numbers in each question, children will stop reading the question and just immediately add the two numbers together. This has little value if we’re hoping to encourage our children to use logic and higher level thinking for problem solving!

Getting Ready

To prep the addition word problems, I printed off a colored version of the word problem cards (below) onto plain cardstock and printed a second black and white version on brightly colored paper. I laminated the sheets and cut the pieces apart into individual cards.

To keep each set together, I punched holes in the top left hand corner of each card and attached them to a ring.

To make the problem self-check, I simply added the answer in small writing on the back of each card with a fine point Sharpie.

Addition Word Problems

The children each chose one problem to work on first. Confident readers were able to work independently while others paired up to help each other, or listened as an adult read the question out loud.

Students then went through their question again in order to make sure they understood what the question was asking them. Some problems were easy for the children to solve, while others required a bit of thinking and brainstorming to be confident that they knew what to do.

Using a dry erase marker, they drew small circles in the ten frame squares in order to solve the problem, taking one part of the question at a time.

After being sure they had added all parts of the question to the ten frame, they found the total. They flipped the card over to check their answer and then used a tissue to erase their marks from the ten frames before choosing another question.

Grab Your Set

Ready to tackle addition to 20 word problems, too?! Click the blue download button below and then hop over and grab our awesome Place Value Cover Up in our shop!

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Find more preschool activities with our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

I’ve created two sets of FREE sorting mats. Begin with the mats that focus on matching the pictures to the corresponding vowel sound. Then, once the children have the hang of that, move onto the short vowel mats where they can match the pictures to corresponding CVC words.

Matching the Pictures to the Vowel Sound

To start, print a sorting mat and word cards on cardstock to give them extra durability and cut them apart. If you’ll be using them in the classroom, laminate them too.

Then, give each student or pair of students a mat and words. Have them pick up one card at a time, say the name of the picture out loud, and place it in the correct spot on the mat.

For example, if a child chose the map card, he would say, “map, /a/” and place it on top of an A.

Matching the Pictures to the CVC Words

When children are ready for an extra challenge, print the next batch of sorting mats and cards (HERE) on cardstock and cut them apart. Again, if you’ll be using the mats in your classroom, you may want to laminate them for extra durability.

Give each student or pair a mat and corresponding cards. One at a time, have children pick up a card, say the name, and place it in the correct spot on the mat. This time, they’ll be laying the card on the matching word.

Extending the Activity

An easy way to extend the learning is to use the picture cards as a prompt for spelling CVC words. I love using mini whiteboards for this. For easy storage, I staple a zip lock bag to the back of each mat – that makes it easy to find the right pictures when you need them.

Ready to Play?

Grab your sorting mats below and then check out our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack!

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Grab the complete set of subtraction cards in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, take a look at our Place Value Cover Up activity in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the cards (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability and make the colors really pop. I cut along the lines to separate the pieces and laminated them so I could easily wipe them clean later.

Then, I grabbed a die and a vis-a-vis marker and called Big Brother (age 6.5) over to join me.

Subtraction Cards

To start, I explained that we were going to work a little math magic. (That really got his ears to perk up!)

Since we’d been working on number bonds, Big Brother already knew that “subtraction” was another way of saying “taking away.” Today he was going to wave his wand and take away some cards in a set.

Big Brother eagerly picked out a card from the pile. Because subtraction problems start with the minuend (the number at the beginning), I had him count the number of cards shown on the card.

“Nine,” he said.

I showed him how to write the minuend in the first circle.

Then, he rolled the die to determine how many cards to cross off.

“Five,” he announced as he started drawing lines through them.

I pointed to the next circle in the equation and explained that’s where he would write the subtrahend (the number being taken away).

All that was left was solving the problem and writing the difference in the last circle.

One card after another, Big Brother worked his math magic to roll, write and solve all of the write and wipe subtraction problems. The cards included sets starting with 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 cards so he could practice solving a variety of equations.

Then, he took his learning one step further by writing the complete problem (including the subtraction and equation signs!) on his record sheet. 

He loved the motivating subtraction practice.

Grab Your Set

Ready to try your hand at some math magic, too?! Click the blue download button below and then hop over and snag the complete set of write and wipe cards to continue the fun! Then, while you’re there, check out our Place Value Cover Up!

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I had to run to the store for a few supplies yesterday and as I drove home, I realized how much better I felt. There wasn’t anything special about the outing – in fact, three months ago I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought – but these days I seem to savor every “normal” moment I can get. Everywhere I look there’s an endless supply of closure announcements and COVID-19 updates…

Staying informed is important but I’ve realized that the uncertainty of everything comes with a whole lot of stress and anxiety. And I can’t allow myself to become consumed with worry. It’s not good for me and it’s definitely not good for my kids. I want to be very careful about how I teach our children to respond to stress.

So I’m doing everything I can to keep our days as predictable and NORMAL as possible…For them AND for me. So because my “normal” is writing emails, sharing things on social media and designing powerful teaching tools, that’s what I’m going to keep doing.

And because “normal” for my kids means learning, reading and playing at recess, that’s how they’ll spend their days… albeit at home now.

As you go through these next few weeks, I hope you can savor those small “normal” moments, too.

Snag Your Homeschool Schedule

Click the blue button below to download the editable Powerpoint or grab the editable PDF of the Homeschool Schedule HERE.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt the stress of needing to show measurable growth—like yesterday. I see you. The Science of Reading Formula gives you the tools to track progress and move the needle, so you can feel confident knowing your hard work is paying off. Let’s work smarter, not harder, and celebrate those wins together.

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Snag your set below! Then, check out our awesome Vowel Team Centers for more learning fun!

Getting Ready

It just took a couple of minutes to prep!

I printed the puzzles on cardstock to give them extra durability and then I cut along the black lines to separate the pieces.

Since I wanted to stretch my first grader to also SPELL the words, I printed a copy of the record sheet for him to work on too.

That’s it! We were ready to go!

Magic E Puzzles

To play, my son picked up a word: wave.

He read it out loud and then slid it next to the matching picture to complete the puzzle.

Then, he grabbed a new word and started hunting for its pair.

When he’d found all 18 matches, I challenged him to write each word on his record sheet so that he could practice spelling, too.

He happily worked his way through the stack.

Magic E Puzzle Extension Ideas

This is a great activity to differentiate!

For students who are new to CVCe words, just give them five or six puzzles to complete at once so that they don’t get overwhelmed.

For kids who are ready for more of a challenge, have them solve all 18 puzzles and then stretch them to sound out the magic E words on their record sheet.

You can even challenge them further by giving them the stack of PICTURES instead of words!

Grab Your Download

Click the blue download button below to grab your freebie and then check out our awesome Vowel Team Centers, too!

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Hang your American flag high, pull out your red, white and blue decorations, and scroll down to celebrate America’s birthday with this free Fourth of July Scavenger Hunt and then hop over and learn how to make some patriotic bracelets for even more 4th of July fun!

Getting Ready

Prepping was as easy as saying “Red, white, and BOOM!”

I printed both scavenger hunts and vocabulary cards on plain white paper.

Then, I cut the cards along the black lines and stacked them up in alphabetical order.

Fourth of July Scavenger Hunts

As a whole group, we jotted down the alphabet on the board.  Next, I encouraged my students to share a Fourth of July word that begins with each letter.

I used the vocabulary cards for ideas and to help guide my students’ thinking.

Then, I circled the vocabulary words that were on the scavenger hunts, held up each vocabulary card, and went over the meaning and examples of each word.

I then asked my students to share their own understanding and where they may have seen images of each.

I encouraged my students to choose the scavenger hunt that was the best fit for their ability level: one list had all twenty-six words and the other had only fourteen words.

Over the next few days, we read books and watched videos on Independence Day to learn how people celebrate it.

Whenever students heard or saw images of the words from their scavenger hunt, they would check them off the list.

When we finished reading and watching the videos, we went over what the students found, quickly reviewing the vocabulary along the way.

It was a great way to learn facts and vocabulary words for the Fourth of July!

Download Your Copy

Scroll down and click the blue download button to grab your Fourth of July freebies. 

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

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P.S. Be sure to hop over and snag our Place Value Cover Up activity if you’re looking for even more fun math!

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the LEGO the cards (HERE) on cardstock to give them extra durability. This is especially important if you’re using them in a classroom.  Then, I cut them apart and grabbed our bin of LEGO DUPLOS. (Regular LEGOS would work well, too.)

LEGO Addition Cards

Big Brother (age 5.5) has been practicing addition for a little while now so he knew just what to do when he saw the cards. He eagerly grabbed one from the stack and started building the number on top: three reds.

Then, he pulled out one light blue and stuck it on the end. “That’s four all together,” he announced proudly.

He put aside the card and LEGO tower and pulled out his next card.

One addition card after another, he happily built and solved his pile of math facts.  It was a fun, new way to practice addition!

Grab Your Set

Join in the fun! Click the blue download button below to snag your free set of LEGO addition cards. Then, hop over and pick up our Place Value Cover Up in our shop!

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For more vowel fun, check out our Vowel Team Centers in our shop!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Vowel Sorting

If you’re like me and love resources that can be repurposed for a range of activities, this pack is for you! I printed the set on cardstock to give it extra durability. You could also laminate it if you’ll be using the activities over and over again in a classroom.

After cutting out the parts, I grabbed the picture sorting mats to have my students focus on learning one vowel at a time. I had children pick up a card, say the word out loud and place it in the correct spot on the mat.

There’s one set for each: A, E, I, O and U.

Once I saw that students could easily sort the long and short vowel sounds, I did a combined vowel sort working on all five sounds at once. I focused on a short vowel sort, a long vowel sort and then did a combined sort for revision.

For easy storage, I stapled a zip lock bag to the back of each mat to make it easy to find the right pictures when I needed them.

Roll and Say

The other activity I love doing is rolling the dice and asking children what word they can think of with that sound.

For example, if a child rolled long E she could name, “eat” or “jeep” or “leap”… It’s a simple, fun way to practice those tricky sounds!

To grab your free copy of these printables below and then hop over and download our Vowel Team Centers, too!

Playdough to Plato is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

The post Free Short Vowel and Long Vowel Sort appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Grab your copy and then check our our best-selling Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

The prep for this pattern activity was really quick and simple. I printed the cards and cut them apart.

Then, I grabbed a pack of rainbow popsicle sticks I’d picked up at the Dollar Store and invited the boys over to join me.

Popsicle Stick Pattern Activity

I included a variety of different patterns so there would be options for kiddos who were beginners and those who were more experienced.

Middle Brother (age 3) started with an AB pattern: yellow, green, yellow, green. He said the colors on the card out loud and then started laying down the next sticks in the pattern.

When he finished, he worked on another AB pattern, some AABB and ABB patterns, and then tried the mammoth rainbow card: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

It’s a whopper, but he was able to tackle it. And he was oh-so-proud when he finished!!

Download Your Copy

Click the blue download button below to grab your free pattern activity set and then check out our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack!

The post Craft Stick Patterns appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Getting Ready

To prep, I printed the free pattern cards (HERE) on cardstock to give them extra durability and really make the colors pop. Then, I cut them apart and grabbed our stash of LEGO DUPLOs. (Regular LEGOs would work just as well.)

LEGO Pattern Cards

Both of my boys are serious LEGO fans, so they were eager to take on a new building challenge. Middle Brother (age 3.5) grabbed his first card and red the colors out loud, “Blue-red-blue-red.”

“What comes next?” I asked.

He thought a moment and then a huge smile spread across his face, “Blue!” he said excitedly. Middle Brother grabbed some blocks and started building onto the pattern.

Meanwhile, Big Brother (age 5.5) was hard at work on an AABB pattern: orange-orange-yellow-yellow.

The set includes various types of patterns to make sure there’s something for everyone – ABAB, AABB, ABC, ABCD and more.

Middle Brother needed a little help along the way, but eventually the boys read and built all 16 pattern cards in the batch.

Grab Your Set

Ready to play too?! Click the blue download button below to grab your set of free pattern cards.  

Teaching can feel lonely sometimes, especially when you’re trying to figure out what actually works in your classroom. That’s why The Science of Reading Formula isn’t just about resources—it’s about community. When you join, you’ll be surrounded by like-minded educators who truly get it and are ready to cheer you on. You don’t have to do this alone!

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Getting Ready

Prepping the puzzles couldn’t get much simpler. I printed a copy of the puzzles {HERE} on cardstock to give them extra durability and cut along the thin grey lines to separate the strips. Easy peasy.

Earth Day Puzzles

My boys and I have talked about Earth Day before so they knew it was a celebration of all-things environmentally-friendly. We worked together to brainstorm a long list of different ways we can help the planet: picking up litter, watering trees, recycling…

Then I showed the boys the mixed up puzzles and invited them to sort the pieces into the correct order, building a photo of one awesome Earth Day activity we’d work on together. I gave each excited child a scrambled puzzle. Piece by piece, they started building.

And in just a couple minutes, both puzzles were complete.

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It’s a great way to compare and contrast all the vowels for review and its filled to the brim with engaging hands-on literacy centers that kids will beg to work on.

Grab your pack in our store or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

Engage all your little pirates with these word family puzzles…

Grab some clothespins and practice some spelling…

Then hunt for fireflies in this board game…

Or grab your magnetic letters to make some real or nonsense words…

Sort word families with this delicious popcorn sort…

Or color word families with this great independent center…

Then practice some spelling…

Or hunt for cookies with this adorable center that is perfect for circle time!

And that’s just the start…

This mega pack of short vowel activities has 18 centers for kids to dive into and love! Ready to get started?

Grab your pack in our store or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

The post Word Family Centers appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

But keeping your students motivated, focused and engaged to get to that sight-reading? That’s the secret every teacher and homeschool mom wants. I can’t wait to share it with you! These 12 short E centers are easy to set up (score!) and with the variety of activities in the pack, there is something for everyone.

Exciting, right?! Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers! Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

Peek Inside

The Short E Pack includes 12 engaging centers for young readers.

Grab some playdough and have kids mold short E CVC words on these colorful playdough mats.

Hit a home run with a round of this baseball-themed I Spy!

The practice some cutting skills with glue and paste word family sort!

Dash up rainbows to play with a unicorn in this magical game board that gives kids the chance to read and write E word families.

Then pull out the clothespins for a round of clip cards!

Sort colorful flowers into short E word families in this playful center that is perfect for a review!

And so much more…

This pack is bursting with 12 playful centers that are sure to keep your students engaged and motivated.

Exciting, right?! Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers! Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

The post Short E Centers appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

Engaging kids in meaningful writing activities that expand their vocabulary can be a bit of a challenge during the summer months, but this Fourth of July Writing Activity does just that!

And speaking of writing, check out our Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep this writing activity, I printed out the vocabulary cards and enough copies of the writing papers for all of my first grade students.  Then, I laminated and cut apart the vocabulary cards so they would be more durable and something my kids could take to their work spaces as needed!

I’ve seen teachers hole-punch the corners of their vocabulary cards and put them on a ring, but I opted to just tape them up onto our classroom whiteboard for all to see!

The Activity

To maximize this activity to the fullest, I invited my students to the carpet and read them the book The Night Before the 4th of July.  The book introduced many of the vocabulary words from the cards I had printed out, and it provided a great starting place for the class to talk about everyone’s family traditions.

https://www.amazon.com/Night-Before-Fourth-July/dp/0448487128/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

After making connections to the book, I told my students that we would be writing about what we did on the Fourth of July last year or what we hoped to do this year!  I put the vocabulary cards underneath our classroom document camera, and one by one, we read the words and defined them.  My students who needed a chance to move, helped me tape them on the board!

Next, I modeled how to write about my Fourth of July experiences.  Even though I was writing underneath our document camera so my students could see me putting in “finger spaces” and thinking out loud, I had my paper on a clipboard.  I made a big deal saying things like, “hmm… I don’t know how to spell ‘fireworks’… maybe I should leave that out and say ‘I had fun’ instead…”  My kiddos yelled out, “It’s on the BOARD!!!” repeatedly so I skipped over to the words and acted silly to really reinforce the idea that we should be including these higher level vocabulary words in our writing!

I repeated this process a few times (or at least until my first graders stopped finding it so funny) and then I sent my kiddos off on their own to write about their family traditions!

All of my students got to work writing about the yummy foods they eat, the family members they get to see, and the fun traditions they participate in on the Fourth of July!

As everyone finished, I prompted them to pair up with a friend and read their work to them to make sure everything sounded right.  Then, we came back to the carpet for a little bit of share time!

Lastly, we hung our work up in the hallway with a patriotic banner above it and celebrated as a class with some watermelon outside for snack time!

https://www.amazon.com/Quasimoon-Guidon-Pennant-Garland-PaperLanternStore/dp/B07119Q2VK/ref=sr_1_52?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1495832819&sr=1-52&keywords=patriotic%2Bbanner&th=1

Although it wasn’t needed for my class, I did make it a point to include a non-holiday version of the writing paper for anyone who may not celebrate the Fourth!

Grab Your Copy

Ready to download this patriotic free writing activity?  Simply click the blue button below!  Then, snag our Writing Center Starter Kit in our shop!

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Getting Ready

To start this beautiful rainbow art, I gathered supplies for each student:

• One 7 x 9-inch piece of watercolor paper for the background
• Tray of Watercolors
• Paint brush
• Water container
• Course Table Salt
• Glue Sponges (glue stick)
• Scissors
• Yellow Construction Paper
•  Optional: What Makes a Rainbow? Magic Ribbon Book by Betty Ann Schwartz

Tip: Using watercolor paper is the key to a bleeding effect on the paper. Make sure to apply the course table salt not regular salt to paper for a fun science project and a beautiful piece of art.

Introducing the Rainbow

I wanted to get the children thinking about the colors of the rainbow and their placement, so I decided to start the lesson by pulling out the adorable book  What Makes a Rainbow? Magic Ribbon Book by Betty Ann Schwartz. and reading it aloud.

Talking about the different colors helped get the kids’ creative ideas flowing.

Then it was time to paint!

Creating Rainbow Art

First, I had the children choose one piece of water color paper to start painting.

Each student painted a curved yellow line from the upper right corner of their piece of 7 x 9 watercolor paper to the bottom center of the paper. Next, they painted orange, followed by red. Every time they used the paint tray have them clean their paint brush in the water container, then apply the wet brush into the next color.

After the red, students cleaned their brush in the water container and proceeded to use green, blue and purple paint on the other side of the yellow line of paint.

Once all the colors were applied, I encouraged them to create small clouds in the sky.

Adding the Salt

Once the rainbow and clouds were painted, students immediately sprinkled course table salt on top of the wet watercolor. The salt absorbs the colorful paint and leave white marks on the watercolor paper. This simple trick will sure to delight your students. It does every time with mine. Let Dry. Brush off salt over garbage can once paper is completely dry.

Adding Gold Coins

For a fun twist have students add yellow construction paper at the bottom of the rainbow to represent the gold coins. Cut out small circles of yellow construction paper and glue down.

It was so fun to see all of the beautiful rainbows the kids created.

The end result of this rainbow art was visually stunning! 

Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and it’s easy to feel like your efforts go unnoticed. But here’s the truth: what you’re doing matters, and we see you. The Science of Reading Formula is here to make your job easier and remind you of the incredible impact you’re making every single day. Let’s celebrate your wins and tackle those challenges together.

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When teaching vowels I like to dig deep into just one at first. It helps boost kids’ confidence and gives them a solid foundation for their reading. Double score!

And our short U Pack has 11 activities to keep kids engaged and focused. Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

The Short U centers pack is chock-full with 11 engaging centers that students will love!

Grab your magnetic letters and sound out U word families…

Then enjoy a sweet treat with a s’more themed board game…

(Always a hit!)

Or spin a word with a monster…

Grab a handful of magnetic letters and spell common U CVC words.

Or build a delicious sandwich by pairing the U CVC words with the correct picture.

Then grab your crayons and color by word family…

(A tried and true favorite!)

And have kids hunt for I words with this fun pet-themed I spy with these short U centers!

Or pull out the clothespins for a fun clip card review!

And that’s just the start!

Kids will love all 11 hands-on short U centers included in this pack.

Ready to get started?! Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

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This engaging pack has 12 fun activities for kids to choose from! And with easy prep and reusable centers, you’ll love it too.

Grab your pack from our store or from Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

Peek Inside

The Short O Centers Pack has 12 centers that your students will love!

Grab a slice of watermelon and scoot around the board to practice writing and reading O words…

Then find the friendly monster hidden behind the glue…

(This hide and seek game is perfect for circle time!)

Play with bubbles and read O CVC words…

Sort colorful flowers into word families with this fun center…

Or dab the correct word with this review sheet that is perfect for independent work.

That’s not all…

The pack includes 12 engaging, hands-on short O centers kids will love. Ready to get started?

Grab your pack from our store or from Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

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With 13 centers to choose from, these playful and motivating activities will help students stay motivated and focused. Plus, they are all easy to prep -hooray!

Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

Peek Inside

This motivating pack of activities has 13 short A centers to choose from!

Spin an A word family with this interactive gumball game…

Sort word families and create playful monsters with these silly puzzles. …

Then head out for a hike with this fun board game …

Or hunt down all treats with the candy-themed I Spy!

Then flip over A words with this adorable flip and write review activity…

Ready to dive into A words with these fun short a centers!?

Grab your playful pack in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

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And learning vowels gives students a big boost toward reading independently. Which is why I love to dive deep and focus on just one vowel to help kids gain confidence. And these 14 hands-on short I centers are sure to do the trick!

Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

Pull out the playdough and spell I family words…

Or find the unicorn hiding behind the rainbows…

That’s not all in these short iI centers! Roll and write your way to the top with this fun hands-on activity…

Build ice cream cones with I word families…

Then sort I words into families with these adorable puzzles…

And that’s just the beginning…

This pack is filled to the brim with 14 hands-on activities that kids will love to do as they learn all about I word families!

Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers. Then, while you’re there, snag our Vowel Team Centers, too!

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The ABC game has become a must-play in our house and I hope it will be a favorite with your kids, too.

When you’re done spraying, be sure to check out our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep the ABC game, I stacked several of the cards on top of each other and used my scissors to shape flames. Then, I wrote one alphabet letter on each card. (I decided to use lowercase letters this time around but you could play the same game with uppercase letters instead.)

I placed a roll of tape on the back of each letter and spread the flames out on our fence like this:

ABC Game: Fireman Spray

Then, it was time to invite my 3.5 year-old over to play our fun ABC game. C quickly pulled on our fireman outfit and filled his water shooter with water from our kiddie pool. He was ready and excited for his first challenge.

Using a call-to-action kind of voice, I announced that the letter (r) was on fire. C needed to use his water shooter to put out the flames as quickly as possible. He hurriedly searched the cards to find the matching letter and then doused it.

I called out several more letters for him to spray before we started working on some other ABC skills including:

• Spelling (and spraying) each letter in his own name and the names of other family members.
• Extinguishing the letter that makes a certain sound. (“Spray the letter that says /m/.”)
• Dousing the letter that comes next in the alphabet. (“What comes after the letter D?”)
• Spraying the first letter in certain words. (“What is the first letter in the word cat? It makes the /c/ sound.”)
• Extinguishing the lowercase letter that matches an uppercase letter. (“Look at the capital letter I wrote on this piece of paper. What flame shows another way of writing this letter?)

Our ABC game was a huge hit with my son, and I hope your kids will enjoy playing it, too.

More Fun

Continue the fun with our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack!

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These titles include classics like Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?, plus newer books including Olivia (the most adorable pig on the planet!)

And speaking of these great books, check out our Reading Comprehension Activities to help you navigate through them!

Books to Read Before Kindergarten

Children will LOVE these books and you will too. We promise! If you’re a parent, post the list on your fridge and order a handful of titles from the library every week. They make a great family bucket list.

If you’re a teacher, print the checklist front to back and send it home to your students’ families. It’s a simple way to encourage reading!

We hope you enjoy reading these books to read before kindergarten!  Happy reading!

Grab Your Checklist

Ready to start reading?! Click the blue button below to download your list of 50 must-read books and then hop over and check out the 5 things every kindergartener needs to know on their first day of school.  Then, check  out our Reading Comprehension Activities to enhance your reading experience!

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Grab your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  

Peek Inside the Digraph Activities!

Ready for some serious digraph fun?! These 10 hands-on activities make learning engaging for kids.

The pack includes 8 colorful posters to use when you introduce digraphs or to post on the wall as a handy visual reminder for kids to refer to later.

Kids complete three playful activity flap books.

They practice identifying digraphs with 45 clip cards.

Children play Digraph Bingo with a class set of game boards.

That’s not all – there’s still more digraph activities!  They also color by digraph,

and they mark the correct spelling of each word.

They blast into space and sort digraph words along their journey.

And so much more.  These digraph activities are a must for the classroom!

Grab Your Set

Ready to play?! Download your set in our shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers!  

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The simple prep ideas are fun for kids and stress free for grown ups. Gotta’ love that combo!  Then, check out our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack to help get you there!

Get Ready for Kindergarten!

The freebie is great for teachers who need an easy handout for families and parents who need a go-to list of fun ways to help their child prepare for their kindergarten year. Download your copy here.

Find More

Want to help your child with math, reading and fine motor work? Check out our Ultimate Preschool Activity Pack filled with fun, printable and educational activities.

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Scroll below to grab your freebie and then make sure to hop over and snag our Pumpkin CVC Puzzles for even more fall fun!

Getting Ready

Prepping the CVC activity was super simple!

I printed the colorful pumpkin patch activity on white cardstock and then ran all the cards through the laminator to ensure durability. I wanted to be able to use the center year after year!

Next, I cut out all the short vowel picture cards and placed them in a storage container.

Viola! Prep was done.

CVC Pumpkin Patch Activity

Since we were still working on short vowel sounds, I decided to introduce the activity with a small group.

On a flat surface, I laid out all five short vowel pumpkin patch cards and placed the pumpkin picture cards in a pile to the side.

Note: Depending on the level of your kids, you may only what to use one short vowel pumpkin patch card at a time.

Together, we reviewed each short vowel sound by saying the vowel sound on each mat.

Then, the first student picked up the pumpkin picture card with the hen on it.

She read the word out loud: “Hen /h/ /e/ /n/.”

I asked her what vowel sound the word had in it.

She said “/e/”, pointed to the short e pumpkin patch and placed the hen card on it.

Then, I had the entire group stretch out the word hen to listen for the /e/ sound and confirm that it belonged in the short e pumpkin patch.

We went around the small group table repeating this process until all the picture cards were placed on the correct short vowel pumpkin patch cards.

The kids loved practicing their short vowel sounds with this fun pumpkin patch CVC activity!

Snag the Freebie

Scroll below to snag your freebie and then make sure to hop over and grab our Editable Sight Word Games to practice any word under the sun!

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Your young mathematicians will be having so much fun they won’t even know they are practicing counting, subitizing and adding at the same time.

Scroll below to grab your freebie and then hop over and grab our Number Formation Pack for more math fun!

Getting Ready

To prepare the game, I printed the game board on white cardstock to give it extra durability. (You can print it in either color or, if you want to save ink, black and white.)

Then, I grabbed two dice and a bucket of gems kids could use for counting.

That’s it! We were math game ready!

Acorn Roll & Cover Math Game

To begin, I demonstrated how a turn would go by rolling the two dice at the same time and then adding (or counting) the number rolled.

Starting in a circle, the first student went.

She rolled a 4 and a 1 and quickly determined that the sum was 5 by saying out loud “Four plus one equals five.”

She searched the game board until she found the acorn with the number five on it and covered it with a gem.

Then, it was time for the next child’s turn. He rolled a 4 and a 3.

With a little bit of help, he decided the sum was 7 and said, ” Four and three makes seven.”

He proudly found the number 7 acorn and covered it with a gem. The game was on!

We continued playing until all the acorns on the board had been covered.

This  acorn math game was so simple and motivating!

Grab Your Download

Ready for some acorn roll and cover?!  Just click the button below to grab your FREE download and then hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack for even more math fun!

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Who can build the strongest bridge?  Find out and then hop over to our shop to grab our Epic STEM Challenges Bundle!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Building Straw Bridges

To give the kids a strong introduction to bridge design, we started our activity by reading Carol Johmann’s Bridges! together as a class.

Then, we talked about five popular types of bridges: arch, beam, suspension, cable-stay and truss. As we reviewed the characteristics of each one, I drew a simple anchor chart kids could refer to when they were designing their bridges later.

Then, I placed students into teams of three or four and gave each group a tray of supplies:

• Tape
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Paper clips
• Straws

Their task was simple: build a bridge that was strong enough to hold a plastic cup filled with 100 pennies.

They could cut the straws to any length, but their bridges had to sit at least one inch off the table.

Some teams succeeded and some failed, but either way, it was impressive to watch their problem solving and teamwork. They loved observing what worked for other groups and then incorporating it into their own designs.

More STEM Challenges

Looking for an easy way to boost critical thinking and problem-solving in your classroom? These free LEGO Challenge Cards are perfect for engaging students in hands-on STEM exploration!

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This dough takes a mere minutes to mix up and is the perfect, no-fail recipe for little chefs to make.  When you’re done, be sure to head on over and snag our fun playdough mats!

Autumn-Scented Salt Dough Recipe

To prep, we first gathered our ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of salt
• food coloring (in red, orange and yellow)
• 2-4 tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon of cloves
• 2 teaspoons of ginger
• 1 cup of water

Making the Salt Dough

This recipe is fairly forgiving, so if you’re able to embrace the mess, it’s a great way for little ones to practice measuring, leveling and mixing.

To make the dough my 3 year-old, Q, simply added the flour, salt, cinnamon and allspice to a large bowl and whisked until combined.

For most of the spices, I had Q measure them so he could practice.  For the cinnamon, he just wanted to shake it out and since it’s not a precise recipe that was a-ok.

Once all the dry ingredient were added from the salt dough recipe, Q measured and mixed in the water.  He then mixed the dough with a spoon as best as he could until it was just too hard.

We dumped it on the already flour-covered table and kneaded it until well combined.  The dough should be soft and pliable but not sticky.  If it is, add a little flour at a time and knead it until it no longer sticks to the table.

We then divided the dough into 4 sections, one for each fall color, and added the cloves and a touch more cinnamon to color the brown dough. We added ginger and yellow food color for the yellow dough, and just added the food color for the red and orange dough.  It ended up taking quite a bit of red and orange food color to get a nice vibrant color.

Baking the Salt Dough

I had grand plans of making a cute spicy scented leaf garland for our mantle, but apparently my kiddos have a mind of their own.  They both wanted to make cinnamon and ginger cookies to sell in their pretend bakery. Who was I to get in the way?!

My 5 year-old rolled and cut out several dozen different shapes while my 3 year-old simply liked to pat the dough flat with his hands to make his leaves.  The thicker the dough, the longer it takes to dry so keep this in mind when deciding what to make.

I showed my daughter how to use a small straw from a juice box to punch a hole in the leaves in case she wanted to hang them (perhaps on a garland) after she was done playing bakery.

Once all the leaves were cut and transferred to a baking sheet, we baked them at 140 degrees for a couple hours, turning them halfway through.

No matter how tempted you are to speed up the drying process by raising the temperature, don’t do it.  It will cause your dough to puff up and even bubble.  The lower and slower you go, the more even they bake.

Once dry, my daughter wanted to embellish her cookies with a bit of glue and glitter “sprinkles.”I have a feeling we won’t be making a garland anytime soon.  The salt dough recipe was the perfect activity for a fall day!

More Playdough Fun

Add even more fun to your playdough bucket list with our super fun playdough mats!

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They couldn’t believe their ears.  Launching candy across the house? What’s not to love?!  After your little engineers build theirs, hop on over for more science fun with our Epic STEM Challenges!

In the most basic terms, a catapult is a simple machine used to launch an object or projectile without the use of explosives.

Before building our catapult, I showed my kiddos an example of a simple catapult using a spoon.  Balancing the candy pumpkin on the end of the handle, I simply hit the spoon end with my hand to send the pumpkin flying through the air.

Making Candy Pumpkin Catapults

To make the pumpkin catapult, I quickly gathered a few supplies:

• 7 craft sticks (wide craft sticks are easier for little hands to hold.)
• 4 rubber bands
• 1 small cup (We used the top to a juice container.)
• A hot glue gun

First, I had each kiddo stack 5 craft sticks on top of each other and then I helped them bind them on each end with a rubber band.  This would act as the base and fulcrum – the point at which the lever will pivot.

They stacked the remaining 2 sticks and bound them with a single rubber band on the very edge of one end.

Next, we pried open the 2 sticks to make a “V” shape.  We placed the bundle of 5 sticks at the very bottom of the “V” shape and secured it with the final rubber band.

The last step on the pumpkin catapult was to glue the small cup that would hold the pumpkins onto the end of the top arm of the catapult.  In the photo below, the arm is the stick with the Halloween tape on it.  If you are doing this with little ones, it helps to glue the cup in from the end of the stick.  This gives little fingers an area to push down on to create the tension to make projectiles fly.

Making Pumpkins Fly

It only took a few minutes to construct our ultra simple pumpkin catapults and my kids couldn’t wait to launch pumpkins.

At first, they just played around with the catapults to see the best way to get the pumpkins to fly the furthest.  {These aren’t the most powerful catapults and only launched the pumpkins a few feet.}

I handed them a couple candy corns to see if the difference in weight had an affect on the distance the projectile would fly.

Then we moved on to experiment with how we aimed the catapults.  I set up 9 small glasses in a pyramid shape.  The kids had to get 3 out of 5 pumpkins into the glasses in order to eat one.  Of course, once the sugar kicked in, things got a little crazy and the game turned into shooting candy pumpkins into each others’ mouths.  Whoever said science wasn’t fun?!

As far as first attempts go, this catapult was perfect.  Simple, quick, and easy for all ages to use.  My 3 year -old is officially obsessed! He used his catapult the next day to launch acorns to our neighborhood squirrels.

Pumpkin Catapult Extensions

Both kids are already thinking about what they could launch next and how to make things fly further.  Here are a few extensions we’ve thought up:

Secure the catapult to prevent movement and test how accurate it is using the same projectile.

Change the number of craft sticks in the bundle and see what effect it has.

Test different rubber bands.  How does this affect the launch?

Test different sizes and weights of objects.

Test holding the arm down at different angles.

Build a few different models and test which launches the furthest and most accurate.

Build a bigger catapult and test different materials (bungee cord, exercise band) to see what happens.

The Science Behind It

A simple machine is a mechanical device used to change the direction or magnitude of a force.  The catapult is an example of a lever type simple machine in which a beam or arm pivots at a fixed point called the fulcrum.

In the catapult we built, as we pressed down on the arm, tension was building and energy was being stored.

Energy that is stored when a material is compressed (think of a spring) or stretched (a slingshot) is called elastic energy.  When you release the arm of the catapult, the elastic energy is converted into kinetic energy – the energy of motion.  When you place an object like the pumpkin candy in the bucket, the pumpkin will move at the same speed as the arm and the bucket.

When the arm stops, the pumpkin projectile continues to move forward due to Newton’s first law, which states that an object in motion stays in motion. The pumpkin becomes airborne.

Gravity pulls the pumpkin back toward the ground, giving the pumpkin its trajectory, or path.

Ready for More?

For more scientific inspiration, grab a copy of our Epic STEM Challenges!

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P.S. Looking for some easy ways to add super cool, hands-on science to your classroom or home? Hop over and grab 30 Science Experiments your kids will love!

Getting Ready

To make 12 muffin-sized homemade bath bombs, we first gathered a few supplies:

• • 1 cup baking soda
  • 3/4 cup corn starch
  • 1/4 cup Epsom salt or cane sugar
  • 1/2 cup citric acid (available in natural food stores or online for canning})
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Essential oils (optional)
  • Large bowl
  • Measuring cups
  • Mixing spoon
  • Sifter
  • Spray bottle with water
  • Anything that can serve as a mold (silicone molds, plastic eggs, muffin tin lined with saran wrap, etc.)

Homemade Bath Bombs

Once I gathered all the supplies, A quickly ran over, excited to make her grandmom some fizzy homemade bath bombs. First, she measured out the baking soda, cornstarch, Epsom salt and citric acid and mixed them in a large bowl.  Since this recipe is pretty forgiving, it’s a perfect measuring activity for younger children as well.

A sifted the dry ingredients to break up any chunks.  This was a pretty dusty step (which is why we did it outside) and one I’m not sure was really necessary.

Next,  I asked A what scent she wanted to make. She chose orange and jasmine.  A added several drops of orange food coloring to the water in the spray bottle and slowly began spraying the dry mixture.  She loved watching the mixture fizz each time she sprayed it.  The key was to lightly spray it, wetting it enough that the mixture formed a clump when squeezed but not so much that it lost its fizziness.

Next, A added several drops of orange and jasmine essential oil and thoroughly stirred the mixture.  Then, she scooped the mixture into the silicone muffin liners and firmly pressed it down.  The homemade bath bombs were really coming together!

A and even her little brother, Q, loved mixing up this fizzy concoction so much we ended up making 3 more batches.  Both kids had a cold, so in addition to lemon-lavendar and pink grapefruit, we made some sinus clearing peppermint-eucalyptus using peppermint baking extract.

You can use whatever molds you have on hand – even cookie cutters on a baking pan or an ice cube tray would work well.  We also made egg-shaped bath bombs with leftover Easter eggs.  They turned out super cute!

For the egg molds, gently remove half the egg shell after an hour or so to allow it to completely dry.  Leave the bombs out to dry overnight and then gently pop them out.  Store them in an airtight container or package them up for that special someone who deserves a little extra R & R.

Now all I need it to get my kids to give me a little quiet time so I could enjoy a few of them. I guess I’ll have to wait until Mother’s Day!

The Science Behind It

When you drop your fizzy bomb into the tub, the water sets off a chemical reaction between the citric acid and the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).  That’s why the dry mixture fizzed when it was sprayed with water. During the reaction, carbon dioxide is created making those relaxing, fizzing bubbles.

Want More?

Want a classroom experiment that’s both engaging and educational? This Glowing Bouncy Egg activity lets students explore osmosis and chemical reactions in a hands-on way!

The post Scented, Fizzy Homemade Bath Bombs appeared first on Playdough To Plato.

The academic and fine motor skill level is aimed at first graders, however, kinders can also use it with guidance. Grab the printable below and then hop over to become a VIP Plato Pack member so you can get all of the tools, strategies and support you need to reach ALL of your learners.

Getting Ready

To prep the interactive notebook, simply print off the Interactive Addition printable (BELOW).

To brighten it up, print each page on different colored paper.

Decide whether you want your child to construct the interactive page first, or if you will give them one activity at a time so they can add to the interactive addition page gradually.

I prefer the second option as it’s a large project with many steps for little ones to do in one sitting.

Interactive Notebook – Addition to 20

Have children write their names on the interactive addition sheet. The shapes and label will show them exactly where to glue each activity so they fit nicely on the page.  Below are the steps to completing the interactive notebook.

Addition to 20

Cut out a rectangle around the far right concertina strip to separate it from the page. Cut across the top line and bottom line. Fold carefully on all horizontal lines and crease them well. Fold it into a concertina so only one shape shows at the top, then cut the side edges. Complete the equations. Add glue to the back of the top equation (11+6) and attach it to the interactive sheet where it says “addition to 20.”

Addition to 10

Complete the next concertina strip as above!

True or False

Cut out around all outside edges, then fold on the dotted lines. Add glue to the center shape and attach to the interactive sheet where it says “true or false.” Fold the “petals” closed. Look at each equation and decide whether it’s true or false. Circle T for true and F for false. Open the petals and rewrite the false equations correctly in the center shape.

Adding 3 Together

Cut out around the rectangle with the 2 pencils on it. Flip it over and add glue to the 3 edges that are indicated by the dotted lines. Attach it to the interactive sheet where it says ‘”adding 3 together” to form a pocket. Cut out the 6 pencils. Complete the equations and store them in the pocket.

Picture Addition

Cut out the larger solid lines of page 4 to create 4 different sized rectangles. Glue the largest rectangle to the interactive sheet where it says “picture addition.” Fold the other 3 rectangles on the dotted lines, add glue on the back just at the top and attach them on top of the page you’ve already glued with the smallest size on top. Complete the equations.

Word Problems

Complete them the same way you’ve done the picture addition activity.

This addition interactive notebook covers so many skills on just one page!

Get Your Free Printable

Download the Addition to 20 Interactive Notebook by clicking the blue button below and then hop over to become a VIP Plato Pack member so you can get all of the tools, strategies and support you need to reach ALL of your learners.

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Whether you are introducing the sight words or wanting your students to review them, this resource will be perfect for you!  Once you’re done, head on over and grab our EDITABLE Sight Word Games!

Getting Ready

Prepping the apple sight word match was so easy!

I just printed the resource on card stock and laminated it so that the cards could be reused time and time again.

Next, I simply cut the pieces apart with a paper cutter and we were ready to go!

Note: Apple Sight Word Match contains 42 different sight words for students to review. Each sight word is printed twice: once on an apple and once on a seed.

Apple Sight Word Match

Students started the activity by placing all of the pieces on a table.

It didn’t matter whether they chose an apple or seed card first, but this student picked up an apple card with the sight word “blue” written on it.

I always encourage my students to say the sight word out loud. This allows them some more exposure to the sight words, thus helping them retain it.

Students then sorted through all of the puzzle pieces looking for the seed that had the matching sight word.

Once the student found the correct pair, she placed it next to the apple card. This student found the “blue” card and matched the two together.

She pushed the completed pair off to the side to clear her work space and the next player grabbed a new card.

Students continued matching sight word pairs until every card had been claimed. Simple and fun!

Grab Your Set

Ready for your free set?! Click the blue download button below to grab your puzzles now.  Then, grab our super fun EDITABLE Sight Word Games!

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Check out how to make these fascinating crystals below!  Then, grab our 30 Science Experiments your kids will love in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep for these glow-in-the-dark crystals, I gathered a few supplies:

• Pipe cleaners
• Borax
• Glow-in-the-dark paint
• Fishing line (twine or yarn would work, too)
• Pencils or wooden skewers
• Scissors
• Glasses or plastic container (one for each shape)
• Liquid measuring cup
• Heat safe mixing bowl
• Blacklight (optional, but makes the glow brighter)

Glow-in-the-Dark Crystals

Once I grabbed all of my materials, I called my kiddos over and told them we were going to whip up glow-in-the-dark crystals.  They decided what they wanted to make, grabbed pipe cleaners and started to bend the them into shape.

I tied each spooky creation to a wooden skewer using fishing line.  (Even though the fishing line is a little tricky to tie, crystals won’t grow on it but they will on twine.)

I placed each shape into a glass jar and made sure it didn’t touch any of the sides or the bottom. If they do touch, the shapes will grow attached to the jar and could break a bit when you take them out.

We ended up making a dozen Halloween shapes and needed a ton of borax solution.  My 5 year-old, A, measured out 1/4 cup of borax per cup of boiling water and mixed the solution until the borax dissolved.

A has done a lot of cooking so I was confident in her mixing and pouring hot water safely, but obviously please use caution when letting your child work with hot, hot water.

To make the glow-in-the-dark crystals actually glow, A added about a 2-3 tablespoons of glow-in-the-dark paint to the borax solution and mixed until well combined.  We used orange for the pumpkins and pink for the bat.  She then poured the solution into the jars and lowered in the shaped making sure they didn’t touch the sides or bottom.

Since we have a blacklight, we also made a few glow crystals simply by using fluorescent and white pipe cleaners since white glows in black light.

Now all we had to do was wait.  Within an hour you could see some of the borax precipitating out, mostly on the sides and bottom but my kiddos had to hold off until the next day for their favorite part: revealing the crystals.  We patted them dry then headed to a dark room to see the results.

Here’s what they look like with the lights on.  So sparkly and gorgeous, right?

And here’s a side-by-side of a pumpkin made with just fluorescent pipe cleaners and one made with glow paint.  You can see they both glow but the one that used paint (on the right) is definitely brighter.  Without the blacklight, the one made with glow-in-the-dark paint does glow after a good charge but it was too faint to photograph well.

My kiddos love making borax crystals but glow-in-the-dark crystals was infinitely cooler.  So cool they just had to take the spooky creations to bed with them that night.

The Science Behind It

When borax is dissolved in water, a suspension is created.  A suspension is a mixture that has solid particles (the borax) that are large enough for sedimentation {settling out}. As the borax begins to settle, it starts to crystalize on all the surfaces it comes in contact with – including the pipe cleaner shapes.  As the borax continues to settle out, it builds crystals on top of other borax crystals forming a thick layer.

More Mad Science

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These 16 homemade gifts are sure to make Mother’s Day extra special for any mom.

Help mom sneak in some extra relaxation with a batch of fizzy scented bath bombs.

Tuck a bouquet of flowers into a hand painted paper bag vase. // Eighteen25

Make a keepsake My Mom and Me book. // hello, Wonderful

Mix together some rejuvenating Citrus Sugar Scrubs. // Delia Creates

Spread the word about all the wonderful things you love most about mom in a homemade newspaper. // Martha Stewart

Feeling crafty? Make some keepsake refrigerator magnets she can use all year long. // Sundaesins

Pinch a hand-shaped ring dish for her to store a favorite piece of jewelry. // Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Color a matching set of pot holders. // I Can Teach My Child

Is she a bookworm? Make a collection of simple button bookmarks. // I Heart Naptime

Make some handy felt embroidered coffee cup cozies. // Tiny Rotten Peanuts

If your mom loves keeping lists, make some DIY personalized notepaper. // Simply Kierste

Use a fine tip Sharpie to make a tea towel showcasing kids’ artwork. // Setting for Four

Turn popsicle sticks into pretty pallet coasters. {(This project is best suited for older kids.) // Think Crafts

Planning a breakfast in bed? Whip up some tasty and sweet jam butter. // Caramel Potatoes

Paint some awesome ombre wooden spoons. // Say Yes

And speaking of cooking, infuse some delicious olive oil. YUMMO!! // Just Putzing

That’s 16 awesome kid-made Mother’s Day gifts that are sure to please every mom in your life.

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Getting Ready

The prep for this LEGO name activity depends on the age and skill of your little builder.  For my 5 year-old, A, I wanted her to build the letters without any help. So I simply pulled out several different sizes of DUPLO LEGOS in various colors and called her over to the table.

For younger builders, you can print out these awesome free LEGO letter cards and have kids use them to copy the shapes of their letters.

Building LEGO Names

My daughter heard me rummaging through the LEGOS and popped out of her room to see what all the noise was about.  When I told her we were going to make her name she was ecstatic.  I honestly didn’t expect such a joyful reaction, but I’m not complaining!

Building each letter without a visual guide was quite a challenge and it took a little trial and error before we got each letter to look the way we liked it.  I  liked that it required A to really slow down and look at the shape of each letter and how the various sized blocks could be used to make that shape.

For the letter “A”, we began by building the first leg up, then slowly tapering it in.  Once we got the 2 leg done, we realized we had to add the horizontal line, so we took apart the legs to make a spot to snap on the long “6 dot” piece (technically a 6 dot x 2 dot piece).

Once we built all the letters together, A wanted to use them as a guide to build them by herself.  Whoops, that “M” wasn’t looking quite right!

A thought her mistakes and attempts to fix them were hilarious.

Finally, A got the “M” figured out and moved on to the final letter.  Once she completed her name, she ran into her room to clear a spot on her shelf for her new creation.  I’m just glad we own a ton of LEGOS because we won’t be allowed to play with those blocks for quite some time!  The LEGO name project was a huge hit!

Let’s be real—there are never enough hours in the day, right? Between lesson plans, meetings, and everything else, finding time to create reading resources feels impossible. That’s why I designed The Science of Reading Formula. It’s packed with ready-to-use tools that take the guesswork out of planning, so you can focus on teaching and reclaiming your evenings. Let’s make reading instruction simple, effective, and stress-free!

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The no-cook playdough recipe is great for kids to make from beginning to end – no measuring, no boiling water, no messy clean up.  When you’re done, grab our playdough mats to have fun with your homemade dough!

Apple Playdough Recipe

To make our dough, I grabbed just a few ingredients:

• 1 part green apple conditioner
• 2 parts cornstarch
• green food coloring (optional)

I handed my daughter the bottle of conditioner and, to her delight, let her squeeze the contents into a bowl without measuring.  She was delighted to just squeeze and watch the conditioner shoot out without restraint.

We used most of the bottle but saved a few good squirts in case we added too much corn starch.  Next, I had my daughter scoop out cornstarch till we thought it looked about double the volume of the conditioner.

I handed her a spoon and she mixed and mixed until her arms could take no more.  This apple playdough recipe was hard work!

At this point, the conditioner’s color had faded, so we decided to add a few drops of green food coloring and finished mixing the dough until all the cornstarch was incorporated.  The dough was a little on the sticky side, so we added a couple more spoonfuls of cornstarch and voila! We were ready to play.

Note:  If you use exact measurements, you may have to tweak the ratios in this playdough recipe a little since not all conditioners are the same.  Some may require more cornstarch, others more conditioner.

Playdough Play

The first thing A did was squeeze the dough through her fingers, giggling and repeating “It’s so squishy” over and over again.  Next, she tried stretching it and discovered that if she pulled hard, it almost snapped apart.  She had to show some restraint and pull it slowly to get it to stretch far.

After a good 20 minutes of squeezing and stretching, she turned her attention to poking holes in it with her finger.  When she saw how well it held its shape when poked, A decided she needed to get her dinosaurs to make footprint impressions in the dough.

She played paleontologist for the next half hour burying and digging up her dinosaurs with a chopstick.  Wow, was this fabulously fun and messy!

Since this apple playdough recipe is made with cornstarch, the dough dries out as it’s played with making it a terribly crumbly mess.  Since we saved a few squirts of the conditioner, we softened it again by simply adding a teaspoon sized squirt to the crumbles and remixing.

Before storing this dough in a plastic baggie, I mixed in a little more conditioner to make sure it could handle another hour of play in the future.

Free Apple Playdough Mats

Continue the fun with our amazingly awesome playdough mats!

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First grade is the focus level for this printable, but kinders can also complete it with support. Grab the printable below.

Getting Ready

Print off the interactive subtraction within 20 printable using plain white or colored copy paper.

The interactive page can be created (as in the picture above), or children can be given one activity at a time to complete before putting it all together.

It’s important not to overwhelm a child with too many tasks, so it’s perfectly fine to complete this activity over a period of a few days.

Interactive Subtraction Within 20

Completing the activity is basically just a matter of cutting, folding and gluing the pieces into position. (These assembly directions are also included in the printable.)

Subtraction Within 20

Cut out a rectangle around the far right concertina strip to separate it from the page. Cut across the top line and bottom line. Fold carefully on all horizontal lines and crease them well. Fold it into a concertina so only one shape shows at the top, then cut the side edges. Complete the equations. Add glue to the back of the top equation and attach it to the interactive sheet where it says ‘subtraction within 20.’

Subtraction Within 10

Complete the next concertina strip as above! Attach the strip where it says “subtraction within 10.”

True or False

Cut out around all outside edges, then fold on the dotted lines. Add glue to the center shape and attach to the interactive sheet where it says “true or false.” Fold the “petals” closed. Look at each equation and decide whether it’s true or false. Circle T for true and F for false. Open the petals and rewrite the false equations correctly in the center shape.

Subtracting 2 Numbers

Cut out around the rectangle with the 2 pencils on it. Flip it over and add glue to the 3 edges that are indicated by the dotted lines. Attach it to the interactive sheet where it says ‘”subtracting 2 numbers” to form a pocket. Cut out the 6 pencils. Complete the equations and store them in the pocket.

Picture Subtraction

Cut out the larger solid lines of page 5 to create 4 different-sized rectangles. Glue the largest rectangle to the interactive sheet where it says “picture subtraction.”  Fold the other 3 rectangles on the dotted lines, add glue on the back just at the top and attach them on top of the page you’ve already glued with the smallest size on top. Complete the equations.

Word Problems

Complete them the same way you’ve done the picture subtraction activity.

Get Your Free Printable

Download the Subtraction Within 20 Interactive Notebook by clicking the blue button below.

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It’s a fun way to develop number sense and, since it can be played in different ways, is great for differentiation!  After some fall math fun, grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prepare this fun ten frame matching game, I printed out the cards {(below) and laminated them for durability and extended use.

I cut out the cards and separated them into two piles – the trees and the leaves.

Ten Frame Matching Game

My students and I played the game a few different ways, depending on the level and needs of each child.

To start out, we picked a tree and then counted the dots in the ten frame on the leaves until we found a match. We then placed those cards near or on each other to show that they were paired up, continuing until all of the cards had been matched.

As the kids got a bit faster at recognizing numbers in ten frames, we switched to pulling a leaf, quickly saying its number and finding its match. This was great practice for subitizing (recognizing the quantity instantly without having to count), too!

Ten Frame Game Extension Activities

You can work on other skills with these cards as well, such as number order 1-10 by placing the trees or leaves in order.

Want more of a challenge? Pick two trees or ten frames and add them together.

Or, you can even grab a leaf and work with your child to solve the missing addend to make ten! For instance, if she turned over three, she would figure out that she needed seven more to make ten.

Download Your Game

Are you ready to play? Grab your free matching game by clicking the blue button below and then hop over and grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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Grab your set below and then join the priority list for our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can unlock access to all of our teaching tools in one time-saving spot.

Getting Ready

To prep, I simply printed the ice cream puzzles (below) on cardstock to give them extra durability and cut along the dotted lines to separate the pieces. If you’ll be using them in the classroom, you could laminate them to make the cards even sturdier.

I placed all of the ice cream cones in a stack face down on the table and then spread out the ice cream scoops face up around it.

Ice Cream Blend Puzzles

When I was ready, I showed the first child a blend ice-cream cone and asked her to sound it out. She sounded out the letters slowly at first and then pushed them together, “/s/  /l/  /sl/”.

Then, she looked at the ice cream cones to find a picture that started with /sl/.

“Plane? No. Slide? YES!”

I recommend starting with one set of blends such as the R blends to begin with and then adding on the other blends when kids are ready. I included a full set of L blends and R blends plus some bonus cards for W and C/K blends.

You can use the full set as a review activity.

Blends Memory

For extra practice, kids can play a round of Memory by mixing up several sets of cards and flipping the pieces over face down on a table. The first player picks up two cards and, if they match, keeps them. If the cards aren’t a pair, she turns them back over in the same spot. Then, the next player tries his luck at finding a match.

The player with the most pairs when all cards have been claimed wins the game.

Blends Sort

The ice cream blend puzzles are also great to use for sorting! Children lay out the three category cards on the table: L blends, R blends and W blends.

Picking up one ice cream cone at a time, kids say the name of the picture out loud and place it in the correct pile. Plane would go in the L blend pile, grass would be placed in the R blend stack, etc. Any rule breaker words that don’t fit into one of those categories would go in an oddball pile off to the side.

Reading and sorting continues until all cards have been sorted.

Ready to Play?!

Click the blue button below to grab your freebie and then request an invite to our VIP teaching membership, The Science of Reading Formula, so you can teach reading the easier, brain-friendly way.

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Use it for small group work, partner work, or at a math station. Then, hop on over and check out our Number Formation Pack!

Getting Ready

The counting mat was so easy to prepare!

I chose to print the download (found below) on colored cardstock and laminated the mat to give it added durability.

(There is also a color version that can be printed on white cardstock if you’re comfortable using some of your colored ink.)

Then, I grabbed some of the dinosaur pasta I found at Walmart along with a pencil and paper clip for making the spinner.

That’s it! We were ready for some dinosaur-counting fun!

Dinosaur Counting Mat

To play, students took turns spinning the 1-20 spinner.

The first student spun a seven.

Together, we counted out seven pasta dinosaurs on the ten frame. The activity was great for practicing one-to-one counting practice.

The next student spun a 16 and then placed 16 dinosaurs on the ten frames.

I love how easily my students could see the group of ten and the extra ones they needed to place on the counting mat to make the teens.

Students repeated the process of spinning and counting until their time was finished.

If you have dinosaur mini erasers from Target, they would also work perfectly with this dinosaur counting mat!

Grab Your Download

Ready for some counting fun?! Just click the button below to grab your free download!

Then, make sure to hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack for more math fun!

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Grab your copies below!  Then for more number fun, grab our Number Formation Pack in our shop, too!

Getting Ready

There is very little preparation needed for these color by number 100 charts.

I printed out a copy of each chart (below), and my son grabbed some crayons to use as he colored. (Markers or colored pencils would also work well.)

In no time at all, we were ready to start coloring in the hidden images!

Color by Number

This simple, low key activity is perfect for stress free math review. Kids simply follow the list at the top of each chart.

My son started working through each step one by one.

He colored a long list of numbers blue and then shaded boxes 13 and 18 red, more numbers yellow…

As he colored, the mystery school-themed picture began to appear on the previously blank chart.

My son loved seeing the mystery image emerge. There was lots of giggling at some of his very early guesses as well!

The mystery color by number puzzles were such a motivating way to work on the numbers 1 to 100!

Grab Your Copy

Click the blue download button below to grab your copy of the color by number puzzles and then hop over and snag our Number Formation Pack in our shop!

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